Minutes:10 APR 2024 Members Meeting Agenda

Meeting begins:

Meeting ends:

Participants:

Agenda

• Announcements/new business - 10m
• Operations
• Financial
• Membership
• Outreach
• Education

Minutes

• Announcements/new business:
  • Discuss who is in board chat / planning room

• Operations:
  • PC upgrades:
    • Nate found a mini-PC in the box by the network rack -- machine posts, appears to be decent Ryzen 5 machine, 8GB, only lacking m.2 SDD drive. Could be a good replacement for the laser or public PC.
      • If we get this one running, then we should only need one more "modern" machine to be in a relatively good spot.
      • Robyn might have an m.2 drive?
  • Access control (interior and exterior): - Nate Y.
    • Interior door is good to go -- could use some wiring cleanups (will be easy once we remove the legacy system)
      • Timeline to sunset the legacy entrance system? How do we make this clean so members who haven't been around in a while don't get locked out? Member news blast, reminders to meet Nate/others who have been trained on how to add users at Repairsdays/Open Hours, any other things?
    • Remaining needs for exterior door:
      • Coordination with Oxford for card reader installation (Oxford should do this)/camera installation (we should be able to do the camera install ourselves)
      • Select a suitable (i.e. PoE, tamper-resistant) camera to monitor the external door
      • Reroute existing ethernet run(s) from the far bathroom back over to the external door reader. Nate believes there are two old ethernet lines we can reroute.
      • Need to ensure port capacity on the switch for two more PoE devices (access controller and camera)
  • Elections - Sarah B. & James K.
    • Initial email to announce that nominations are open was sent
    • Will send a reminder email on the 15th
    • Have two certain nominations (Robyn & Joe), one 'if needed' nomination (Nate)
      • Have bios from Robyn & Joe, need one from Nate
      • Will announce Robyn & Joe soon, probably tomorrow some time
  • LaunchX planning - July 1st-26th - Joe D.
    • safety briefing/tour?
    • Have we finalized any arrangement with them?
  • Plea for help: small tasks and other low-hanging fruit - Nate Y.
    • Reaching out to new members in a timely fashion
    • Responding to emails in a timely fashion
    • How do we get simple tasks done more quickly when folks are feeling overloaded?
  • Sticker re-order? - David G.
    • 5/10/2022 order was $222.17-33.33=$200.17 for 500 3x3 die cut circles
• Financial:
  • Financial Position: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U_IURRK7QLhnVKWiRDk4u64dw7JJ2WuK/view?usp=sharing
  • Financial Activity: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M8axPee9qlmCH8ajU5dZQKTJLn3bK7ZE/view?usp=sharing
  • Monthly financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fCZ2j8G5ZXTxQlR_fnR_BoUldrVSsgBDnbztHpAYgGw/edit?usp=sharing
  • Accountant/tax advice/Payroll solutions - Joe D.
    • Joe's solution: try doing paperwork ourself with payroll service. Switch to CPA if its overwhelming; needs review (fwded to board)
      • Artisan market starts 4/7
    • Setup will be a big job either way. Management may not be that much work.
    • This needs at least two people.
    • https://docs.google.com/document/d/15guo7zZOTvUhtWUuEZ3JxxUewXUzQSMBxMrQysdqxFo/edit?usp=sharing
  • Taxes all done for 2023, how-to process updated on the wiki here: Finances#Taxes
    • James K. to add further info from screen-share on how to do Sales Tax?
  • What to do about 2025 rent negotiations with Oxford? - Nate Y.
    • Latest proposal: five-year lease, one month rent abatement, $12.68/sqft/yr. with $0.50/sqft/yr. increase each year after the first. Last chance for discussion/input!
  • SBA disaster loan repayments starting in April, need to make sure more than just Nate is aware of how to do this - Nate Y.
    • Nate tried to get an account set up to repay this, but the SBA is asking him to email or fax his SSN and driver license to them on official letterhead. Faxing seems the least-worst of the two options, but need to locate a fax machine or other service to do it.
    • Should Nate even be the person to do this? - James K.
  • Other action items:
    • Send thank you for $500 donation
    • Generate activity on our account so it doesn't get $5 stolen from it each month
• Membership:
  • Membership tracking
    • Nate set up Appsmith -- next steps? - James K.
• Outreach:
  • Future grants?
    • Free-form MEDC grant - James K./Ben N.
    • SA²T (Sustaining Ann Arbor Together) - Sarah B./Nate Y.
      • Will start January 1st
    • SPARK cooperation, can we give them more bang for their buck? - David G.
  • Upcoming events:
    • Penguicon/Hackerspace Party -- Evening/early morning of 4/25 - 4/27 (setup afternoon of 4/24; teardown late morning 4/27)
    • AACME (May 5th 11am-3pm @ AADL Downtown) -- submitted application; will do CNC portraits, LED art, button maker (possibly?)
      • Need to figure out staffing still... Nate Y. is open to any help!
    • A2Zero week - June 9th-14th https://www.a2gov.org/departments/sustainability/Newsletter-Events/a2zero-week/Pages/default.aspx-- various circular economy-themed events around Ann Arbor
      • Will be hosting extended Repairsday hours on 6/13 (5pm-9pm), and stamping visitors' A2zero passports
      • A2 Summer Fest Annex tent on the evening of 6/15 -- tentatively doing solar-powered CNC portraits, although lighting under the tent was an issue last time. If we want to do something else, need to decide before 5/1!
        • Need to finalize staffing for both events.
    • Art Fair (July 18th-20th @ E. Liberty St. close to AHA) - missed initial application period so no double booths left, can still potentially get two singles.
      • Fees paid for single 6'x6' booth. We are on a waiting list in case a 10'x10' booth opens up, or a second 6'x6' booth remains vacant. Will know more by Jun. 1st.
      • Create staffing schedule
      • Let's come up with some activity ideas (CNC portraits on a postcard? others?).
        • donations?
    • Crowd Supply Teardown (June 21-23, Portland OR) -- can get free tickets from Helen
  • Future goals & pitch deck - Sarah B.
    • Come up with 3-5 year goals for the pitch deck
    • use long term planning channel for brainstorming -- Sarah B. will seed with gathered ideas
  • schmooze cruise - everyone reach out to 3 people and ask for donations, and/or attend events to promote AHA! and our fundraiser
  • Cahoots - James K.
    • very 2-3 happy hours
    • Bob Ross-style soldering workshop (leverage PCBway sponsorship)
    • other workshops where knowledge workers can use hands instead
    • discounted memberships/annual donation
    • 2-3 access cards for staff after orientation in exchange for use of their event space(s)
  • Workantile - James K.
  • Bamboo - James K.
  • Newsletter owners needed
    • Tango tutorials - Sarah B.
    • Zoom during next one? - Sarah B.

• Education:
  • 2024 education goals/classes
    • How to transfer some responsibilities for classes to more people?
    • form own sub-committee?
  • Bonus: DIY fob/badge idea
  • Miniatures class - should be ready by April - Victoria W.
  • Artisan Market events - Starting April 28th with cardboard Swords and Wands. Joe D. is running this activity.
    • Need to hire help for later events
  • Repairsday Road Show/Community Outreach/A2Zero ambassadors
• Communications improvements
  • always-on #general on TV/RPi
  • Matrix vs. Discord?
    • bridging as stopgap?
    • Is this working out for everyone? If so, let's publish links to the other apps on our webpage/new member materials/flyers? Currently there is no easy way to direct users to join via Discord or Slack - Nate Y.
      • General feeling is there's no need to push the other options, but to keep them as alternatives when someone is not happy with Element.