Time and Location:

November 30, 2020 7:00PM at Virtual COVID-19 Meeting

Attendees:

• Jonathan White
• Brad Hess
• David Painter
• Ed Gabb
• Erin Werling
• James Werling
• John Dubelko
• Mark Millsap
• Scott Newman
• Jessee Maloney

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 edit this wiki page and place 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 (user-eefcb)

Problem: Re-prioritization and instructions for the Prioritized Road Map

Solution: Board to designate a small committee (3 persons?), made up of members of the board, to work with facility managers and room/shop/tool stewards as needed, to re-prioritize the tasks on the Prioritized Road Map (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0AK8nCnMGgODfUk9PVA) and, once the prioritization is complete, prepare (or have prepared) instructions (to make shovel ready) the highest priority items such that any member who believes they have the requisite skills could execute the task.

Relevance to our tax exempt status: None

Motion: I move the board appoint a committee as outlined above.

CA2 Description (John Dubelko )

Problem: Jason Hill would like to renew his complimentary membership for three more months.  He writes “I would like to think I've been a fairly solid volunteer this last year with the assist of the blacksmith area, to all day clean-ups (including my wife), dedicating many hours of rebuilding laptops for the fundraising auction.  Additionally,  I was able to secure the pug-mill donation and yes, I would like to begin teaching ceramics classes, though I would like to teach them remotely to get more participation, but I don't know where/how to start with a remote workshop.”

Solution: Renew Jason Hill’s complimentary membership

Relevance to our tax exempt status: None

Motion: Renew Jason Hill’s complimentary membership

CA3 Description (John Dubelko )

Problem: Christian Bongard would like to move up to full membership. He writes:

“Dear Makersmith Board,For several years I was truly in love with our libraries’ makerspace.  I loved trying out new tools and equipment to make a few things for myself and gifts.  I became such a regular that they used my materials for teaching others and I often trained new users more often than the librarians. As I was making more and more we bought our own glowforge, and when I wanted to make a larger project my librarian pointed me in your direction.  I went ahead and joined and was very excited to have a new space with more tools and equipment and a like-minded community.  Even with unlimited funds (which I don’t have), I live in a small townhouse so this shared workspace provides even more value.  Everything was set for being a long-term member, and then COVID hit. My wife and I were very wary of any shared spaces and after we saw that COVID wasn’t going to end anytime soon we decided to pause our account.  While under lockdown to stave off cabin fever we started an Etsy page. Yet again another larger project came up and we came back to Makersmith to fulfill it. My wife and I were impressed with the social distancing measures that have been implemented and felt comfortable rejoining. My wife and I would like to both join and support the organization.  We look forward to helping the organization grow and maintain the spaces.  There are few friends who are interested in joining and will bring them over as guests soon.  As my wife and I get better at making lake maps we would consider sharing that knowledge in a class.As for tools and machinery we are most likely to use regularly

1. Laser engraver
2. CNC machine for lake projects
3. Custom framing when that is available ”

Solution: Upgrade Christian Bongard to full membership 

Relevance to our tax exempt status: None

Motion: Upgrade Christian Bongard to full membership 

Result: All in favor of approving Consent Agenda items. None opposed.

Prior minutes

2020-10-28 Meeting of the Board of the Directors - Agenda/Minutes (CLOSED)

John D moved to approve.

Jim W seconded

All approved.

Officer Reports:

Chairman 

• Lease with Town of Purcellville has said that they won't discuss until 12 months before end of lease.  Dave spoke to Kwasi and he was not sure why this was the case.  There is an ongoing list of discussions of things we would ask for in a new lease.  Lease ends March/April 2022.
• John D has been contacting committee chairs.  Delighted to see that some committee chairs have provided notes for this meeting.
• Should discuss this evening - COVID cases above 10k and expect a peak in the next few weeks, again at the end of January.  News says likely May/June before enough people vaccinated to return to some semblance of normal. 
• Last month's meeting was just over one hour and would like to keep that going.

Secretary 

• Would like to discuss Wiki permissions during new business.

