Time and Location:

7pm ET Virtual Meeting https://meet.google.com/ica-fdvh-jje

Call to Order:

Meeting called to order by Jonathan White at 7:03pm.

Consent Agenda

Any Board Member may make a motion in the Consent Agenda.  The purpose of the Consent Agenda is to propose motions that have been discussed by Board Members in advance and/or are expected to pass without objection.  If the item does not fit this description, it should be proposed in New Business. Discussion of Consent Agenda items should be done via Slack prior to the meeting.  Any Board Member present at the meeting may request that an item be moved from the Consent Agenda to New Business.  The motions in the Consent Agenda (after any items are moved to New Business) may be passed as a group if there are no objections.  Any motion that requests spending $250 or more must include a section on "Relevance to our tax exempt purpose".

CA1: Appointment of Co-steward for Lower Building Multipurpose Craft Room  (Scott Silvers)

Issue: Last month we appointed Ken Fuentecilla as steward for the Lower Building Multipurpose Craft Room.  Dawn Martin has volunteered to assist Ken.

Solution:  Appoint Dawn Martin as co-steward for the Lower Building Multipurpose Craft Room 

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  None

Motion:  Move to appoint Dawn Martin as co-steward for the Lower Building Multipurpose Craft Room 

CA2: Memory Upgrades for Leesburg Computers  (Scott Silvers)

Issue: While installing CorelDraw 2023 it was observed that the small form factor computers were bought with only 8 GB of memory, which is the bare minimum to run CorelDraw 2023. There are also products in the Adobe Suite we've purchased that require more than 8 GB to be installed.  More memory will allow for improved performance for users of CorelDraw and the ability to install the remaining Adobe products we're paying for.

Solution:  Purchase 2 64GB memory kits (~$107/ea) to upgrade the Classroom and UV Printer computers.  Transfer the 8 GB memory sticks to the 3D Printing and Basement computers to bring those up to 16 GB 

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  None

Motion:  Move to add $235 to the IT Budget for the purchase of additional memory. 

Consent agenda items pass by voice vote

Approval of Prior Minutes

2023-07-26 Meeting of the Board of Directors

2023-08-28 Special Meeting of the Board of Directors

Vote: Minutes approved by voice vote

Officer Reports

Chairperson:

No report

Secretary:

No report

Treasurer:

President:

No report

Committee Reports:

Membership Committee (Scott Newman)

Marketing Committee (Jason Gilligan)

From Jessee:  Events coming up:  Bluemont, SterlingFest.  Finalized for magfest

Website Committee (Maggie Toth)

From Jessee:  Updates made to front pages, committee chairs returning to duty

Leesburg Facility Committee (Jessee Maloney)

Leak being worked at the bottom of the step (related to HVAC)

Issue with electrical serving resin printers.  Issue isolated and repairs this week.  Reception area painted.  August lock added to second front door.  New cabinets in classroom.

Purcellville Facility Committee (Dave Painter)

From Jonathan:  HVAC has been a nice addition.  Infiltration of the green room by birds.  Clean out to be planned.  Sink drain needs attention.  Obsolete frame shop hardware has been offered to another maker space.   

Scheduling Committee (Jennifer Chu)

From Jennifer:  Working on class statistics, initial slides shown

Newsletter Committee (Melissa Kowalski)

Projects/updates welcome

IT Committee (Scott Silvers)

From Scott S:  working on installing purchases from prior approvals (Avast, Corel, hard drives).  Working to bypass logins from Corel Draw (workaround temporary share of pw).  

Maintenance Committee (Dave Painter)

No update

STEM Committee (Diane Painter)

No update

Standing Rules Committee (Jonathan White)

Need to schedule next meeting.  Review by outside counsel in progress along with review of those of other maker spaces.

Finance Committee (John Dubelko)

Sessions held on monthly books and identifying objectives.  Will begin budget planning for 2024.

New Business

NB1: Membership Chair Responsibilities (Scott Newman)

Issue:  

For over three years Makersmiths has been holding online New Member Orientations (NMOs) twice a month on alternating Mondays. There was a request by a volunteer back in the spring to hold in-person NMOs to build community and because some new members indicated that would be their preference. The Chair agreed to add in-person sessions in addition to the regularly scheduled online sessions. The volunteer did not see the need for the additional sessions. At the August 9 Membership Committee Meeting volunteers proposed that all NMOs be held in person. The proffered reasons were to build community, and that anyone could join and get access to the spaces without having met anyone in person and "back a truck up" and empty out the spaces. The Chair was opposed to the change, with concerns about convenience and accessibility (for new members and volunteers), and changing established processes (NMOs have been free and online, every other Monday evening). The proposal was modified to state "Makersmiths will have two New Member Orientations per month, where at least one will have an in-person component and at least one will have an online component. An NMO may have both components at the discretion of the instructor.".
This raises several questions:

