Minutes:Board Meeting Minutes 20110913

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2011-09-13 i3 Detroit, September 13, 2011 Board Meeting

7:05pm Start, Meeting held at i3 Headquarters in the Commons


Motion to Appoint Officers

Ted Hansen, moves to appoint Officers per the results of last week’s election. Seconded by Dustin White. Approved. 6 Yea, 0 Nea, 1 Abstain

New Officers

  • President, Matt Oehrlein
  • CEO, Eric Merrill
  • Vice-President, Nathan Bezanson
  • Treasurer, Ed Platt
  • Secretary Hans Chen


Master Door Code (Nate B.) - The code will be passed on to those who know full process.

Landlord Issues (Eric Merrill) - Speak to Eric Merrill


Transition Material (Ross Smith)

Liability Insurance - Should we add Co-directors and ‘little kids’ insurance? Eric Merrill will send an annual valuation statement to insurance company

Neighboring Space - Should we expand into neighboring space? Landlord wants an answer soon

Drainage(Northwest Corner) - Landlord has addressed previous leak, members report everything is okay.

  • Leak i There is a leak in the space, exiting above the area above the trailer, may be a crevice in front of the area.
  • Leak ii Vents(Nate W.) The vents were leaking. Landlord has not fix this issue, but we may be able to fix this problem ourselves. If unaddressed, this may become a problem in the winter.

Standing Rules - The Official Bylaws should be reviewed, edited if needed, and clarification should be asked for if the reason for a rule’s existence is unclear. We need to have the Bylaws printed out and available at the corporate office (Russ Wolfe’s house).

Member Storage - Thanks to Nate B. and everyone else who has helped cleaned up the area. Nate B. and others will continue the cleaning. If there is an encroachment on the neighbors’ half of a shelf, then the neighbors should work out arrangements between themselves,.

Dust Collector (Dustin & Nate W.) - It has worked out awesomely. Dustin will be getting the ducting and we’ll be moving soon.

Lease/Rent Rent - Due for an increase in the monthly rate on April 2012 and the lease will end as of April 2013.

Laser Cutter - The owner, AB, has lent us the use of his laser cutter. Russ Smith has been collecting fees for the laser cutter on behalf of AB. These fees are placed in a fund that is designated to pay consumables. The understanding between AB and Russ has been that i3 will assume responsibility if our members damage the machine through recklessness, with all other damage assumed by AB. Members need to be properly trained in how to properly use the cutter before being allowed to use it. However, a written agreement between AB and i3 should be created to avoid any misunderstandings. Russ and Hans will discuss arrangements with AB.

Email: Contact@i3detroit - For the short term, email from address “Contact@i3detroit” will go to Matt O. as the point person responsible for email, while cc’d to Dustin W., Nate W., Ted H. and Nate. B., instead of Ross Smith. Eventually, a ticketing system may be implemented to spread the task of responding to email to others.

Email for Officers - Will be assign email to forward to the new officers.

Business Cards - Will be printed out with official titles and handled by Nick Britsky.

Board Mailing List - Only the new board members will remain on the board’s email mailing list to avoid the leak of sensitive information.

Documents - Annual State Filing for Incorporation will be updated the next time the state requires our filing. Ed will hand over the documents to Hans to be scanned. Documents include the building lease (includes Lease addendum for heater), IRS filings, COOP, and insurance.

New Member Forms - Ed P. will scan these in.

Bank Account (Paul K., transitional treasurer) - Will change signature for bank account to Ed Platt.

Transition to Forums? - A survey will be conducted to determine if there is strong member demand that justifies a transition to Forums, instead of Google Groups. Also, other questions could be asked. The entire Board will create and administer this survey, which may include additional questions to help determine.

Long-term Goals - (Ted H.) We need to come up with a long-term list of goals for our organization that the Board can focus on.

Aisles (Dustin W.) - Will mark aisles 3-feet wide.

Membership Signing Process - (Nate B.) We need to do more to create a more cohesive membership, as new members are being brought in with nothing more than a key. We should consider a better orientation process, anything from an orientation video to a ‘quest’ in which membership is granted only after visiting a board meeting, or post on the forum.

Space Federation - (Ed. Platt) Space Federation, an umbrella organization for other makerspaces, is having a ‘Space Camp’, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ed will provide more information as the event gets closer.

Adjourned, ~8:30pm


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