Time and Location:

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

Call to Order:

Meeting called to order by Jonathan White at 7:06 PM

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".

Approval of Prior Minutes

December 18, 2024 Minutes

Vote: Motion approved by voice vote

Officer Reports

Chairperson:

Secretary:

Nothing to Report

Treasurer:

President:

Received feedback at the January Membership Meeting that the meeting format could use some tweaking to make the meetings more stimulating and fun.  Will be trying to incorporate that feedback in February's Membership meeting

Committee Reports:

Membership Committee (Ken Fuentecilla)

Marketing Committee (Sally Soles)

No Report

Website Committee (Vacant)

Leesburg Facility Committee (John Carter)

Thank you to everyone who has been volunteering.   We've had good momentum on reorganizing the space over the last couple of months.  Electronics has moved all of their equipment and supplies to the basement.  There is still a lot of sorting and culling .  Work has started on converting the old Electronics shop upstairs into the new Printmaking shop, including removing part of the wall to open up the space.  The Finishing Room is being slowly cleared as things are moved from there to their permanent home in Printmaking,  

Purcellville Facility Committee (Dave Painter)

Ian has been rewiring the plasma cutter to get it back in service.  The compressor and the MIG 210 welder have been repaired and returned to service.   An HVAC technician is scheduled to come in the week of 2/3/25 to give an estimate for the installation of the split unit AC system in the Lower Building

Scheduling Committee (Jennifer Chu)

Newsletter Committee (Jenna Conn)

Nothing to Report

IT Committee (Scott Silvers)

Nothing to report

Bylaws & Standing Rules Committee (Jennifer Chu)

Nothing to Report, no meetings in January

Finance Committee (Mary Waldron)

Annual inventory completed.  Thank you to all who volunteered.   No Finance Committee meeting in January.

Unfinished Business

OB1: Member Storage Bin Policy addition to Standing Rules (Bo Wernick)

Issue:  Member Storage space is limited, so Makersmiths needs to adopt a policy to ensure equitable distribution of storage space

Solution:  Replace existing section 12.1  "Individual and Household Memberships are allowed one 17- gallon storage bin  which will be placed in the member storage area in Leesburg, subject availability on a
first come, first served basis"

with 

12.1  Makersmiths will provide 17 gallon HDX plastic bins for use by members to store materials at the Leesburg facility on the Member Storage shelves.

12.1.1 One storage bin may be allocated to Individual or Household memberships, subject to availability on a first come, first served basis.

12.1.2 Preference for Member use of a bin is given in this priority:

1.Stewards

2.Instructors

3.Other Members on a first-come, first-serve basis

12.1.3 Members must: 

• Label their bin with their name and the date they last accessed it.
• Store their items within the bin with the lid closed.  Nothing may be stored on top of or besides the bin.

12.1.4 If a bin is not accessed for two months, it is considered abandoned.

12.1.5 If a bin is abandoned, the Member using it will be contacted, the bin contents emptied and packed for Member pickup, and the bin will be reallocated to the next person on the waiting list.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to amend the Standing Rules as described above.

Second: Jim Waldron

Motion: Move to amend the motion to include "Remove Section 12.4 regarding locker rental

Second: Jonathan White 

Vote:  Motion to amend carries by voice vote

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote.

New Business

NB1: Change to Standing Rules item(Jim Waldron)

Issue:  Jonathan White notes the Fee table in the current Standing rules is incorrect.

Solution: Correct fee table at 14.1 in the Standing rules to reflect changes made at the June 2024 Board meeting.  Details at https://docs.google.com/document/d/10XlHc-rDPrh--s7EWQHdCTQIxsQJbRmy96qH4tec8S4/edit?tab=t.0

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion:  Accept changes to Standing Rules Fee table Section 14.1 to reflect changes made at the June 2024 Board meeting.

Second: Scott Silvers

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote

NB2: Replacement of Lower Building Classroom Chairs (Bo Wernick)

Issue: The chairs in the lower building classroom need replacing. They are over 7 years and were when donated to Makersmiths used. The lower building classroom is hosting more and more classes, speeding the delamination of the faux leather. Kidwind, ceramics, stained-glass, cricut and other classes are held in the lower building classroom on a weekly basis.

Solution: Buy new chairs for the lower building classroom.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status:  None

Motion: Move to allocate $1,200 for new chairs in the lower building classroom. The chairs must be purchased by March 31, 2025 and any remaining allocation of funds returned to the general fund. Funds will come from the operations account.

Second: Scott Silvers

Discussion: More information needed about the type and quantity of chairs. 

Vote: Motion rejected by voice vote.  

NB3: Wiki Hosting (Brad Hess)

Issue: We are currently paying approx $150 per month to host confluence on Azure and due to updates on confluence and other server management activities this is becoming cumbersome to manage.  If we move to Atlassian hosted confluence we would pay $6.40 per user per month.  We currently have 20 licensed users that have logged into confluence in the past 1yr.  We could probably even remove some of these with a user review.  At 20 users we would be at $128 per month and have a more managed platform.   Once I have approval I can work with the treasurer on getting Atlassian setup with the appropriate billing information and also work with the IT committee on the DNS changes.  We will have an approx 1-2 day window where wiki changes will be put on hold   

Solution:  Authorize movement of the wiki from Azure to Atlassian hosted confluence.  This will mean a one time cost of approx 130 over the current budget as we will be paying for both Atlassian and Azure at the same time. 

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to allocate $150 to our hosting budget to change hosting for our Wiki from Azure to Atlassian hosted Confluence

Second: Jonathan White

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote

NB4: Extend the existing Fiber Laser Build Out Budget through the end of January 2025 (Jonathan White)

Motion: Move to waive 7 day notification requirement.

Second: Jim Waldron

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote


Issue: The last part (new chuck) ordered in December ended up not getting delivered because the Amazon delivery wouldn't leave it unattended outside the building.  It was returned, refunded and a new one was ordered in early January.  It has already been delivered.

Solution: Extend the existing Fiber Laser Budget through the end of January 2025.  There are no more purchases to make, this just makes sure that the budget is approved for the extended period of time to cover the $50ish dollars spent on the chuck.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to extend the Fiber Laser Build Out Budget through the end of January 2025.

Second: Jim Waldron

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote.

NB5: Extend GrantStation license for another year (Scott Silvers)

Motion: Move to waive 7 day notification requirement.

Second: Jim Waldron

Vote: Motion carries by voice vote.

Issue: Our subscription to GrantStation is expiring at the end of February.  There is a 2 day window on February 11 and 12 for a discounted subscription through TechSoup for $119.  This is a significant discount off the normally $699/yr GrantStation normally charges

Solution: Renew our subscription for $119 for another year.

Relevance to Tax Exempt Status: None

Motion: Move to allocate $119 from the Operations budget for the purchase of a one year GrantStation license through TechSoup

Second: Jen Chu

Vote:    Motion withdrawn - existing budget contains sufficient funds

Open Discussion

Grant Process:  Members have asked about our process to apply for external grants for Makersmiths.   Our existing policy is not currently written down.   Jim Waldron will set up a meeting to discuss the appropriate policies and procedures.

Purcellville Town Council: The new Purcellville Town Council consists of all new members.  Nedim Ogelman recommends that representatives of Makersmiths attend an upcoming Town Council meeting to introduce ourselves and invite the council members for a tour of our facilities.  Jonathan White will take lead on this.

Executive Session

No actions taken.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned by Jonathan White at 9:03 PM