Council Meeting Minutes for July 7, 2009

Minutes by Agenda Topic

Work hours

• There are a few events coming up
  • DevHouse 10 on Tuesday, July 21
  • Setup and teardown for DevHouse event
• We should request member support for these events
  • Members can fulfill work hour requirements at these events
• Discussion regarding work hours credits, dues

Classes

• Building the Freeduino
  • Saturday, July 25

Financials

• Current balance in the account
• Landlord has paid for some infrastructure support
  • Building permits
  • Code certification
• AdWords and Amazon Affiliate programs are bringing in a trickle
  • What should we be advertising?
  • Can we target the group's interest more?
  • There are other affiliate programs to explore
  • Adafruit? Sparkfun? Maker Shed? NewEgg?
• Discussion of scaling rent as membership increases
  • Useful idea
  • Will discuss with landlord

Grants

• Nick will present HackPittsburgh to the KIZ on Thursday
  • Mention DevHouse
  • Mention classes
  • Mention Friday nights
  • Mention specific projects
  • General pitch
• Discussion regarding an NSF grant for "new educational methods"
  • Worth looking into
  • Contact will follow up with Nick
• What would the shop need if a grant were offered?
  • Cover rent
  • Run power
  • Shelves
  • Tools
  • Open to general membership
  • Form a committee?

Shop

• Door repaired
• Chimney leak repaired
• Electrician coming next week

Action Items

Matt:

• Send email regarding volunteer hours for DevHouse

Marty:

• Post Freeduino class to the calendar

Nick:

• Address concerns of members regarding dues and work hours on a case-by-case basis
• Discuss member-variable rent with landlord

Forest:

• Continue to investigate affiliate programs