Event:2015/12/17 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - December 17, 2015

Meeting Roles

 * Facilitator/s: Laura
 * Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response", (wildcard), etc.
 * Stacktaker: Julio
 * Timekeeper: Rachel
 * Notetaker/s: Jenny/you!/matt/
 * URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
 * Vibe Reader:
 * Next weeks facilitator(s): Matt & (Rachel/Lori)

Delegates

 * BAPS: inactive
 * BH: Alex (remote)
 * BS: first meeting as member collective - Thunder
 * CCL: jacob (remotely)
 * CSC: Todd/Maryann
 * FNB: active - Helen/Joe
 * MPM: inactive if they don't show up
 * LL: Liz
 * Sudo: active - Matt
 * TIL: inactive
 * GWS: active - Rachel
 * Quorum: Yes (8/8)

Introductions
Introduce yourself: Name; Prefered Pronoun; Affiliation
 * Laura, she, working groups
 * Matt, he, sudo [delegate]
 * Helen, she, FNB
 * Rachel, she, GWS [delegate]
 * Arthur, FNB, working on 2/13 benefit
 * Todd, he, Chiapas Support Committee
 * Dane, he/him/they, involved w/ Long Haul
 * MaryAnn, she, Chiapas
 * Alex, he, Homes Not Jails
 * jenny, she, sudo/wgs
 * Joe, he, FNB/building wg
 * Robb, he, sudo/wgs
 * Julio, he, sudo/commons wg
 * Thunder, Buried Seeds
 * Jacob [remote], he, CCL [delegate]
 * Alex [remote], she, BH [delegate]
 * Yar [remote], she, sudo & building bloc

Announcements

 * Helen - There's chocolate on the table, which will be passed around!
 * Joe - John says he wants to update the lease with the current collectives and who their representatives are. This got involved because Patrick D is becoming the new CEO of CCL instead of Ahnon.
 * Thunder - Buried Seeds is working in the space where Rise Above was. Stariting to plaster the walls. Need to re-do the concrete floor, and need stuff to be vacated. Thunder need to alleviate the smell from the trash room next Burried Seeds new space.
 * East Bay Homes Not Jails now holding open public meetings at Omni every Wednesday from 7-9 usually in the blue classroom. Also offer unofficial tenants counseling

Building & permits
Meetings: Mondays at 8pm
 * This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
 * Done hanging drywall, ready for inspection on the wall construction
 * Met stephanie Massey, a 22 year veteran of the fire inspection department (or Oakland Fire Dept).
 * Thunder: Trash has a large odor, is it because of compost--or what?
 * What are some solutions to work on this?
 * We need to build a collective of members, but this is not appealing with the smell.
 * Could refrigerate compost first
 * Maybe UV lights might work?
 * Laura: primary culprit of smell is washing out the trash cans. Could help for the short-term before the long-term solution of trying to get the trash outside of the building.
 * Rob: I used to spray it out with hot water, but we lost our sprayer :( -- we have two hoses that will reach out there. If you spary them out, sprinkling some borax--stayed pretty good for 2 weeks.
 * Thunder: What about the outside faucet, does it work?
 * Rob: Not sure, but the hot water from the sink in the hallway is better anyway.
 * Thunder is willing to research the dumpster.
 * Arthur: use a scrub brush

Commons
Meetings: 2nd & 4th Thursdays at 7pm
 * Joe: Can we just write to Commons that we're willing to bottomline an event, if we can't make the meeting? A: Yes
 * We need more help! join us every other Thursday

Finance
Meetings: Every other Thursday at 7pm
 * Matt: no reserve, only $5000 in the bank so won't make rent this month without a big push
 * Jenny: we have a proffesional bookkeeper diong our books, it's dire. We could use a loan, even personal loans.
 * Laura: working on an appeal for groups that have had events in the space. Need help. Contact Laura if you want to help.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SsVh9K_wzbOAXPFSuglcDFE7vxog_TyItHB2rfF9JeU/edit?usp=sharing

Buy the Building
Meetings: Mondays at 5pm
 * Negotiating with a potential lender to pay the other million to buy the building. Had a meeting with the lender and our lawyer last week.
 * Soon there will be a new proposal to put the building in an LLC co-owned by the Open Library of Richmond and Omni Oakland Commons. This would override the previous decision to donate the land to the Bay Area Community Land Trust and maintain ownership of the building (improvements). It's a condition required by our millionaire friend. We are working our hardest to make this an acceptable contract for everyone, which will allow us all to do what we want to do at Omni for many years to come.

