Board Meeting 2018 04 10

Time and Location

Date

Called to order at 2110 pm by Karen

BOD Members present: Karen Tom Tayeb Ken Kevin

Members present: Enrique Bobby

Members remote: None

Others present: Diego

Quorum

Quorum met?

   yes

Director Reports (Governance related stuff)

Vice President's Report

Update new BOD on last year's history of IT admin relationship with church and its denouement.

Treasurer's Report

We used to have a monthly income hovering around $1300 but for the past five+ months it's been aroud $6-700; we may have lost up to $7000 in this timeframe... depending on success or failure of back dues payment collection.

The treasurer’s position has been vacant since October 2017. Those individuals who were set for entirely automatic payment systems (a subset of those on Paypal, everyone on Dwolla) continued paying as normal and are among the few who owe no back dues. Back in 2017, our average monthly income was hovering around $1300. We have since dropped to ~$700.

Rent went up here starting in the month of February, from $1043 to $1343. We have had some irregular finances due to a mischarge in December, where we accidentally were charged for two and a half months in advance. We are now back to paying rent regularly, $1343 per month.

Additionally we have not been completing PA allocations, and as such the information has not been updated. This will be rectified soon.

We have three new members!

Agenda

Draft Code of Conduct

Karen

There is some question on how to manage guests and people's behavior in the space who are not members to develop relationships and troubleshoot problem spots; and to ensure that problems are resolved regularly. To that end I have looked at some other organizations and developed a draft "code of conduct" (open to different names) for comment and revisions.

Mirage355

Most importantly, lack of barriers to entry, such as strict rules about equipment usage, borrowing, or supplies consumption, has been a huge success at HacDC, to be continued. We have not had a problem with accidents, nor substantial damage from supplies overconsumption, nor theft. Permanent injuries have not happened, tools have not been damaged in operation, and minimal supplies budgets have not remotely been drained. This is an important part of HacDC's unique character to be continued.

All major problems at HacDC have been the result of total absence of common sense or deliberate abuse. Most probably deliberate abuse. These incidents are in an entirely separate category from on-mission activities, while often using the same resources.

We need to require disruptive members, and the disruptive guests they allow, to reach a credible "cease and desist" agreement, or be immediately barred from the space until they do. We need to do this without interfering with, or discouraging, our vast majority of contributing volunteers. Immediate action is not a permanent banhammer, but it may be followed with such.

Our bylaw amendment, empowering the board to bar access for "substantial cause", is also intended to apply to members who bring trouble, as well as their own behaviour. Members bringing in live ammunition, would be responsible for doing so safely, as opposed to displaying it in an obviously threatening manner. Likewise, members are responsible for the guests they bring in, and can be barred for continuing to allow disruptive guests.

Explicit rules alone are not the answer. Too many situations will involve substantial cause that involve resources being used as expected, to a degree that is not appropriate. Rearranging some things in the space is normal. Occasionally using a TV set is normal. Sitting in a chair is normal. Even some personal use may be normal, below the threshold of what the IRS would consider substantial. Scattering the components of a tool, burning days of daytime TV on a maintenance intensive display, or sleeping overnight in a chair, is not appropriate.

What we need to do, is provide guidance - in addition to rules - to fairly explain to newcomers, members, and guests - the wonderful things they are allowed to do, as well as the category of things they are expected not to do. Realistically, most would never think of doing the things in the latter category to begin with.

To that end, a Wiki document was written a while back as guidance summarizing some norms as well as the mechanics of how things could work. https://wiki.hacdc.org/index.php/ResponsibilitiesOfMembership

To provide further guidance of what is in the category of on-mission, as opposed to inappropriate, use of HacDC resources, another wiki document has been put up. It may be the first attempt to formally write down the culture of how HacDC operates, both to encourage newcomers to quickly become comfortable with the freedom we offer, as well as to provide a sense of fairness for policy makers. https://wiki.hacdc.org/index.php/NormsOfHacDC

Adjournment

Adjourned by at xxx by xxx