Council 2009 06

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When: June 17, 2009
Facilitator: Richard
Scribe: Jon
Minutes Checker: Debra
Attendance: Sayer, Debra, Cliff, Ezra, Richard, Vagrant, Jon

CONSENSUS TRAINING

debra, assisted by ezra


COMMITMENTS

  • sayer: americorps followup -
    • apply directly (crazy signup: 30 hours compile info, 5 hours filling out)
    • go through other services (nw service corps, red cross) - downside, limits pool we can select people from (only a pool from the service we go with), have to front money
    • 11 month stint, can renew once
    • discussion of pros and cons of americorps. possibly best suited for a specific project that would match an americorps volunteer (e.g. fundraising infrastructure), as the position lasts 1-2 years.
    • vagrant said he heard that paid internship may change to longer than 6 months. present internship structure was discussed briefly.
    • debra asked about various levels of staff/internship hiring policies and lengths of time those positions lasted. richard gave an explanation. http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Interns [is this correct link?]
    • sayer suggested working on job descriptions we might want to find
    • richard: we get lots of placements from sms (seniors ___ service?) stay for longish period of time but arent usually focused on a single project (e.g. instead on floor etc)
    • next steps: brief job descriptions proposals (fundraising-related, fix cafe installs) .. commit: richard will bring to staff (vagrant putting in rt)

REPORTS

  • no formal reports to the list
  • none at meeting
  • questions:
    • debra: are we hiring to replace matteo? is he coming back? what about martin? richard: martin is back, no paid position but probably will sub for vagrant for a month. matteo gave notice for 6 month leave, fg cant hold job, but usually have "something" available to get him back in. hired production coordinator cuz had second choice build coordinator. george was 1, caitlan was 2... so caitlan can take over for matteo. starts end of the month. she will document the process for future tweaking.
    • debra: do we have statistics on collective turnover rate? richard: we could look that up, but complicated e.g. definition of "turnover".

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • debra: light switches have been installed
  • ezra: took tour guide training with about 6 others
  • debra: financially any difference? richard: store is significantly higher than predicted

BUSINESS

richard: council chooses board of directors as laid out in bylaws. should we change the structure of council meetings, frequency, etc, as the meetings are short/small when there is not board selection. committees handle most operations.

debra: asked if there were things committees were doing that could be done at council?

sayer asked how staff deals with routine requests. richard explained reporting directly to committee responsible or bringing up at staff meetings. richard explained staff bringing new (proposed) positions to council (e.g. online sales coordinator). vagrant said possibly people could be given more time about issues before council meeting, and encourages people to bring up things on council mailing list (not just to meeting, where there may not be time). discussed "does this mean things are going well and we dont need council meetings as often?" richard posited that the economy changes putting real estate decisions on hold has created a lull. sayer explained his take on that council would look at bigger, over-arching ideas, while staff kept smaller day-to-day tasks going.

richard discussed some brainstorming methods including swot (strength weakness opportunities threats) to apply to lists of ideas come up at various times. but that it was pointless unless there was follow-through.

"goals brainstorm" from last month read (by richard) and decide where it can be sent: [s]taff, [c]ouncil, [b]oard

  • A) more grants & followup [c]
  • B) more classes & better tracking [s]
  • C) expand tech support [s]
  • D) eliminate program bottlenecks [s]
  • E) coding management [c]
  • F) produce code useful outside of free geek ? [s]
  • G) americorps [c]
  • H) ADA compliance for bldg [c]
  • I) someone to set up capital campaign [c]
  • J) raise staff salaries [b]
  • K) more formalized education [s]
  • L) thanking & encouraging volunteers [s]

list, please give feedback

next meeting: compare the [c] items from above (swot, etc)

REMAINING COMMITMENTS

  • Richard will bring brief job descriptions proposals for americorps

Next Meeting

  • Facilitator: Dave
  • Scribe: ?
  • Minutes Checker: ?
  • Consensus Trainer: debra (tentative)
  • Date: July 15
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