October 2023 - Member Meeting
October 21, 2023 - Member Meeting
October 21, 2023 - Member Meeting
Total Number of Full Members Attending (including proxy votes): 15
Quorum required 13 Full Members, and so was reached
Board of Directors Attending:
President: Dave
Vice President: Jake
Secretary: Brad
Director: Ryan
Voted by Proxy: Tom & Carlin
Financial Update
We are financially healthy, and operating in the black.
Net income for the year: $2,900
We've spent
$3k on a metal mill
$500 for Zapier automation
$550 for front sign
Monthly expenses
Rent: $1650
Utilities: ~$500
Quickbooks: $30
The amount in our savings was also discussed.
We're still paying for meetup.com. Open House events are listed on that site, but we don't use it for much else. Eventbrite.com was mentioned, but that's gotten much more expensive than it used to be.
The space will be getting a VenMo account. It will allow members to pay for small things like sodas and laser plywood, maybe Tool fees. It will not be used for membership payments as that would require too much work on the automation.
The space will also be getting QR codes that will also help members pay for things like sodas and laser plywood. There will be codes for VenMo and codes for PayPal.
Investment Committee Report
They report that they "should meet again soon."
Some money was moved into a bond.
Although there are many high yield accounts available to people, they aren't available to businesses.
They will look into CD rates.
Moving Possibilities
The Board formed a Building Committee to scope out possible new locations for us to move to.
There is no date by which we need to leave our present location, but our landlord had told us he would like his space back.
We have a sweetheart deal on our rent. Even the cheapest locations we're looking at will cost at least twice per square foot.
One facility was looked at already. It would take a lot of work. If any members know of a place that might work please notify the Board of Directors.
The Board is also looking at options for how to expand. Right now we are an independent organization. We could potentially partner with someone else but that always comes with much greater restrictions on how we can use the space.
We've talked among ourselves about collaborating with colleges. Ideally we could maintain a set of tools for the colleges and also open them for other facilities to use as well.
The CEC will be sending a Member Survey to try to help identify a location that's central to our members.
The board has talked about raising money by writing grants, but grant writing is it's own full time job.
It was said that the way our space works would be very difficult to maintain if we double our membership, volunteer Stewards would be overtaxed.
It was felt that in the past, when the group was smaller, a greater percentage of members were willing to help with the day to day running of the space. Nowadays that percentage seems to be smaller. Members who aren't willing to help to run the space were referred to as "customers".
Establishing a greater variety of membership tiers was discussed. The idea being that members who participate in day to day operations might be charged less.
Membership Fee Discussion & Vote
If we move anywhere, we can pretty much count on doubling the membership fee even to afford the same size space.
Jason suggested charging fees for Storage Cubes. $10/month for the first cube and $100/month for each additional cube.
Since the membership fee hasn't increased since 2016, it was argued that the membership fee should increase if only because of inflation.
When last the rates were raised, there were members who had forgotten they were paying at all and choose to discontinue their membership, although there were not many of them.
Because the space is looking at moving, it was decided that the membership fees would have to be raised anyway, so we might as well raise them now by a reasonable amount.
Vote to increase membership fees to $50 per month, yearly fees to $550, effective January 1, 2024. Note: all yearly memberships will be raised when they renew. (Note: Tool fees are unaffected by this.)
Yes: 12
No: 0
Result: Passed
Members were reminded that a Starving Hacker Rate is available to anyone facing financial hardship.
State of the Space
101 members
New members say they learn of the space by word of mouth, sometimes it's 3 or 4 times removed from the original source. It was suggested that we promote ourselves more.
The idea of posting on school bulletin boards was suggested, although students aren't a large portion of our membership. Posting a flyer at Hobby Haven was also suggested.
Space Work Nights have become a bigger success. It used to be that only 1 or 2 members regularly attended. Recently Dave started sending personal invitations to members to attend and last time about 12 people attended.
CEC Report
We know new members are learning of the space from word of mouth because CEC members have started tracking the tours given at Open Houses. Not tracking any personal information, but tracking how many tours are given, how many people eventually sign up, etc.
