EMSBo DMeeting Minutes050318

EMS
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes
Meeting date: 05/03/2018

Call to order:

A Regular meeting of the Board of directors of EMS, was held at 687 McKinley street, Suite #1; Eugene OR on May 3rtd, 2018. The meeting convened at 6:11 PM Kevin Forsythe presiding and Ben Hallert as secretary.

Board Members in attendance: Jeffrey, Karen, Ben, Kevin, Jher, Piotr
Board Members not in attendance:

Quorum present? Yes

Also Present Were: Bruce, Joe

1. Call to order

2. Approve this agenda

3. Review previous meeting minutes dated April 4th 2018

4. Approve previous minutes

5. Officers Reports

   1. President's Report

   2. Secretary's Report

   3. Treasurer's Report

6. Old Business/Action Item Review

   1. Piotr will continue to be fiscally attentive for the benefit of EMS (w/ focus on upcoming insurance dues)

   2. Jeffrey will continue to pursue outreach opportunities.

   3. The Big Ole Email (I combined all of these into one)

• • • Kevin will email the membership soliciting volunteers for a special committee for shop design & infrastructure (ie, deciding how to layout the metal working area, ventilation, etc.)

    • JG will help kevin write this email (or, section of larger email kevin will write.)

    • Kevin will address member storage and announce the late spring cleaning in his upcoming email.

    • Kevin will call for shop steward nominations/volunteers in his state of the union email to the membership.

    • JG will help provide Kevin with a 'deep dive' list of member emails to make sure everyone hears the warning about lots of stuff either being thrown out or claimed by EMS.

1. 1. Karen will trial performing as the Donations Handler

   2. Karen will come up with a new tagging/sticker/color scheme/system

   3. *

   4. *

New Business (requested for inclusion by in brackets)

1. 1. Joe Tyndall's conduct with a focus on the most recent email to the board (Kevin)

Email Linked Here for Reference

2. Plan for setting EMS up with a 'better' first aid kit/station (Karen)

3. David White would like to work out some kind of rental agreement with the board for the space he's using (Karen)

4. Suggestion to modify the large inside mailbox/dropbox (Karen)

5. Proposal to limit BOD mailing list to (current) BOD members only. (JG)

6. Moderation or spam blocking on board list (Karen)

7. Possible member sleeping at the space or using as residence (Kevin)

8. Proposal to have two meetings per month, one open to all members, one open to BOD-only, or one BOD-only meeting and a monthly 'town-meeting' with board members present. (Kevin)

9. Some folks interested in bootstrapping a Seattle makerspace want to meet up with some of our current and founding board members, to have a sort of jam session. I have David Duncan's phone number if anyone wants to coordinate with him following tonight's meeting. (Karen)

10. Review Shop Security / Key Access / Surveillance in light of Recent Vandalism (Kevin)

11. Removal of Overhead Radio (Kevin)

12. Karen requests approval for a $23.23 expenditure for new color coding labels en-masse.

13. Excessive Member Storage at EMS (Kevin)

14. Ben stepping down from board, dissatisfied with board’s handling of threats against members and response to in-shop bullying.

15. New Secretary / Dispersal of Secretary's Duties

16. Member Presentation: Topic: Hate Free and Zero Tolerance (Tanda)

8. Action Items Review

Approve agenda, and previous minutes.

Agenda:Approval of Agenda: Motion was made by Karen and seconded by Piors to approve this meeting's proposed agenda.

The Motion carried with unanimous approval.

Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Karen and seconded by Jeffrey to approve the minutes of the 4/05/18 meeting.

The Motion carried with unanimous approval bar Ben not voting because he was not present.

Officer's reports:

President

Kevin sent his mail to the membership. He believes he may have left the spring cleaning off the mail.

Jeffrey and Kevin competed in the California robo games and received 2nd place.

Secretary

NOTHING.

Treasurer

We had two items to attend to, a tax report (we earned below $50k so the simple version of the report was done). The state report will be completed this month.

