Free Geek Michiana : Board/Council Minutes 10/27/2009
FREE GEEK Michiana, Inc. - "Helping the Needy Get Nerdy"
Submitted by Tom Brown, Director.
Present: Michael Cook, Richard Zimmerman, Fr. Robert Bower, Thomas Brown.
Tom called the meeting to order at 6:15 PM, in the Molloy Room of the St. Joseph County Public Library.
The board voted 3 to 1 to accept the SBWD offer and reject the LangLab offer. Mike, Richard and Fr. Robert voted for SBWD. Tom voted for LangLab. Three council members voted in absentia for SBWD (Chuq, Dale, Dan).
The discussion of the two offers (South Bend Warehousing and Distribution and LangLab) for warehousing/workshop space began immediately. The board could not come to consensus or a majority vote so we adjourned the meeting at 7:10 PM to visit the SBWD site. Since Mike has the most experience outfitting workspaces, we wanted him to examine the SBWD site first hand.
The issues were lighting, bathroom and heat/furnace. The board agreed we will need additional lighting to evenly light the workshop and have sufficient light for detailed work areas, for example, deman won't need as much light as repair. There was concern that a shabby bathroom will drive away female volunteers. And we weren't sure the furnace in place will heat the workshop or do it too noisily.
Tom was concerned that only Mike and he had visited the LangLab space and the exertion and expense of moving the inventory may unduly affect decision making. Mike and Tom both say the LangLab mission is very close to the FGM mission and creates an affinity between the two organizations. All agreed that because the rent at SBWD is lower than LangLab, at least for the next six months, FGM can afford to stay longer given the balance of our general fund and no appreciable income right now. Mike and Tom believe we will spend more to renovate the SBWD space than at LangLab and LangLab will be more comfortable. Tom believes the difference in rents will be less of a factor once we start fund raising.
After the SBWD site visit, the board reconvened the meeting at the Arby's restaurant at Main and Sample in South Bend, at 8:15 PM.
Mike thinks the two overhead lights at SBWD are about 400 Watt, metal-halide, 120 or 240 Volts and should last one year. This type of light tends to produce constant output until sudden failure. Mike says there are enough electrical circuits in the workshop to power additional lights (flourescent), hand tools and computers, even a classroom. Dale offered the same opinion.
The management at SBWD replaced the lights outside and inside the bathroom so it is no longer dark and dingy. Under light, the bathroom looks better although it still needs a thorough cleaning and painting. We think the bathroom can be made acceptable to women. Mike thinks the plumbing could survive the winter and recommends we put a small space heater in the bathroom to keep the pipes and toilet warm.
Mike started the furnace. It is not as noisy as we thought it would be although not quiet either. There are no shock absorbing mounts to dampen vibration.
Mike thought the furnace looked large enough to heat the space as long as we keep the temperature below broil. It is 75,000 BTU/Hr and should be able to heat an area of at least 1500 sq ft. Fans might be helpful due to the high ceilings and poor ducting of the furnace.
The burner needs to be cleaned. The flame contained a fair amount of yellow; it should be entirely blue. There was a filter holder but no filter installed.
The board decided that the SBWD space will need acoustic treatment if we want to hold classes or open a community lab in the workshop. Mike wonders whether management will allow a community lab due to the traffic.
The board voted by consensus to accept an offer of free room rent for FGMLUG in exchange for specific IT services at the YMCA.
Fr. Robert negotiated an offer from the YMCA in South Bend to let us use a classroom for FGMLUG one Wednesday evening per month in lieu of rent if FGM volunteers install wifi in several rooms in the building. The Y will pay for all materials. FGM supplies the expertise and labor. The Y wants wifi in two areas immediately and a third area later.
The board discussed security issues the YMCA will need to consider before starting the project. The issues determine the equipment and software we will employ. Fr. Robert will schedule a meeting with the director at the YMCA to go over the issues.
The Y director is also interested in hosting FGM classes once we obtain a portable classroom.
The board decided to open the warehouse on Tuesday nights only until we can find a Thursday night warehouse supervisor. Richard volunteered to supervise on Tuesday nights. Tom will make a key for Richard to use.
Tom said he will not supervise the warehouse for a while in order to concentrate on other tasks for FGM such as fundraising, recruiting additional board members, finding a location for a permanent lab and finishing the 501c3 application.
The board agreed unanimously that fund raising will be the next focus of the board.
Tom will ask the owner of SBWD if we can park vehicles on the property after 5:00 PM, the close of normal business hours at SBWD. Otherwise, we must park our vehicles on Lafayette street.
The City Chapel in downtown South Bend is interested in hosting classes at no rent once we have a portable classroom.
The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 9:20 PM.
Page last updated: Sun Nov 1 12:05:22 2009