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Regular Member Meeting 2023 03 14

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Time and Location

Date
Called to order at Michelle pm by 7:36
Members present: Phil, Obi, Don, Matt, Kevin, John, Michelle, Gabe, Matthew M., Jared, Brian, Ken
Members remote:
Others present:
Quorum
Quorum met? Y

Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes

Recognition

  • Gabe and Daniel for researching alternative Internet hosting
  • Karen for continued donations

New Members

  • Jared and Matthew M.
  • Jared's got a background in mechanical engineering. Along with Matthew M. wants to investigate the CNC mill. (Mach 3 is apparenty the standard software controller for CNC mills.) Lives close.
  • Matthew M. is a Nix Linux fan, does home automation, etc. Lives close.

Old Business

  • The phone: Again a vote for an old-school hardwired landline.
    • Brian suggests connecting to smart phones to create a phone tree
    • Don says we used to have a phone for $10.00 / year with a dial tone, but no one paid the bill and it appears to have gone away
    • Gabe says people use Discord to request entry, if they know about it.
    • Don will reach out this week to Jamie who will probably know about the phone.
    • Michelle likes Discord for a bit of security over a buzzer: It's more likely people won't be strangers. But alternatives / backups worth consideration.
  • Web changes:
    • Remove "get a server account"
    • Onboarding documents for new members.
    • Michelle is hoping to find time to work on this during the coming week.
  • Electronic lock
    • Preventative mainenance
    • 1.5v AA batteries replaceable with a screwdriver.
  • Git repositories
    • Admin access to GitHub now available.
    • Codeberg getting a fair amount of use as well.
    • (There's also an ancient, completely abandoned and mostly empty GitLab account.)

New Business

  • Board elections
    • Bylaws: Board of Directors
    • Michelle stepping down but will support incoming board members
    • Matt S. is hitting the term limits
    • Vice-president is a two-year position (at least): In training for president
    • President: Obi
    • Vice-president: Gabe
    • Treasurer: ??? (Tristan put his name in the hat but may not be able to do it.)
      • Matt will assist incoming treasurer, and says it's not too bad
      • Dues, donations, expenses, bank account, slides, (occasional hiccups like bank mergers, church interactions, etc.)
      • Logon monthly to check bank, CoinBase, and PayPal accounts, physical trips to the bank to deposit checks
      • Taxes: Fill out Form 990 - which is simple
      • Watch business license and donations license: DON'T let them expire! It becomes an expensive problem if they expire.
    • Secretary: ???
    • At-large 1: Split between Don and Brian (Good to have a amateur radio liasons.)
    • At-large 2: Michelle
    • Slate: Obi, Gabe, Don/Brian, Michelle APPROVED
  • Campaign to recruit the missing positions.
  • Internet
    • There was a hiccup that affected the church admin's Internet
    • Regardless of the source, there was a meeting with Reverend Ronnie, and the decision was to become independent of the rest of the building and have our own server closet
    • Mobile Citizen - rather affordable at $120/year
    • Concerns about ham radio
    • Plan to keep connected to the church's system while stress-testing the new system
    • In-house experts seem to have solutions to potential glitches. Getting cooperation from a service provider can be tricky, when it comes to hosting servers that are accessible externally.
    • Static IP difficult / impossible. Possibly use something like DuckDNS
    • An alternate hotspot provider but mobile citizen looks better Calyx Institute.
    • Gabriel says: CISPES is the other group at the church that pays for their own connection.
    • Tentative testing: ```Approved```


Member Reports

Director Reports (Governance related stuff)

President's Report

Vice President's Report

Treasurer's Report

  • Finances are healthy though they could use work:
    • Bitcoin which was lost was found thanks to Tayeb
    • COVID helped us on the rent and is still giving us a great deal
    • The church accidentally paid our insurance for the year and needs to be reimbursed
    • Not a lot of slack for unexpected minor catastrophes, let alone major ones.
    • Need seven or eight more members in order to become more solidly stable and possibly grow the coffers.

Secretary's Report

Director-at-Large Reports

Gabe

John

Adjournment

Adjourned by at Michelle by 20:57