Time and Location:

January 27, 2021 7:00PM at Virtual Meeting

Call to Order

Consent Agenda

Newly proposed agenda items appear in the consent agenda. Any member present at the meeting may pull an item out of the consent agenda for discussion, at which point it goes under "New Business". If nobody objects to the solutions presented by the consent agenda, everything in the consent agenda passes by consensus. Items that have more than one proposed solution should be moved to the "New Business" section.

Any member may propose an item on the agenda. However, discussion of agenda items should be done via Slack. The cut-off time for addition to or revision of the consent agenda items is 48 hours prior to the meeting. Please note, agenda items (Consent, New, or Old) that request spending $250 or more must include a section on "Relevance to our tax exempt purpose".

CA1 Description (John Dubelko)

Problem: Craig Thomas is a Loudoun County Firefighter and interested in a complimentary membership. He would like to help us with our safety equipment setup and general maintenance/cleaning in exchange for membership. Craig likes woodworking and wants to learn more about blacksmithing. He agrees with the 4-6 hour a month commitment for this membership.

Solution: Make Craig a complimentary member.  Currently there are 3 of the 5 memberships available.

Relevance to our tax exempt status: none

Motion: Make Craig Thomas a complimentary member for 3 months.

CA2 Description (@Stosh)

Problem: The Town of Purcellville wants to build a kiosk for the historic train station.

Solution: Through my association with the Town of Purcellville Planning Commission, I was contacted by a member of the Town of Purcellville’s Train Station Advisory Board (TSAB). TSAB is interested in hiring the Makerspace to create a product. The City of  Manassas has a kiosk located at their historic train station and TSAB would like to have a similar one made to place at the Purcellville train station. Unfortunately, Manassas has no records on who created theirs or when, and does not have plans.

TSAB is offering Makersmiths the opportunity to build the kiosk. TSAB has funds to expend on this which they must execute by May 2021. I’ve made no commitment to TSAB aside from telling them I would take their proposal to the Makersmith’s Board. A few pictures are attached on the following page, and I have a half dozen more for reference should the Board decide to go forward with it. The kiosk is metal, not wood (and I cited Makersmiths having few metalworkers compared to our number of woodworkers as a reason we might not be able to take it on). TSAB is also open to a little artistic license or suggested improvements, such as adding a solar panel, battery and lights.  If we have the means and personnel, I suggest this would be a way to get local recognition (I’m sure the town would help with local media and probably would have a ribbon cutting) and give back to the community (while being reimbursed for the effort). Should Makersmiths not choose to do this as an organization, I’ll forward this to our members who are metalsmiths and see if they’d want to take it on a job.

Relevance to our tax exempt status: N/A

Motion: I propose that Makersmiths commit to working with the TSAB to build the kiosk at the historic train station.

CA3 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Motion:

Link

Prior minutes

2020-12-16 Meeting of the Board of the Directors - Agenda/Minutes (Closed)

Officer Reports:

Chairman 

Secretary 

Treasurer

Financial Statement:

Member Reports:

Committee Reports:

.

New Member Orientation Committee (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

Website Committee (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

Membership Committee (Chairperson Scott Newman )

Social Outreach Committee:  (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

Leesburg Facility Committee (Chairperson Brad Hess)

Purcellville Facility Committee (Chairperson Tom Hill)

Scheduling Committee (Chairperson Diane DeMott Painter)

Special Projects Committee (Chairperson Mike Werling)

Welding Committee (Chairperson Arthur 'Skip' Smith)

Newsletter Committee (Chairperson Diane DeMott Painter )

IT Committee (Chairperson Michael James)

Video Committee (Chairperson Adam "Squirrl" McClintock)

Environmental and Safety Committee (Chairperson David Lang)

Custom Frame Shop Committee (Chairperson user-17f4a)

Radio Club Committee (Chairperson Allon Stern )

Old Business:

There is no old business carried over from the prior Board Meeting.

New Business:

NB1 Description (Michael James )

Problem: Starting Ink Set for Empson Stylus Pro 9890 Plotter

Solution: Request for Funds

Relevance to our tax exempt status: None

Proposed Motion: I have a few quotes for third party refillable ink cartridges. I have been requesting donations of the cartridges from various suppliers. Some have offered additional discounts. See attached quotes. I move that we allocate funds in the amount of $750 to get the plotter going. Ink Owl sent an updated proforma quote, Need to check the differences.

Machine Access Controls (James Waldron)

Problem:  We are not currently able to gather machine operating hours or control machine access. Anyone can use any machine whether they have taken Red Tool training or not. This sometimes leads to machine damage and expensive repairs. Lack of usage information means that preventive maintenance is not related to actual machine time, may be overdue, or be performed too often.

Solution: Fit select machines with access controls. Device to allow only authorized users and to log usage information. There are both home grown and commercial options available. Home grown solutions are less expensive but initially have fewer features. Commercial options are more expensive but more fully featured. Integration with our existing systems and data stores are likely easier for home grown solutions, possibly harder for commercial solutions.

Relevance to our tax exempt status:  None

Proposed Motion:  Adopt Machine Controls for Select Machines. Establish a small Machine Control committee to; determine which machines need to be controlled, investigate the current commercial and home grown solutions and select 3, present those to the Board at the February meeting. The Board to select a solution at the February meeting.

NB3 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

Open Discussion

Adjournment

Minutes: