Minutes:16 Mar 2015 Board Meeting Agenda

• Meeting attendees: Ken L., Nate Y., Zach S., Larry W., Nick R., John H., Aaron B.
• Meeting starts at: 19:00
• Meeting ends at: 20:13

Old Business

Action Item Status

• Updated Membership Forms for Household membership (Drafts sent to Board for review, subscription option already added to home page) - Larry
• Inventory Status - Nate Y.

- about 1/3 done, electronics, loud room, and craft area need to be done.

• Need to finish sales tax by end of Feb - Zach

- Sales tax filing done, we owe nothing.

• Comcast and DTE now autopayment - Zach

- Done

• Lease scanned into Google Drive - Zach

- Done

(10 min) Financial - Zach S.

• February 2015 P&L - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vwdj-7eWq4HJnyRgNn2EsVXO68Qn-0pU9aED2RG8gfM/edit?usp=sharing
  • We're breaking even thanks to donations

• • Should we consider downgrading Comcast?

- Comcast seems a little high, probably two months' worth. Zach is going to check the invoice to make sure it's not super expensive.

• • What were the Amazon purchases?

- Larry used AHA funds to buy (4) new Arduino Uno's to rebuild kits and additional soldering equipment.

• AMF Nano Situation - Zach S. to resolve
• Need to start working on income tax filing (due May)

(20 min) Governance - Ken

• Membership Update (Larry W.)

- Gained 8 members since February!

- AMF given two weeks to pay balance or vacate.

• Review Updated Membership Forms

- Major change is household member-related, updates to the process to use Monthly Task List.

• Elections coming up in April

- Important dates: 3/23 - Board nomination period starts, 4/13 - Board nomination period ends, 4/23 - Board Elections

- A couple of membership behavior issues have been officially resolved.

(10 min) Facilities - Nick

• Working on the urinal!

- Missing a part still, doesn't really flush.

- Laser cable guide lubed so it doesn't bump against the lid

- Comcast cable outside iced over and broke off, Comcast fixed a couple weeks ago.

- Still have sewer smell in the space, no present ideas to resolve it from building maintenance.

- Kossel 3D printer needs more fine-tuning, can only print cubes accurately.

- Matt (friend of Valdes) donated a seat of NX 10, so we have some more CAD software now.

- Intermittant leaks still happening from upstairs.

• "New" computers (2 desktops, 2 laptops)

- Nick provides a list of space laptops and their status. We have three or four, depending on power supply availability. We also received a Pentium IV donation from Gyll.

• Improvement Projects (small laser cutter, redo front desk, kitchen improvement, sand blaster)

(10 min) Staff - Larry

• Updated Staff Training Documents

- Done!

• Th-Sa Shifts are now fully staffed.
• Almost all staff trained (Isaac B., Michelle S., Nick S. remaining)

- Larry is training the remaining staff as they are available.

(10 min) Fundraising - Larry

• Encore sold another piece of equipment

- Sold the analog oscilloscope!

• BYB Grant - What it would mean...

- The goal is to provide a place where neuroscientists could be trained to build their own equipment. Two weeks a year there would be scientists working down at AHA. The equipment from the grant would be owned by BYB, but the equipment would remain for use by AHA members. - With overwhelming support from membership, the AHA Board of Directors signed this letter of support. Should BYB obtain Grant funds, it would be later this year with ~83K the first year. Depending on equipment requirements, more physical space may be needed. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

(15 min) Outreach - Larry

• Class Schedule - having trouble keeping up to date and promoting

- Larry made a schedule for March, but apparently Google Ate It.

• Silvia Lindtner UMSI - no contact this year (sent email yesterday)

- Larry is going to go visit and see what's up with the UMSI plans.

• Barry Belmont - no response re. BioMed team usage of AHA (sent email yesterday)

- We were too expensive for the BioMed team.

• Ann Arbor Film Fest 3/24-25 - not this year, no gaming computer for OR2 but there will be Oculus at a Satellite exhibit

- Craig Albert is taking over since he has computers powerful enough to run the Oculus Rift 2nd gens.

New Business

LASER CUTTER RATES

• Propose 2 Tier Flat Rates (Member - ??, General Public - $1/min.?)

- Roger S. offered his opinion that $2.50/minute is way too expensive (most people agree with this). i3 started charging $.15/minute recently, down from $.50/minute.

- The Board decides that $0.50/minute is reasonable cost for members, $0.75/minute for non-members.

- Nick reminds us that we should put up a list of prohibited materials near the laser cutter.

ANNUAL EVENTS - How do we get people interested and committed in helping out?

• FoolMoon - 4/11 Dusk to Midnight
• FestiFools - 4/12 4pm-5pm
• GameStart Spring Festival - 4/18 10am-2pm
• Penguicon - 4/24-26 (no soldering support that we're aware of this year)
• AAHOM TechTwilite - 5/15 6:30pm-9pm
• A2 MiniMaker Faire - Saturday 6/6 10am-4pm
• Detroit Maker Faire - July 25-26 9:30am-6pm

FORMAL EVENT REQUESTS

• Emily Canosta - Japan Week - requesting Cosplayers (in costume) to attend Animania screening event (6/16-20)
• Zach Alexander - Makerspace Development Blogger has contacted AHA for positive storyline.
• Daniel Dugan (past member?) contacted us on behalf of Penguicon - wants to borrow 3D printers for Enabling the Future.
• Amanda Paige - Exposing Inner City Kids to Engineering/Making at the U of M Natural History Museum (day/time TBD)

SURVEY REQUEST - from Make: Media

• 10 minute survey about AHA's Maker/Hacker activities.

- Ken L. is going to send out an email requesting volunteers for these events

- Larry is going to send out a notice about spring cleaning at the space.