BoardMeeting202308

Board Meeting: August 20, 2023

Time & Location

• Meeting Located virtually on Big Blue Button
• 4:00 PM

Attending

Board: Issac M, Billy H, Jondale S, Russell P, Sean S, Tracy H, Sue J, Bryan H.

Minutes

• Sue's financial update
  • Started spending for the next grant yay!
  • Turns out our monthly dumpster fee goes up every time gas prices go up :/
• Grant updates - we're spending on Phase 2 Grant
  • Issac submitted grant application to ORNL for the AV system - we should hear back by "late this month"
• New Member update - 332 members
• Website wording - Issac said he would work with Billy and then did not and feels appropriately guilty about this
• Mayor's Maker Council update - mostly talked about the issue that local makers have with not being able to find studio space
  • Why tax breaks for developers making more housing and no tax incentives for closed business properties?
  • Sean's assignment is ending this month and Jondale is taking over as our Mayor's Maker Council rep
• Maker Faire update
  • It's not really going to be a Maker Faire but hopefully something smaller in conjunction with the Dogwood Arts Festival
  • We want to focus on teaching small classes in our booths since that is not something DAF does.
  • Meeting with Dogwood to hopefully solidify things.
• Fall Market
  • We sent out the signup and immediately had huge uptake
  • Jondale had to make a script to invoice everyone they were coming in so fast
• Transforming Western - Lisa is asking us to put out the next step toward our commitment to this
  • We really still have no idea what is being offered to us so :woman_shrugging:
  • Things continue to be wishywashy
• Should we allow KM members that have left us in good standing be allowed to stay on Mattermost for a small fee?
  • Should we put it as an option on the pay page? No
  • Is $5/mo appropriate? Sure
  • Would it be full Mattermost? Yeah
• Sue wants to hire new cleaners - trying to get a better price
  • Sue found a place called "Cleaning With Integrity" for the bathroom, "break room", kitchen area, and classroom - once a week - for less money
  • It seems too good to be true but lets do it?
  • (For the newer members - it may seem confusing that we are paying a cleaner when we rely so heavily on volunteers. In the past we have had janitorial services for the restroom. And we didn't want to make our members clean the toilet - blech)
• Issac has a crazy new idea from Tracy!
  • Issac wants the board to be more egalitarian so maybe we could pass the responsibility of chairing the board meetings around between other board members
  • Tracy agrees with her own idea
  • We don't have to decide today but we should think about it and make the board generally to spread things more evenly
• The foundation is freaking caving in in the Woodworking area! :(
  • It is real scary
  • Issac sent those to MT to talk to the owners about it - they will send someone to look at it
• Jondale converted us to KUB fiber! Yay! He is happy with it - it is faster and cheaper than what we were using.
  • We should make sure it's on battery backup, and also investigate the modem
• Other maintenance issues?
  • Lighting situation - its more hassle to swap a light out with an LED but at least then there is no maintenance ever again
  • We need to avoid the murder basement vibe
  • It was discussed in the czar meeting the idea of putting stripey tape on the floor to indicate walkways so people don't store crap there
• Next board meeting - September 24, 2023 at 4pm

Votes

• Voted during czar meeting to allow Gabe to post classes directly to the website
• Voted unanimously to allow alumni members in good standing to keep their Mattermost Access for the token amount of $5
• Voted unanimously to try out this new cleaning company