Member Meeting Minutes for November 20th, 2022

Attendees

• Alisa Grishman
• Ben Parker
• Brian “Beebo” Esch
• Chris McCann
• Chris Napolitano
• Kyle Duncan
• Spencer Zacher

Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 19:39 by Alisa

Welcome New Members!

Kyle Duncan

• Isn’t the same person as Kirk
• Plays music
  • Plays a lot of instruments
  • Mostly guitar
  • Just bought an upright bass he wants to refurbish
• Drinks Busch NA
• Joined Hack because he doesn’t have a lot of space at home
• Interested in everything
  • Welds professionally
  • Likes playing around with wood and circuits

Announcements

Morgan Wable is Hack Pittsburgh’s newest Board Member

• Currently in the middle of moving house but will soon have time to get caught up and start running things

Internet Issues

• Probably fixed!
• Rob Bedel spent two days dealing with everything
  • Completely decoupled Verizon from Metamesh, leaving us with just the former
• Metamesh is still providing wifi to the shelter and Tustin
• Rogue DCHP server was on Metamesh’s end rather than ours, so it's their problem now
• Rob will write up a formal letter to Metamesh informing them of what’s going on

Friendsgiving

• Casual pot luck on Saturday the 26th at 4 PM
• All members invited, welcome to bring friends and family
  • Don’t bring the creepy uncle who wants to talk politics
• Signing up online is not required, but would be nice so we can figure out who’s bringing what food: Pot Luck Sign-Up

Shop Clean

• Regular shop clean will be this Sunday the 27th at noon
  • As always, pizza first, then cleaning
• Focus will be on the Dirty Side, especially air filtration system and dust collectors
• December is going to be wonky because of holidays

Treasurer’s Report

• Beebo derped and forgot to grab the numbers before the meeting. He will post the numbers in announcements, and the minutes will be updated when that happens
• Post-meeting update
  • Bank: $5327.26
  • PayPal: 1121.68
• No large purchases recently sans class materials for MIG welding class
• Still going to be spending money on installing air conditioner, but that’s from a specific fund
• Members are encouraged to pool their money to buy new tools and supplies for the shop as needed, especially given upcoming Black Fridal sales

Old Business

Classes

• We actually have some classes scheduled!
  • Jim’s Arduino and Murphy’s sewing classes are scheduled along with MIG for December
  • Geno’s soldering and Morgan’s laser cutter classes are in the process of being scheduled
• Alisa has updated the Classes section of the website to include the last 3 years of classes that weren’t put up there so it doesn’t look like we’ve had a giant gap with nothing going on, plus all new classes
• Gift certificates for classes are absolutely a thing!
  • Great holiday gift
  • Contact Board for details
• As always, we’re still looking for more people to teach more classes

Clubs

• It would also be great to have more clubs as well to bring the public in
• Alisa will be starting up a monthly knitting group
• There’s talk of doing a Linux club

New Business

Warm Clothing Drive

• Mylar Blankets available in the shop
  • Alisa discussed how she always carries some around with her in the winter in case any unhoused people are in need of one
• Given that there are three shelters within a mile of Hack, Alisa wants to hold a warm clothing drive
  • Collecting all ages
  • New and gently used
  • Probably going to be a collection point somewhere in the shop where people can leave their donations
  • Alisa could use some help

TEDxCMU

• Hack received an email from someone at CMU asking for applications for exhibition-type tables at an upcoming TEDx conference in early April next year
  • Jeremy has said that he would be very interested in doing that
  • We have until January 14th to submit and application
• We’ve been talking about reaching out to the greater community to promote our space and this is a ready-made opportunity

COVID policy

• A poll will be going out tonight
• The Board has been discussing a new COVID policy that, while it relies a bit on the honor system, is easily enforceable
• New policy is will be as follows
  • Anyone who is unvaccinated must wear a mask in the building at all times. There are no exceptions to this whatsoever, including tool use.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• There was discussion amongst meeting members regarding some of the original wording and the policy was amended to the wording included in the minutes

Becky stepping down

• Becky announced a bit ago that she would be stepping down at the beginning of 2023 to take care of a sick family member
  • Unfortunately that family member is getting sicker faster and she’s going to be stepping down effective immediately
  • She prepared a statement to be read out loud at the meeting, which can be found here
• Given that there was a Board election a month ago where there was only one person who accepted their nomination, our former Vice President, Sean Guzek, has agreed to rejoin the Board for a period of one year to help through the transition period given the high number of relatively new Board members
  • A call was put out for nominations for other candidates, but no one volunteered
• There will be a item on the poll going out for people to vote yes or no for bringing Sean back on the Board for a term of one year
  • Poll will be up for a week
  • There will be an “abstain” option in honor of Bob Berger, who was a strong proponent of that

Member Questions

• Ben is considering dropping $100 on buying oil for the vacuum pump, which is probably worth around $7000
  • He is volunteering to be in charge of its maintenance, as he knows more about vacuum pumps than anyone here
  • He will put an orange Borked tag on it in the interim to keep other people from using it without oil
• This is the time of year with lots of good sales on tools, and members are encouraged, if they have the resources, to purchase any tools they want for the shop as donations
  • Several members pointed out instances of using personal funds on shop projects
• Chris N talked about people they knew who were interested in joining but didn’t have the time to put in two hours of service each month and asked if there was a way they could compensate through greater financial contributions to the shop
  • There was discussion surrounding the pros and cons
  • Alisa and Beebo agreed that this should be a longer Board discussion
• Alisa’s cat thoroughly enjoyed tum rubs throughout the end of the meeting

Motion to Adjourn

• Meeting was adjourned at 20:28

Minutes by A.Grishman (talk) 23:15, 28 November 2022 (PST)