Member Meeting Minutes for September 18th, 2022

Attendees

• Alisa Grishman
• Andrew Tennenbaum
• Becky Zajdel
• Ben Parker
• Bill Shaw
• Chris McCann
• Clarissa Somers
• Corbin Hawk
• Joe B (State College Makerspace)
• Joe Fraker
• Quara’e Canady
• Rich Simpson
• Rob Bedel

Call to Order

• Meeting was called to order by Alisa Grishman at 19:35

Welcome New Members!

• Joe B
  • Not actually a new member – has come as an ambassador from State College on several occasions including this past weekend
  • May be back in early November and will be bringing us a new 3D printer

Announcements

Large Format Printer

• Vote was 9 to get rid of it, 0 to keep it, 2 people didn’t care
• Lucas Noah will be contacted to inform him of the results
• The plan now is to get (or make) a sturdy table to put in its place where we can set up the vinyl cutter and whatever else makes sense for that area

Shop Clean September 25 at noon

• Pizza will happen beforehand
• We always have the same 8 people show up at cleans and those 8 people are burning out, so please find ways to get other people to show up and due their agreed-up service to the shop

October is busy

• Vaccine clinic
  • Mini shop clean the night before
• Halloween party
  • Set-up the night before
• Alisa will be sending out sign-up sheets for both of those

Amazon Wishlist

• For people who’d rather donate items instead of money
• We can provide receipts as anything purchased counts as a 501(c)3 donation

Treasurer’s Report

Financial Issues

• We are required as part of our 501(c)3 status to have six months of operating costs in the bank
  • For us, that is $18,000
• We are in dire straits right now
  • Bank: $5,013.92 total, $3956.23 available
    • $1057.69 is specifically for the air conditioner fund, which is separate and can’t be touched until the units are fully installed
  • PayPal: $626.08
  • In a couple of months we will not be able to pay our rent

Membership

• We need around 70 active members to be at least viable; currently we have 50
• Many people have suspended their memberships because the economy sucks right now
• Lots of people are on the discounted rate and while that isn’t as good for filling the coffers as full-rate members, we’d be more than happy to bump people who desperately need it down to the discounted rate instead of have them suspend their memberships altogether
• We really don’t want to raise membership prices but if we don’t get fundraise enough we might have to do that

Fundraising Mega-Discussion

• Every single dollar anyone can give helps
• Justa Cuppa fundraiser: Any time you’re about to buy a cuppa fancy coffee, give that money to Hack instead
• Becky and Alisa have been trying to apply for grants
  • Please let us know if you’re aware of any available grant opportunities
• Halloween Party
  • Need donations for raffle items
  • 50/50 raffle
• Ask your friends to donate
  • Put stuff online, talk to your friends, link to our website, give out our PayPal
• All donations are tax-deductable
  • We can give tax receipts for cash and in-kind donations

Classes classes classes classes classes

• People keep saying they have class ideas and not scheduling said classes with the Board and that’s a big problem
• Brings in not only money to the shop but also raises public interest in Hack and potentially joining
• There’s also possibilities involving bringing in non-members to teach classes where they can get half the fees
  • Knitting, painting, etc
• Welding
  • Perhaps adding more/different welding classes with people other than Kiefer?
  • This requires discussions with Kiefer
  • Would be great to have more classes going
    • Kiefer can do beginner classes and maybe someone else can do intermediate/advanced classes
• Class ideas brought up
  • Corbin: Painting miniatures, video editing
  • Rob: Has plans for a custom keyboard class, would be willing to do a how-to-laser class

Old Business

Halloween Party October 22

• Will need a cleaning/set-up crew on the 21st
• We need auction items for our raffle
  • Doesn’t need to be Halloween-related
  • Hand-made, alcohol, gift cards, etc
• 50/50 raffle
• To keep costs down we’re going to do this as a potluck
  • Bring hot food, bring drinks
• Invite as many people as you can!

Vaccine Clinic October 16

• Will need a cleaning/set-up crew on the 15th
• Poster will be updated soon and will be printed up and distributed around the area
• We will have the targeted bivalent booster along with hepatitis, pneumonia, flu, etc
• There will be food and hot beverages
  • We’ll provide beverages
  • Reaching out to local businesses to see if they’ll donate pastries

Laser Cutter

• Rob and Sean have spent two weeks doing safety testing and putting the laser through every test they can reasonably think of as long as a handful of completely unreasonable ones
• We’ve learned new features of the software
  • Greyscale engraving
• The laser is ready to start training!
  • Training begins on Wednesday
• Contact Rob to schedule with him
  • Need to be an active member
  • Rob wants it in the minutes that Rae Saunders has been incredibly gracious and patient with him
• Once usage trainings are done, we will begin training on maintenance so that the next time this happens we don’t just have two people in the whole shop who know how to fix the thing
• Sean and Rob will be putting together a schedule for regular maintenance such as cleaning off the mirrors

Air conditioner

• The units have been purchased for the shop
• Dale has given us permission to drill directly into the brick to install them, so long as we are careful and professional in how we do it
• Installation
  • We have $1057 remaining to cover all installation needs
    • Might be worth using some of this funding to hire a professional to install both the units and some sort of anti-theft caging
  • Need to come up with a plan of how we’re going go do it
  • Kris Kunihiro has some good ideas on how to do the installation but is currently quite busy
• Alisa needs help installing the new door hinges
  • New ones match the footprint of the old ones but are self-closing

New Business

Network restructuring

• We need to rebuild the entire network from the ground up
  • Previously there was a base network and more and more got hacked together on top of it and now it’s a mess
• Rob has designed an internet standards document that he will run past the Board
  • Will cover Tustin Tot Lot
  • Will cover all areas of Hack that need coverage
    • Cameras will be on a dedicated network
      • Will be able to view the outside cameras from inside the shop for safety reasons
    • Wired network will be simplified
      • IT desk
      • Alpha & Beta
      • Printer
      • CNC
    • WiFi for everything else with expanded capabilities
• Rob and Becky are donating network cable
• Just need a couple of people to climb up ladders and we can knock this out in a weekend

Give-away items for unhoused people

• Alisa wants to have items available to give to people in need who come by Hack
  • Bus tickets
  • McDonald’s burger coupons
  • Bags with water and snacks
  • Mylar blankets
  • Narcan spray
• We need donations of some of these items

Electric Car Chargers

• Pennsylvania offers a programs where they provide a stipend to people for adding charging stations for electric vehicles
  • $4000 or 70% of what you spend installing them, whichever is greater
    • We get to keep any funds leftover
• Rob and Alisa will be talking to Dale about the possibility of installing them here at this building
  • One or two in the lot up top and one or two in the lot down here

Masking Policy

• Masking policy will remain the same – members who have shown a Board member that they’ve had a vaccine since March 2022 may choose to go without a mask, but those who haven’t and all guests and tour members must continue to mask
  • Lots of people have been taking advantage of the situation
  • Members need to step up and check in with unmasked people to make sure they’ve been checked off with the Board
• Most likely in October we will switch to requiring people to get an annual updated/targeted booster, but the membership will be given a chance to vote on that
  • Alisa will send out a poll in advance of the second October meeting to see how people feel

Motion to Adjourn

• Meeting was adjourned at 20:38

Minutes by A.Grishman (talk) 00:46, 24 September 2022 (PDT)