Minutes:Board Meeting Minutes 20240917

Meeting Location

Meeting was Called to Order At: XXXXXXXXX

i3 Detroit 1481A Wordsworth St. Ferndale, MI 48220

Or

Virtual

Virtual Meeting Etiquette

• Be excellent.
• Attendance and voting can be found in the #meetings slack channel.
• Please show up early if you are concerned about your audio.
• If there is no one waiting to speak feel free to do so at the next opportunity.
• If there is someone waiting to speak, please say that you are raising your hand in the google call chat. (This will be demonstrated)
• Please refrain from other side conversations, these can be distracting for the rest of the meeting and make it difficult for the chair to keep track of what's going on.

Confirm that someone is taking minutes

Matt Arnold is using his Otter.ai account to record, transcribe, and summarize the meeting.

Officer Reports

Treasurer & Budget

Treasurer's report: https://www.i3detroit.org/something

Bank balance (includes $25,446 Grant in April)
Jan	$14,129.88
Feb	$10,899.90
Mar	$10,672.09
Apr	$36,102.06 Net $10,656.06
May	$31,440.27 Net $5,994.27
Jun	$33,397.93 Net $7,951.93
Jul	$34,309.93 Net $8,863.93
Aug	$33,626.54 Net $8,180.54
Savings Balance	$55,039

VP of Membership

The past four weeks have seen net positive growth in the overall membership. We had 4 new members coming into phase 1 and are currently working on phase 2. Another four members completed Phase 2 with two of them completing final memberfication and the remaining two just needing to find a memberfication event they can attend. We had one existing member need to say goodbye for now, going on hiatus because they were moving to Grand Rapids. We also had two former members return from Hiatus, once again becoming active members.

Total membership at the moment sits at 239 active members.

I have also completed the onboarding process to add Thomas Burns as another person who can onboard new members and as part of the Membership Committee.

Event Report

Sewing 101:

• Tickets Sold: 4
• Eventbright total: $45.60
• Fees: $5.60
• 2x Tickets $10.29- students bringing own machine
• 2x Tickets $12.51 Students Using i3 equipment.
• Notes:
• Refund was issued and tickets repurchased. “Refund details Issued August 17, 2024 at 4:00 PM EDT $30.00 refunded to original payment method”

Halloween party:

• We are still looking for an Organizer

Possible Fall Events

• Retro hardware in commons- I’m thinking about early November. A suggest has been brought up to make this a re-occuring event (every 2 months)
• RTL-SDR Beginner workshop- ~$30 USB dongle that can be used as a computer based radio scanner for receiving live radio signals in your area (no internet required). Depending on the particular model it could receive frequencies from 500 kHz up to 1.75 GHz.
• Meshtastic workshop- Meshtastic® is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure.

POTLOCK

Please sign up to bring some food!

• Beverages will be BYOB and in vending.
• There is a grill at the space!
• If you have a crockpot, please consider using it! We don't have proper kitchen at the space (yet!), so crockpots and instant pots etc will be helpful for supplying us all with hot food.
• Please avoid common allergens (or put them on the side).

(General

Tasks

• CRITICAL- AIR COMPRESSOR LEAKING OIL
• Check Anything with a filter
• CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN
• Check Storage to see if there are spaces that have things in them but are reported open.

Infrastructure

Tasks

• Connect furnaces on side A- Winter is coming.
• check tank of northernmost toilet in A side large bathroom. It may need parts replaced, as it is suspected to be running intermittently.
• create signage to clearly mark the area(s) that are for "large projects".
• Paint zone tarps were mentioned as needing a good wash, if they're to be used in a clean environment. Figure out what the water cooler needs other than a new filter.
• Fix the hole in A side HVAC, front rooms.
• Plus craft, sewing and Elab expansion build tasks

Expansion Tasks

• Work on wiring for ELab and Sewing (Ghostbusters hookup)
• Work on FuseBoxes and plug wiring

Classroom Tasks

• Air Conditioning
• Door hinges (upper & lower) are loose. Despite trying to tighten the screws, they will not seat flush correctly and become loose again. May need to find the correct screws (some of the current screws appear to have heads that are too large to sit flush) and repair/replace the wood in the frame so that the screws can securely sit.
• Add caulk to trim, especially lower trim, to prevent water ingress.
• Need to repainted and repaired
• Needs to be refinished to allow for better cleaning.
• Remove Rust & possibly repaint.

