Board Meeting for October 30, 2014
- Minutes
- Original Agenda

Board Meeting for October 30, 2014

Minutes

Meeting Time: 6:30pm
Location: Meeting Room, Lenox

5 minute time limit per highest-level bullet point.
All members are welcome to attend, and non-board members can join the conversation when invited.

These are items that were not addressed during the previous week's Board Meeting.
Meeting began late at 6:55

Policies and Procedures

6:55 - Dremel tools donation

History
- Dremel gave away several tools to various people from Maker Faire.
- Most of the recipients were members and the tools were brought back to the Makerspace.
- Members on the Maker Faire Planning Committee elected to give BBCM some of the donated tools received during a meeting on 9/30/14.
- BBCM received less than half of the entire donation; specifically (1) Combo pack (one Saw-Max, one Multi-Max, one Dremel 3000), (1) 110-piece accessory kit, and (1) Moto-Saw Scroll Saw.
- This was not originally presented to the full Board of Directors and was called into question one month later.
Tiffany indicated that she was concerned about the lack of communication between Board Members and not that BBCM received the tools. Previous BOD discussions have emphasized keeping others informed and this was a failure on the part of the Board.
Vishal and others retrieved all of the Dremel tools being stored in the IT Closet and the BOD took inventory during the meeting. All items were accounted for except for possibly a Dremel drill press which we cannot confirm receiving.
Brant asked if other Board Members had known the details of the donation. Dan was not fully aware of the decision.
Lance agreed communication could have been clearer inform everyone on BOD.
Tiffany raised the concern that Dremel tools are too dirty to be used in the Craft Lab. Lexie was present and indicated that Rich P., Karen, and herself would like one regardless.
Tiffany suggested the tools be placed in a dedicated Dremel Tool Area. Others suggested asking Dremel specifically to sponsor such an area. The idea was not pursued further at this time.
It was agreed that some tools would be placed with the other power tools on shelves in the West Room. Some extra cutting discs and accessories were put back into the IT Closet for storage until needed.

7:15 - Proxy voting discussion

During this year's Board Elections, there was some disagreement and confusion regarding Proxy Voting. The Board began discussing its utility and wondered if it was necessary.
The Board's opinions vary on whether or not Proxy Voting is useful. Some members
Brant and others noted that Proxy Voting is allowed per our By-Laws and would require a vote of the whole membership to change it.
Tiffany asked if she could email the membership and ask if they want to continue allowing proxies. The group discussed whether or not the email should be sanctioned by the BOD. After further discussion, Brant offered to send the email, on Tiffany's behalf, as a member and not as a representative of the Board.
Tiffany asked that the email be written in an unbiased way in order to not show favor for one side or the other. Brant took no exception to this request.

7:28 - Ordering more business cards and stickers

VOTE: All six Board Members present agreed to repeat the same sticker order as last time.
Brant asked who else wanted business cards. Lance, Vishal, and Tiffany all asked for them. Dan noted he had just been handing out the general business card without a name on it. Brant agreed that's what he's done lately too. Tiffany noted that she has found it hard to write on the cards when someone requests her email address.
Brant agreed to proceed with pricing 250 business cards per person. Tom did not believe they would be more than $10 per person.

7:35 - Area Champions Discussion

During last week's meeting the BOD briefly discussed better defining the responsibilities and authority of Area Champions, but the meeting ran long so it was tabled until this meeting.
Tiffany asked to form a committee to get feedback from Members and Area Champions on their experiences and suggestions. She noted part of this idea came from discussions with Charles.
Tiffany proposed that Area Champions determine how much money their areas receive and then create budgets. Brant and DanJ noted that this has been tried in the past with little success. Dan indicated he was the only Area Champion that ever submitted a budget to DavidB.
Tom and Lance noted that Members don't need BOD approval to meet with others and brainstorm or draft proposals.
Lance noted that he wants to create a questionnaire for Area Champions that would challenge them to think of ways to improve their areas or address concerns from Members better.
Tiffany indicated she would like to have ways to hold Area Champions accountable and give them structure.
Lance, Tom, Dan, and others briefly discussed the process of picking Area Champions and agreed it has not been very well defined.
Tiffany said that donation boxes should be used to determine how often a particular area is being used. Lance and Brant raised concerns about donation boxes not being a valid indicator of space use or popularity. Tiffany noted that donations could be used to better justify the BOD matching funds for purchases and creating budgets to work within. Tom and Dan reiterated that budgets have been requested from Area Champions previously.
Dan felt that everything Tiffany is proposing can be accomplished with the status quo and cited crowdfunding has been successful in paying for consumables.
Tiffany stated that Members have been requesting things but aren't getting them.
Dan suggested we educate others and maybe better define what people's options are. He added we should make sure others are aware of the processes currently in place.
Brant asked Tiffany who specifically has been making requests and what they have been asking for. Tiffany became frustrated and stated that Adrian, JonH, Falcon and others have asked for supplies and tools but she was afraid the Board would reject their requests. The group was confused as to why that was assumed, but continued the conversation.
Tiffany added that ultimately she would like to see a more formal process for requests.
VOTE: Tom asked for a vote to grant Tiffany permission to form a committee and proceed to the next topic. All six members present voted yes.

