May 16th 2024

AGENDA

Attendance

Board Members

• Mike Atherton, President
• Gretchen Koch, Secretary
• James Lancaster, At-Large
• Dean Day, At-Large
• Serena Oden-Powers, At-Large
• LaDeana Dockery, At-Large

Absent

• Aaron Rivers, Vice-President
• Rustin Atkeisson, Treasurer

Members

• Tricia
• Sam
• Steve
• Timmothy

Opening and Mission Statement

• The regular monthly meeting of the MakeICT board of directors convenes on Thursday, May 16th at 7:00 pm in the MakeICT building.
• MakeICT is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and is operated entirely by volunteers. It’s our mission to innovate, learn, and build community at the intersection of art, technology, science, and culture.

Thanks and Recognition

Thanks and recognition go to:

• Tricia, James L, LaDeana, Aaron R, Joe B, Wes T, Matthew C, Rustin A, for helping with the purge.
• Mike B., Eric Manda, James Lancaster, Steve Owens, Steve Straight, Mike Barushok, Jeff Cartwright, Wes Timmerman, Ted McMullen, Rustin Atkeisson, Joe Birzer, Gretchen Koch, Roy Lyon, Russell Owens, Dean Day, Zoe M., and Mark Satoria for all the work they put into getting the handicap parking spot done.
• Mark Satoria and Rustin Atkeisson for troubleshooting the sound system and getting it running nicely again.

Old Business

Board Workshop

The Board Workshop, on the first Thursday of each month, is an opportunity for members of MakeICT to get together and talk about plans and goals for MakeICT in an informal setting, outside of an official board meeting.

Details:

• Every first Thursday of the month
• Workshop to address issues from members 7-8pm
• Closed executive session for the Board 8-9pm

Handicap Parking Expansion

The new handicap spot has been prepped and the concrete was poured last weekend.
Details:

• Concrete was not poured under the dumpster or for the bike rack, because it wasn’t easy.
• Spent $1,300 of the budgeted $1,750.

Lawn Mower

A new lawn mower has been ordered for Facilities.
Details:

• Aaron will use it to mow on Monday (hopefully).
• There will be a “How To” class on how to use it the weekend of the 18th.
• Both of the old mowers have found new homes.
• Spent $4,450 of the budgeted $4,500 on a 54 in. Toro.
• The new mower is expected to last ten years with proper maintenance.
• Needs to be added to inventory.

Purge Week

Purge Week is an opportunity for area leads to remove/trade items from their areas, ideally to be scheduled quarterly.
Details:

• 54 items removed.
• Room 2 was cleared out!
• $246 raised.

Ideas for improvement:

• Hold purge weeks more often! Twice a year, with two weeks from beginning to end.
• Suggestion:
  • Week 1: Items are moved to auction location; leads can grab any items they want for their own areas.
  • Week 2: Leads can no longer take items as they are auctioned off.
• Create a page on the wiki for purge week and link to it from the Item Removal policy page.

This time a few items were won in the auction but the winners didn’t pay for the item or pick it up.

Area Reports

Vice President Aaron Rivers provides reports of activities in MakeICT areas. (Canceled, as Aaron is absent).

New Business

Annual Membership Meeting and Party

The annual membership meeting will be held on Sunday, June 23. After the meeting, ballots will be sent out to membership to vote in the next Board of Directors.

The meeting this year will be a combination of business meeting and a party for members/guests of members, beginning at 1pm and continuing until 8pm.

The tentative schedule is:

• 1pm - 4pm: Activities:
  • Raffle
  • 6 month membership for members and guests of members (needs approval)
  • Other items made/contributed by members
• 4pm - 5pm Business Meeting and food (BBQ Hamburgers, brats, etc.)
• 5pm - 8pm: BYOB garden party
• 8pm - Ballots for the upcoming board election will be sent out

Motion: Serena moves that the board approve $150 for a six month membership for members and guests of members to be raffled at membership party.
Seconded by: Dean

• Dean votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yes
• James votes: Okay
• Serena votes: Yeah, my idea
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: $150 approved to be raffled as a six month membership at the membership meeting.

Anyone who is willing to donate items to be prizes for the raffle can contact Serena.Oden-Powers@makeict.org

Call for Election Committee

The election committee will include outgoing board members who are inclined, but not board members seeking re-election (with the exception of the Secretary). See https://wiki.makeict.org/wiki/Voting_Policy for the official policy.

Committee responsibilities include:

• Collecting nominations for the board of directors
• Contacting nominees to verify whether they accept the nomination
• Including notices about the election in the next newsletter
• Postings the list of candidates to the wiki
• Creating Q&A threads for each candidate on the forum
• Creating and sending the ballot
• Tabulating and posting the election results

The head of the Elections Committee is Steve Saner, and Gretchen serves on the committee as Secretary of the board. Nominations for other members of the committee:

• Rustin Atkeisson
• James Lancaster
• Doug Wilson

Motion: Mike moves to approve the election committee members. Doug is pre-approved to serve on the committee as he hasn’t officially been asked yet
Seconded by: Serena

• Dean votes: Yes
• James votes: Abstain
• Serena votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yes
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: These members are approved to serve on the election committee.