Pulse Check

This is a reminder to check if any officer provided no report in three consecutive board meetings. If so, at this point in the Board meeting, we add an item to the subsequent Member Meeting agenda, to call for nominations or volunteers for the Board to appoint to that office at next month's Board meeting.

Committee Reports

Safety & Compliance Committee

There is no volunteer for the committee.

September 2023 was the last fire extinguisher validation. Cintas is due out again this month. Can we have someone volunteer to meet with them and get them checked? Or otherwise handle it?

Jeremy Glogower offered to handle the fire extinguisher certification, as he has experience with it.

Jeffrey Burdick mentioned that he handled the fire extinguisher validation in 2022 and suggested that the locations of all the fire extinguishers should be mapped as part of the member onboarding process.

Jeffrey Burdick said the locations of all the fire extinguishers should be mapped as part of the member onboarding process.

Alex Tsuker suggested looking into getting new fire extinguishers, especially for the expanded areas of the space: the new sewing room and new e-lab.

Old Business

avid CNC

• proposal approved to purchase an AVID CNC for the woodshop (board email vote 9/04/24).
• Motion:
  Motion to purchase Avid CNC
  Moved by Frank Aloia; Seconded by Alex Tsuker
  7 Ayes / 0 Nays
  Result: pass

Frank Aloia stated that the previous board had unanimously voted on the Avid CNC proposal via email, and the final quote from Avid was lined up. He was waiting to see if the treasury could issue an electronic check to take advantage of a long-term discount on the machine.

Thomas Burns asked about the plan for where the Avid CNC would be placed, and Frank Aloia deferred to the board to get the final blessing, but mentioned it would be placed next to the existing CNC machine in the wood shop area. They would need to relocate some items from the glass zone to the Treehouse area to make room for the new CNC machine.

We need to install a 220-volt circuit for the Avid CNC machine.

Ban of 2024-1

• proposal to ban (board email vote 9/05/24).
• Motion:
  Motion to ban 2024-1
  Moved by Matt Arnold; Seconded by Frank Aloia
  7 Ayes / 0 Nays
  Result: pass

Matt pointed out the banned poster doesn't have a photo of the banned person yet, and asked if there was a photo of the banned person. Jan and Frank said yes. Frank has it, and will get that printed.

Thomas asked if there should be something on a banned member's user page on the wiki, saying they've been banned. It turned out some banned members do have that on their user page. Most of us remarked how difficult it is to find a member's user page at all.

Prior Minutes

The proposals are incomplete, minutes shouldn't be approved.

• Motion:
  Motion to approve last months minutes
  Moved by Mover; Seconded by Second
  Ayes Ayes / Nays Nays
  Result: ?
  • Board Meeting Minutes 20240820

What was wrong with it was that the measures didn't say who moved and who seconded. Matt volunteered to add that, and we'll vote to approve it next month.

Camera Review Review

A camera review of the jewelry zone was done on 9/6 of 9/1 between 19:00 and 20:00. There was a piece of equipment being used incorrectly. The member was identified and contacted, and jewelry coordinator notified.

Paul Askins asked what the problem was. Someone unfamiliar with the jewelry zone was misusing a rotary tool from the jewelry zone on a helmet or something like that, in a way that ruined multiple tips. They have been told the proper way to do things and were very apologetic and cooperative.

