January 2024 - Board Meeting

01/03/2024 - Area 515 Board Meeting

01/03/2024 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

• President: Dave

• Vice President: Jake

• Secretary: Brad

• Director: Carlin

• Director: Jason

• Director: John

Absent:

• Treasurer: Meg

Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting

Vote to approve minutes of December Board meeting

Yes: 6

No: 0

Result: Passed

Space Updates

• The new spindle for the Lead CNC came in today. The VFD for it should come tomorrow.

• The control board for the right-hand laser has shorted out. We are down to just 1 working laser.

• Brad took a look at Jerry's 100W laser. It is compatible with LightBurn software. It has no name brand on it, Jason mentioned there are some companies that buy lasers like that simply for the frame.

• We now have non-profit status with Slack. In so doing they restored all our past conversations and it will store all our future conversations going forward.

• There was a discussion concerning the consequences for a member who broke the Lead CNC, and then a more general discussion about how to deal with people who violate the rules. The idea of a 3 strikes kind of system was mentioned although nothing was decided.

• A member was using the long wooden table in the Metals Shop to cure resin. Metal Shop Stewards agreed that was not acceptable. The idea of getting rid of that table was brought up, but it's proved very handy for the knife makers.

• The Spectralite CNC metal mill is waiting on the large metal mill to become operational so Caroline can make some parts for it.

• Dave mentioned planning an all Tool Steward meeting.

• The value of holding an Orientation class for new members was generally agreed upon by all board members but no definite plans were created.

• Not all new members seem to be signing up for our Google group, so there was some discussion of finding a new way to disseminate information.

• We are having trouble creating a VenMo account for the space since they require a phone number that isn't already tied to them. The idea of purchasing a phone whose number forwards to Google voicemail was floated. Jake said he would look into it.

• Doing Snow Day in January was brought up, but nobody volunteered to spearhead it so that will have to wait for next season.

• Previously the board voted via email to purchase a Synology 224 Nas storage device. It will be a networked file storage drive that also has some improved security features for our computer systems. John and Dave will work on installing it.

Membership Rate Increase

• After some investigation, Brad believes he found a way to raise members' subscription fees without everybody having to cancel their memberships and sign up again. (Note from the future: This was successful for about 2/3rds of the membership.)

• The rest of the subscription prices were calculated by the board, as follows:

  • One person, monthly - $50

  • One person, yearly - $550

  • Two person family, monthly - $75

  • Two person family, yearly - $825

  • Three person family, monthly - $100

  • Three person family, yearly - $1,100

• Brad volunteered to work on implementing the price increase.

3D Printing Fund Going Negative

• The 3D Printing area wants a new Prusa that's $380. Right now there's only about $260 in the 3D Printing fund. Jake requested the board vote to allow the fund to go negative.

Vote to allow the 3D Printing Fund to go negative and reimburse Jake $380 for the new Prusa

Yes: 6

No: 0

Result: Passed

Current Members: 102

• The most recent Open House was very busy.

Possible New Location

• Darin, one of our members, has a boss looking for a new tenant for his building. It's a wide open warehouse space that's about 12,000 square feet. Rent would be about $5500 per month. The space is laid out such that we could readily segment out areas to rent out as storage space. Jake suggested renting out 20' x 20' areas for $500 per month. This would help cover monthly rent. There is more room for parking in front, and more room outside in back of the building.

• Some of the board members are going to tour the space tomorrow at 1pm.

• Our landlord's plans may have also changed. He has said he's in no rush for us to leave.

New Wood Shop Dust Collector

• The Wood Shop Stewards have been considering upgrading the dust collector for months. Jake and Jason have priced out new equipment and would like to pull the trigger on purchasing it.

• The pipes will have to be replaced as well because at their size even if we pull more vacuum through them, the increased air friction will cancel it out.

Vote to spend $3,000 of General Funds money to purchase new Dust Collector and piping.

Yes : 6

No: 0

Result: Passed

Miscellaneous

• Carlin needs to know how much money has been collected for his "In for $10" for the new leather sewing machine.

• Dave said he will resume the "In for $10" for the press brake.

• The space's vacuum cleaner doesn't work very well and a new one should be purchased. John expressed a preference for a bag-less model with a permanent belt and crevice tool. Commercial vacuums start in the $600-700 range. John said he would investigate options and bring them back to the board.

• Jason volunteered to be in charge of the Valentine's Day Board Game Night

Classes

• General consensus that the space should be offering more classes.

• Several members have expressed a desire for a stained glass window making class. One of the members who works with stained glass also expressed an interest in teaching it.

• Carlin said he is willing to teach people welding classes. There was some discussion about whether to charge for this.

• Jason expressed interest in doing another sharpening class.

Meeting Adjourned

• In a discussion about a board member resistant to altering their habits. Person 1 "It's change and that's scary... just ask my dog." Person 2: (Gesturing to the board member) "Yeah, but he almost never poops on the carpet."