Event:2016/05/19 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - 19 May 2016

Last meeting's notes

Who's Here?

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: Steve
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: Robb
• Timekeeper: Dre
• Notetaker/s: Jenny y matt y niki
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: Joe
• Next meeting's facilitator(s): Robb

Delegates

• BAPS: Steve
• BH: not here
• BS: Tatille
• CCL: Ken
• CSC: inactive
• FNB: Joe
• GWS: Rachel
• HNJ: inactive (member yet?)
• LL: Angel
• Sudo: Matt/Jenny
• TIL: inactive
• Quorum: Yes (7/8)

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Preferred Pronoun; Affiliation

• Matt (sudo), Dragon (liberated lense), Ken (CCL), Angel (LL), Joe (FNB), Rachel (GWS), David (omni wgs), Niki (AV), Jenny (SUDO), RObb (SUDO), Tatille (BS), Steve (BAPS)

Announcements

• DK: An employee of the Nautilus development across 48th mentioned that the bike that's been left locked to a pole apparently 24x7 for the last N months, parked near the corner, on the northwest side of 48th @ Shattuck, is going to be removed soon because they need to do work in that area -
• Jenny: Finishing May newsletter tonight - help hand them out tomorrow! Will leave them at the Agua Viva counter

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: Not Currently Meeting (suggest a time e.g. Mondays at 8pm if you are interested)

• We passed fire! No more life/saftey issues.
• Plan set for Entrance Hall accepted, rough inspection went well, acoustic wall permit has been closed out, all evacuation signs are up!
• Drywall party to be scheduled soon -

• This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

• Still need more volunteers who can help with events
• Balkan Music on Friday
• African Music on Saturday
• Next weekend, weekend-long capoiera festival

Communications

• Currently not meeting (suggest a time if you'd like to do this, it is greatly needed)
• Reach out to your collectives to see if anyone's interested in helping with comms and outreach
• Contact the comms folks at comms@lists.omnicommons.org
• Put on Discussion for

Finance

Meetings: Every other Thursday at 7pm

• New Treasurer: Jose Plascencia -- already being on-boarded ;)
  • This is VERY exciting.
• Jenny worked a bunch on our quickbooks last week -- very close to getting our accounting ducks in a row, maybe after 1-2 more sessions with Jose
• First priority is submitting 501(c)3 application in 1 week!!!!!!!!!1111
  • Once we receive this status, all donations will be retroactively tax-deductible from the day we incorporated w00t w00t w00t!!!111 $$$$$$$$$$
    • April 2014 ;)
• Need to work on our "pro forma" projection budgets so that we an also be ready to begin our mortgage application.

Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 6:30pm

• Finance has become largest priority for fundraising at this point.
• Mary Ann of CSC - is pursuing relationships with funders
• A few of us attended the "Oakland Indie Awards" and got to speak with representatives of Beneficial State Bank.
  • We received a very strong signal to proceed with the loan officer we've been in conversation with and that we have a good support to get a loan.
• Jose has a bunch of fundraising contacts to hand over to start to develop relationships with funders.
• Laura Mary Ann went to a workshop yesterday on nonprofit real estate
  • Northern California Community Loan Foundation
• DK has been in contact with Northern California Community Loan Foundation, talking through backchannels on acquiring a loan for Omni

Proposal: Omni Finance Reform: Create a Delegate's term that lasts 1 year

• A Delegate can always step down, but the expectation would be one year
• Other people could act as Delegate as assigned, but one person is held accountable on paper
• Niki: Seems like too large of a committment to ask any one person to make
• Matt: Seems like we should table this proposal for now - not clear what change this would make on a practical or legal level
• Ken: Need to define the position more clearly - that they as a Delegate are responsible for delegating the responsibility, for instance

• What if we just create a better job description for the Delegate?
  • Recommended terms?
  • Other advice

Proposal: Omni Finance Reform: Raise rent to incorporate both a reasonable rate for use of space as well as pro-rated share of operating expenses

• Matt S. For the sake of argument, I will currently propose a 50% rent increase (and waiver of all discounts) for all member-collectives and tenants, which you can observe in this spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O8nDyJsiMzCanXFyllUUrjG5ergodGnJVkWljew6-eA/edit#gid=1815902560

