Event:2016/09/01 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - 01 September 2016 7pm-9pm

Agenda

• Introductions, Meeting Roles, and Delegates Count [10 minutes]
• Announcements [10 minutes]
• Bans [10 minutes]
• Working Group Report-Backs [15 minuntes]
• Proposal: Your Time Co-working
  • this will be our last chance to agree to this proposal
• Proposal: Member Space Access Policy [10 mins]
• Proposal: Treatment Room as Shared Omni Office Space [10 minutes]
• Proposal: Productions Working Group (withdrawn?) [10 minutes]

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Preferred Pronoun; Affiliation

• Joe, he/him; FNB
• Jenny, she/her; Sudo, Agua Viva, finance/fundraising, commons
• Julio: he/him; Sudo, AguaViva, Commons WG, Mediation
• CHelsea, she/her; putting on a fundrasier here later int he month, just wanted to check out more about what goes on here
• Patrik - he/him; CCL/sudo
• Helen - she/her; FNB
• Lynn, she/her; commons, "trash queen"
• Steve, he/him; BAPS
• Dragon, any LibLens
• Barby, she/her, Art/Bison
• Kazoo, she/we; ABDC
• Lori, she/her; GWS
• Mary Ann, she/her Chiapas Support Committee
• Laura, she/her; finance/fundraising

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: joe
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: lori
• Timekeeper: kazoo
• Notetaker/s: Julio, Jenny, Laura
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: steve
• Next meeting's facilitator(s): Dragon, Jenny

Delegates

• ABDC: Kazoo
• BAPS: Steve
• BH: inactive
• CCL: Patrik
• CSC: Mary Ann
• FNB: Joe / Helen
• GWS: Lori
• LL: Dragon
• Sudo: Robb
• TIL: inactive
• YES:
• Quorum (2/3) - 7/9 - yes!

Announcements

• Jenny: Agua viva cafe will be popping up all day Sunday
• Dragon: Working on a c0uple of projects: 1. training for people on the sound system in the ballroom, 2. Radical choir I am organizing w Kazoo, getting together around the 16th of the month, will put on calendar.
• Joe: At Mosswood Park on Sunday, pan-african family reunion
• Joe: To have a cardkey for the front door: 1.swipe any card with a magnetic strip on its back 3 times in

the front door card slider; 2. Note the exact time you make those 3 swipes and send your username for that card with the time you swiped to <sysadmins@lists.omnicommons.org.> That card can still be used for its actual purpose.

• • Jenny can give live key card access.
• Patrik: Electricians in CCL next week.

Bans

• Jenny asks for temporary allowance for Dag to put the bookshelf back. Will talk to Helen later
• Not on Asked to leave page from previous meeting:
  • James Moon asked to leave by Laura
  • Dag (FNB) asked to leave by Robb for repeated domestic use of space

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: Mondays at 8pm

• Joe: Painting the wall of Entrance Hall after bookshelves are moved.
• Jenny: What is the state of the electrical?
  • Joe: we cancelled the electrical inspection because there was an issue with the circuits. Need to talk with Matt. Need to finalize by December 15.
• Patrik; Rodent problem; only noticed some flies, so wondering if someone is using poison > rats go to walls to die < BAD idea
  • Laura: no one using poison to our knowledge
• Julio: How do we get the Maximum Occupancy up around 500? Event request in April is asking for that and offering $1800
  • We explicitly asked about this when the Fire inspector came by to set Max Occupancy. The inspector, Spencer, stated that at a very *minimum* we would need a sprinkler system, which would cost $20K or more. We paid rent today
• This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

• Brought in over $5,800 in August \o/
• Have two great newer volunteers (Lynn and Almaz) who've been taking on lots of events
• Reach out to aligned folks who have time and want power ^_^
• This group needs help:
  • https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/commons
  • https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/booking

Communications

• Share the August newsletter: http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=7b3df74e35ed3cfc94d1f7fcd&id=be97280f05
• No hard copies printed this month, as our printer needs ink and the cheapest quote I could find was $85 for 50 copies or $48 for 25 :(
  • We should buy a refill kit
• September newsletter will go out second week of September
  • Send Additional info to Jenny ASAP