Summary of Board List/Slack Discussions since last meeting

Board list

• Discussion related to banning a member: review of incidents, points of discussion to bring to member, discussion of previously unknown information brought forward.
• Discussion on where to find an updated zone minder credential.
• Thread to prepare a ban measure document.
• Ban vote
• Emails between the board, membership, and member discussing ban vote
• group discussion about how to send an email from the board (it's a list, and lists can't send to a list, like announce)
• comments about spam to the list
• board transition - election end, first board meeting, access changes, etc. Unfinished business.
• Avid CNC proposal and vote
• question to the board about potlock food reimbursement and response
• post confirming that secretary receives board access to CRM
• we need to be documenting probations etc on board action spreadsheet (and/or move it to conduct committee)

Leadership list (board + officers)

• added newly elected directors and appointed officers, outgoing still in list, currently 15 people)
• nothing new this year, just some spam

Board slack

• 23-24: zone minder credentials
• 24-25: creating the channel, invitations, welcomes, mention of first meeting, zone minder credential pin, Covid chat, and note to use channel sparingly.

Board and advocates slack

• nothing since January
• this channel probably renames to board and conduct committee? For chat between?

Leadership slack (board + officers)

• former VP asking for help leaving the channel
• invitation and welcome to new VP
• invitation to new board and VPAC
• this channel is here if needed for coordination between officers and board, mainly to set who is chairing a meeting. It's encouraged to use #ask the board instead, which is public.

New Business

• Please note that if you add something that requires a board vote, you must also email board@i3detroit.org at least 10 days before the board meeting to notify them of the upcoming vote

Officer appointments:

• We need to seek and appoint a secretary, make this an action item
• Treasurers, VPAC and VP were recently appointed
• Confirm whether President and Membership VP intend to stay on?

Action Item: Unknown - Seek and appoint a secretary

Avid CNC coming to woodshop later this Fall

• Discuss relocation of glass zone materials to make room for cnc.
• Will need 220v circuit.

We had a discussion of moving the glass zone's shelves of equipment out of the wood shop to make room for the CNC. Normally it would be coordinated through the glass zone coordinator. Hence the name "coordinator". Alex asked if Lauren Yellen is still technically the glass zoco. Frank said she hasn't gone on hiatus or ended her membership. Matt said when Thomas stepped up to perform the VPAC tasks that Lauren was not doing, we had to track Lauren down to talk to her about it, and she was fine with stepping down from the VPAC role. Jan pointed out we're coming up on the fall, which is typically when we reach out to zone coordinators and ask each of them whether they want to continue. So maybe Lauren will officially step down as glass zoco then.

Paul asked if the jewelry zone would want to incorporate any glass zone equipment, and Alex said Ann Marie would definitely oppose that. Jan said space is tight in there.

Jeff Burdick asked for a recap of the glass zone and wood shop situation.

To which, Matt said, the wood shop zoco temporarily allowed the glass zone to put some shelves of stuff into the wood shop. The glass zone had a few months in late 2023, early 2024, in which Lauren became glass zoco, and was very, very active, and she had a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of forward momentum. Then in June we removed Dave Smith as Secretary, and Lauren pasted an open letter in the agenda to the July member meeting about it, accusing the Board of being manipulators and abusers. She spent half an hour of the member meeting reading it out. There was a complete and utter standstill of all activity from Lauren, she is no longer talking to a lot of people, and there is no reason to expect she will ever resume. And so glass is technically officially championed but de-facto championless.

Paul Askins asked if there is no one willing to actually make glass usable, and therefore no one using it, if it would make sense to liquidate the glass zone.

Frank said maybe the glass stuff can go in the B-side treehouse. Thomas asked if we really need the roof vent covers that are currently sitting up there taking up space. Frank said we do because some of the ones on the roof need replacing.

Jeff Burdick brought up his idea to stop having zone coordinators and give each zone a committee instead. If the committee fails to meet and get quorum often enough, the zone would be dissolved. This was just as food for thought, and Jeff then said that if a zone has enormous enthusiasm and then falls of a cliff, that's the type of situation in which to dissolve a zone.

Paul wanted to discuss Jeff's idea further and asked for a repeat, which we gave him.

