Board Meeting - August 18, 2013

Board Meetings
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Date: August 18th, 2013

Time: 1:00 pm

Location: Anchor Building, 2929 Spring Grove Ave.

Attendees

• Board Members
  • Jon Neal
  • Ian Wilson
  • Craig Smith
  • Dave Menninger
  • Tiffany Bell-Horwath

• Other attendees
  • Mike Horwath (Secretary)
  • Elly Hall

Minutes

• Ian: Introduction for the new board members
  • Structure of board meetings fairly informal
  • We will check our mission statement, and whether we are following it
  • Board talks about things and brings up potential changes to the members for votes
  • Board does not actually make changes on its own.

• Ian: mission statement: "The corporation's mission is to promote technology through education and collaboration."
• Jon: we may not be following the "education" part very well
  • Discussion followed...It would be good to have more training for tools etc
  • Ian: agreed, we need more centralized training.
  • For welder, laser cutter, 3D printing--should have accessible training
  • Formal classes, or self based learning with checkout test, would be OK
  • The more educated the members are, the less damage/maintenance we need to deal with
  • Tiffany: could we have procedures written up and available? Put them on the wiki?
  • Dave: we have a defined curriculum for the laser
    • it's on google docs in the hive13 account
  • Tiffany: we could also do videos. I took one for welding class. We could have some for tools.
  • Mike: Tiffany and I can work with "expert" members on making some training manuals

• More discussion followed of options for videos and training.
  • Ian: should this be on the wiki or somewhere else?
  • Jon: not a fan of wiki, annoying markup, wiki is kinda cluttered
  • Whoever wants to do the work, put it up where you want!
  • We need to start asking people who know the stuff to make the tutorials!
  • Jon: video alone is not ideal, content not searchable,
  • Dave: we should follow up at every meeting to get this done.
  • Start with a top 5 list
    • laser cutter: already partly documented
    • Welder
    • 3D printer
    • Wood shop (General)-- focus on table saw+band saw
    • Meta/Man pages for hive--light switches etc
      • where does trash go
      • fridge/kitchen rules
      • how to edit the wiki
      • how to put things on hive google calendar etc
      • hive13 google group--how to deal with it.
      • Who deals with the HIVE13 network and phone system

• More discussion followed concerning keeping track of membership etc.
  • Ian is implementing a CRM system to keep track of membership and payments
  • Membership forms are being scanned and put in the system.
  • Ian: Jim has recommended we post up who we are on the wall of the hive. Mugshots of the board etc.
  • Ian: let's get some people listed as contacts for people to call.

• Ian: we will be making a new key for the breaker room.

• Conversation about our rental of the anchor building
  • We have a yearly lease.
  • There's still some leaks, even though roof was fixed
  • landlord/mananger is hard to get hold of
    • Garden street bought this building a while back...
    • If Garden street decides to knock down anchor building, we will talk to 3CDC and get a new space!
    • Dave: found the owner of Garden street: Earl Webber 513-721-4660

• Ian: New bylaws are typed up, and should go on the wiki.

• We let one 16yr old become a member, sort of, even though bylaws say 18+
  • Consensus was, he should be able to be here with supervision only
  • He's been here on his own...Solution is coming up: card access only, get rid of old door codes.

• Jon: would be helpful to increase the $$ coming in to be a techshop-caliber group
  • Ian: propose to increase the E-LITE membership cost, keep student the same.
    • Full members get 24/7 access, E-LITEs are supposed to only be here when there's other members.
    • Open/Close switch is a good indicator to allow E-LITE members to know when someone's here
    • Possibly increase E-LITE to $25 a month?--will discuss this at tuesday meeting

• We are having some issues with space--for projects and materials
  • Jon: Pallet racks have been good, we should get more
  • We could get used ones much cheaper than new.
  • New racks would include more storage for member projects.
  • Could get more big shelves for ~$250 each.
  • In bylaws, only full members get project storage space.

• More discussion followed of membership issues..
  • Ian: don't want it to become a group of the have and have-nots.
    • artificial limits not great for community
  • Jon: could change to only one membership type at $50 a month
    • Allow members to request lower payment if $50 is too difficult
    • Service to the Hive (donations, hours spent, etc) can also replace normal dues
  • Some of the E-LITE members only come on Tuesdays for social aspect--doesn't make sense to charge them that much..
  • Tiffany: would rather just bring it up to $25 for now, then evaluate how membership chnages
  • Ian will start this discussion at the next meeting.
  • Note: Membership addendum can changed without changing bylaws

• Craig: TechBus!
  • Peterbilt is most likely going to make it, but they will not sponsor us
  • Potential sponsors will want to know volunteer hours etc. or our organization
  • They typically want a business plan.
  • What stuff will the bus actually have?
    • 3D printers
    • Laptops, squid server, wireless
    • soldering and electronics supplies
      • extra ventilation for soldering
    • Raspberry Pie workstations on multiple student desks
    • individual lighting for desks
    • Sympodium for the teacher. "it rocks"
    • wheelchair accessible.
    • Microscope for bio slides?
    • full-body skin wrap (for the bus)
    • No bathroom, no water system.
  • Ian has questions:
    • Where are we going to park it? (Craig: at the schools all the time)
    • Who's driving it? Hire a driver, or have people get CDL's? (Either could work)
  • Will be mostly for high schoolers.
  • Secretary (Mike) will help write up business plan
  • Discussion of possible funding sources
    • Ian suggested: Scripps Foundation
    • NSF? USDA? State of Ohio?

• Dave: Continuance of Existence Form probably needs to be filled out.
  • We need to get this sent in between now and next July.

• Do we want to start making some tax-free purchases for the hive?
  • Digikey, adafruit, etc will give us moderate discounts
  • Can make in-state purchases tax free