[Noisebridge-discuss] Meeting notes for 2010-06-29
jim
jim at well.com
Wed Jun 30 14:26:36 UTC 2010
good notes, thanks.
On Tue, 2010-06-29 at 22:48 -0700, Seth David Schoen wrote:
> June 29, 2010
>
> Moderator: Al
> Note-taker: Seth
>
> * Introductions
>
> * Treasurer's report.
>
> We have $9,000 but we owe about $1,500. So we have about $7,500.
> That is only about half of the amount of money we aim to have in
> the bank at all times.
>
> Q. Are we still losing money month-to-month?
> A. Yes, though not this month, exceptionally, because of a corporate
> matching gift.
>
> Q. How much do we normally lose?
> A. About a thousand dollars a month.
>
> Q. At the worst point, we were losing $1,000 but the amount we're
> losing has decreased.
> A. It hasn't necessarily decreased.
>
> It appears that we would not have this financial trouble if all
> members would pay their dues. Pay your dues!
>
> * What's going on at Noisebridge.
>
> Spacebridge might need a hardy desert explorer to retrieve their
> most recent payload from an extremely inaccessible desert canyon.
> Beware of heat exhaustion.
>
> * Happy birthday to Will!
>
>
> Consensus items
> ---------------
>
> * Consensus item: Spending freeze for nonrecurring items. No more
> spending on things that are not rent or utilities.
>
> - E.g. there is a concern about the buildout budget (which may still
> be in effect).
>
> Q. What are the nonrecurring items in question?
>
> A. E.g. shirts and stickers.
>
> Q. Would this interfere with Noisebridge's ability to accept
> earmarked donations?
>
> A. We already can't take earmarked donations because the legal
> reporting requirements would be too burdensome. If you want to
> donate a particular item to Noisebridge, you should buy the item
> yourself and donate it.
>
> Q. Can we have a way to override this spending-freeze restriction
> if we agree to this proposal?
>
> A. Right now if you want Noisebridge to spend money on something,
> you generally need to get consensus. However, we've already approved
> certain items in the past, such as further construction work, and so
> this item would rescind our approval for those things. However, this
> item should not change the procedure for future expenditures.
>
> Q. We should have an easier way to approve tiny expenses like toilet
> paper.
>
> A. People can take petty cash from the drink donations, buy the
> toilet paper, and leave the receipts behind where the donations
> were.
>
> Q. How about "until Noisebridge is cash-flow positive and has
> three months' expenses in the bank"?
>
> Q. Who came up with this consensus item?
>
> A. Jeffrey.
>
> Q. What are the monthly recurring expenses?
>
> A. PG&E, water, rent, Internet access, insurance [annual], garbage.
>
> A. We could also refer to $100 for "facilities" (e.g., soap and
> toilet paper) which are sometimes purchased from petty cash.
>
> New text (for consensus next week): Noisebridge shall require consensus
> for any non-monthly recurring expenses (enumerated) until the time that
> we are cashflow positive and have three months' expenses in the bank.
>
>
> * Consensus item: Funding buildout of dirty shop. Doors, sound
> insulation, and previous buildout expenses.
>
> The proponent of this item withdraws it.
>
>
> Consensus items for next week
> -----------------------------
>
> * Proposal to spend $40 for dinner for Five Minutes of Fame.
>
> * Assistant treasurer position.
>
> Bylaws allow us to create assistant officers with the same powers as
> the officers they assist. Jeffrey proposes making Al assistant or
> associate treasurer. Or "the other treasurer". This would split the
> burdens of this task. This is not proposed for consensus next week
> since it's a large change, but should be a consensus item for two
> weeks from now (July 13 meeting).
>
> Q. What the effect on our insurance rates be?
>
> A. We pay about $600 for directors' and officers' insurance so it
> seems like it would be around $70 more, assuming it's a fixed
> amount per person. We can find out.
>
> Q. Treasurer's job is the only one with real work, so it would be
> good to be able to split it.
>
> This could be considered two consensus items:
>
> (1) To tell the board to create the position of assistant treasurer.
> (2) To tell the board to appoint Al to this position.
>
> Q. Has this been discussed with the board?
>
> A. Only with a few people, since the board isn't supposed to have
> power to act without consensus.
>
> * Learn You A Origami group.
>
> Potentially will be starting at Noisebridge.
>
> (Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. there is an origami group called Bay Area
> Rapid Folders, which meets at a library, not at Noisebridge.)
>
> * Large-format printer. Now available. Try to test or fix it if
> you're interested.
>
> * July 30 fundraising dinner for Noisebridge.
>
> Quirk wants to know how many people will attend. This dinner will
> occur on July 30 because Noisebridge needs money.
>
> * How many people are interested in attending a meeting tomorrow to
> discuss revising membership procedures?
>
> None.
>
> * People who are going to HOPE?
>
> The Next HOPE. 3500 people in New York City. See thenexthope.net.
>
> * Mission Science Workshop for kids this summer. You can participate.
> http://www.missionscienceworkshop.org/ <mariolh at gmail.com>
>
> * Biotech group.
>
> Frantisek is organizing a biotech group.
>
> Q. What is the group going to do?
> A. Food culturing: yogurt, kombucha. And working on designing
> equipment that would be useful for biotech projects.
>
> Q. Would it be appropriate to call this "food hacking" instead?
> A. Maybe.
>
> * Elevator.
>
> The elevator wasn't working today. And someone had turned down the
> volume of the walkie-talkie and then people ignored it when it was
> called. Please remember to close the elevator doors and please don't
> ignore the walkie-talkie.
>
> * Membership binder
>
> Names were read; there are no new members today.
>
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