Minutes:Board Meeting Minutes 20131112

2013-11-12

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Board Meeting Minutes 20131009	Board Meeting Minutes 20131210

Agenda

Chair Justin Triplett

Budget Zone

Miter Saw

• Wood Shop needs a blade for the miter saw - cost $110
  • Do we need a vote for that?
  • Consensus is no.
• Treasurer said anything zone expenditures under $200 per month is ok for now.
  • We are currently reevaluating the i3 accounts, and the dues income isn't as high as was projected in August.
  • Money saved on budget items does not stay with the zone for other expenses - the money goes back to the general i3 fund

Kiln Zone Repair

• Kiln Zone on re-budgeting consumables - Terry W.
  • Costs of operation and use of consumables change a little every year
  • Unexpected repairs are sometimes necessary, Kiln zone needs to repair some bricks
  • Can budgeted money be used for repairs in lieu of the original plan for the money, i.e.
    • Delay the purchase of new tools?
    • Divert funds mean for consumables?
  • The Board needs to weigh in on reclassification of funds for larger expenditures - Mark Miles.
    • We need to have a more serious discussion about this later
    • Discussion of diverting funds is closely related to other issues with i3's accounting and records of i3 assets
    • Consumables should be separately budgeted than repairs or other investments
• In this case, the Wood Shop is seeking to use consumable funds for a consumable (miter saw blade).
• Kiln zone repair re-budgeting is not necessary to handle tonight.

Zone Costs

• Costs of using a zone should be measured by Coordinators and reported as a recommendation to members as a donation for using the area
  • Not for a particular tool, but for the use of the area - Mark Miles

CNC Zone and Floor Plan

• Tool crib, robotics zone, and CNC Zones moved around.
• A new wall and workbench-whiteboard area has
• Board is responsible for maintaining the floor plan
• We bring this up in case there are any issues with the new layout
• In the past things have been moved around; do first ask forgiveness later
  • Is this ok? - Justin T.
  • If it's a question, then maybe it is a bad thing. -Nate B.
    • What happens you do something and don't get forgiveness.
    • The board should tell you to undo what you did.
• Current procedure in bylaws? standing rules?
  • This may need to be more clear, in the bylaws or standing rules.
  • Any one board member may approve changed to the floor plan
  • Actually, we already have a clear definition of the process standing rules

Johnny Franklin Gizmo

• Weird pneumatic gizmo donated, and the guy wants a tax receipt for it - Nate B.
• See donation the form on Wiki here
• In regards to the budget, we need to document the process for donation receipts because they need to be recorded as assets at fair market value
• This will be important for our records in case of an IRS audit
• Determining fair market value
  • Anything above 5000 or 50000? needs to be appraised?
  • Goodwill takes boxes of stuff without requiring value
  • CNC could not be tax-deducted because it's value was depreciated by the previous company of ownership

Laser Ducting and Equipment Documentation

• Member spent money for the ducting and helped install it
• They would like to remove the ducting if they leave
• Andrew M will be installing a new ducting and a new vent system - Nate B.
• Laser cutters would be down for an indefinite amount of time
• Equipment loaning form - Terry W.
  • This is how we're supposed to manage it
  • We haven't been using this and that's a problem
• When is that happening? We don't know, if at all.
• According to Wikipedia, parts connected to the building structure are fixtures and legally part of the building.
  • We could legally keep it if we choose.
  • We don't want to piss people off. Is it worth it?

• No equipment documentation exists for the vacuum former.
  • Is it owned by i3?
  • This should be clarified
  • How do we do that?
    • Forms about original donation?
• No one can ever use a tax-deducted item to their personal benefit

Solicited Donations

• What is required for organizations that solicit funds
• Questions?
  • Does any one have an idea of i3's status registered with the state as a charitable organization
    • We are 501c3 Federally, and registered as a non-profit in the state
    • Charitable organization is a separate form
    • State website for looking up charitable organization registrations does not list i3, however it is not definitive.

Stratocube

• Does i3 want this to be an official i3 project?
• We would need to be able to pass an audit to do this
• We currently do not have standards for our accounts or safety - Mark Miles
  • This place would change so much to meet requirements of being auditable that we would not like it anymore
• If we can show that we would not be responsible for an audit, then consensus is that we should make Stratocube an official i3 project.

Online Metrics

• To improve our credibility as a group of technically skilled people - Matt Oehrlein
• To protect the world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation...
• So that people could put i3 on their resume, and at least locally, have it be something positive and valuable to a potential employer
• Lets measure this by web metrics
  • Goal of trying to double our Google analytics score by one year from now
  • Improve Facebook reach score
• Ideas for a better way?
• If you have ideas come to Matt. He may or may not do them depending on how much help you're willing to give and how hard it's going to be
• Things that help
  • Showcasing!
  • Blog posts of new projects - what are all the cool things that we do
  • Meet the member posts - show how talented our members are
  • Documenting projects is important to let people know how awesome we are
• There are other people who are professionals at PR, talk to them, there's more than just improving the i3 website - Terry W.
• Is there any concern that member posts may give the impression that i3 is full of super hackers and that it might discourage people who are new to hacking? - Matt Oehrlein

Motion to Ban Mario C.

• Continuing by email
• Personal items owned by Mario that are in the Wood Shop or other areas of the space
  • Find a member liaison who can communicate to Mario and work this out
  • No problems unless the liaison has an active member supervising
  • Clarification: We do not want Mario to return to i3, the liaison will do that.

Matt on the Podcast

• Matt made us look great with what sounded like 3 drunk men on the podcast. - Maddy Winans

Action Items

• Dave Scholl and Mark Miles - send a message to Coordinators to clarify how budgeted money for consumables should be spent.
• Matt Arnold - Present a new floor plan next month to represent the changes made for the new CNC machine
• Mark Miles - look into how to determine fair market value
• Maddy Winans - Contact Nate Warnick to determine ownership of vacuum former
• Nate Bezanson - Do something with the Home Depot Account
• Scott Richardson - Call up MI state to check that i3 is registered as a charitable organization, and if not, get i3 registered
• Scott Richardson - Clarify whether we would be auditable if there were any official Stratocube affiliation
• Konrad Brown - Post documentation of the board vote on the Motion to Revoke Membership for NW.

Attendance

Justin Triplett Matt Oehrlein Adrienne Patterson Maxwell Gonyea-Alexander Madalyn Winans Konrad Brown W Scott Richardson Terry Wynn Paul Deathos Matt Arnold David School Gary Morin Ryan Cunningham Devin Truscott Mark Miles