Member Meeting Minutes for December 7th, 2022

Attendees

• Alisa Grishman
• Brian “Beebo” Esch
• Chris McCann
• Chris Napolitano
• Geno Soroka
• Kirk Hendricks
• Kris Kunihiro
• Morgan Wable
• Rob Bedel
• Steve Owens
• Tom Featherston

Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 19:44 by Beebo

Announcements

Sean on Board

• Sean Guzek has been voted in as being a Board member for a period of one year

New COVID Protocol

1. Anyone who is unvaccinated must wear a mask in the building at all times. There are no exceptions to this whatsoever, including tool use. 2. Anyone who is vaccinated is welcome to go unmasked if they choose. The exception to this is if there is someone in the shop at any point who requests that others to wear a mask to protect their health. 3. If you are sick with even the slightest cough/fever/cold/chills etc, stay the %&#@ home. If you see anyone in the shop with these symptoms, ask them to leave, or contact a Board member privately and we will ask them to leave the shop.

Shop Clean

• Moved because of Christmas
• December 18 before Members Meeting

Rex Coughenour

• Has been removed from Hack’s membership by vote of the Board
• Is not allowed into the shop unless he’s in the presence of a Board member

Treasurer’s Report

• Bank: $4329.23
• PayPal: $1161.83
• Storage area
  • Money will be used to pay for fixtures and LED bulbs to replace the lights and Dale will be reimbursing us for all costs
  • Kris Kunihiro is spearheading this

Old Business

Shop Cleans

• Shop clean attendance has been minimal at best over the last year
  • Most recent shop clean had four attendees total
• Doesn’t necessarily always have to be in one day
  • Historically when people have been given the opportunity to do chores whenever they wanted, nothing got done
  • It was always the same few people doing all of the chores
• Can be a time for tackling larger projects in the shop
  • Need more people to show up to do that
• Looking for ideas on how to get more people to participate in shop cleans
  • One member suggested imposing fines on people who don’t do volunteer hours
    • Con: punitive systems drive members away
  • Possibility of having people sign up every month to list what volunteering they’ve done
    • Can also sign up asking what they can do or discussing ways of doing volunteer work
• Pizza
  • Pros of buying before people work
    • Those who can’t stay long still get fed
    • People aren’t working on an empty stomach
  • Cons of buying before people work
    • Don’t know how much to buy – lots gets wasted
  • Pros of buying during work
    • Better idea of how much pizza to buy
  • Cons of buying during work
    • People leave as soon as they’re fed even though there’s still work to do
    • People who have to leave early complain they didn’t get any
• Going to put a post on the Slack asking people what needs to happen to get them in for shop cleans
• The whole thing would be easier if people cleaned up after themselves

Warm Clothing Drive

• We’re going to be collecting new and gently used warm clothing to donate to local shelters
  • Especially children’s sizes
• Tote bin will be left under the small table in the couch area with a sign on it where people can leave donations

Classes

• Sign-ups are still available for upcoming classes
  • December 17: Intro MIG Welding and Soldering a Flashing LED Christmas Tree
  • January 7: Intro to Woodworking – Hardwood Breadboard

Gift Certificates

• Can be purchased for classes as well as months of membership
  • Contact info@hackpittsburgh.org for details

New Business

Instagram

• We have an account that we really want to start using: https://www.instagram.com/hackpgh/
  • Great way of getting people interested in the shop
• Submissions of project photos wanted from people!
  • Steve Owens suggested using the existent Social Media channel as a place where people can post photos/info for us to share
  • These photos can also be used on the monitor that is being placed over the laser cutter in the near future
• Possibly create a private Slack channel for Instagram that would have the password and then a select small number of volunteers can communicate to run it
  • Jeremy, Spencer, Chris M, Chris N
• Want to make sure that we feature a broad array of types of projects/tools that have been used/worked on in the shop

Newsletter

• We should reinstate our old newsletter
  • Upcoming classes, shop news, project photos, interviews with members about their experiences
  • Chris N suggested having a “meet a member” section with a member answering questions about themselves and their involvement
• Morgan is interested in designing it, and Chris N has plenty of down time where they can work on it

Member Questions

• Rob’s ring fell off – black tungsten outside and anodized green aluminum inside
  • Contact him if you find it
• Chris N asked if people can make audio recordings when doing tool trainings so they can make guides written guides, as they have a lot of down time at work
• McCann got replacements for two broken tools for the shop (both covered by warranties)

Motion to Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned 20:36

Minutes by A.Grishman (talk) 14:22, 8 December 2022 (PST)