Regular Member Meeting 2009 03 03

Time and Location

March 3, 2009 Meeting called to order at 7:30 PM by Coordinator in Chief.

Members Present: Serge, Ben, Member 7, Martin, Tim, Elliot, Katie, Dan, Todd, Dave

Non-Members: Ben Bryce

Quorum determined to be present.

Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes

2009 Annual Meeting Minutes were presented. Dan moved to approve. Serge seconded. Motion carried with no objections.

Minister Reports

Coordinator in Chief Report

Talked with the church. The church expects us to finish, as promised, a door entry locking system.

The rent on the basement has been $0 for now, but there seems to be some expectation that they will eventually charge us rent on the basement space.

The deal seems to be that they're letting us not pay rent in exchange for our help with the door project and the church wiring project.

As for now, there is no deal negotiated between us, except for a verbal deal between Nick and Brian. Elliot is going to talk with Brian about a deal for the future.

Elliot has agreed to be the formal point of contact for church related business.

Minister of Finance Report

Still scrubbing the membership list. We have a significant portion of members who are either behind on dues or of an undetermined status.

25 members paid February's $50 dues, resulting in an income of $1250.

The bank accounts have been signed over to Elliot and Tim as of March 3, 2009.

Minister of Information Report

Dealing with the emails that have piled up in the request tracker and moderating the mailing lists, so that things are up to date.

Keeper of the MIBS Report

Working on a new website for HacDC.

Consent Agenda

Basement Space Update

Request for money for more Dry-Lock ($75/5 gal buck. Estimate we need 4 more, but approved 5 so that we're sure to have enough.)

Radiator in the ceiling leaks and drips boiling water on your head.

Tim Collins asked about the dry-locked walls and if they all face the outside. Dan drew the basement space, and explained how we could bring power to the space.

Member 7 suggested asking the membership if we they have Dry-Lock. Elliot expressed concern that people won't show up with any, and Dan will be here to paint with no supplies.

Ben suggested approving 5 buckets, just to be safe.

Dan suggested announcing a painting party to the list for Saturday. We'll have people show up at 11, do prep work, have lunch, then work until it's done.

Authorization for 5 buckets of Dry-Lock was approved.

Robert's Rules Discussion

Serge expressed interest in finding out more about them.

Ben told him to google it.

Member Reports

Member 7: Attended Dorkbot DC. Several people seemed interesting in attending HacDC. Member 7 is willing to help with setting up links to dismantling hardware and making blog posts for it. Also found a guy from PC Recycling who would give a presentation on what they do.

Serge: Reported on activities as PR Coordinator. Called in to Hackerspaces call in and spoke with lots of other hackerspaces. Attending the NoVa LUG meeting to talk about HacDC. Asked for members to send him email about other groups he can address.

New Business

Hosting

We need to find a new host. Dan suggested we could put a machine at Tommy's house, with Business FIOS. He's willing to host it for free.

There was a discussion about whether a VPS account at a real hosting company would be better.

Dues Amnesty

Some "members" have not paid dues for many months, having fallen off the automatic subscription system. They weren't reminded by us to make payments, nor have they been notified that their membership has been cancelled.

Idea: Forgive back dues for dues before March that were not recieved. Moving forward, members will be given notice of dues deliquency.

Ben suggested declaring the amnesty for the month of march. If members who owe back dues pay their March dues, they will remain a member in good standing. If they don't, they'll no longer be a member.

Member 7 suggested changing the language to make it clear that we are willing to accept the back dues if member's want to pay them.

Expense Announce List

Tim is trying to increase transparency of our financial activities. Create a mailing list open only to members, where each expenditure gets sent to everyone so people will be aware of our burn rate and financial picture.

Concerned about exposing more information than members are comfortable with, but might be worthwhile anyway.