• See 'More Sane' tab with a 20% increase
• DK: Not just getting by by the skin of our teeth, but severely short every month
• Joe: Agua Viva will be bringing in a lot more money once it opens
• Dragon: What about bringing in new collectives?
  • That's something Fundraising is working on too
  • Niki: Major job to shephard new collectives through the process of becoming member collectives
• Jenny: Something we could use is someone taking photos of available spaces in the building and posting ads to Craigslist / Facebook / mailing lists etc
  • Dragon: I'll do it
• Matt: We'll do anything to avoid talking about paying more rent
• Dragon: When I heard Liberated Lens had to pay rent, and that might come out of my pocket, I said, "hell no!" and we showed movies instead. We're all cheap. People don't want to rent space if the building and the people aren't welcoming / nice
  • DK: You bring up a lot of good points but I think there's something good in Matt's proposal because all of the groups have the ability to hold events in the ballroom, etc. Everything you're saying Dragon speaks to the imperative to place the responsibility to help raise that shortfall on all groups.
• Steve: Seem to be hearing and all of nothing mentality - raise the rent or look for other ways of raising money. Not what's at stake, not different psychologies. We're talking about how to pay bills. One way is to raise the money, to have the collectives raise the money, events, etc. The point is that it's silly to say that some ways of raising money are better than others / some ways are not good. The essential element of what's going on here is survival. Our survival is an act of resistance. Whatever we can do to raise money is an act of resistance.
• Matt: Don't disagree with anybody. The way I'm thinking about this is all wrong, in a way - nobody likes paying the rent. We have a central body of labor that's been doing this work - but we're going to fail, too much for too few people. What if the Fundraising WG instead sits down with any given collective and helps give counsel on how each group can raise more money and contribute more to the pool
• Niki: Want to second that emotion. The whole reason this proposal is being made is that there's a small group of people shouldering the burden of coming up with that defecit every month
• Joe: Really need to finish this room - the entryway, the home of a new collective, need to enlarge the labor force that's working on this. That's a friendly amendment
• Work on "New Member Collective Manual" - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lQrDIBz1zg5xUl2quCA3RBWvINBnABb6UkWHoVsq400/edit?ts=570edd72#heading=h.1o2cavxphanv
• Matt: Let's take the number on the sheet as a *goal* for each collective to raise, rather than a requirement.
• Robb: ?? lost it sorry distracted pick brains instead of pockets first
• Ken: Would personally like to sell shit out of here (entrance hall), would be great for this to be a regular bazaar

New Proposal: The spreadsheet is a target fundraising goal.

Proposal: Omni Finance Reform: New Proposed Sub-Lease

• New subleases with 1-year terms
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HTJrWupMrDPMez7GmrLkSwTSJTyehvN6M9-gHcyfhI8/edit
• DK: Concerned that this reduces the power of the Delegates Council to decide on flexible terms / sliding scale rent etc;
• Steve: Inkworks was required to have a union to protect them from the collective itself. ... Discursive accroutrements to interface with societal requirements...
• Dre: Any tenant can sue anybody... need to be more forthright
• Ken: Addendum of requirements for every new collective

New Proposal: Approve the new sublease pending the addition of a clause in the Termination section that any violation of Omni policies is grounds for termination.

• Aye: Ken (CCL), Joe (FNB), Rachel (GWS), Steve (BAPS), Angel (LibLens)
• Abstain: Sudo, Buried Seeds

Proposal/Discussion: Restorative Justice Based Mediation with Kwic

• Multiple Omni folk have engaged with Kwic on conflict mediation for nearly 10 months without resolution
• Max has engaged with Kwic (and those affected by Kwic) for the last several months
• Kwic wants to come back and is ready to cooperate in a process
• Max proposes RJ based mediation to resolve this outstanding issue with Kwic:
  • Have KWIC hear the needs of various people that were affected by his actions
  • Have representatives of the OMNI delegates hear how KWIC was affected by the space and his needs
  • Create an agreement to make sure these needs are fulfilled and how to address the situation if the needs are fulfilled
  • Allow KWIC to return to using the OMNI after this process that gets outlined with input from the delegates
• Please note that people affected by KWIC don't need to be present or public about their harm. It can be shared using a surrogate from the OMNI to share the concerns so as not to retraumatize individualizes.
• If you know an individual that has harm or needs associated associated with KWIC and they would like to share that harm to contact Max at 510-689-3068 or max@phatbeetsproduce.org.
• Joe, Dragon, and Julio support this process

Discussion

• Niki volunteers to represent herself
• Steve volunteers to represent the Omni
  • If steve represents Omni, can be guided by previous meeting notes about the exact details of the banning.
• This is already in line with our current mediation process
  • Kwic - 2015-02-07
    • Asked to leave due to repeated behavior that violated the safe space policy.
    • Mediation was already underway before Kwic was asked to leave. Mediation with others is currently being set up.

Proposal: Room switcheroo (Liberated Lens and Phat Beets)

• Buried Seeds will be moved out by the 1st of June, and Phat Beets would like to move in to their room. It's right next to their fridges anyway, and close to the street so they can easily move their farmers market materials in and out. They would like to pay the same rent they've been paying, because it's already more than Buried Seeds paid.
• Liberated Lens would like to move into Phat Beets' current room in the basement, at a raised rate of $150 (again, this is what we feel comfortable offering, but if it is not enough then please give us a quote and we'll see what we can do). As part of this deal, we would clean up the library room and make it comfortable and usable as a meeting space again, for ourselves and others. If folks are amenable to it, we might like to install a secure cabinet in the library room so we can store our equipment (this may not be necessary if things fit comfortably enough in the suite along with our computers). That storage area would probably be 2"x5".
• Robb (Lulzlux friendly amendment): turn lulzlux into rehearsal/recording studio & turn middle room into recording booth/equipment storage.
  • Liz: Suggesting that LL be the ones to do this, as part of moving into the basement?

