August 2023 - Member Meeting

August 26, 2023 - Member Meeting

August 26, 2023 - Member Meeting

Total Number of Full Members Attending: 10 + 3 remotely present + 2 proxy votes

Quorum was reached

Board of Directors Attending:

There will be 2 more events with Christine Clark, Sept. 9 and Nov. 11
Planning to have a community board game night in the next 2 months
The Des Moines Mini Maker Faire will be on Sept 4 from 9am-4pm. The CEC is still looking for volunteers to help staff our booth. We'll be handing out stuff and have activities for the kids. (It's a tumblewings paper airplane - folded piece of paper that floats above a board when you walk with it)
A BBQ/social get-together night was brought up. Alex P volunteered to run this at the next member meeting. (See also Next Member Meeting in this document)
Data has been collected regarding Open House attendees. By the next member meeting the CEC hopes to pull some trends.
- About 4 visitors to the average Open House
- About a 10-15% of those become members
To aid the search for a new location, the CEC will also do a member address survey

Jerry allowed Merck (the company on the other side of the courtyard) to pave our side of the courtyward so the dumpsters could be moved up against our building. Sometimes the Merck van will block access to our space by accident. If this happens just ask them to move it; they're super friendly. Dave is thinking about painting yellow lines to help avoid this.
Wood Shop Stewards report that their stuff feels like it's breaking faster than it can be fixed.
- Both table saws are up and running again
- One of the band saws needs a new blade, and the other needs realigning.
- Something is wrong with Jake's drum sander and Stewards aren't sure if it can be fixed.
The lasers need some work. The control software, specifically the print driver, is getting increasingly buggy. A more thorough update will be presented at the next member meeting.
The TIG is getting used
The Metal Lathe is getting "the crap" used out of it
Brad designed and is assembling new soldering iron holders.

Dave has started sending personal invitations to different members to come to Clean Up days. Attendance has increased significantly.
- At the last Clean Up, wood sheet goods were taken care of. Labeled items were put on a cart, and unlabeled items were tossed out.
- Reminder: Always store your stuff in the designated area with your name on it. Un-named items may be thrown out at any time.
- Additional Reminder: Please do at least 1 chore from the chore list each time you're here. The chore list is posted on the wall by the door.

If someone's stuff is left out somewhere, any member can fill out a Parking Ticket slip for that stuff. Some members didn't know they were available so their use was explained.

Our treasurer has been "a little side tracked" dealing with the birth of her first child so updates are limited.
Originally the $0.50 we charge for soda would both cover the cost of the soda and pay for various small consumables around the space. Now, the 50 cents doesn't even cover the cost of the soda itself. The price will need to increase if we are going to continue offering sodas.
- 12 packs of soda run close to $9 now, which is 75 cents per can.
- Setting up a PayPal QR code to pay for sodas was suggested. Brad said he would look into that.
- When a new batch of sodas come, the Mountain Dew lasts a few days while the Diet Mountain Dew will last for weeks. About the same amount of Diet and regular is ordered, the regular is far more popular. It was requested that we increase the ratio of regular Mountain Dew to Diet.
- Based on our buying habits, we drink a lot of regular Mountain Dew.
- Some members suggested buying more generic brands, but the idea wasn't popular. The fridge can quickly fill up with stuff that isn't drunk.

This was inadvertantly left on the agenda from the last meeting by the Secretary and didn't really happen. I mean, it's being reported here since it was technically mentioned during the meeting so technically I guess it did happen. However, no discussion of Bylaw changes actually took place, so like, it didn't happen. But in the meeting the Secretary still had to explain why it was on the agenda so it kind of happened... You know what? Nevermind.

Troy M requested becoming a Full member. He has been in good standing since he joined in April 2022. He was nominated by multiple Full members.

Vote to promote Troy M to Full Member
Yes: 12
No: 0
Result: Passed

Will be October 21 at 3:00pm
Alex P volunteered to be point person for organizing a BBQ social event for members after the meeting.
Board elections will be held at the next meeting. Directors Ryan and Tom will be stepping down so there will be at least 2 openings. There are 7 position on the Board of Directors, but any number of people can run for election.

When Troy asked to be promoted to Full membership someone responded "I'll vote for you! Hell, I'll vote for you twice!"
Wood Shop Steward Words of Wisdom: "Any time you're doing clean up in the Wood Shop people show up because they're afraid their stuff will get thrown."

Last updated 6 months ago