Treasurer

Financial Statement

• See notes for full details
• Net income for month was up.
• Larger than usual spend on shop supplies, most was internet components for Purcellville
• $309.99 "Other Costs" was wheelchair ramp for Purcellville
• Income is about 92% of budget YTD
• Expenses were 82% of budget YTD
• Net income to date of ~$2,500
• Power and shop supplies lower than budget.
• More expenses are expected from people who have not submitted receipts for reimbursement yet - frame shop air conditioner and plasma table build costs.
• Plasma cutter donations so far $270 so far plus board match.  Income to expenses currently even.
• $1,620 income from sale that Michael ran.
• ~$7,800 in donations year to date which made a substantial contribution to income.
• Ending balance for October balance ~65,000.
• Ending balance for November ~$68,000

Member Reports:

Committee Reports:

New Member Orientation Committee (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

There are currently no meetings of the New Member Orientation Committee due to most previous members of the committee not being active. I will put a call out for help, as it would be great for someone to look over any changes I've made to the slides and take on last minute orientations when needed.

• As of right now, I (Jessee) am doing 2-3 New Member Orientations a month. After testing out different times and days, I have settled on every other Monday at 6:30pm, starting tonight (11/30).
• I am always open for last minute ones as long as they don't interfere with our MS virtual cosplay/game night or Girl Scout meetings.
• The slides I'm using are updated every first Wednesday of the month after Member Meetings. I take notes during the meeting, and then go over board meeting minutes to add any new rules/regulations/numbers/etc. This past month I also added photos of board members, treasurers and John. That way new members can quickly know who is who. You can see the current slides I use here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r2QDIjp1rCx3Ahh0KA1uOAxaKDNyGVkGn0RkQ3ps–c/edit?usp=sharing
• The only thing I'm missing is the budget, but for now I just explain we are doing well for the times we are in.
• I'm also thinking a video tour of each location would be beneficial and helpful to new members. I put together a bunch of photos and a map, but its a bit tricky to explain where everything is still, especially with Purcellville. 

Website Committee (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

• Just like with the New Member Orientation committee, this is currently just me (Jessee). Maggie and Zach have both been unavailable.  These are hard times, so I decided not to ask anything more of them, I hope that is ok with the board? I feel like right now instead of asking volunteers "Why aren't you getting this done?", we should be asking "How can I help you during these tough times?" I think we'd have better responses and fewer people walking away from duties. I personally have wanted to walk away some days, but love this organization too much to do so. I also had a new member show interest in helping with the back end code on the site, so we are setting up a Google Meet to chat about it in depth.
• I've done two sweeps across all pages and removed anything mentioning open houses
• I added the New Member Orientation slides to the members only section.
• I am also currently formatting the fantastic information pages Diane made to fit in our "About Us" page. I personally believe we should also print a few out as press kits in case we need any asap, so I'll be contacting her soon about formatting it all for print as well. It should go live soon, I am just busy with Black Friday and Cyber Monday shipping and my kid is failing math so I'm learning common core math as well.
• I will be adding the same board/president/etc photos I added to the NMO slides to the members only section, as well as covid rules to help new members access this info fast. Anything else I should add for them?
• Discussion:
  • Videos would be good - JW volunteered to record some videos of the space that can then be put on the website.

Membership Committee (Chairperson Scott Newman )

• Scott taking over Membership Committee. Mark will help with the transition.

Social Outreach Committee:  (Chairperson Jessee Maloney)

Leesburg Facility Committee (Chairperson Brad Hess)

• Tormach is back online.
• Bryan Boston suggested that we should see if we can get some kind of sponsorship for hand tools and other smaller tools for both woodshops.

Purcellville Facility Committee (Chairperson Tom Hill)

• Dave Painter gave update in Tom's absence.
• Lot of work done at last workday.  Many roof leaks sealed.  
• String cutters used to cut down the rampant weeds which makes the place look better.  Jason Hill spent the whole Friday before the workday clearing out the weeds - big thanks!
• Couple of projects hanging around - items moved out that weren't needed.
• Some of the wood storage now gone.  Ideally try to get the rest out by New Years.
• Dust control panel rewired - push button for on and off.  Rotary switch is now to switch power between dust collector and shaker motor so both cannot be on at the same time.
• Scott Newman built shed around air compressor - thanks!  Wiring changes on it also so it has a push button on/off.  Just below dust collector switch.  It will also be wired with a timer so that it can only be turned on and off from 9-9.  Will turn itself off and drain at night.  Temporary signs were put up on new switches.  Signs were put up on 
• New knives installed on planer and half a day readjusting it.  Feeds much better now.
• Belt sander is now giving issues.  Air line issue was fixed.  Solenoid that controls belt was leaking which caused some other damage.  New order in for other leaking line to be repaired.