Check on progress of Member Projects

7:55 - 4×8 CNC Plasma Cutter
- JoeR was not present to give an update, but Tom noted he has been asking JoeR about it and BobK has been helping with the Z-Axis.
4×8 CNC Router
- SteveP was not present, but had spoken with Lance earlier.
- Steve indicated he plans to have the CNC Route ready by January 1, 2015
DanJ asked what happens if Steve or Joe don't meet their self-imposed deadlines. The group tabled the discussion for another time.
Kuka
- Lance read the update MattN sent to the BOD via email
- Matt was present during this part of the discussion
- Lance asked Matt when the project would be complete. Lance defined “complete” as having two members ready to train others on it and documentation saved on the wiki
- Matt did not have a date set, but agreed to determine one by the next Board Meeting
- Lance asked if there were any particular obstacles currently and Matt said that he had received a quote for a professional spindle at $3500
David H. requested space for “Misty Field” project
- Brant noted parts and supplies for this are currently being stored in the Craft Lab bar.
- Tiffany indicated there is no floor space available right now in the East Room; either to rent to others or to create an Impound Lot for red ticketed items.
- The group discussed ways to clear out the East Room more. Vishal, Tiffany and Dan noted that the Nerdy Derby track could be stored elsewhere. Vishal asked who owns the track, Lance and others indicated DavidB, PeteP, and others collectively own it.
- Vishal noted BBCM and a STEM group in Kenosha would like to use it throughout the year. Dan suggested we create a calendar to plan when it is needed.
- Vishal noted that since BBCM helped repair it, he would like to ensure they have access to it when they want it. BBCM also has space to store it if needed.
- Vishal offered to champion the storing the track and he would try to remove it from the Makerspace by the end of month.
- The Board agreed to move the track parts into the Kuka Room immediately following the meeting. This would help free floor space in the East Room.
- Lance, Tiffany, and Brant also discussed using the Vinyl Cutter to label the parts or possibly creating straps to transport the track better.
8:05 - Tiffany asked who owns the parade float scooter. Tom replied it was the Makerspace's. Tiffany suggested we explore other ways to store it.
Tiffany asked for permission to email and remind members to label their storage and projects. The group agreed.
Lance asked that Tiffany also remind members not to store things in front of the garage door or in pathways.
8:07 - RA-1F Vertical Mill
- Tom said that he expects 1-2 weeks to clean out the case and make some repairs.
- Tom expected the mill to be available by the end of the year; possibly end of November.
- Dan indicated that a guest on a tour knew someone who is experienced on this sort of CNC mill.
- Brant asked if a wiki page has been created yet. No one knew.
8:09 - Rich H. requested space for machine shop desk/tooling
- Brant noted Rich's lockers have a signed green parking permit currently so they are good for 4 weeks until we find space for him.
- Brant asked if Rich plans to bring tools for public or personal use. Tiffany said she already spoke with him and he plans to rent space. Tiffany asked him to reduce the footprint from 50 SF from 80 so it could fit back in the Vault Hallway. Tiffany noted she also mentioned it on the message boards.
- Vishal asked if we approved it, but Tom and Lance noted that if a member is renting floor space there is no need for the Board to vote.
- Tom, Lance and Tiffany discussed starting a waiting list for floor space if necessary.
- Tiffany thinks the whole Project Storage portion of the wiki is out of date and needs to be updated. She asked if she could get help editing the wiki and both Lance and Dan offered.
- Brant asked if we could just plan to compare the wiki and storage spots once each month. Tiffany said doing a monthly inventory of everyone's storage was too much work.
- Tiffany, Lance, and Brant discussed ways to get members to update the wiki themselves. Brant suggested distributing slips of paper with the wiki page URL on it.
- Lance and Tiffany discussed possibly making a rule that someone can't claim a storage space until the wiki is updated. No decision was made at this time.
- Tiffany noted the inventory got screwed up while she was away on vacation for two weeks over the summer. She added that the wiki doesn't even include all the areas where things are being stored currently.

