EMSBo DMeeting Minutes021915

EMS
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes
Meeting date: 2/19/2015

Call to order:

A Regular meeting of the Board of directors of EMS, was held at 687 McKinley street, Suite #2, Eugene OR on February 19th, 2014. The meeting convened at 6:15PM, Rick Osgood presiding and Ben Hallert secretary.

Board Members in attendance: Rick, Bob, Ben, Kass, Darrell
Board Members not in attendance: none

Quorum present? Yes

Also Present Were: none

Approve agenda, and previous minutes.

Agenda:

1. Approve the agenda
2. Review previous meeting minutes
3. Treasurer Report
4. Facilities Report
5. Clif is a signer on the EMS bank account. What (if anything) shall we do about that?
6. Clif has the key to the EMS PO box. What (if anything) shall we do about that?
7. Who is going to edit the newsletter?
8. Should EMS get a Meet Up account?
9. Should EMS sign a lease and get reduced rent?
10. Maker Faire Update

Approval of Agenda: Motion was made by Darrell and seconded by Bob to approve this meeting's proposed agenda

Unanimous approval.

Motion carried.

Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Rick and seconded by Darrell to approve the minutes of the 02/05/2015 meeting.

Unanimous approval.

Motion carried.

Old business

Treasurer - Report

Darrell reported that as far as money and membership, there has been no update from the previous meeting. Darrell corresponded with the School Factory. We discovered that it is not what we expected in that it does not confer us with the ability to file as a non-profit. Fiscal sponsorship is intended to allow people to make tax-free donations through an existing 501c3 to a fledgling one so they could benefit from the tax benefits during their startup while they pursue their own 501c3 status.

The School Factory, as sponsoring organization, is technically supposed to be stewarding us through our application process and verifying that our spending is in line with the requirements of the tax exempt status. Kassie confirmed the group's growing understanding that we should have been pursuing our own 501c3 status during this time. It is Darrell's understanding that the best next step for us is to pursue formal 501c3 status. The cost is roughly $400, Rick suggested we go ahead and follow through with it.

There was some discussion about how the 27 month period would work with regards to the usual deadlines for 501c3 deadlines and talk about possible tax impact on any revenue before that point 27 months in the past. There is a general understanding that we didn't actually profit so the risk of needing to pay taxes is low. We will request a waiver from the IRS for missing the filing deadline because we messed up and didn't understand how we were supposed to do stuff. Darrell says our contact at The School Factory suggested we immediately respond to the IRS letter and explain the nature of our misunderstanding.

ACTION: Darrell will check up on Scott Nop's (new member) Pay Pal
ACTION: Kassandra will secure the 501c3 forms and determine our next steps.
ACTION: Darrell write letter to IRS

Facilities Report

Bob reports that we now have a squawk sheet! He showed where it was installed and discussion began on improvements for mounting it somewhere visible.

Bob will also speak with Ben and Kassie to determine what the status of the forge. Ben noted that their plan is to make the forge a shop asset with documentation on how to use it.

Bob also asked Kassie about the vinyl cutter and she described it as a tool that's available for the shop to use. Rick suggested we let the group know that it's available for use. Bob agreed that advertising it is a fine idea. Kassie will let the group know that it is available for use and we will hopefully find someone who will be interested in converting it from decoration into usable, active equipment.

There are parts enroute for the CNC mill that were caught by Chinese New Year, but it is making progress.

Bob reported that after our last conversation, the chinese laser is not being pursued. He spoke with the landlady to verify that a vent was ok to install. She asked if we were planning on painting, we are not. He is awaiting a response to his most recent missive.

Bob provided an update on his laser cutter. The two paths he considered were 1. finishing/adjusting his own firm ware or 2. a possible project to replace the existing arduino with a Smoothieboard. He also described another similar project and has begun investigating whether it could be used. His gut instinct is to stick with what he has already and simply make it work (option 1).

He reported that he has received the solder braid discussed at our last meeting and there was much rejoicing.

Bob expressed admiration at how strongly Darrell's most recent print stuck to the print bed on the Print Bot. It was such that he enjoyed the pleasure of scrubbing and scraping for much of an open-hack night and the two agreed to pursue a possible adjustment to the nozzle temperature (downwards) to reduce the likelihood of this happening again.

