Time and Location:

7pm ET Virtual Meeting https://meet.google.com/cih-ehxi-wbc

Meting opened at 7:04pm ET

Call to Order:

Meeting called to order by (NAME HERE) at (TIME HERE).

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: Reimbursement for Donation Moving Expenses (Brad Hess)

Issue: Due to the timing and how this came together Brad was not able to put this before the board before it happened as I was coordinating with space and room managers and also getting help from members to facilitate the move for the following equipment donated to Makersmiths: 

1. 4x8 Plasma table which is an industrial unit much better then our home made version
2. new Burr king sander (Retail approx. 3k)
3. All terrain pallet jack (Retail 1.7k)
4. Sheet metal Shear
5. Storage bins
6. Welding table with vise, clamps, etc.

Solution: Reimburse 275.00 for the tow truck and trailer rental

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to reimburse Brad Hess for 275.00 for tow truck and trailer rental associated with acceptance of the donation above.

Vote: Pass by voice vote

CA2: Open Board Position (Scott Silvers)

Issue: One of our Directors, Jessee Maloney, resigned her Director position.  The Board can either:  a) move to hold a special election and fill the seat through the remainder of Jessee Maloney's term (mid-2025) or b) move to have 6 director seats until the next Annual Meeting of the Membership and use that election to return to 7 directors.  For a special election to take place, notice to Membership is required, and a quorum must be reached for the election to take place.

Solution: Leverage the voting tools and processes from the 2024 election (as administered by the Secretary) to solicit candidates and provided at least one candidate submits the nomination form, proceed with election.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: NA

Motion: Move to direct the Secretary to manage an election for the recently vacated seat in accordance with Makersmiths Bylaws, including communications with the Membership and setting dates for nominations and voting.

Vote: Pass by voice vote

CA3: Update Machine Fees in Standing Rules (Jonathan White)

Moved to New Business

CA4: Appointment of Chairperson of the Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee (Jonathan White)

Issue: Jonathan White has not had the time to devote to the Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee. Jennifer Chu has been organizing the agenda, running the meetings, taking notes, etc.

Solution: Nominate Jennifer Chu to be the Committee Chair of the Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to appoint Jennifer Chu as the Committee Chair of the Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee.

Vote: Pass by voice vote

CA5: Set Red Tool Class for "Lighting the Forge" Red Tool Class (Jonathan White)

Issue: The Board voted to implement the policy that all Red Tool classes should be cost $40 minimum. Exceptions can then be handled on a case by case basis. The “Lighting the Forge” class is a 10-15 minute class and does not warrant a $40 cost per person cost. There has been discussion that the class should be more than just about how to light the forge, and there are more in-depth blacksmithing make and take classes. However for those people that know how to blacksmith already and just want to use the tools, forcing them to take a longer $40 class isn’t practical and is off putting. The class doesn’t impede on other classes in the same space. If there is a more in-depth, longer, $40 class in the future, an exception to the standard $40 fee for this class can of course be revisited.

Solution: Adopt a $5 per person “Lighting the Forge” class charge.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to approve the “Lighting the Forge” class to charge $5 per person. 

Vote: Pass by voice vote

Approval of Prior Minutes

2024-06-26 Meeting of the Board of Directors

2024-07-03 Special Meeting of Board of Directors

Vote: Approved by voice vote

Officer Reports

Chairperson:

Electronic voting allowed via https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title13.1/chapter10/section13.1-865/ as long as it does not conflict with bylaws. 

Secretary:

Minutes updated from 2024-06-26 Meeting of the Board of Directors and 2024-07-03 Special Meeting of Board of Directors

Up to speed on election process for board members.