The insurance caught us by surprise because we did not receive the physical mail notice sent. Fortunately, the insurance agent reached out independently to two members who were able to speak with Piotr so he could make the payment on time. Piotr notes that we do not pay our insurance all at once, we are in essence paying off a 'loan' to cover the insurance. Our total payments are $429.93 and the amount financed (actual insurance ) was $397.46. Piotr paid $282.49 on that in April to continue our coverage.

He continued work on auditing our income and expenses and discovered that in March we received cash payments for new members. Of the 5 memberships that were created in March, he was not able to connect any of them to any payments. Of the new members that paid cash in March, 5 of them did not pay in April.

According to his current rough tracking, we have 27 paying members which results in roughly $700-725 dollars. Our expenses for the last month were $1,785.08. He will continue to tighten up the tracking of the information. He would like each member to attach a unique number to their payments so we can better connect income to individual members.

We currently have $1,137.47 left in the bank account. He forecasts us sinking within the next two months if changes are not made to improve our income situation. Karen asked about what we could do to improve our payment consistency problem, Piotr described a hackerspaces.org wiki with 7 candidate tools that might be able to help that would require inspection.

ACTION: Karen will investigate the tools at the Wiki to see if any of them might be worth implementing. She will report back to the board within the next week due to the time sensitive nature of the problem.

Old Business/Action Item Review

Piotr will continue to be fiscally attentive for the benefit of EMS (w/ focus on upcoming insurance dues)

All of this was covered in the treasurer's report. He did add that he will receive additional paperwork regarding the insurance and provide it to the board. He also updated the contact information to avoid a repeat of the communication breakdown that almost led to our loss of coverage. This item is complete.

Jeffrey will continue to pursue outreach opportunities.

He touched on the Robo Games 2018 involvement where their robot was entered as the Eugene Maker Space team. He hosted the info table at the Metamorphisis event. Clif drew his attention to the Seven Star festival, Jeffrey will reach out to them. Piotr suggested that Jeffrey write an article about their win and cross-post it to social media.

Kevin asked if the recruitment box worked and Jeffery indicated it went well. Based on his experience, he will add an additional binder of photos.

He will also see if he can get a table at the Ems stadium for a game.

The Big Ole Email (I combined all of these into one)

1. Kevin will email the membership soliciting volunteers for a special committee for shop design & infrastructure (ie, deciding how to layout the metal working area, ventilation, etc.)
2. JG will help kevin write this email (or, section of larger email kevin will write.)
3. Kevin will address member storage and announce the late spring cleaning in his upcoming email.
4. Kevin will call for shop steward nominations/volunteers in his state of the union email to the membership.
5. JG will help provide Kevin with a 'deep dive' list of member emails to make sure everyone hears the warning about lots of stuff either being thrown out or claimed by EMS.

Kevin wrote the mail and sent it to the group.

ACTION: Kevin and Karen will work together to announce the spring cleaning event.

ACTION: Ben will write a mail (for board approval) then reach out to the membership to try and connect payment methods being used with our own records and also remind users who aren't paying that we need their help. The mail will specifically ask for details about their most recent payment and explicitly discuss grace if they're many months in arrears. I will note that we depend on the regularity of payments to meet our responsibilities and keep the lights open. Karen suggested we use the word co-op/cooperative and remind people that we are not a business. Piotr would prefer people pay with OCCU transfers directly to our bank account so we save on the Pay Pal fee. Jher recommended we investigate Patreon (or equivalent) to automate payment. Piotr will investigate or set up Veri Pay as an alternative.

ACTION: Piotr will research options for depositing to the EMS account that doesn't expose our account #.

Karen will trial performing as the Donations Handler

Immediately after the April meeting, she met with Kevin and Jeffrey regarding the scooter situation. They determined they did not have the means to make the transaction David had requested and suggested how he might help his friend (the owner of the scooter) connect with a buyer. David was receptive to this. Karen noted that a third party provided a deceptive summary of the conversation so she provided her notes from her call with David for accuracy.

She has not done any other work related to the position yet because she hasn't felt comfortable coming to the shop alone.

She will reach out to the membership for whiteboards and other supplies to enable this handling.

