Minutes:14 Oct 2015 Board Meeting Agenda

AHA Mission Statement
We seek to establish, build, and support a collective of individuals organized around the principles of community-driven education in the arts and sciences, and to ensure ready access to the tools needed to pursue the realization of those principles.

• Meeting attendees: Larry W., Mike Z., Cindy L., Esty T., Alec M., Tyler S., Alex W., Nate Y., Amanda P., Lauren W.
• Meeting starts at: 19:10
• Meeting ends at:

Board Meeting Protocol

* Standing Committee Reports - Individual Updates by Assigned Director/Officer presented in the time allotted.

* Open Time: For anyone to bring anything up to the Board. IF the Board agrees the item requires action, it will be put into New Business and addressed at the end of the meeting.

(15m) Open For All

• All Are Worthy. All Are Welcome.

Tyler asks for a timeline on removing the front desk. Nate says do it ASAP! Mount register stuff to the wall somehow.

Cindy is doing ethnographic research on hackerspaces in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Started a DIY biocollective in Singapore, recently studied Indonesian hackerspaces. She is curious about the protocols for running such a study at AHA, in terms of engagement with members, becoming a member, etc. Suggestion is to check out the public hours to meet people and get to know how things work.

Tyler is working with Huron Science Olympiad team.

We have some PC issues -- a couple non-working machines, and a dead monitor for the security cams. Mike Z. has a couple of extra PCs he wants to donate, could be used as a supplement or replacement.

Amanda P. discovered that the LASER machine's PC's software does not support the newer Inkscape format.

Tyler D. offered to teach some Arduino classes, needs a follow-up.

Minutes Approval

• September 2015 Board Minutes

No objections, but no quorum to vote.

Financial - from Larry W./Deirdre D.

Lauren W. is our new accountant! Welcome, Lauren!

Finances since early June are now set up in Xero.

Decided not to go ahead with Costco, opting for GFS.

Alec asks wants to know if there will be sufficient transparency with the new system.

Larry and Lauren filed paperwork with Paypal to get our withdrawal limit lifted so we can take more than $500 out of our account per month. They have floated the space for rent this month until we can get this money.

• Oct 2015 P&L - [1] Temporary Board Report

Fundraising - Greg G.

• Monthly Fundraising Report - LINK HERE

Greg is absent this meeting, but Larry says he should have most of the information he will need to start getting grants.

Governance - Esty T.

Maintenance update - Tyler S. and John N. rocked out the bathroom catastrophe. Gerald (maintenance) offers to snake out the toilets yearly, but Esty is wisely saying this is not often enough. We've had reports of toilets bubbling up again.

As an aside, Esty would like more guidance on on-boarding new members.

Election is happening later this time. Esty's proposal is the second build night (11/12) of November. The thought is to have a slightly shorter term for the new Directors, but to keep the dates more or less the same going forward.

Larry is going to help Esty with the membership process, giving-of-keys, etc.

Larry gives his membership update for two months: last month, we were down one paying member. This month, we've lost 15 members -- down to 36 paying members and 7 volunteers. One former member specifically cited the foul smells in the space as a reason for leaving. Larry suggests a membership drive to restore membership levels. Mike Z. suggests more member meetings to boost interest in recruiting members.

Nate proposes (again) a monthly member social gathering (NOT a meeting, per se).

Volunteers - Tyler S.

Tyler mentioned he came down with an illness after cleaning up the poo explosion.

Most shifts are being covered, Saturday first shift is still not covered.

Education/Classes/Events - Donnie J.

Donnie is absent this meeting, so no education report.

There is discussion about changing up the weekly classes until we figure out a more consistent teacher line-up. Do we take classes down until we get more teachers? To try and move things along, Alec is going to put out a call for more volunteers in the next week. If people are unsure of their ability, other members can train them to get them up to speed.

Alec would like to run new classes on rope-work, and Linux command-line. They would run perhaps once per month.

(30m) Unfinished Business

* Carried over from previous Board Meeting.

• SEPTEMBER ITEMS
• ACTION ITEM - From Alec M. - Election process needs to be documented clearly so members know the consequences of the point system.

Nate will document this in a central location for future Board Members. OR, use an alternative, more direct voting process. - Esty (topic for All-Members Meeting Sun. Aug. 23rd).

Nate wrote Esty an email about this -- could just port this more or less directly to the Wiki. Going to do that.

• ACTION ITEM - From Jacob M. - What about a "Bounty Board"? Put up in the space offering prizes for doing various duties in AHA (ie. prizes). Approved by 2 Board members. - Larry W.

Waiting on room to be made by the front desk.

• ACTION ITEM - From Jacob M. - would like to construct 4-6 workstations (ie. small alcove) - Retro Fun! Win95, iMac G3, BOS5, PowerPC Amigo's (on their own LAN) - All Peoples Meeting Topic

Nate Y. noticed some activity based on IRC conversations? Nothing concrete yet.

Still nothing concrete.

• ACTION ITEM - Larry W. - Washtenaw Area Maker Meeting went very well. Will forward minutes.

Forwarded to members and Directors mailing list.

• ACTION ITEM - Jacob M. - should AHA make a proposal to Sylvia's for a non-profit rent write-off for Sylvia's.

Alec suggests creating a proposal. Larry or Jacob to write this? Larry maybe can work with Dena?

Nothing received yet.

(30m) New Business

* A Director/Officer or Member must champion action items to ensure the work gets done.

• ACTION ITEM -