Member Meeting Minutes for May 3rd, 2023

Attendees

• Alisa Grishman
• Brian “Beebo” Esch
• Bryn Miller
• Chris McCann
• Chris Napolitano
• Clarissa Somers
• David Weiser
• Dean Roth
• Doug Smith
• Geno Soroka
• Kiefer Mansfield
• Kirk Hendricks
• Morgan Wable
• Neil Kownacki
• Rebecca Zajdel
• Rob Bedel
• Rowan Hawkins
• Wilkes

Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 19:40 by Beebo

Welcome New Members!

Rowan Hawkins

• Visitor from Buffalo
• Builds and designs things to make his life in IT easier
• Was a member of the Rochester Makerspace
  • Was open for 11 years
  • Closed in 2019
• Does things like amateur radio – started a club at Rochester Makerspace

Announcements

Vending machine restock

• Massive overhaul of the vending machine snacks
• Chocolate bars and candy are in the fridge/freezer
  • $1, can be paid for in the Box of Paymentization
• We’re stocked up on some computer components as well, such as Raspberry Pi Picos and USB thumb drives

Alisa away May 5-10

• She will not be checking Slack at all while away
  • The people who are still contacting Alisa directly for things that can be covered by the rest of the Board will not get a response before the 11th

New COVID Policy

• Read the full text here

Treasurer’s Report

• Bank: $3691.09
• PayPal: $826.17
• Moving to have the account balances at the first meeting of each month, and then at the second meeting we’ll break down things into finer details
• This is close to the lowest our bank account has ever been
  • Rent and insurance were just paid
  • Normally non-profits try to have around 6 months of operating costs as a minimum
    • We are nowhere near this – less than two months!
• Fundraiser
  • Becky has run several private fundraisers in the past
    • Brought in over $3000
  • Becky and Beebo are working on putting together a fundraiser similar to our previous Just-a-Cuppa
    • Looking for volunteers to help out
  • Send a message to Becky to help out

Old Business

Classes and Clubs

• Hack’s current primary source of revenue is Kiefer’s welding class
  • In general we get a lot of revenue from classes
• Scheduling classes
  • Many people have approached the Board with ideas for classes, but the majority have not actually sat down to schedule them
• Creating clubs
  • Kirk talked about his new chess club every Tuesday at 7
  • Also have game night and monthly yarn & darn
  • We’ve gotten members from clubs
  • Great way to get people in, generate interest, and get our name our
  • Lots of people email the info account asking whether various clubs still exist, so there is interest out there

Tustin Tot Lot

• Join the #tustin_playground channel on Slack to help out
• Alisa needs a volunteer to go to the tot lot to turn the wifi back on
  • Kirk and Rob volunteered
• Solar charging stations
  • We need to get more people comfortable with fixing them up
    • Currently it’s just Adam Longwill, Kris Kunihiro, Chris McCann, and Jim Keener
  • Need to bring them one at a time to do a complete clean-up and overhaul
    • No functioning USB ports
      • Becky has ideas for improvements
    • Might have other wiring issues that need looked at
• Artwork
  • Late May/early June we’ll start working on figuring out new artwork
    • Kids love pulling the tiles off the fence
  • Morgan has some ideas for how we can revamp things
• Bank account
  • Becky got the grant bank account unlocked again
  • We can take some of the money from the tot lot account to cover Hack’s wifi, since we provide the connection directly to the shop

Power Wheels

• Take a kids toy and, for less than $500, turn it into a race car that goes at 25 mph, dress up, and race against other makerspaces
  • It’s basically Mario Kart in real life
• Akron Makerspace is having a race in September
  • We probably can’t be competition-ready by then, but we should still try to show up and have some fun
• We can get a bunch of points for “Moxie” – artistry, style points, etc
  • Might be able to get the DeLorean up and running enough to use as a show peace
• First meeting will be May 13 at 5 PM
  • Slack channel is #powpowpowerwheels

