Council 2006 10

• Date: October 18 2006
• Facilitator: martin
• Scribe: laurel
• Minutes Checker: matato
• Place: Free Geek Meeting room

Attendance

martin (facilitator), rfs, marie, jon, aaron, ali, eugene, matato, laurel (scribe), dave, martin, ariel, steve

Old Commitments

• seamus - convene budget meeting on tuesday - DONE
• ali - will give consensus training - DONE

Consensus training

Ali spoke about the art of listening in consensus. She will make a wiki page so everyone will be able to read what

Reports

Priorities Meeting Report

• See meeting minutes

Wiki policies

• matteo: matteo and laurel have been looking at policy on the wiki, updating the format, and updating things from minutes archives. matteo has developed a class outline which he and laurel are both willing to use for training, one-on-one if necessary.
• reviewing the policies may well bring outdated policies to light; we'll probably bring them to the attention of the council.
• jon, steve, martin, rfs, and ali are interested in learning how to do it

Providence

• The committee didn't meet because the priorities group took the time.
• The committee will probably be replaced by the O & P group, see below.
• We will not be working with Providence; they are working with another recycler until they can find a bigger national company.

Board

• see meeting minutes
• board officer elections; budget approval; did not approve Mt. Hood Grant

Staff hiring

• martin presents
• oso is quitting
• laptop intern has become a permanent position. description did not change; the staff came to unanimity to bring Jeff onto the collective.
• office coordinator job has been posted
• intern positions are being extended: sophia will work until January 27 to stagger hirings; katrina will be extended some as well.

Staff Q & A

How happy is the staff? What's the current state?

Ali is happy with her job. Dave and Steve say that we need more computer donations; we're too efficient! RFS says that the stresses we have are totally minor compared to stresses in the past. Steve says we're out of computers because we're selling lots of 'em. Wholesale sales were WAY higher than ever before. Donation income is down. We need to get more people in the door.

would donations benefit from pickup services?

almost certainly. aaron is unemployed and has a truck.

are staff approved to do pickups? how did that go in council?

it needs a budget item. should be discussed by the priorities group?

what's up with the subcommittees? how are they doing?

c7 (in charge of committee structure) just proposed reorganizing the propagation committee to be sure that startups are well handled. There hasn't been a lot of movement but there has been new blood.

...

yes, the classic gaming library is going great! There's one very dedicated volunteer.

Business

Optimization and priorities

• matteo presents
• See Optimization and Priorities group. The proposed group would not be a decision-making group, but would advise the council. Their job would be:
  • Discuss what we're already doing and how we can do it better
  • Compare proposals for expansion
  • Help people turn their ideas into reality
• This group would coordinate with C7 and report to council.
• Many things are on the table when the budget comes up; this committee has been created on an ad-hoc basis in the past. It wouldn't be taking responsibilities away from other groups.
• Shouldn't the council have a chance to hear about all of the proposals?
  • The meetings are open. The wiki is used for policy development. The group doesn't make decisions, but is there to help the council make decisions without spending a lot of time on details and having to spend a lot of time on background.
• Will this take decision-making rights from council?
  • Eugene sees the possibility of abuse in the future.

Question called. AGREED. No stand asides or blocks.

Room use policy

• ali presents the proposal from outreach.
• from meeting minutes, policy amendment that is proposed by outreach:
  • Limit # of non-FG events per quarter to 3
  • Give priority to friends of FG
  • Train chaperones: having good boundaries (alcohol, facility access, cleanup)
  • Better document what spaces should look like when they're clean
  • Secure spaces better (like door to lab)

Outreach committee is frustrated because they've been put in charge of coordinating room use applications and sometimes when they do the staff will turn down an application. Staff is frustrated with the extra effort events necessitate. Dave wants to make sure we have recourse if groups haven't cleaned up after themselves. Also, there's a concern about the security of people's art.

Amend proposal to add a checklist to documentation of what it would look like when it's clean, and cleaning charges if cleaning isn't done before next scheduled room use (for staff/volunteer hours). AGREED.

Board elections

Iain is mostly interested in participating in the board of a replicating and expansionist free geek; otherwise withdraws (read email). What are the goals of the board in the next year? The board has a lot to think about about this free geek without taking on projects elsewhere. The current board didn't really sign up for intergalactic service. Oso states that if free geek decides to do intergalactic projects, FGIntergalatic will probably be its own project with its own board.

Aaron has been involved with FG for a while, in different capacities. Interested in outreach and fundraising.

Eugene is interested in overseeing the best interests of the council, the collective nature of the organization & its financial health. Will do his best to stay abreast with priorities. Wants to make sure information about budget is available to everyone.

Proposal: Aaron should take that 1 year board position.

New Commitments

• richard and laurel - pull together the O & P committee and plan meeting times.
  • put pickups on the priorities agenda
• oso will contact Iain about board intentions

Next Meeting

• Facilitator: Eugene
• Scribe: laurel
• Minutes Checker: Seamus
• Consensus trainer: Dave: Expressing agreement
• Date and time: November 15 2006
• Place: Free Geek Meeting Room
• Next meeting business:
  • marie - presentation on fundraising
  • martin - talk about intern policies