Scheduling Committee (Chairperson Diane DeMott Painter)

• The scheduling committee did not meet in November, but we took on the newsletter instead.

Special Projects Committee (Chairperson Mike Werling)

• Nothing to report.  No activities scheduled due to COVID.

Welding Committee (Chairperson Arthur 'Skip' Smith)

Newsletter Committee (Chairperson Diane DeMott Painter )

• It appears that the template created for us to use is not showing up appropriately on some smartphones. I removed the background anvil image, changed the formatting to smartphone only and resent it to John Dubelko and member, Andrew McKinney, to see if the formatting can be read on Andrew's phone.
• The original newsletter was sent on Friday, Nov. 27. Please let diane.painter@makersmiths.org know what you think of the content. Thank you. 

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:

OB1 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

OB2  Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

OB3 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

New Business:

NB1 Description (James Waldron )

Problem:  Lack of machine tools for drawing out in the Blacksmith Shop.  I propose a Pneumatic Power Hammer for the Blacksmith Area.  To facilitate drawing out of metal and provide an attractive tool for Members and Workshops.  Blacksmithing has proven to be very popular workshops and I believe that this addition will only enhance the draw.  I will commit to offering workshops in the spring or as soon as the corona vaccine is available to me.  These workshops have been an excellent source of workshop capital (applied to repayment of the Blacksmith Area obligation and support the class budget).

Solution: Authorize $700.00 for construction of a pneumatic power hammer.  Will use compressed air from the compressor currently existing in the lower building (power line (depending on location) and/or air line will need to be extended).  Design for a 14Kg power hammer, modified slightly for a slightly larger throat area for larger pieces.  (We have some offers of financial donation support which will be solicited and used first, but want to be sure adequate funding is available to complete the project in rapid order.)  Tooling (anvils and strikers) will be fabricated as needed in the Welding shop.

Relevance to our tax exempt status: None

Proposed Motion: I move that $700.00 be allocated for construction of a pneumatic power hammer.

Discussion:

• Jim W - will get donations and the delta will be returned
• Dave P - of the $700, does that include any power or air?  No.  
• Jim W - assumes that the air compressor in the lower building is functional and can serve the power hammer.
• Brad - believe the air compressor has a small part needed.
• Dave P - shouldn't be too hard to get that running

Vote: All in favor.  None opposed.

NB2 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

NB3 Description (Submitter's @name)

Problem:

Solution:

Relevance to our tax exempt status:

Proposed Motion:

Other Discussion:

• Scheduled Tool Maintenance
  • Dave P - Feel we need to initiate a scheduled preventative maintenance for both locations.  Issues with large tools might have been caught earlier and dealt with as easier fixes.  Would like volunteers to get thinking about maintenance schedule, and collection of manuals.  Also need to implement this for the buildings themselves.  
  • Jim W - we have room and tool stewards.  We need to look to those folks to take on those tasks.  Consider pulling a meeting together with room and facility stewards.
  • Brad H - is there anyone who could take over the Tormach through early April?  Sounds like it will be a team effort with Jim W, John D and Dave P.
• 2021 Budget
  • Dave P - 2021 budget is under review now.  Would like to get everyone to consider changing budget method.  No budget for replacing or buying machinery.  We have to think of all equipment as consumable - everything has a life span.  Larger tools may have 20 years, lots of items where either wear or changing technology where item might have 3-4 year life.  Need to determine useful life and when overhaul/repair might be necessary.  No accrual account for these.  If we aren't putting away 10-15% of the equipment value, then we're going backwards.  We are a not-for-profit but we are a business.  So we need to be responsible for the longevity of the organization and its infrastructure.
• Board Meeting - December
  • Confirmed it is December 16th
• New Members
  • Some new folks potentially joining from another makerspace who Brad knows.  They will request a tour and would be asking for a walkthrough.  They need a little more space for storage than we have, but still interested in getting access to the space to use some of the tools.
  • Concern was raised about monopolization of tools.  Brad doesn't believe this will be an issue.
• Wiki Editing
  • Keep Board Minutes editing to Board Members at this point.
  • Brad will be updating Wiki version sometime soon. 
• Membership Structure
  • No momentum to change it at this point.
  • Dave spoke to a few associates - one who said it would make them stop, two who felt that it wouldn't be an issue.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 8:20.

Minutes: 

Action Items:

Approved Spending Tracking: