BOTLab Quarterly Members' Meeting Q4 2022
Date/time and location: 7pm, Tuesday 4th October 2022 at the Hackspace (with online option).
Agenda
- Directors' report
- Incident review
- Complaints review
- Proposals review
- Maintenance weekend & open day feedback
- Metal shop hot works progress update
- Proposed simplification of hackspace allocated funds
Has been discussed before, Nick G ready to present final structure - Includes creation of maintenance budget to allow faster like-for-like repairs to equipment
- Upcoming website & wiki changes
- Return of AGM to April following COVID schedule disruption
Minutes
Present: Felix H (chair), Nick G, Caitlin P (minutes), Marsh, Sam P, Fraser, Chris W, Grainne C, Ryan H, Matt RT, Luke K, Chris P, Christian E, Callum CK, Sam C, Matt G, Robyn K, Richard L, Katja H
Apologies: Alex R, Emily G, Chris C, Vickki H, Grainne C, Sam S, Dave K, Bea M
Nick: The letter has been sent to Robert for the BV card deposits. Maintenance day was great, 8 new members. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
September was good financially, no one claimed money back from purchase proposals. Profits were £600+. August wasn’t great financially.
Sam P slipped on saw dust which wasn’t cleaned up in the wood workshop. Please can everyone clean up after themselves. Someone on the forum suggested clearing matting?
Matt: Solve the dust - not the floor.
Nick: There is a plan for the filtration.
Felix: Talking about putting the fan in… etc, etc. (Matt is fetching the fan). The fan should be fitted asap.
Nick: Matt will no longer be allowed to make jokes in the hackspace.
Inducted machines left unlocked? Not included in the agenda!
A complaint about a member has been made re: mess and attitude. The member has been formally warned.
Talk about extraction…
Nick: Proposal reviews. Directors to go away and discuss overhead sawdust extraction proposals.
Matt: We need to prioritise choosing an extraction proposal.
Nick: (Metal shop update on behalf of Alex) Sam S has done a risk assessment for welding, Alex is reviewing. Alex to create a proposal for a minimum viable set of welding, which will be run through the landlord.
We currently have an emergency fund (equivalent to 9 months rent), Hackspace small purchases fund, public engagement fund, remainder of covid grant. All of those funds to go into the general fund? Instantly replaced with a new emergency fund (6 months rent).
Felix: We’ve proven we can move quite quickly. Our lease is longer than BV. The lease here is 5 years from when we moved in.
Nick: Create a new public engagement fund, £1000 a year. Anything we need for public engagement will come out of that fund. Any workshop profits go into that fund. Create a repairs and replacement fund, starting at £1500 a year. Directors discretionary fund, approval of majority of directors. Hopefully this will speed up like-for-like replacement.
Felix: Landlord has secured a new rate, we don’t anticipate it being a large increase. It should still be relatively manageable. The electricity use isn’t shocking.
VOTE PASSES. Matt was the only one who didn’t vote yes.
Felix: The new wiki is in the process, help will soon be needed to move everything over. If anyone has any images for a history page, send them to Felix. The AGM always used to be in April. Proposing pushing it back to April again.
VOTE PASSES.
Felix: Tarim raised the issue of BV slacking. We have sent by confirmed delivery, mail telling Robert to pay up. The time period included on the invoice hasn’t yet passed - will keep updated. The wood dust extraction has also been covered.
ALEX AND NICK are sorting the consumables list/ cabinet.
Matt to suggest kanban cards to Alex. Christian does not what a kanban card is.
Chris: People leaving induction equipment unlocked.
Nick: A plea to members. LOCK UP VALUABLE KIT.
Felix: There is no solution to this problem.
Poster of induction equipment.
Sam P: Community? Where is it?
Felix: We have had an influx of members who aren’t interested in the community aspect, they do however need to clean up after themselves.
Community chat etc. Felix talked for ages about his opinions. Nick talked a bit.
Matt: Nick has started to take a more wary view of the finances. There is an element of prioritisation of finances. What are people’s priorities? Ryan suggested that this be a discussion on the forum.
Nick gets a pat on the back for using a computer.
Felix nearly fell off his chair. Suspicious.