Council 2005 05

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May 18, 2005

  • Facilitator: Jon or Jeff (?? the wiki and email record conflict.)
  • Scribe: Laurel
  • Place: Free Geek meeting room
  • Previous Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Oso, Clout, Tim (oly), Cayman, Missy, Storm, Sean, Dave Marks (oly), martin, Richard, Matt Bell, Rob (oly), Wes, Dave.

Later: Kathie, Irv, Jeff Kane, Debi, Rick.

OLD COMMITMENTS

  • Michael (phil), envada isp: carry-over. re-assign i they don't report next month.
  • Martin, tantalum wiki: carry-over
  • Wesley (Martin), blind/vi distro: it's difficult to get non-mainstream sofware to work. In progress.
  • Action: vehicle pickups is troublesome and hasn't really been worked out, except to have a staff member drive and be on insurance.
  • ALL: frequent the wiki and discuss the board and space usage issues.

REPORTS

Education report

(Laurel presents) see email.

Financial report

(Richard presents)

We've been working on changing the accounting so there's more accoutning going on, and we have a clearer record of what's gone on and what's owed.

Richard has lovely charts and things and explained different types of accounting. Our net worth has started rising and may one day break zero. This information is not yet available on the web, but there are plans to get it out there regularly. At the moment, if you want to see this stuff, ask Richard or Oso.

NAP report

(Laurel presents) see email.

We're reminded that the council needs to be notified of anything that NAP might do which would cost FG money. Nothing will yet.

Build report

see email

PAWC report

Was this report given?

Old Business

(Not sure what these next 5 bullet points are about. They were on the wiki page but not on the email list. -Pete 15:02, 1 Feb 2006 (PST))

Board of Directors

We don't want to discuss this without Mark Niemann-Ross. We will put this off until next month - but it is high priority for then. Please read up on this and contribute. see Board_of_Directors

Hiring report

(Richard presents)

http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/council/2005-May/001288.html Issue: hiring two exploratory interns. "Exploratory interns" are hired, on a temporary basis, to develop potential programs & are paid the same as a staff person, minus benefits. These are 3 - 6 month

Reuse Exploratory Intern

we'd like to able to hire Matthew for this. The job would be to further develop the reuse program into something that will increase the amount of reuse that happens, and make sure volunteers in the adoption program are happy.

Part of the reason this is a exploratory internship is that the job is a bit amorphous, and we want to get someone who is comfortable with program development. Also, if it's an internship, we won't be committed to the expense of another staff person in six months unless we can afford it.

Volunteer management skills are as important, if not more, than technical skills.

AGREED >>> This internship should be created. <<< AGREED

If you want to discuss what this internship should be like, or other details, check out the wiki or even discuss on this email list.

http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Reuse_Exploratory_Intern_Job_Description

PROPOSAL: Should we hire Matthew and forego the open hiring process?

It's definitely good in the short term, because hiring is time consuming and staff time is at a premium just now, and because Matthew can be up to speed immediately, so we won't have to spend time in acculturation.

AGREED >>> To hire Matthew into the aforementioned internship, foregoing open hiring process. If we decide to create a staff positon, we will definitely have an open hiring at the end of the internship, no matter Matthew's performance. We'll require a "lessons learned" report at the end of three months, as a draft of the internship-end report. And we add to the job description (if it's not already there) an emphasis on documentation. <<< AGREED


NEW BUSINESS

Printer Exploratory Intern

staff asks for permission to hire a printer program coordinator exploratory intern, if we turn out to have money. This person would be managing volunteers and developing a well-documented printer refurbishing program that's accessable to interested volunteers.

This position is very likely to be self-funding or more. We're losing money because we're not selling printers right now. The previous printer program was not well-documented, so an exploratory person is needed to develop it. Hiring for this position would be open.

Please share ideas about this position on the wiki or this list. http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Printer_Exploratory_Intern_Job_Description

AGREED >>> The staff may hire a printer coordination exploratory intern if we find we have the money. <<< AGREED

Permanent fund

Clint says we should set up an endowment, and if you have an idea about how we could do this, talk to C7. This has been put on the C7 agenda.

Online store

This seems to be desirable, but the technical end of this is the major barrier. We want to sell FG Stuff, not random stuff. Reuse comittee is working on this.

Truck donation

Yes? The action committee will contact Clint about the lead.

Board net USA

We don't have enough information on this yet, but it merits research.

Serving beer at Geek Fair

to help defray the cost of the large and superior tents (which would protect our fairgoers from hot heat on July 16), a beer garden is proposed. (The booths will probably not be enough. Booths have generally paid for the tents in the past.)

The problem with this is that this might go against the family-oriented nature of the geek fair, which is our only real family event.

Are there liability issues? There will be monitoring at the point of sale. There is the option of non-alcoholic beer. We could choose to serve it with a meal.

Are there other options for fundraising? Well, yes, corporate sponsorship. Bands may have an issue with this. Heck, WE may have an issue with this. The sponsor would probably end up being a bank.

Oso's also looking into other shading options.

AGREED >>> If the Geek Fair organizers can put the time in to make a truly family-oriented fair where the beer is a side item, not a main attraction, we are ok. <<< AGREED

People who want to contribute to planning the Geek Fair should talk to the events group: events at freegeek.org Many exciting things will be discussed.


NEXT MEETING

  • Facilitator: Dave
  • Scribe: martin
  • Date: June 15
  • Agenda items:
    • Board of Directors: high priority!
    • Metaquestion
    • Space Use Planning

COMMITMENTS

  • Michael (phil), envada isp: carry-over. re-assign if they don't report next month
  • Wesley (Martin), blind/vi distro: still in progress
  • Martin, tantalum wiki: carry-over
  • Action committee will plan for pickups and report at the next meeting
  • Richard is working on getting web-accessable
  • C7 talk about endowment (make sure Clint/council gets feedback)
  • Action committee will contact Clint about potential truck and consider budgeting for truck decoration
  • Reuse committee will report on progress toward more online sales
  • Martin will ask Clint to research boardnetusa more and report to council
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