Board Meeting Notes 2021-01-19
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Attendees
Board Members
- David Earl
- Nathan Upchurch
- Kevin Huemann
- Jennie Plasterer
- Joe Mertz
- Dave Soloman
- James Lamken
Other Members
- Anthony
- Sky Nova
- Sean Blum
- Andrew Morris
Agenda
1. Discuss & Approve previous board meeting minutes
No objections were noted to the previous board meeting minutes
2. Member Count & Financials
- 426 members
- Savings: $114,170.39
- Checking: $23,579.17
- PayPal: $6,381.67
- PEX: $19,652.00 (many months ago)
3. Mail Check
a. No important mail to note
4. Votes
- The first Director at Large special election took place last Tuesday 1/12/21. Jennie Plasterer was elected for the Director at large postion.
- One of our previous Directors, Robert German, has stepped down; therefore, a second Director at Large position is open for nominations. Announcements for nominations went out on Thursday 1/14/21 and an email blast went out on Saturday 1/16/21. The timeline for this election is as follows:
1/14: Nominations for Director-at-Large begin.
1/28, EOD: Nominations close.
2/2: Candidates are encouraged to make a statement at the online member meeting on February 2nd at 8pm. Link for this meeting will be posted on the slack announcements channel.
2/4: Ballots will be sent to membership via email.
2/9: At the conclusion of the member meeting (8:30pm), voting will close, votes will be tallied, and the new Director announced.
5. Officer & Team Lead Updates
GENERAL OPERATIONS:
- No update yet on the roof. Andrew Morris has yet to receive a call back from the roofer.
- Andrew Morris noticed the Wood Shop boiler was not venting properly. He attempted to fix the problem with the draft, but is still not 100% sure if it is venting into the building.
- Electronics lights are in rough shape. There are approximately only three fixtures working in the electronics area. It is probably time to convert them to LEDs as was (mostly) done in General.
- Lockout-tagout stations are hung and stocked. We’ll need to come up with communication about using those.
- Andrew Morris is in the process of drafting a hazardous materials policy for future comment and discussion. No timeline on set on the completion of this policy.
- According to Andrew Morris, it is a code violation to not have make up air operational as it can pull in exhaust fumes from the furnace. PS1 has a make-up unit above small metals; however, it was missing the water pump when we moved in. The quote to install hot water lines and pump to the make-up air unit is estimated to be $1800. This is not currently accounted for in the gen ops budget and will need either a board or member vote in the future. Ed Bennet explained that the board does have the power to approve this expenditure as its an operational expense. No vote was acted upon during this meeting.
TECH TEAM:
- Sky Nova explained that the Canvas migration went well. However, grades are not populating in the system and there is an issue with members browser cookies not allowing members to login. Sky is looking into these issues.
- Sky notified that the single sign on (SSO) B2C integration is on track and should be ready by the end of January.
MEMBER MANAGEMENT TEAM:
- Nathan Upchurch explained that we have a total of 8 active scholarship recipients in the previous quarters cohort and discussed possibly extending this cohort as their Authorizations were delayed to to Covid. Additionally, we have received three new applicants for the new quarter. Currently the scholarship policy budgets for 10 scholarships, if we extend the previous scholarship recipients and approve all three of the new applicants, that will place us at 11 members as scholarship members. The board agreed to discuss this more offline in order to thoroughly look into the three additional scholarship applicants.
TREASURY TEAM:
- Jennie explained that she and Carl have been actively auditing Pex card users and the cost of our pex system is $20 per month. Jennie was unaware of what budget that expense comes from. She stated she would look into it. The board expressed interest in quarterly budget and pex card reviews at a minimum.
PR TEAM:
- No updates to report
EDUCATION TEAM:
- Aushra Abouzeid would like the board to get a paid Zoom account for PS1. Currently PS1 relies on members personal or work related video conference accounts. Aushra looked into the the different options and the cheapest is $150 per year. She thinks this should come out of the IT budget. Her findings on zoom are the following:
Lowest “pro” tier: $150/ year Host up to 100 participants Group meetings for up to 30 hours Social Media Streaming 1 GB Cloud Recording (per license)
Next tier up: $200/ year Host up to 300 participants Single Sign-On Recording Transcripts Managed Domains Company Branding All features included in Pro and more
6. Updates from outside board meetings
a. Robert German stepped down as Director-at-large on 1/12/21.
b. The board had a closed meeting on Saturday 1/16/20
7. Discussion Topics (new & existing)
a. Dave noticed that the PS1 official mailbox is unlocked. According to others on the board, this is not an issue. PS1 has never locked the mail box. The board also discussed the need for a mail policy, however, Jennie said she would place a sign on the door informing members that they can't send personal mail to pumping station one.
b. MMT volunteers needed - The MMT is missing many volunteer positions as three are now currently on the board. The board reached out to Max Rashes, and Daniel Martinez Olivas. Daniel expressed interest in being on the MMT but Max did not. David said he will be reaching out to John Papiewski, and Lilly Corr. We also got a few other volunteers that may be interested in MMT through our info@ email address. David to reach out to them to determine where they would be a good fit. Alana Kolar may be interested in MMT.
c. Aushra Abouzeid's request for video conference service.
- David expressed interest in looking into more free options if possible. David stated he would look into some other options. Joe believes that if purchasing of this software does not come out of the tech budget, that it needs to be put up for a member vote.
d. Nathan Upchurch scholarship update
- The board agreed to discuss scholarships offline
e. Sean's Pex Card
- According to Jennie, a Pex card has been ordered for Sean. The delivery date is unknown. Jennie explained that she needs to activate the card once Sean receives it.
f. We received an email from Waste Management expressing concerns with our dumpster being overfilled. Andrew Morris will be reaching out to them to figure out how many days the dumpster is collected and which days we are overfilling the dumpster.
g. Dave Soloman still did not have google drive or email access and Joe and Nathan needs google drive access. Sky Nova said she would look into and get them the access they needed.
h. Andrew Morris has applied for a grant through his company for Pumping Station One. The board will be helping Andrew fill out the grant.
i. The City Arts grant through the City of Chicago will also be offering general operating expenses and PS1 may qualify under the cultural section. The board will be investigating.
j. David expressed interest in finding someone or an organization that may be able to assist PS1 in grant writing. He mentioned Donor's forum. Anthony also explained that he may have contacts that could help with grant writing. David and Anthony to discuss offline.
k. David expressed interest in creating project canvas courses for new members to be able to take and get started with a beginners project. The board will be reaching out to Aushra as the Education lead to discuss.