Check on progress of Building Topics/Projects

8:15 - Progress on moving people out of East Room, implementing rate increases
- MattN indicated he would be completely moved into the Vault Hallway by Friday or Saturday.
- Matt asked if carts had to fit under pallet racking. The group agreed yes, but Lance and Tiffany noted some carts don't exactly meet this. Tiffany added that there are more carts than cart parking available and she needs help clearing floor space under racks. She asked Dan to help start with the area around his pallet space.
- Vishal brought up ChrisH's idea to get rid of pallet racking in favor of more shelves. The group discussed it some, but no decision was made at this time.
- Tom suggested a waiting list be started for the pallet racking as well.
8:24 - Tiffany asked about possibly eliminating pallet storage rules that had been grandfathered in.
- Some members were allowed to keep full pallet spaces after the BOD lowered member dues and reduced the amount of storage some members were given in March.
- Brant and Dan expressed concern changing rules that had been declared grandfathered in and asked for more input from the members.
- Vishal, Dan, and Tiffany discussed which members this would affect and noted some members who had been offered the additional space weren't using it or didn't want it.
- The group agreed to table the discussion until another meeting.

Other

8:26 - Snow Removal
- Adrian has requested quotes for service from four companies, no word yet.
- Tom and Lance asked who we used last year. Brant said it was Angel Lawn Service and he would send their contact info to Adrian.
- Lance noted there is snow in the forecast for Friday. Both Dan and Lance planned to be at the building and could spread salt if necessary.
8:27 - Vendor Endorsements
- Brant made a note on the wiki that Tom suggested we add Harrison Metals on our website. Tom clarified that this was with respect to Maker Faire, but we could consider it for Makerspace as well.
- The group discussed the merits of adding someone to our vendor list versus adding their logo to our front page and other options.
- Tom asked if Harrison was included on our wiki vendors list. No one knew.
- The group agreed that a blog post or testimonials about local businesses were more appropriate and temporary than adding logos or endorsing them specifically. The group also noted thanking a group or company was different than endorsing or advertising for them.
- Tom noted AG Computers should be taken off our website as they are no longer in business.
- The Board also considered Rasterweb, but noted they do host the Reminderbots and other software. No decision was made.
- The link from Makerspace's page to the Maker Faire site was briefly noted, but no one objected to keeping it as-is.
- Dan mentioned his company has commissioned some monogrammed pens and asked if it would be OK for him to bring some in. He did not think it was likely anyone at the Space would ever work in the same field where they would need to purchase his firm's products. The Board seemed generally agreeable and one member even exclaimed 'yay, free pens!'
8:31 - Adoption of Official BOD Seal
- VOTE: Brant proposed an official seal be adopted for the Board and six members voted to approve.
- Tiffany jokingly asked if we should order some stickers with the seal in our next order. Lance and Dan asked if we could mint our own coins. Tiffany added we could give our minted coins to people “caught being good.”
8:33 - Trash Pickup
- Tiffany noted that the cans were full inside the building when she arrived Thursday and that we were getting ants in the Wash Sink Room. Tom proposed a vote to remove the microwave and toaster oven from the building, but no one took him seriously.
- Tiffany asked Lance to remind members more often to take out the trash on Tuesdays. Brant indicated he had seen Adrian and Bob and others empty cans on Tuesday night, but they must have filled back up after then.
- Tom and others suggested we upgrade to bigger dumpster. We have a 2-yard unit right now, and we could consider getting a 4-yard.
- VOTE: Tom called for a vote and six members voted to approve an upgrade on the condition that it is less a $25 increase per month. If it is more, Brant will let the group know and reconsider.

High school project being done here, Tom asked Tiffany about it She was in on Tuesday, dad will sign up to be a member if they do it

Adoption of Official BOD Seal/Logo? (added by Brant)

Original Agenda