Alex replied to Jeff that the glass zone was already a defunct zone for years, with no one using it, before Lauren briefly re-energized it. Matt said that was a burst of "over-promise and under-deliver" with little to show for it. Alex said there was previously a combined "kiln zone" which wanted to sell the glass kiln in late 2023, which caused a sudden burst of energy to want to save the glass kiln, which caused glass to become its own zone separate from the ceramics kiln. We said we would work together to find space for the glass zone, since it had no floor plan of its own. There was briefly an idea to make the B-side lobby the glass zone.

Thomas wanted to pick up on Jeff's idea some more, and said we may run into issues of people being available for these committee meetings, with nobody actually doing it on a regular basis. Plus, there's something to be said for a central point of authority within a zone or any organization.

Matt said these are all some interesting points of discussion, but it's not actually on the agenda to discuss the concept of replacing zone coordinators with committees.

Paul said there might be value in allowing zone coordinators to have Deputy zone coordinators. He was told they already may, and some do.

Matt said probably the most controversial point about Jeff's proposed restructuring, is that all zones at i3Detroit are going to be sold, and we just don't have a hacker space, unless you sign up to be on a committee. It's like the cover of National Lampoon that said, if you don't buy this magazine we'll kill this dog.

David Henry said there would be 24 meetings a month, which is too much. Matt said the idea might have something to it but it needs to be workshopped.

Jeff thinks in addition to roles, we should have individual tasks on a list, and people can be assigned to do that task once and not have an entire role. (This is exactly how Potlock works.)

Matt said to that, that Jeff seems to want to eliminate permission bottlenecks. Jan replied that a lot of people don't know what has changed, because a random person changed a random thing at a random time instead of coordinating through a central authority.

Paul says if the space was bigger he could see having an entire committee per zone, but it doesn't make sense.

Matt pointed out we've been talking about this for 20 minutes and it's not on the agenda.

Leadership meet and greet

• Tuesday September 24 "how to be an i3 leader" during 4th Tuesday social hour

Jan said an automated bot sent her a message saying this is supposed to happen.

Matt said 4th Tuesday is an unstructured social gathering like a party, instead of making everyone be quiet and pay attention to one person at a time. Do we want a blend of these two forms?

Paul suggested on this particular 4th Tuesday, someone should get everyone's attention and have brief announcements, "here are the people in leadership, please talk to them tonight," then resume the party.

agree on email vote rules

Brought up by mtfurlan

Right now, there is the ten day notice period for special board meetings, and a board email vote is a special board meeting. We have always interpreted this to mean a board email vote must be open till either everyone votes/abstains or 10 days(7 before we noticed MCL mandates 10), whichever comes first.

Do we want to going forward take the result of a vote as passing once a majority has voted one way or the other?

For example, if four of the seven board members vote in favour, it doesn't matter how the remaining three vote. Still record any later votes in the count in the minutes of course.

Matt said that currently, the board has to wait until all board members have voted or the 10-day notice period has passed, whichever comes first, before the vote can be finalized.

The proposal was to instead close the vote once a majority has been reached, regardless of whether all board members have voted. This would prevent situations where the vote outcome is known but the process is delayed waiting for the remaining board members to vote.

Jeremy Glowgower took on the action item of finding out whether this change is legal within Michigan corporate law.

Action Item: Jeremy Glogower - Finding out whether closing the email vote after a majority of the board has voted is legal within Michigan corporate law

COWBELL

Action Item Summary

Action Item	POC
Seek and appoint a secretary	Unknown
Finding out whether closing the email vote after a majority of the board has voted is legal within Michigan corporate law	Jeremy Glogower

Proposal Summary

No proposals.

Meeting Metrics

• Time completed: 1 hour 4 minutes
• Funds appropriated: 0
• Attendees:

Attendance

1. Chair: Matt Arnold, President
2. Secretary: None

Board directors: Frank Aloia, Dave Hurt, Alex Tsuker, Jeff Burdick, Paul Askins, Jan Henry

Other: Jeremy Glogower, Vice President, Thomas Burns, Vice President of Activities And Classes, Dave Henry, Drew Lanagan

Previous Meeting	Next Meeting
Board Meeting Minutes 20240820	Board Meeting Minutes 20241015