Karen will come up with a new tagging/sticker/color scheme/system

Karen did a brief presentation on the existing labeling/sticker system. It has many deficiencies (including citing colors that are not available as stickers) and is not being reliably followed. She will remove Blue (shop owned), leave Green intact as-is, will modify the yellow sticker to include contact information. She will remove the existing Red tag (Personal Property, do not use) and Black (broken, do not use) will be moved to Red. It will include a space for details about the nature of the breakage and next steps/plans.

New Business

Joe Tyndall's conduct with a focus on the most recent email to the board (Kevin)
Email Linked Here for Reference

Kevin called Joe to tell him that it was not well received by members of the board and characterized it as 'over the top' and containing hyperbole.

Joe characterized the emotions expressed at the maker space in the meeting towards him as 'hatred'. He accused Ben of saying that he hated women. Ben corrected his mischaracterization as he had asked Joe if he had a problem with women because of the consistent nature of his problems with members who are women. He expressed a belief that there was a pattern of abuse aimed at him by women. He speculated that he was about to be booted and threatened disassembly of the shop components he built with materials either paid for by the Maker Space or paid for in-lieu of membership. He expressed disgust at being called a liar and treated unjustly.

Joe made another false statement that he has been threatened with confiscation of his property. Karen corrected this by noting that he has been instructed to label his belongings and he has refused. Kevin suggested that we perform a straw poll to promise not to move any of his belongings for 60 days but Karen noted that we have no way to do this without his belongings being labeled. Jher suggested that Joe label his belongings immediately so they would be protected. Jher asked Joe to take the motivations of the board in good faith regarding a theoretical precipitous disposal of his belongings. Joe did not respond to this request.

Kevin asked that Joe and the members he's bullied try to 'get along' and 'stay out of each other's way'.

Joe has been writing emails but he complained that others have been talking on the phone and identified the problem of gossip.

Ben expressed grave concern about Joe's continuing membership and described a situation when he felt Joe was physically menacing him. Ben also identified more than one instance where Joe lied or misrepresented him and ntoed that as a consequence, he has generally stopped coming to the Maker Space. We have lost one member (Tanda) due to his behavior and at least one other member does not feel physically safe at the shop when he is there.

Karen shared her own thoughts on the situation. She expressed that she does not feel safe/secure in her emotional state coming to the shop in fear of another confrontation or story that will be twisted into another "wildly untrue email". She specifically described the Marcel communication situation. She also cited a situation with another vice donated by Bruce and described a confrontation that left her uncomfortable. She also described the situation with the scooter and how her discussion with David was mischaracterized by Joe. She feels she must constantly defend herself from attacks on her character and has been having difficulty coming to the shop.

Jher asked that the board recognize that everybody on the board is acting in good faith.

Ben confronted Joe for his lying and how he lied about the cirumstances behind Ben's absence at the last meeting when Ben's son was near death in the hospital.

Piotr noted that Joe has not acknowledged any error in his mails or ways. Joe responded that he felt he was targeted pre-February when some members "grinded" on him about specific choices he was making.

Karen expressed deep concerns about the method of how individuals of the board reached out to Joe one by one but never reached out to her. This was problematic because there was no way to discuss the issues as a group and Karen feels that we missed an opportunity to move forward by not having that meeting.

Joe feels that Ben and Tanda "have a dog in it" regarding him (without providing any details) and asked that they be recused. Karen noted that Tanda is not a member of the Maker Space anymore as a result of his actions. Karen asked if applying the standard that anyone who has had conflict with Joe must be recused, would any board member that's expressed a preconception about action towards him should also be recused.

Kevin asked if Ben had an action he wanted. Ben expressed that he does not believe Joe should be part of the Maker Space as a result of his actions. He did not make any motions or attempt to have him removed, but he expressed grave concerns about having a member in the space who lies, is hostile, ascribes ill intent to others where none exists, and generally (through his actions) tears the fabric of the Maker Space apart. Piotr asked Ben if he felt we should go immediately to removal. Ben objected to this characterization and clarified that he was expressing his opinion as a member only and cited that this was a several-month long series of events that he has called out repeatedly and asked for help and that this is far from the first time any of this had come up.

Karen asked for an apology and a written point by point retraction of every falsehood Joe has made.