Welcoming

 * Building Bloc has been doing much of this work
 * We went to First Friday this month and got 55 new peoples' email addresses (Yar is working on reaching out to them all individually)
 * First Friday is on hiatus in Jan & Feb, but we should table at more outside events! It's hard work but worth it! It would help a lot if we had more stickers, flyers and posters to represent Omni and all its member collectives. Also paper calendars showing upcoming Omni events.

Homes Not Jails Membership Proposal
unnamed: yar, what's the status of the HNJ application for membership?
 * Concerns raised that: 1) all member collectives should pay rent, 2) HNJ might squat the Omni
 * Concerning 2) could make it part of their community agreements to address
 * Yar was always concerned that Omni would not be squatted. The nightmare is coming true.
 * yar: they applied, jake said he would block, then jake backed down and others said we should just give it time. then we tried to set up a tool cabinet downstairs in the meantime, but the existing one from the ticket booth room didn't fit down the stairs, and we couldn't figure out an alternative. their most pressing needs are #1 figure out where the tools can go, and #2 have access to the building. Meanwhile the delegates could approve their existing membership proposal at any time. it hasn't been withdrawn.

Discussion

 * Where to store tools?
 * The basement stage area needs to be cleaned up, but is ideal
 * Access for members -currently they have about 5 members, would like to get some more members before fleshing out the guidelines for the collective (currently anyone can be a member if they show up for 3 meetings and come to at least half after that)
 * Make zines, tshirts, etc that are given freely, accept donations that are spent on tools (~$60/year)
 * Willing to help with the Omni in whatever way is most valuable (construction, housing, etc)
 * Consenso?
 * 4 abstain (CSC, LLC, BH & Sudo), 4 yes (FNB, GWS, BS, CCL)
 * Yar thinks that Sudoroom needs to have an internal conversation before we can consent, given that blocks, concerns and desire to wait came from Sudoroom
 * that was just jake who consented to stand aside
 * Yar: Marc also said we should wait, so idk. i would really like to see this happen, don't get me wrong. It's actually Marc who is my only concern. But I'm not present or the delegate, so up to you all.
 * Yar: Also, in terms of the consensus process, even if someone says they'll stand aside, if they don't do it publically (Jake only said so in private conversation) then other people who may have wanted to block don't get a chance to say so. Sometimes people only stay quiet because they see someone else blocking and figure it doesn't matter.
 * I read this: "nobody physically present here has concerns or objections with them being an omni member collective" https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2015-11-04#Homes_Not_Jails and it confused me because I didn't read this: "sounds like sudoroom will not consent this week, pending further conversation and clarification" so now I see we can't consent.
 * Yar: that sounds like something I wrote, but I also remember walking away from the whole process feeling like we needed a more formally established consent given all the grey areas
 * Decision to revisit on Jan. 7th. Collectives that haven't had a chance to discuss this will do so between now and then.
 * original proposal here: https://omnicommons.org/pipermail/consensus/2015-October/000703.html

Fundraising Event on 2/13

 * Bunch of great bands have been booked; talk to FNB if you have ideas for other acts (esp for the afternoon)
 * Could use help! With both promotion and day-of organizing
 * Join the next FNB meeting if you're interested in helping - Jan. 6th @ 6:30pm @ The Long Haul
 * See event details and contact here: https://omnicommons.org/calendar/events/omni-commons-love-party-and-open-mic/
 * We request your participation contact:
 * Saryta – srod622 “at” gmail ‘dot’ com
 * Arthur – 510-830-7787
 * Josh -- from VEX (band)
 * Will discuss @ next Commons meeting on January 14th
 * Share the FB event! https://www.facebook.com/events/874908019265873/

Front Door Shifts
via Jenny 11/13:

In order to create a welcoming atmosphere at the Omni, it's imperative that we regularly have someone staffing the front desk. Each member collective must have at least 1 member holding down a minimum 4-hour front desk shift per week. Collectives with more than 20 members should have a proportional representation at the front desk (eg; sudo, with ~60 members, should hold down 3 shifts/week).
 * Visit https://omnicommons.org/frontdesk to sign up for a shift.
 * Front desk protocol (feel free to add/edit): https://omnicommons.org/wiki/frontdesk
 * Talk to Jenny, Robb or Matt if you're interested in helping with the buildout of a proper front desk area in December! We're hoping to have it ready by the new year.

Talk About Trash

 * Discussed a bit above during Building & Permits report-back ^^^
 * Follow up with Thunder for next week.

= End of Meeting =
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