October 2021 - Board Meeting

10/6/2021 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

• President: Dave

• Vice President: Jake

• Treasurer: Meg

• Secretary: Brad

• Director: Jason

• Director: Ryan

• Director: Tom

Absent:

Old Business

• Still need to pay for the PO Box. Somehow the USPS didn't get our payment yet

• Secretary still needs to send all members a copy of the Code of Conduct, and it should include a check mark to indicate members received and read through it. We don't need members to sign the document electronically.

• No movement on party for Face Shield team

• Still need to donate the rest of the money from Face Shield donations to Primary Health Care Iowa as was already approved.

Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting

   Vote to approve minutes from September board meeting.
   In Favor: 6
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

Financial Update

• Our insurance will be paid online

• PO Box was already paid for automatically. Treasurer will follow up on why payment not received

• Jason needs reimbursing

Membership Update: 78

• It's normal for membership to go down in the Fall

• Last night's Open House had a few guests

• Some people were in touch with some of the guys at the Ames makerspace. It was said that they have a small space in someone's attic where they hang out. Considering they used to be in a basement they've literally moved up in the world.

Space Updates

• We sold the air compressor for about $100

• We acquired a new metal lathe. Carlin picked it up.

• The Wood Shop has a new jointer

New Computer Parts

• Colin donated 2 newer HP computers and a monitor that needs a power supply. One of the computers may go to upgrading the security cameras.

• Dave intends to resurrect the Raspberry Pi workstation

• Caroline requested some new parts for the classroom computers. After some discussion an agreement was voted on.

Vote to approve purchase of 2 hard drive mounting bracket kits and 2 solid state drives.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

Concrete Pad Proposal

• After some discussion, the agreed upon plan was to build a concrete pad that won't break after the first winter. Liberty Concrete was contacted and they said they could deliver enough concrete for a 10' x 8' x 4' volume for $232. We would have to provide the man power to pour the concrete. Liberty Concrete can only schedule 2 days in advance. The interested parties said they would follow up with a plan to make it happen.

Automating Member Payments

• Since the Secretary is the one manually updating memberships, the Secretary needs to get off his duff and meet with both Caroline and Carissa about setting up PayPal with SalesForce. Once they have a proposal it can be brought to the board.

Community Interest in Tech Startup Space

• There is renewed community interest in making a Tech startup maker space. Unlike previous discussions, this one might have money behind it. In the past the Des Moines Partnership has wanted to be in charge of whatever maker space they get involved with. We here at Area 515 have always been fiercely independent, and so a partnership with us hasn't worked out.

• Maple Ventures is a local organization that works to grow startups that already have 50-100 employees. The renewed interest is in making an organization that works to grow startups that have around 1-50 employees

• Several buildings have been proposed for the new startup space: on Gray's Landing there are two 20-30k sqft buildings that are empty. Currently they're slated for demolition.

• It should be noted that our landlord, Jerry's business is growing enough that it may need more space soon. This means we won't be able to rent any additional space from him. He has said that he won't kick us out though.

Miscellaneous

• Some members have blocked doors, space around doors needs to be kept clear.

• Caroline fixed one of the 3D printers

• Caroline is also testing the Prusa Multi Material Upgrade (MMU) for member readiness.

End of Meeting

• "Brad, you'll have to ask the Secretary to see the previous minutes." - President

• "We'll know the pod people have taken over Brad if there's no jokes." - President referring to meeting minutes

• "The duct tape worked!" - Tom, noting that the Secretary's screaming children could not be heard over Google Meet.

• In discussing how our fellow maker space to the North is moving up in the world... "Didn't they already move down [from an attic to a basement]?" "They could be on a hill."