November 16 2023

AGENDA

Attendance

Board Members

• Mike Atherton, President
• Aaron Rivers, Vice-President
• Rustin Atkeisson, Treasurer
• James Lancaster, At-Large
• LaDeana Dockery, At-Large
• Serena Oden-Powers, At-Large
• Dean Day, At-Large

Absent

• Gretchen Koch, Secretary

Members

• Sam Richardson
• David Lin
• Matthew Cleary
• Mike Barushok
• Brad Cozine
• Russel Owens
• Joe Birzer

The regular monthly meeting of the MakeICT board of directors convenes on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 7:00 pm in the MakeICT building.

Mission Statement

• 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

Trisha for taking point on MakerMarket and the whole team making it happen. Roofer for a job well done and on budget Joe B, Wes T, Brad C, Aaron R. for painting room 4 Thank you to all the board members for making things happen this past month and stepping up to the challenge AND everything else we forgot to thank people for! Liz for getting all of our taxes filed!

Old Business

Roof Funding

• Payment is due until the construction is complete.
• We need to raise $38,000 to keep from digging into reserves.
• Currently raised:
  • $2182 from membership
  • $4300 received in grants
  • $1900 awarded in additional grants
  • $708 pending
• We’re about $29k shy on the fund raising.
  • We still have plenty of funds to cover the roof.
  • This just means other projects like putting better A/C in the rooms will have to wait.
• Construction started 9/18/2023! (payment is due upon completion of roof)
• Construction is expected to be completed by the beginning of October.

Members are asked to please continue contributing to the roof fund.

Treasurer’s Report

• Income: $13,800
• Utilities insight: $2500
• Instructor pay: $380
• Shop expenses: $xxxx
• Total expenses: $9600
• Cash positive by: $4200
• Taxes for 2022 have been submitted
• Will see $183,545 expense in November for roof
• Working with CPA to on property tax abatement in December - this would mean not having to pay property tax in the future (most likely all of 2024)

Approval of Previous Minutes

• 10/19/2023: https://wiki.makeict.org/wiki/October_19_2023
  • Michael moves to approve the minutes after the removal of ‘what’ from a decision item.
  • Aaron seconds.
  • Dean votes ___yes
  • LaDeana votes ___yes
  • Aaron votes ___yes
  • James votes___yes
  • Rustin votes ___yes
  • Serena votes ___yes
  • Motion passes

Maker Market Contract Rewording

• Wording added to approved contract stating resellers are not welcome.
• Clarification of "reseller" to mean “buying bulk cheap items to upcharge and resell”
• Will remove deadline of the 17th to give vendors more time to sign up (also able to do this because the event is all in doors)
• Contract location: https://wiki.makeict.org/images/e/e0/MakeICT_Winter_Market_2023-12-02_Vendor_Agreement.pdf
• Aaron moves to approve updated contract with the removal of the November 17th deadline as requested.
  • Michael seconds
  • Dean votes ___yes
  • LaDeana votes ___yes
  • Aaron votes ___yes
  • James votes___yes
  • Rustin votes ___yes
  • Serena votes ___yes
  • Motion passes

First Thursday Board Workshop

• Every first Thursday of the month at 7pm and run until 9pm
• Board can discuss tabled items further
• Members can bring rough ideas to the board to be moved to regular meeting
• To get on the agenda, members should email directors at least one day before the meeting (minimum)
• A blurb will be added to the newsletter about the new meeting

Reports from Committees/Leads/Areas

• Aaron suggests having a dedicated portion of each board meeting where there will be an executive summary of Areas and Committees have been doing (as culled from monthly leads and chairs reports) will be presented.

• Aaron moves to make monthly Area and Committee report submission mandatory.
  • Motion tabled until December board meeting

• Area lead meetings have been moved to the 2nd Thursday of the month (A blurb will be added to the newsletter about the new meeting)

• Last lead meeting was very interactive
• Saw more value to the lead meetings
• Potential cardboard regatta war was incited

Area Lead Appointments

• Area lead appointments will occur at Dec. Board Meeting
• Leads wishing to continue appointments must make it known to the board
• People wishing to step down from lead need to make it known ASAP and should help in finding a new area lead.