Treasurer:

President:

INSERT REPORT HERE

Committee Reports:

Membership Committee (Open)

Marketing Committee (VACANT)

Jason Gilligan has resigned from Chair of the Marketing Committee

Website Committee (Maggie Toth)

Leesburg Facility Committee (Jessee Maloney)

Purcellville Facility Committee (Dave Painter)

• Request MSP start garbage service
•  Attendance at the monthly work days has fallen off sharply this summer.
• Equipment repairs / new tools  in July
  1. Repaired drill press in Woodshop after its untimely meeting with the concrete floor.  We are still missing the handle to crank the table up and down although I expect that it skittered away and is hiding under something else. It will eventually turn up or we will machine a new one. For the time being a vise-grip clamped to the shaft is working OK.
  2. Repaired the power cable to the 12” disk sander and replaced the shorted on/off switch.  Thank You Jim Waldron!
  3. Replaced the USB hub to get the 3D printers back online. Again, a big thanks to Jim Waldron.
  4. Replaced some broken carbide cutters on both the planer and jointer so we are out of spares, now. The upgrade to the helical cutters has proven to be a wise move as evidenced by the fact that we haven’t spent any additional money on these two machines since we installed them. Now, after almost three years, it is time to finally replace all the carbide inserts on both machines.  No additional money needs to be approved as the cost of a new set of inserts will fit into the monthly maintenance budget.
  5. With the high heat and lack of rain that we’ve experienced this summer the grass has pretty much died so we haven’t had a problem keeping the grass cut although it could use a touch up soon.
  6. A BIG Thank You to Michael Keane for weed whacking along the driveway, the entrance looks a lot better!
  7. Last October the board approved several projects to fix up some long-standing issues at MSP.   Unfortunately, because of my two knee replacements this year, my time at the space was limited. Happily I’m back on my feet now. One of the first planned projects is to build new cabinets and work surfaces for the Green Room. A custom cabinet building class has been announced which is planned for five sessions beginning Sunday afternoon August 18th. The class will demonstrate how to plan and design custom cabinets and then we will build the cabinets together for the Green Room. Currently there is only one person registered for the class. Perhaps the board members could help spread the word?
  8. Brad Hess and Jim Waldron pulled off a miracle and wrangled a HUGE donation of metal working tools. We now have a 52” jump shear (for doing sheet metal work), a rotary tool for “tipping” the edge of light weight sheet metal, An absolute BRUTE of a 1 1/2x60” belt sander from BurrKing, and an industrial CNC Plasma Cutter table big enough for a 4 x 8’ sheet of steel up to one inch thick!  
  9. That’s the good news.  The bad news is that we currently have the new (to us) plasma table jammed into the metal shop and that means that there is no room to work in there or even walk through the room to get to the welding shop or paint and powder coat area. The plan is to move the plasma table, the pedestal grinders, the belt sanders and the media blast cabinet into the last bay of the building once we get a concrete floor poured and rebuild the front wall with a garage door in it.  We thought we had a donation arranged for the concrete work but that is looking less and less likely as the man we were working with is dealing with his house burning down and now, apparently, some marital problems as well.  The last time we had to add a concrete floor was nearly seven years ago and the cost was over $5000. I can get current quotes or maybe someone on the board knows of someone who could help out?
  10. Blacksmithing, Welding, EBF, Industrial Sewing, No Issues.
  11. Metal shop.  Lots of new donated equipment - determining what can go where.
• Instructors for 3D Printer classes are needed for MSP.  Nickolai Miller has offered to teach classes and become the 3D Printer Steward for MSP.
• Issues
  1. Mary has pointed out that the MSP electric bill is much higher than in years past and is exceeding the estimated budget.  This is no doubt caused, in part, by the fact that we have AC and Heat in both buildings now and building utilization has increased.  The fact that the upper building has virtually no insulation is also a big factor, as well.  The mini-splits in the wood and metal shops automatically adjust themselves to a higher temperature at 9:00PM every night and any time someone instructs Alexa to “turn them down” but the AC in the lower classroom runs continuously as does the mini-split in the laser/framing/stained glass shop. Also, members often forget to turn the AC off when they leave the Green Room.  In the short term we need to amend the budget to reflect the actual electrical costs we are experiencing. In the near future we need to consider improving the insulation (and sealing) of the upper building and get the donated mini-splits installed in the ceramics shop and the lower classroom once we get the missing mini-splits’ parts.  Other suggestions/solutions are welcome.

Scheduling Committee (Jennifer Chu)

Newsletter Committee (Melissa Kowalski)

IT Committee (Scott Silvers)

Maintenance Committee (Dave Painter) - Removed?