Discussion

• DK: Seems to come down to a choice of whether Phat Beets or Art Bison should move into that room
• Steve: Pro - closer to the door and refrigerator. Current room seems ideal for LibLens - cooler, and has a lock
• Ken: Finances
  • Art Bison offering $800 eventually, plus utilities. $200/month for the first 3 months, with security deposit of $800
  • Phat Beets offering the same ($750, not paying utilities)
• Matt: Feels frustrated/disrespected, that people keep using the mold issue strategically, rather than working together to solve the problem
• Niki: We don't know if Art Bison is going to be able to build their membership, would like to see them here. They should do the work of talking with the health department, talking with Planning/Zoning
• Joe: Camaraderie with Phat Beets, he's doing great work with youth, would like to see them get that space.
• Steve: If people have decided not to move into the space because of the mold, that's fine. We have a group that knows this and wants to move in anyway
• Vibe check
• DK: Use of this room - if manufacturing happens here, that changes the use of this room, has a domino effect on the rest of the building. Would definitely come to be an issue eventually and would create a huge problem / conflict. Gave Phat Beets a tour of the building very early on and they turned us down - they had their pick of any room in this building and wanted
• Ken: Financial incentive?
  • Jenny: Actually we lose money by having LibLens only offer $150 for a room that PB is paying $750
    • Ken: ... Don't understand why ABDC won't move into the basement and prove they will be participating members
• Angel: Original concern from the Delegates was that the Ticket Booth room is the only accessible meeting space... LulzLux room - there's been talk of turning that into a recording studio... concerns about mold... for Max, he's always running around, super busy, doing lots of stuff... seems like a recording studio down there would be super distracting for Phat Beets... LibLens could deal with sound issues, work with headphones, etc. If it's not enough $$$ we can work together as a collective to raise the money. Need to bring that up with the collective.
  • Dre: All 3 groups should meet with DK and discuss the building code/use code issues, maybe revisit the proposal to build a room in the entrance hall.
• Steve: Heard the term ' taking sides ' used in this discussion and wanna know why... if PB wants to move into Buried Seeds
• Proposal to table this discussion until we can have more conversation / research into LibLens building a room in entrance hall
• Niki: Art Bison needs to do more due diligence on what their options are
• Joe: SHudder at the thought of building a wall, lots of work, very expensive, permits etc
• Robb: Think we could lose out big time if PB doesnt move out of that room - could make a lot of money having a recording studio down there - one new stream of income and an increased stream of income... always doing their thing down there, stuff everywhere... was originally an audio studio when they built it. If LibLens agreed to facilitate / steward the studio that would be extremely valuable
• Matt: We are about to ask Phat Beets and Kazoo to wait another month while we figure this out.
• DK: We're talking about too many things at once. Let's make a decision about the BS room. Let's not talk about turning the basement rooms into a recording studio right now.
• Ken: Agree. Let's decide on the proposal that Phat Beets move into that room.
• Steve: I am going to say something that nobody's gonna like. I have always thought that moving manufacturing into this room is not a good idea. I agree with Joe that building a wall would not be an efficient use of the space. I would like to keep Art Bison out of the room and if they move in they should go into BS.
• Ken: PROPOSAL: Phat Beets can move into old Buried Seeds room
• Rachel: I think ABDC should be here for this conversation.
• Matt: I think we do have an option - let ABDC sign an event rental contract and frame their work as private events.
• Ken: You don't make a proposal the day of the meeting and ABDC isn't here to discuss which doesn't bode well
• Joe: Let's take the temperature of the room and see how people feel.
• Steve: Who feels favorable? Who doesn't?
• Matt: Can I explain why I don't feel favorable. I don't think I can represent my collective, I think there would be strong feelings about this.

Proposal: ABDC on Main Floor

• Discussion between DK, Jenny, Niki and Kazoo on consensus list.

Discussion: Omni Finance Reform

• Schedule regular Open Houses for coordinating communication and tours with prospective member-collectives, renters, and event renters
• Add new item to delegate's meeting agenda: Collective Report-Backs, where the delegate from each collective shares:
  • Financial Status (ability to pay invoices, balance sheet)
  • Membership Status (health of collective)
  • Outline of any other updates / items of business
• Create Communications consultant position to ensure each delegate, and each collective are in regular communication about Omni's health (especially financial) as well as each collective's health are communicated in order to ensure information is flowing between all collectives.

Discussion: How do we communicate with our neighbors?

• Julio: Scuttlebutt mailing list: How is it used? Okay to delay discussion to next meeting if run out of time and others don't want to discuss.

End of Meeting

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