New Business

Board election

• Board election starts tonight
  • Voting will last one week, from tonight through 11:59 PM on March 10
  • Current members and those who have lapsed within the last 60 days can vote
• Candidates introduced themselves
  • Bryn Miller
  • Kirk Hendricks
• Poll will go out immediately after the meeting with the Board vote and a second regarding the private event in the next meeting item

Private event

• Hack has been invited to host called “Pleasure, Play, and Privacy,” in which participants will explore sexuality in the modern digital age
  • Tickets will be on sale to the public, and only those who have tickets will be able to participate
    • We are required to have our bathroom be accessible in order to host an event like this, but we have a guarantee from an outside party saying that if we don’t get our grant they’ll give us the money instead, meaning that we will definitely have an accessible bathroom in time
  • There will be a financial contribution of at least $1000 to Hack, and they have extra funding available to reimburse members for their time helping run various tools
• To host this event, Hack will have to close its doors to members for three days (October 13-15)
  • Second item on the poll is whether or not we should do this
• Cleaning
  • We will definitely need to do a thorough clean-up of the shop in advance
  • In the past we’ve done this sort of thing many times when renting out our space to external events

Fire, Smoke, Air Quality Plan

• We have a plan for improving safety conditions in the shop
  • Extinguishers
    • We have a ton that are inspected every year by professionals
  • Includes a CO2 cutter by the laser cutter
  • All of ours are types A, B, or C, or some combination thereof
  • We don’t have any type K extinguishers
    • Used for putting out oil/grease fires
      • Works for a lot of the lubricants and oils we have in the wood and metal shops
    • Becky has applied through several organizations to get us a couple of K-rated extinguishers
  • We now have 8 (up from 4) mini fire extinguisher spray cans placed around the shop
    • Works for class A, B, C, D, and K fires
    • Only has a small amount of use, but can help buy time while someone calls 911
    • Useable by people with limited strength/mobility, while large 100-lb extinguishers might not be
• Detectors
  • We’ve previously had a fire inspector and a fire chief spec out our place for detector placement
  • We’re going to be installing 2-3 hard-wired smoke and CO detectors to put on the ceiling
    • Going to keep them away from being directly over the laser cutter and welding areas
    • Working on ways to be able to test them and to shut them off in case of false alarms, but the height of the ceiling makes this very difficult
  • Getting 1-2 air quality detectors to put on the walls
    • Will be connected to an app that any member can download
    • Will measure temperature, air quality, carbon monoxide, and even pollen
• Fire safety trainings
  • After we’re done with installing everything there will be fire safety trainings to make sure that people know how to use all of the equipment
    • We’ll be creating a fire safety mini course video that all members will have to watch, including showing it to new members when they join
    • We will also have several in-person trainings along with possibly semi-annual refreshers
  • We’ll also be creating a new fire extinguisher map that we’ll be posting conspicuously around the shop
• Dale will be helping offset the costs, but we’ll need Hack members to help with the whole installation – please contact Becky to help out

Buddy System Status project

• There’s constantly people asking on the Slack saying “Is someone at the shop?” so they can use tools that require a buddy
• In the past we had a device that showed on the website if someone was in the shop by whether or not the Watson St. door is open
• Geno and Chris McCann decided that a new system could revolve around whether or not the lights are on
  • A detector is going to be set up over the Watson St. door attached to the light switch
  • Chris has vouched that the electrical stuff is safe
  • The website will have a “The shop lights are (off/on)” status up on top for people to check

Painting the Hendey lathe

• We now have paint for the giant metal lathe
  • 2 gallons, specifically designed for this kind of metal
  • 2 different primers
    • Only have a small amount of etching primer, as pulling the Hendey outside is a non-option
  • Specific metal coat primer
  • Jeremy is obtaining paint thinner
• Priority for painting is to cover places that previously had lead paint
  • Chris McCann did most of that work and Jeremy finished it up

Motion to Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 20:50

Minutes by A.Grishman (talk) 00:46, 4 May 2023 (PDT)