Finance

Meetings: Currently conjoined with Fundraising (Mondays at 6)

• Paid Rent today \o/ without any loans, but LL paid October rent early
• Total expenses for September: $17,647
  • PG&E 9/12: $1009
• Total projected income once remaining August invoices are paid: $18,347
• Will Omni Make It Next Month: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PU2CZbjRDOccfu9drVvU52xYbLl640ahbPornJkTqAs/edit#gid=0

Fundraising/Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 6:00pm

• Mary Anne and Marcus been doing a lot of research on grants
  • Letter of interest to Spark Plug, and were not invited to submit a proposal ;[
  • EBCF not givin out grants for anything they do, but they put us in their system in case an anonymous donor
  • One of the most positive responses we got was that we were workign with the NCCLF; good reputation.
  • Kenneth Rainen Foundation recommended (we got a grant from them in 2014)
• Anonymous donor may be able to donate half and lend half, to give us time to build credit history and look for a bank
• Commercial Real Estate Loan App folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4_Q7DQvNFT-ZU9qdjRlaFlUdlk
• Pro Forma - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rvkMc5lmd8PovoViNLdvlrv0tSyvrH7iB0SmGqaFec8/edit#gid=2114142824
• Proposal coming from Laura for 5 year loan
• Also need an appraisal ($4500)

Proposal: Your Time Co-working

See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-orldFG2uPDJfhupOm5dY0JpfcpG0wP7Ki5S1nx2_A/edit

Discussion

• Marcus has been in the hospital and does not have the energy to amend the proposal.
• Patrik: What problems did people have?
  • Julio: Sense that it should be a collective, seems like privatizing common space. Marcus doesn't have the time (time running out and will otherwise have to get a job) and no one else is going to do anything with that space as it currently stands
• Steve: Since co-working space was a collection of individuals, it does not agree with the ethos of the Omni.
  • First discussion yielded another meeting to discuss possibilities with Marcus and Steve (and someone else who disagreed)
  • BAPS meeting happened, trying to shift the focus with respect to something in the world as other collectives do
  • Discuss this up to a particular point, and thought it would get
  • Another BAPS meeting: Come up with something new, not like Impact Hub or Cheeseboard
  • BAPS decision is to continue discussion, so if it's all or nothing, I have to represent that perspectie
• Laura: Can we pass this or not?
• Julio: Keep in mind it's a 6 month trial - at the end of which it could end
• Joe: would like to see
• Steve: He hasn't heard back from the initial list of potential clients(??) and
• Dragon: Being sick, and as an African American already in a place of struggle, we should just
• Helen: Very regrettfully I have to block - bc it's not a collective, contrary enough to what we're trying to do here
• Laura: Just want to say this is a huge mistake- basement will accrue more stuff, go unused, won't get upgraded
• [many agreements with Laura]
• Helen reconsiders her proposal, the vote passes

Votes

• Yes: Patrik, Dragon, Kazoo, Lori, Mary Ann
• Abstain: Robb (Sudo), Steve (BAPS), Helen (FNB)
• Vote Passes

Proposal: Member Space Access Policy

via Marc 8/9: I'm going to propose that we institute an Omni policy that if your collective hasn't given you an access card or a key then you are not considered to be entrusted with 24/7 Omni access and will not be allowed in the Omni after 10 pm unless you're there with a member who has an access card / key.

We have clear policies around members and non-members but some organizations have very loose definitions of what constitutes a member, and that's perfectly fine, but it makes it difficult to enforce policies, so I'm proposing that we reclassify what constitutes a member in the eyes of Omni access policy as "someone has been given an access card or key by their collective". This also makes it easy to check if someone is lying about being a member by asking "do you have your key / access card".