• Current open positions
  • Matthew Cleary has requested becoming the lead over the Lounge
  • Richard Owens would like to take lead over Break Room
  • Serena Oden-Powers would like to lead Communications Committee

• Rustin moves to appoint Matthew to Lounge Lead, Richard to Break Room, and Serena to Communications.
  • Michael seconds.
  • Dean votes ___Yes
  • LaDeana votes ___Yes
  • Aaron votes ___Yes
  • James votes__Yes
  • Rustin votes ___Yes
  • Serena votes ___Abstain
  • Motion passes
    WIll put the volunteer coordinator position on the Board Workshop for December.

Volunteer Rewards System

• An incentive to volunteer is the “gamification” approach, where volunteers can get “achievements” for putting in so many hours or doing a task so many times, etc. This could include physical rewards like t-shirts and hoodies.
• Volunteers for events would need t-shirts in most cases regardless because it’s a clear way to show that they represent MakeICT, so the t-shirts are a good reward for that kind of volunteering (make them event-specific, rather than just saying MakeICT).
• We need to look at the cost of getting t-shirts and hoodies printed, and consider any other ideas for rewards such as patches, buttons, stickers, etc.
• Would like to further detail this system at the Board workshop -
• Also looking at coordinating with the Volunteer Coordinator at Exploration Place to help formalize the idea

Forum Moderators need to be confirmed as a committee

• For the following reasons:
  • The forum serves as a location for posting official announcements and other member-facing MakeICT content.
  • The forum moderators have authority and power beyond what regular members have.
  • The forum moderators represent MakeICT to an internal and external audience every day.

• The forum moderators should be officially designated a standing committee, separate from IT, with the same privileges and requirements that all committees have, according to the Committees policy.

• Aaron proposes that the forum moderators should not be a committee due to the power they have over other members, but likewise Security and IT should not be committees for the same reason.

• This issue was tabled at the last meeting, with a plan to discuss it at the next Breakfast with the Board. Forum moderators were to be notified in advance of the board meeting.

• Moderators capabilities on the forum are limited, The main function is to respond to flags or handle approvals of new member messages.
• Maybe worth reviewing list of moderators and seeing who should stay in that group.

• Topic will be discussed further at board workshop Dec 7th.

Budget Requests

• Ceramics Silica Shelves - request $458 for 2 shelves
  • A couple of ceramic shelves have broken
  • Evans does not see how we are handling the shelves as an issue
  • We occasionally run short on shelves and have had to risk using broken shelves
  • Price did not include tax or shipping (might be $100 for shipping)
  • Will table until we have a final delivered cost
  • Suggest adding to area budget

• Metalshop powder coat oven - requesting $1800 for parts
  • Tabled until metalshop lead has had a chance to review the parts list and can reach out to the community to help get the cost down first, might consider a fundraiser later

• Woodshop dust collector and air quality improvements will go forward
  • Currently have $3800 left from Collins grant to take care of dust collection and air quality for metalshop and woodshop
  • New unit would be $5000 for equivalent to what is in the East woodshop
  • Aaron requests purchasing an impeller and motor to build our own
  • Would significantly improve the air quality in the West woodshop
• Woodshop to begin dust collection upgrades from earmarked Collins Aviation Grant for woodshop and metal shop air quality improvement.

• T-Shirts for Winter Market
  • Will use $200 from outreach for volunteers to wear for the event and future events
  • No motion needed

• Projector for room 4
  • Aaron motions to approve spending up to $2000 for the purchase and installation of a projector for classroom 4. 2nd by Serena.
  • Dean votes ___Yes
  • LaDeana votes ___Yes
  • Aaron votes ___Yes
  • James votes___Yes
  • Rustin votes ___Yes
  • Serena votes ___Yes
  • Motion Passes Sound system in classroom 4 needs maintenance.

Executive Session: 30 minutes

• Motion to enter executive session at 8:42pm

• LaDeana motions that person of concern receives a 3 months suspension from MakeICT and will be required to interview privately with the board before access is reconsidered. 2nd by Dean
  • Dean votes ___Yes
  • LaDeana votes ___Yes
  • Aaron votes ___Yes
  • James votes___Abstain
  • Rustin votes ___Abstain
  • Serena votes ___No

Motion Passes