Funding for elections will be determined by the Treasurer (expected to be around $50).

Treasurer’s Report

• Income: $15,500
• Utilities insight: $1700
• Instructor pay: $650
• Shop expenses: $2000
• Project Expenses: $1,350 (Projector)
• Other Expenses: $2850 (yearly CPA expenses)
• Total expenses: $13750
• Cash positive by: $1700

• Unspent money allocated to incomplete projects:
  • $0 spent of $1650 for garden hydrants
  • $200 spent of $1000 for letterpress (Adam is continuing to work on the letterpress)
  • $3400 spent of $6000 from the Collins grant to improve ventilation in the metals shops and wood shops.

If there’s no further money pulled for the letterpress, we can revisit at the next meeting.

• Completed projects in the past month:
  • Mower ($4438 of $4500)
  • Concrete ($1300 of $1750) - calling it good without the bike rack area for now. Revisit later.

• Almost $5000 in incomplete projects

• Got a notice from the IRS saying we still owe taxes for 2014 – $9k in late fees.
  • Coordinating with CPA to make sure that is taken care of.

• Still working with CPA to file the tax abatement that may be retroactive to more than the start of the year.

• Still working to take care of refinancing the mortgage on the building

Reminders:

• Close the windows and turn off lights in each shop before leaving each shop.
• Reset thermostats to the appropriate temperature of 60 degrees in winter, and turn off the air conditioning in the summer, to save energy. Close windows and turn off lights when leaving a room.

Approval of Previous Minutes

4/18/2024: https://wiki.makeict.org/wiki/April_18th_2024

Motion: Mike moves to approve the minutes as written.
Seconded by: James

• Dean votes: Yes
• James votes: Yes
• Serena votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yes
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: Minutes are accepted.

Stained Glass Class Funding

Timothy York would like to start teaching classes on stained glass in the near future. Details:

• MakeICT does not have the equipment needed to teach these classes.
• Equipment will be stored in the workbench, and materials in a cart accompanying the workbench. Outside of class, members may access the materials to work on their own projects. Instructor will replenish the materials following each class.

• Timothy requests $1,046.37 to purchase equipment and $502.34 for initial expendables, to get the first class going, for a total of $1,548.71.

Motion: Mike approves that we approve $1600 in equipment and materials to get the stained glass class off the ground.
Seconded by: 🎜 Serena 🎜

• Dean votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yes
• James votes: Yes
• Serena votes: YES 🎜
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: Requested funding for stained glass equipment and materials is approved.*

Additionally, Timothy volunteers to donate one class ($60 for members or $65 for non-members) as a raffle prize for the member meeting party.

Updates to the Property Removal Policy

The current Property Removal Policy can be found at https://wiki.makeict.org/wiki/Property_removal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hjfMezt-0fO126nxCk6QdmwJpFEzqRJx4Xbg2JGqsig/edit

Updates to the policy are needed for the following reasons:

• The “Three Nerd Rule” is often referenced around MakeICT, but not everybody knows what it means or how it connects to policy. The current Property Removal Policy doesn’t mention it, making it difficult to find in the wiki.
• Some loopholes in the policy were abused during Purge Week.

The proposed updated policy can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vRO_AE6jvv4m7WWdIAky6Tst2RXCazJRJzaJr17OfkY/edit

No vote– this item is tabled.

3rd Party Policy

Given the occasional need to find outside vendors to perform work on the MakeICT facilities and premises, a formal policy should be set up to provide guidance on that process to ensure the best outcomes.

The proposed updated policy can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N7UR_z53kvyBbBle4-Uj-LG4RGRoWP3H-LDx0EtSil8/edit?usp=sharing

Motion: Mike moves that we approve the Contracted Vendor Policy at the end of the document linked above. This will require creating a new page on the wiki for the policy.
Seconded by: LaDeana

• Dean votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yes
• James votes: Yes
• Serena votes: Abstain
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: The Contracted Vendor Policy is approved.

(Note: Currently the wiki does not have a non-contracted vendor policy. The Vendor page is not a policy page.)

Communications - Newsletter

The next newsletter will come out on the first of June. Please send blurbs to communications@makeict.org. Guidelines for future newsletters:

• Be positive and forward-looking with articles.
• If asked to submit an article, you are allowed to say "No," with the exception of the Pres and VP, who will have to submit make-up articles the following month.
• Leads and Directors are encouraged to submit articles.
• Deadline for submissions will be the 25th of each month.
• Newsletter will be published on the first of the month.
• Members are also encouraged to take photos of activities at MakeICT and submit them for the newsletter.

Executive Session

An executive session is called.

Inventory Lead

Motion: Mike moves to approve James as Inventory lead.
Seconded by: Serena

• Dean votes: Yes
• LaDeana votes: Yeah ‘cause he has to, sorry
• James votes: Abstain
• Serena votes: Yes
• Gretchen votes: Yes

Result: Motion passes
@DECISION: James is approved as Inventory lead.