Discussion [10 minutes]

Decision from 18 Aug Meeting: Pushed to this meeting previous meeting discussion

• Friendly amendment: Patrik: Would add to that that doors should always be closed after 10pm (unless there is a scheduled special event, in which case they should have someone stationed at the door)
• Joe: Will it be an issue for sysadmins?
  • Marc: hasn't been an issue
• Joe: Sysadmins will have more responsibility now
• Laura: how do we make sure a person emailing sysadmins is actually a member?
  • Robb: Technically each collective is supposed to share a list of current members, but i don't think that's really
• Kazoo: Couldn't we make a wall of photos of all collective members?
  • Marc: Introducing a new system (photos) to do what we already have a system for
• Patrik: Would *love* to have a wall of photos, but some people won't want to have their photos up
• Steve: Wall of photographs is not a good idea. Would want to be more open, and this proposal goes against that, but I'm not here at 10pm.
  • Can there be some temporality on this, either a time at which point we will review, or will it be open for us to change in the future.
• Marc: Tool we need right now to deal with current issues, people would like to see the space more open - happy to revisit and change the policy in the future when we have the capacity
• Dragon: I am a late night person and I'm willing to do a walk through on the nights I'm here to make sure everyone who is here is supposed to be here.
• Patrick: what happened with the PA announcement/song at 10pm to get people to clean up and get out.
• Marc: we ran into technical difficulties but will keep working on it
• Steve: what about people who get cards that shouldn't, as Laura raised.
  • Marc: this has never happenned, and would congratulate someone who is able to take advantage of this process.
• Almaz: Don't want my picture on a wall
• Almaz: Teaching kids after 10pm
  • Julio: this only applies to people who are not accompanied by a member
• Steve: Suppose I have a class and none of them have key cards. Can I speak for all of them and make sure everyone leaves at the end?
  • Marc: that's the way it's always been

Vote

• Yay: Patrik, Helen Almaz Steve Kazoo (ABDC) Lori Mary Ann
• Nay: None
• Abstain: Robb (Sudo Room), Dragon (Lib Lens)
• Passes

Proposal: Treatment Room as Shared Omni Office Space

via Jenny 9/1 I would like to propose accessible-under-contract shared use of the Treatment Room as Omni office space until January of 2017 - at which point we will assess where we're at wrt the cafe (Agua Viva), the office space, and the basement in a conjoined Space Assessment meeting. I have preliminarily put this on the Omni Google Cal (pm me for an invite).

The Treatment Room would be available by priority to: 1) Omni Finance/Fundraising WGs, TIL, Global Womens Strike, and Chiapas Support Committee; 2) Conflict Mediation, scheduled BAPS classes, and Wellness initiatives; and 3) Commoners helping to steward the 2nd floor Commons areas in the Omni.

Discussion [15 minutes]

• Joe: Should it be locked space?
  • Jenny: probably, since it may have expensive equipment
• Robb: a little worried that we're losing a meeting space. Could we use the TIL space?
  • Lori/Mary Anne: We want to use the space more regularly, but not fully moved in.
• Steve: can we use the bird's nest?
  • Jenny: it is very hot and stuffy
• Helen: How much time and space do you need?
  • Jenny: a couple hours per day
• Mary Anne: Very hard to imagine more stuff in TIL room
• Julio: The proposal is to have shared office space, only question is about locked space and who has keys
• Joe: People sleep there, much in favor of having anyone have another use of the space.
• Patrik: recommend trying TIL to see if it works
• Almaz: Some people are interested in using the space
  • Jenny: can be scheduled by commons
• Marc: Alternative motive is that someone is using the space as private office, and want it to stop

Proposal from Kazoo ABDC (5 mins)

We would like to create a washout station, mobile or otherwise. Ideal location is behind the bar in the ballroom, extending off of the current plumbing. We would design it so that the walls which will be visible above the bar as collapable. We can provide drawings, but want to get a sense of what people think before putting in that effort.

Discussion

• Laura: would be in favor, but there is a step
  • Kazoo/Joe; could easily build a ramp
• Almaz: Removable?
  • Kazoo: Shower curtain yes
• Helen: How much construction would be involved?
  • Kazoo: minimal in probably a day
• Joe: Drain is sufficient?
  • K: Yes, all water-based inks

• Meeting ends are 8:58pm

Previously

Weekly Omni Delegates Meeting - 18 Aug 2016 - 7pm Archived for posterity