Member Meeting Minutes for August 18, 2020

Call to order

Becky Zajdel called the meeting to order at 7:34 PM

Attendees

• Becky Zajdel, Secretary
• Sean Guzek, Vice-President
• Adam Longwill, Board Member
• Taylor Huston, NEW Board Member
• Alex Reasinger
• Simon Heath
• Kwame Wright
• Geno Soroka
• Rob Bedel
• Chris McCann
• Luis Hermoso
• Steve Owens
• Quara'e Canady
• Troy Lampenfeld

COVID and TOURS

• Allegheny County is still "green", despite a large resurgence in COVID cases. Our commitment to member safety is absolutely paramount.
  • Everyone will be required to maintain 6 ft of distance, wear masks, hand wash, etc.
  • We will now be allowing ten people in the dirty side of the shop, and ten people on the "clean" side of the shop.
• We need to put up new laminated signs outside the doors.
• Tours have been successful! We have gained FOURTEEN new members since we welcomed new members.
  • Tours are still by appointment only. Please sign up to help the Board out!
  • Becky will be typing up a tour script so that every member can feel comfortable giving tours. This will be turned into a pamphlet/document that can and will be emailed to every member.
• We have created five "sanitation kits." They are portable and contain new cleansers, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and other items. Please place them around the shop as you see fit.

New members!

• Luis Hermoso is from Venezuela and is interested in meeting like-minded people and pursuing the Maker Movement
• Troy Lampenfeld just graduated from University of Dayton is interested in woodworking

Shop news

• The election is underway for our new Board Member. Again, thank Simon Heath for his service as President (Emeritus)!
  • Discussion was had about adding two new positions (making the Board total 7 people), but the motions regarding this have been tabled until we see if the "new" Board can handle the workload by themselves.
• Classes. We are considering approving small in-person classes such as soldering and welding. The maximum number of students allowed will be four.
  • We are looking into offering virtual classes for topics such as arduinos and computer-building.
  • Becky will be scheduling Halloween crafting "classes"
    • Maximum of five people. ALL safety and sanitation precautions will be taken. Small individual paintbrush sets are cheap and will not be shared.
• McAuley Ministries Grant stuff
  • We received an extension for our grant. We have until July 2021 to complete the grant requirements and submit our final report.
    • So far, four members have received McAuley membership "scholarships."
• Rob Bedel has replaced the PC case on Alpha. It does not have an optical drive. If you need an optical drive, please use Beta instead!
  • We know that Alpha and Beta have been having some issues, and we suspect it is a cooling problem. We are ordering more fans.
• Update on the Small CNC router
  • Sean is working on it!
• Sean has figured out what's wrong with the air compressor. You can use it, but it's not great.
  • However, he has found a 60-gallon air compressor. It's $650 and members can contribute money.
  • It's designed for shop use so it doesn't have the issues and get overheated. Ours is both mechanically and electronically not doing so well.
    • UPDATE: Becky haggled the seller down to $500 and within 12 hours, our members have raised $400. We will be picking up the air compressor on Friday.

Shop finances

• We have EXACTLY $7,375.25 (including PayPal funds and our bank account). This is AFTER Augusts's rent check has been deposited. So we are in slightly better shape!
  • Our tours are fully booked, and membership is growing slowly!
  • The total above includes a cash deposit (from vending, laser payments, and mailed/drop off membership payments). We understand the shop was closed and thus vending and such was very low, but the laser box was WAY under the bookings from Skedda.
• HackPGH will still be operating on a restricted budget where possible.
  • However, the shop is completely stocked! This includes food, drink, bottled water, and cleaning supplies. This came at no cost to the shop. It was donated by the Zajdel family and their friends at Tyler Mountain Spring Water.
• Grants
  • Becky applied for the CostCo grant in-person (as was required). We have been told to wait 4-5 weeks for a response.
• COVID-friendly shop clean!
  • We are going to have an 8-person MAX shop clean (it is on the calendar!) on Sunday, August 30th. PM Becky or email the info account if you would like to participate.

Rule Reminders =

• Laser cutter use and misuse
  • Laser time MUST be both paid for AND logged in the paper log on the laser desk.
  • Skedda scheduling is not matching up with the payments, less than 50% of laser time is being paid for.
    • We will be erecting a large sign reminding members about laser rules. If necessary, we will put a RFID lock & payment system on the laser.
• Children aged seven and under are NOT allowed in the shop, even with a parent or guardian. This is for their safety and for the good of the organization, as it allows us to keep our insurance.
• Garbage
  • Garbage CANNOT be placed in the alley (Watson Street). It MUST be taken up and around in front of the building on Fifth Avenue every Monday night for Tuesday AM pickup! We were fined last week because multiple bags were left in Watson Street. We have garbage guidelines as well as the city pickup/recycling calendar posted on the white board right inside the Jumonville entrance.
  • Our recycling was not picked up because the delicate garbage princesses refuse to pick up blue bags. ONLY clear bags or... whatever they decide on that day. On Tuesday morning, they also did not pick up Dale's recycling despite it being perfectly packed up. Who knows.

Move to adjourn

• Adjourned at 8:20 PM
  • Minutes by Becky "The Icebox" Zajdel