Bob tried to use the Printr Bot last week but it wasn't feeding plastic. He doesn't think it's the hob wheel and isn't sure if it's the heater or a clog but ran out of time to further debug it. He cannot report as to its status as a result until further attention is given. Kassie suggested some tests with the temperature and manually backing out filament, Bob will investigate.

Rick was inspired by Ben's stentorian delivery of his plans to make instructional videos for the forge. His thought was that perhaps there would be value in creating instructional videos for ALL of our tools and posting them to our youtube channel. We talked about even printing QRcodes to post at the tools in question. Rick will talk to Tom or someone else about making a primer for the lathe and he will develop this concept further.

A quick side tangent regarding garbage disposal developed. We talked about possibly finding the owner of the bin in the back of the lot and asking them if we can sublet.

ACTION: Rick will research the video tutorials further and flesh out the concept.

New Business

Clif is a signer on the EMS bank account. What (if anything) shall we do about that?

Rick says he can get back onto the account and proposed that it would make sense for the Treasurer to become a signer as well. Darrell failed to object strenuously enough so it sounds like that's a thing that will happen. The board launched into a spirited recitation of where the various OCCU branches are located and the consensus appeared to be 'in many convenient places'.

ACTION: Rick will coordinate offline with Darrell to have them added as cosigners.

Clif has the key to the EMS PO box. What (if anything) shall we do about that?

Rick suggests we ditch the box. Update the bills, remove a $60 charge, etc. The state of Oregon has our PO Box. Rick receives the rent letters here, he will find out if the address can be updated to the physical location of the shop.

ACTION: Rick will file change of address, update all bills. He will attempt to contact our various vendors and will report back if he encounters difficulty.

Who is going to edit the newsletter?

Ben suggested using the website as the newsletter. There was general agreement that this wasn't a terrible idea. Ben followed up with the suggestion that we adopt some formal cadence of updates and Rick proposed setting an expectation that there be at least one new post by the time each board meeting. Ben suggested we install the Post Notification plugin or something similar then subscribe discuss@ems to it so any posts to the site would produce a notification to everyone.

ACTION: Bob will research adding such a plugin

Should EMS get a Meet Up account? $14.99/month.

Rick described what Meetup is to the board. Bob attended a local meetup and reported that there were about 40 people there who all seemed to come on their own which was pretty positive. Rick suggested we budget 3 months membership to invest in an account for drawing members then evaluate the success.

ACTION: Bob will create a Meetup account and add open hack nights

Should EMS sign a lease and get reduced rent?

Bob talked to our landlord and in a stunning reveal she said she would prefer we were on a lease instead of month-to-month. We're currently paying $495/month; with a six month lease, that would drop to $480. With a 12 month lease, it would be $470. In a talk about expansion, Rick suggested we move to a six month lease again for the savings, especially if we're operating at a deficit right now.

He also described the initial swarm of members after a space appeared in support of the 'move to a bigger space' concept. The conversation moved to the possibility of renting another spot in the same complex we currently inhabit for growth.

Rick had also checked with the landlady last June about moving his name off the lease, but it sounds like that will stay as-is for now.

Motion: Bob moved that we switch from month to month to six month lease. Rick seconded. The vote was unanimous.

Motion carried

Maker Faire Update

Bob reported that he and Rick attended a planning meeting and there is yet much to do. There was a discussion about things to live in the EMS booth. One example given was building a 3d printer in a day. Rick felt seeing 3D Printers in action was likely to be a better draw than assembling one. Bob is working to embed a software synthesizer in something else. Darrell suggested we put the forge on demo, Ben and Kass will research a possible display.

Action Items:

Kassie:

• Kassandra will secure the 501c3 forms and determine our next steps towards pursuing non-profit status.

Darrell:

• Darrell will check up on Scott Nop's (new member) Pay Pal
• Darrell write letter to IRS responding to their inquiry and seeking an extension

Bob:

• Bob will research adding a post notification plugin and subscribing discuss@ems to it so posts to the website receive wider visibility
• Bob will create a Meetup account and add open hack nights

Rick:

• Rick will research the video tutorials idea further and flesh out the concept
• Rick will coordinate offline with Darrell to have the two of them added as cosigners for the credit union account
• Rick will file change of address, update all bills. He will attempt to contact our various vendors and will report back if he encounters difficulty

Adjournment:

Bob moved for adjournment, it was seconded by Rick.

The vote was unanimous, the meeting was adjourned at 7:29PM.

____________________________ ___________________
Secretary Date of approval
Eugene Maker Space