Board Meeting Notes 2025-03-04: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:59, 4 March 2025

Board Meeting Minutes
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Meeting Start:

Attendance

Board Members
- James
- Ian
- Nick
- Lindsay
- Uwe
- Eric

Other Members
- Andrew Masek
- Andrew Wingate
- Ron Olson
- Carl Karsten
- Jennie Plasterer

Agenda

Consent Agenda
Committee Reports
Read mail
Financial/membership report
Review the PayPal and banking transactions
Member leaving reason reports
Check Freshdesk queue
New business
Old business

Minutes

Discussion on previous minutes

Consent Agenda

Committee Reports

Reports from Committees

Mail

Financial Report

Chase Checking:
Chase Savings:
PEX:
PayPal:

Membership Report

Number of Members:
Quorum:

Review the PayPal and banking transactions

Member Leaving Reason Reports

Freshdesk

Login link: https://pumpingstationone.freshdesk.com

New Business

Uwe asks for a Scholarship update
- Claire has a demographic questionnaire that she wants Shauen to look over
- Uwe wants to give out new scholarships now
- Ian will ask Claire to give the board an update

Nick wants to appoint a PR Officer
- Nick recommends Ilya Moskvin for PR Officer, with Andrew Masek as Social Media Volunteer
- Board votes, and it passes

Sky wants to talk about stuff
- Bitwarden is fixed, which is excellent
- Surveymonkey is expired, which is excellent (because we don't use it anymore)
- Sky was contacted by an alternative energy provider
  - We use AEP energy for electric, and Constellation energy for Gas
  - Constellation told us there will be a price hike soon
  - We could sign a rate-lock contract for ~4 years
  - These contracts are no-to-low-risk, meaning no or low ETF if we want to back out.
  - The upside is impossible to calculate, because we do not know what the market will do over the course of this contract
  - She wants to know if the board wants her to continue to pursue this.

Ian scheduled an inspection for this Friday 3/7 at 11am.
- Hopefully it won't snow
- We will discuss our next conversation with the landlord at the next board meeting, once we have the inspection report + the inspection report.

Andrew Wingate has been working on grant writing.
- He has been working on a $300k grant application
- It is a significant time investment
- He would like to be paid $1,250 to finish this grant proposal.
- Uwe asks whether we have precedent for our ability to pay members to do stuff
  - James says we do, citing electricians as an example
- The board discusses the details of the grant, which are documented elsewhere
- The board votes to pay him upon submission of the grant.

Ian would like to raise a thing that Ben Tiefeld would like him to raise.
- Ben Tiefeld wants to direct donations towards specific areas / equipment budgets
  - Treasury says this is hard and creates a lot of work for them.
  - The whole room goes back and forth on whether this is desirable, possible, legal or excellent.
  - We can do this case-by-case
- Ben has also floated the idea of moving to a 'more traditional non-profit accounting system'
  - No one seems to have any idea exactly what this entails

Andrew Wingate asks for the authority to conduct business on behalf of the organization in order to submit parts of this grant
- Joe says this is a clear violation of the membership agreement and a bad idea.
- Uwe wants to know about this in advance going forward.
- The board agrees that would have been excellent, and this is fine for now.

Old Business

Votes

The board votes to appoint Ilya Moskvin as PR Officer, and Andrew Masek as a Social Media volunteer, both with W.I.L.D. status.
- For: 6
- Against: 0
- Abstain: 0
The board votes to pay Andrew Wingate $1,250, to be paid upon submission of the Tech Incubator grant.
- For: 4
- Against: 0
- Abstain: 2
The board votes to authorize Andrew Wingate to conduct business on behalf of PS:1 for the purposes of the Tech Incubator grant.
- For: 5
- Against: 0
- Abstain: 1

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == Attendance ==
 * Board Members
-**
+**James
+**Ian
+**Nick
+**Lindsay
+**Uwe
+**Eric
 * Other Members
-**
+**Andrew Masek
+**Andrew Wingate
+**Ron Olson
+**Carl Karsten
+**Jennie Plasterer
 == Agenda ==
@@ Line 58: / Line 67: @@
 === New Business ===
-*PR Officer
+*Uwe asks for a Scholarship update
+**Claire has a demographic questionnaire that she wants Shauen to look over
+**Uwe wants to give out new scholarships now
+**Ian will ask Claire to give the board an update
+*Nick wants to appoint a PR Officer
 **Nick recommends Ilya Moskvin for PR Officer, with Andrew Masek as Social Media Volunteer
+**Board votes, and it passes
+*Sky wants to talk about stuff
+**Bitwarden is fixed, which is excellent
+**Surveymonkey is expired, which is excellent (because we don't use it anymore)
+**Sky was contacted by an alternative energy provider
+***We use AEP energy for electric, and Constellation energy for Gas
+***Constellation told us there will be a price hike soon
+***We could sign a rate-lock contract for ~4 years
+***These contracts are no-to-low-risk, meaning no or low ETF if we want to back out.
+***The upside is impossible to calculate, because we do not know what the market will do over the course of this contract
+***She wants to know if the board wants her to continue to pursue this.
+*Ian scheduled an inspection for this Friday 3/7 at 11am.
+**Hopefully it won't snow
+**We will discuss our next conversation with the landlord at the next board meeting, once we have the inspection report + the inspection report.
 *Andrew Wingate has been working on grant writing.
-**
+**He has been working on a $300k grant application
+**It is a significant time investment
+**He would like to be paid $1,250 to finish this grant proposal.
+**Uwe asks whether we have precedent for our ability to pay members to do stuff
+***James says we do, citing electricians as an example
+**The board discusses the details of the grant, which are documented elsewhere
+**The board votes to pay him upon submission of the grant.
+*Ian would like to raise a thing that Ben Tiefeld would like him to raise.
+**Ben Tiefeld wants to direct donations towards specific areas / equipment budgets
+***Treasury says this is hard and creates a lot of work for them.
+***The whole room goes back and forth on whether this is desirable, possible, legal or excellent.
+***We can do this case-by-case
+**Ben has also floated the idea of moving to a 'more traditional non-profit accounting system'
+***No one seems to have any idea exactly what this entails
-*Sky has a thing
+*Andrew Wingate asks for the authority to conduct business on behalf of the organization in order to submit parts of this grant
-**
+**Joe says this is a clear violation of the membership agreement and a bad idea.
+**Uwe wants to know about this in advance going forward.
+**The board agrees that would have been excellent, and this is fine for now.
 === Old Business ===
@@ Line 71: / Line 117: @@
 == Votes ==
 *The board votes to appoint Ilya Moskvin as PR Officer, and Andrew Masek as a Social Media volunteer, both with W.I.L.D. status.
-**For:
+**For: 6
-**Against:
+**Against: 0
-**Abstain:
+**Abstain: 0
+*The board votes to pay Andrew Wingate $1,250, to be paid upon submission of the Tech Incubator grant.
+**For: 4
+**Against: 0
+**Abstain: 2
+*The board votes to authorize Andrew Wingate to conduct business on behalf of PS:1 for the purposes of the Tech Incubator grant.
+**For: 5
+**Against: 0
+**Abstain: 1
 [[Category:Board_Meetings]]
 [[Category:2025 Board Meetings]]