April 2020 - Board Meeting

4/1/2020 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

• President: Dave

• Vice President: Jake

• Treasurer: Meg

• Secretary: Brad

• Director: Tom

• Director: Jason

• Director of Education: Bailey

Also present:

• Ryan R

• Tim S

Secretary's Note: In light of COVID-19 this meeting took place via Google Hangout.

Review of Previous Minutes Review

• Welder can't be converted to 220

• We're holding off all purchases for now in light of COVID-19

   Vote to suspend large tool buy until after COVID-19 uncertainty.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

State of the Space

Responding to COVID-19

• The board discussed what to do if the governor issues a stay at home order.

• Almost everything we discussed related back to COVID-19 in some way.

Face Shield Project Update

• 80 face shields created today, 155 were done before.

• 140 on the black couch are ready for delivery.

Classes

• In the near term all classes have been canceled or suspended.

• The space has access to Google Classroom, which gives more control over who's talking. Dave is considering doing his Pi Hole Beaglebone class this way, and will test out Google Classroom.

Starving Hacker Rate

• We may have a lot more people requesting this in the near future.

   Vote to offer a Starving Hacker Rate to anyone needing it for financial difficulties. SHR would be half off the normal rate for 3 months.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

Further COVID-19 Discussion

• We'll wait to ask for more donations until the end of the month, then see how we're doing. Board decided that right now we are doing okay and have money reserves.

• In the event of a shelter in place order, the board will get more info and then vote about how to proceed via email or conference call.

• Treasurer estimates that if all our members disappeared, we'd be able to continue paying rent and utilities for roughly 18 months.

Miscellaneous

• Upcoming member meeting agenda will include:

  • Code of Conduct

  • Space's response to COVID-19

• Virtual Open House attendance has been low, but does exist. Would be nice to find a way to make it more exciting.

• Tom finished schematic files for front sign. It's ready to go at 4' x 4' unless we want it 4' x 8'? Planning to use steel so we can weld it. Tom will superimpose his design over a photo of the building so we can see what it will look like

• Still need to send 4H the new agreement.

End of Meeting

• Quote of the Meeting: Said with regard to making the Virtual Open Houses more exciting: "Let's offer them free cookies!"