• Is this change within the scope of duties of the Membership Chair?
• Is it within the scope of the Membership Committee?
• What constitutes the Membership Committee? When it was created at the February 24, 2021 Board Meeting it was "Scott Newman as its Chair and Saadiq Hasan, Anthony Lesink, Jessee Maloney, and Scott Newman as its members.". What is the process for adding/replacing members?
• Does volunteering or simply participating in Committee meetings give rise to some claim on that delegation of responsibility from the Board?
• These questions extend beyond the immediate questions in the Membership Committee to the broader instantiation of Commmittees and Stewards. Does participating in the Finance Committee give volunteers the power to direct the Treasurer in the financial affairs of the Corporation?
  

The management of the business and the conduct of the affairs of the Corporation are vested in its Board of Directors. Certain of the responsibilities have been delegated to Officers, Committee Chairs, and Stewards by appointment of the Board. It seems to me that the routine operation of the Corporation would be subject to the variable preferences of volunteers.  Please don't misunderstand, I believe our volunteers are well-meaning and well-intentioned, and are the lifeblood of the Corporation, and should be valued for their contributions. But the orderly operation of the Corporation requires clarity in the ongoing decision-making.
Solution: The Board should provide clarification about how it wishes the Corporation to operate. The Membership Chair is seeking guidance from the Board in the form of the following notional motions.

Solution:  Clarify Membership Chair responsibilities through approval of a series of motions.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  The Board must maintain proper operational control of the Corporation to avoid jeopardizing our Tax-exempt status.

Motions:

• NB1A:  The Board directs the Membership Chair to notify the Board of, and obtain approval for, any material change in Membership requirements.
  Vote: Motion carries by voice vote
  

• NB1B:  The Board directs the Membership Chair to maintain the previous schedule of New Member Orientations (free and online, every other Monday evening). This does not preclude an in-person element, nor does it preclude additional in-person sessions, it just maintains 2 online sessions on alternating Monday evenings.
  Vote: Motion was not seconded, motion does not pass.
  

• NB1C:  The Board-appointed Officer, Chair, or Steward is the arbiter of any decision made within their delegated duties. Any disagreement may be raised through the President or Board Chair for presentation to and resolution by the Board.
  Vote: Motion was not seconded, motion does not pass.
  

NB2: Add Dye Sublimation Capabilities to Leesburg (Jessee Maloney)

Issue:  Makersmiths was donated an Epson printer, which we attempted to hack into dye sublimation printer due to popular demand for such a capability.  After copious volunteer hours, the effort resulted in mixed but briefly-lived success.  It proved out the concept and reaffirmed the user demand.  However, the printer is end of life and no longer functions.  

Solution:   Procure a new purpose-built dye sublimation printer along with recommended accessories and required supplies (bundled cost estimated at $2600-2800).

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  None

Motions:

• NB2A:  Move to procure a dye sublimation printer consistent with configuration and accessories as outlined in the presentation for an amount not to exceed $2800, with the funds to come from the Equipment Reserve.
  Vote: Motion carries by voice vote
  
• NB2B:  Move to appoint Jessee Maloney as Dye Sublimation tool steward
  Vote: Motion carries by voice vote
  
• NB2C:  Move to direct the tool steward to develop training materials, red tool class schedule, and proposed usage and class fees and present to the Board at the next meeting.
  Vote: Motion carries by voice vote
  

NB3: Add CNC Lathe Capabilities (Brad Hess)

Issue:  The metal should would like to add CNC lathe capabilities to the organization.  To fund this the board approved the sale of inserts from a donation.  To date this has resulted in raising $2604.54 in funds for the metal shop.  With another 60 items still for sale and sales averaging $100 per week.  

Solution:  I am asking the board to approve 1050 to fund purchasing the lathe attachment for the Tormach now to be repaid through future sales.  The reason I am asking for this is I would like to get the Lathe setup, learn to use it and prepare a class to be launched in late March 24, however if I wait until the Ebay funds complete it will be too late for me to learn to use pushing the class into June of next year (acquire time + learn to use time).  This is due to my personal schedule from Dec-Mar.  The class I am doing now for the Tormach has also raised 330.00 remaining from class fee's after the purchase of class supplies.  The next session will raise 1200-1400 in fees.  When I launch the lathe class in the spring this class will raise 1200-1400 per class also. 

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  None

Motions:

• NB3A:  Motion to Waive 7 day notice
  Vote:  Motion carries by voice vote
• NB3B:  Move to approve 1050.00 of funds from the Equipment Reserve fund to fund the lathe attachment to be replenished through the remaining eBay sales.
  Vote:  Motion carries by voice vote

Open Discussion

Committee Composition

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned by NAME at TIME