STEM Committee (Diane Painter)

Standing Rules Committee (Jonathan White)

2024-07-22 Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee Meeting Notes

Unfinished Business

None

New Business

NB1: Increase to the Leesburg Supplies budget (Scott Silvers)

Issue: The Leesburg Steward, on the advice of the Treasurer, has requested that the Leesburg Supplies budget be increased by $1000 to cover the cost of an addition set of ink cartridges for the BN2-20 printer and the SG1000 sublimation printer.
Solution: Add $1000 to the Leesburg Supplies budget

Solution: Increase the Budget

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: NA

Motion: Move to add a one-time increase of $1000 to the Leesburg Supplies budget.

Vote: Motion by Jonathan, second by Brad, passes by voice vote

NB2: Fiber Laser Purchase (Jonathan White)

Issue: A capability regularly requested by Members is to be able to engrave on metal. 

Solution: Approve the purchase of a fiber laser as outlined in the linked presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D7rPUFevPfneaD86LsJY63CZQo9Z-yD4gAap_nQW5lQ/edit?usp=sharing
Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motions: 

Motion 1: - Move to approve the purchase of the fiber laser from Diane Bollinger as outlined in the presentation material accompanying this motion.  Funds to be allocated from the Equipment Reserve budget.  Any saved or remaining funds after items in the presentation are purchased may be used towards the purchase of other components, blanks or equipment to support the fiber laser, or returned.  Any funds not spent within 3 months of laser purchase will be returned to the Equipment Reserve budget.

Motion 2: Move to designate the approved Fiber Laser as a Red Tool requiring training and sign off before use.

Motion 3: Move to approve the usage fee for the fiber laser of $10 per hour and update the Standing Rules fee table accordingly.

Motion 4: Move to appoint Jonathan White as the Fiber Laser Steward.

Motion 5: Move to approve the limitations on machine use to be the same as the current CO2 laser restrictions.  2 hours per day, 8 hour per week, unless otherwise authorized by the steward.

Vote: Johnathan submits motions, seconded by brad, all motions pass by voice vote

NB4: Print Fee for the Cannon Photo Printer in Purcellville (Jonathan White)

Issue: There is no approved per page print fee for Cannon Photo Printer at Purcellville.  This is new equipment without a use fee structure.

Solution: Set the Cannon Photo Printer fee at $4 per printed sheet.  This will be using either space provided paper or user provided paper.  There is some paper in the space but the space does not intend to have all varieties and all sizes available at any time.  What we have will be what we have.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion 1 - Move to waive 7 days notice to consider the motion.

Motion 2: Move to set the machine use fee for the Cannon Photo Printer at Purcellville at $4 per printed sheet and to update the Standing Rules use fees accordingly.

Vote: Motions proposed by Jonathan, seconded, passes by voice vote

NB3: Update Machine Fees in Standing Rules (Jonathan White)

Issue: The Board approved charges for machine use and materials approved at the June Board Meeting are confusing because the BN2-20 are labeled as being part of the UV Printer. There is also one type of Eco Solvent (BN2-20) material that was not added to the list.

Solution: Update the Standing Rules with the following table that:

• Separates out the LEF-200 and the BN2-20 pricing
• Renames the BN2-20 material lines with simpler descriptions
• Adds a line for White Sticker Vinyl that was missing at the same price as the Clear Sticker Vinyl - $2.00

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to update the Standing Rules charges section so that it matches the able above. 

Vote: motion proposed by Jonathan, seconded, passes by voice vote

NB5: Basement Classroom Floor Budget

Issue: Mark Millsap has purchased epoxy and would like to take out 2 walls and epoxy the floor of the basement.  This has been approved by the space steward.  To properly affix to the concrete the concrete needs to be prepped, but what prep is required will not be known until the tiles are removed.

Solution: Increase the Budget

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: NA

Motion 1: Move to waive 7 days notice

Motion 2: Move to setup a special projects account and fund the account with $300 for the express purpose of supplies or tool rentals needed to prep the floor for proper epoxy installation. The none used funds will be returned to general funds within 60 days.

Vote: Motion proposed by Jonathan, seconded, passes by voice vote

Open Discussion

Downstairs development plan

Treasurer report on snack policy, budget policy, and June 2024 financial statement

Report of BN-20 income and expenses

Jenna Conn for newsletter chair vote next meeting

Executive Session

Board went to Executive Session to discuss a Member issue.  No motions were made during the Executive Session.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned by Jonathan White at 9:15PM.