Jher asked if Joe would apologize for the email and the problems it caused. Joe indicated that he would not and that he stands by everything he said.

At Piotr's request, Karen made a motion that the board ask Joe to make a heartfelt apology for the content of his email and to write another mail to the board list and Tom Upchurch retracting point for point the lies he wrote.

Piotr made an entreaty to Joe that he take some engagement and involvement in remediating this situation because of the pain it's causing the community. Joe did not respond. Piotr: "How can you be part of this place if you cannot work with others to find a middle ground?" and asked if it was accurate that the email set an ultimatum. Joe disagreed and expressed that his mail was a response to actions and words from other people in the group that he found disgusting. When Piotr asked if he would retract the name-calling, Joe responded that "Nazi is an appropriate description for the behavior I was on the receiving end of".

Karen noted that Joe has threatened litigation against the Eugene Maker Space. She hopes that this does not have a chilling effect on our ability to make a decision.

Karen suggested that if his key access is removed, a window be kept open for his key access that he can use it to remove his stuff.

Piotr asked for an accounting of the ownership of lumber. Joe indicated that he felt he owned some of the lumber used for the shop improvement he did

Karen made a motion that we give Joe two weeks to remove his possessions from the shop. Piotr asked if he intended to remove the shelves, he said that he "was pissed". When Kevin asked what Joe would accept in exchange for the as-of-yet uncompensated wood, Joe asked that the board 'make him an offer'. There was a discussion about the disposition of the lumber purchased by the makerspace and an attempt by the board leadership to determine a fair value for the benches. Kevin offered $300 for the shelves and Joe rejected it, expressing that he put significant amounts of labor into the project. Jher noted that the labor had been performed by him as a member as a gift to the shop in the way all volunteer labor is performed at the Maker Space. Joe expressed reservations about this, stating that he had been attacked and indicating that he felt this changed the situation. Jher expressed gratitude for Joe's labors and asked that Joe accept the $300 for the materials and the acknowledgement of the board that his labor was appreciated. Joe noted that he had approximately $60 in receipts in addition to the lumber costs and Piotr and Jher agreed that they would be paid as well.

Joe expressed that he was unsatisfied with the situation and that others had come to him to express their own reservations about the problems in the board leadership and specific members that they felt held too much sway. He said that they feared retaliation and wished to remain anonymous other than Clif. Jher touched on the subject of the apology once again, but Joe rejected that too. "I stand by it" Joe stated in response to a request for an apology for his e-mail. He expressed skepticism, at the idea that he's trading off a nice place to work and the time he spent in exchange for $300.

Joe requested $500 for the materials and work he did plus expenses. Jher asked if Joe could see his way to accept the good faith $300 with an understanding of the finances of the Maker Space being what they were and offered to provide money from his own pocket. Him, Kevin, and Karen each donated money to a pile in addition to the $300 to expand their offer (totalling $340 plus the $60 for the additional expenses) for a grand total of $400, paid out during the meeting. Joe accepted his offer and him and Jher shook on the agreement. Piotr left for OCCU to get the remaining $60 out of the EMS bank account and presented it to Joe which he accepted.

Karen requests approval for a $23.23 expenditure for new color coding labels en-masse.

Karen will make this as a personal expenditure with the hope of bringing order to chaos as part of fixing the current broken labeling system and implementing the fixed form across the shop. The categories will be adjusted and new labels will be printed and made available.

Ben stepping down from board, dissatisfied with board’s handling of threats against members and response to in-shop bullying.

Ben was asked to stay by the board and was persuaded by promise from the other members to address the communication challenges at the core of the issue. It was agreed that the board would take steps to actively improve in this regard in part by scheduling an informal meeting halfway through the month and getting the final member onto the Slack.

New Secretary / Dispersal of Secretary's Duties

N/A

Action Items:

Kevin

Piotr:

Jeffrey:

Karen:

Ben:

Others:

Adjournment:

Jher moved for adjournment and was seconded by Kevin.

The vote was unanimous and the meeting was adjourned at 9:24PM.

____________________________ ___________________
Secretary Date of approval
Eugene Maker Space

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