CEC members are also giving most of the tours. There are laminated little cards with talking points for anyone who wants to give a tour. There's also a QR code leading to a description of how to join.
A membership survey will soon be coming to all members. The goal is to find what areas of the city are most central to members, in the hopes of looking in those areas for potential new locations. The survey data will be collected anonymously.
A member usage survey will be sent out soon as well.
There will be another social event in the first quarter of next year, perhaps a game night.
CEC now has access to the space's Facebook page. Dave took some pics of people working and they'll be posted so peope know we're still going.
Just as a reminder, any Full member can hold events at the space. The Board just asks that an appropriate day and time be coordinated with others.
It was acknowledged that since the pandemic, our community outreach and education has been lacking.
Tool Area Updates
Wood Shop
Tools seem to be breaking faster than the Stewards can fix them.
The board approved money for a stand alone planer since the current jointer/planer combo frequently gets knocked out of alignment.
Wood Shop area has been consistently cleaner.
Eventually the Stewards want to upgrade the dust collector. The piping will need to be upgraded eventually too.
A system to easily check the dust level in the dust collector was requested.
Lasers
Our lasers need upgrading. Stewards are planning to get a new, beefier CO2 laser first, and eventually a fiber or diode laser.
Vinyl Cutter
Working fine; no news to report.
3D Printers
Jake loaned parts to make the newest Multi Material Unit (MMU) for the Prusas. Caroline is testing the system to see whether or not the space should purchase one for itself. So far it works better than the old MMU. Permanently establishing the new MMU would take up a lot of space in the 3D Printing room.
Electronics
The Steward is planning to clean up the room, throwing away a lot of stuff in the process.
Kudos were given to Brad for designing and building a new generation of soldering iron boxes.
The Steward was also thinking about moving the Vinyl Cutter into the electronics room.
Textiles
Carlin will help start an "In for $10" for a new leather sewing machine. Right now the space has Carlin's machine, and he wants to take it home.
The textiles room will be cleaned up as well.
Metal Shop
The metal mill we purchased needs a special power adapter in order to run. We need to get that before it can be operational.
Ryan brought in a big crate of metal tubing. Anyone can purchase his tubing by the foot for whatever they want to do.
A fancy-shmancy dust cover has been made for the Surface Grinder.
Auto Shop
Is always busier during the winter so please notify Dave in advance if you want to use it.
Please also notify Dave if you find anything missing.
CNCs
Working fine; no news to report.
Vote to Upgrade Supporting Members to Full
No requests were made for this.
Election for Board of Directors
Nominations:
President: Dave Champion
Vice President: Jake Leister
Treasurer: Meg Krajicek
Secretary: Brad Freese
Director: Carlin Al-Andas
Director: John Whiteman
Director: Jason Bentley
Director: Derek Vermeland
Results:
Ballots were cast on sheets of paper, in 2 parts.
Part 1: Since the President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary positions were all running unopposed, Full members voted 'yes' or 'no' to the whole group.
Part 2: Since 4 people were running for 3 general director slots, Full members wrote the names of their top 3 choices for the positions.
The 2023-2024 Board of Directors will consist of
President: Dave Champion
Vice President: Jake Leister
Treasurer: Meg Krajicek
Secretary: Brad Freese
Director: John Whiteman
Director: Jason Bentley
Director: Carlin Al-Andas
(Note: Directors listed in no particular order.)
Next Member Meeting
Will be held on Saturday January 20th at 3:00pm.
Meeting Adjourned
"We do more Bob's Rules than actual Robert's Rules" - President, referring to how meetings are conducted
Did you know? - Because it is very difficult to get parallel columns to look parallel, ancient Greek columns are actually slightly wider in the center to help appear more parallel.
Did you also know? - Very deep sea divers coming in from a job need to spend 30 days in a decompression chamber, during which time they will undergo 60 decompression cycles to gradually readjust their bodies to surface air pressure.
Ryan, speaking about what he'll do now that he's no longer on the Board of Directors: "I'll still help out." "Yes you will! We'll drag you down here again!" - John W
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