Event:2016/04/21 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - 24 Apr, 2016

Who's Here?

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: Alex S-S
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: Joe
• Timekeeper: Nick
• Notetaker/s: Jenny, Matt, Nick, Alex
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: Marcus
• Next meeting's facilitator(s): GWS will do it

Delegates

• BAPS: Steve
• BH: Alex
• BS: Tatille
• CCL: Ken
• CSC: Mary Ann
• FNB: Joe
• GWS: Rachel
• HNJ:
• LL: Liz remote (from the disco room)
• Mess: Sang
• Sudo: Matt
• TIL: inactive
• Quorum: Yes

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Preferred Pronoun; Affiliation

• Tatille
• Mary Ann
• Marcus
• Rachel
• Matt
• Sang
• Ken
• Ken
• Steve
• Babs HNJ
• Nick
• Jeremy
• Jenny
• Laura
• Alex

Announcements

• Incident on Sunday between step-sitters and neighbors from across the street - cops showed up looking for a domestic dispute last Sunday, very weird. Earlier tonight, a woman, Ann, who just moved out of the aptmt building across the street on Sunday came by to tell us about a confrontation she and her husband had with people who sit on the steps. As they were moving out the gate to the apt building was open. The 3yo son of a couple who sits on the Shattuck steps ran across the street, and ran into the building. Ann told him he had to go back to his mom and picked him up to bring him back to the sidewalk. The parents came across the street yelling at and threatening her. Mom cursed and threatened her. Husband came over, said "if you ever touch our son again I’ll kill you". A guy who walks around without a shirt also came over and cursed at Ann and threatened her. Every time she has come back to the apt since they yell at and threaten her. Kid's dad said something to her husband, "keep your wife under control". An upstairs neighbor called the police, which got translated into a domestic dispute at 4799 Shattuck. Raises the urgency of the situation with the steps - trash is one thing, threats are another.
• Omni sharing a booth at the anarchist bookfair on Sat- give your swag to Jenny, Laura or drop in blue bin in blue room so we can share your info (or come directly to the bookfair and drop off at our table). FNB will be there too.
• Matt: Been going to Promotion / Security BID meetings, passing around content - in-progress budget for the entire BID, list of a directory of all businesses in the neigborhood. We can update / recategorize the info also. Want to convince them to spend less money on events and more money on conflict mediation and anti-racism training. Area is most of Telegraph up to Berkeley and down to Homeroom, also south to Northgate.

They have been spendig about 30% of their budget on cleaning services, but there is a lot of magic going on.

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: Mondays at 8pm

• Ballroom has fire clearance as of today- our building evactuation maps were approved
• Thank you to David and Joel for workign on these very important, difficult maps.
• We pulled completion permit for ballroom South wall- mostly lighting updates need to be done.
• Assembly clearance is for 244 persons in ballroom, if mezzanine is approved can add maybe 50
• Matt and Joe filed permit for wall in entry hall to the office- plans are under review
• This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building

Commons

Meetings: 2nd and 4th Thursdays, 7pm

• Still need more help,
• Commons working group make about a 3rd of Omni's income but haven't been able to schedule much since the shooting.
• More info soon about training on AV for ballroom

Communications

• First Omni newsletter coming out soon- stay tooned! Want folks to distribute print version- get in touch with Matt or Jenny if you're interested in helping distribute

Finance

Meetings: 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 7pm

• Still in a deficit. Need to discuss Omni finance reform proposals. Among those items
  • includes a new sublease,
  • raising the rent to cover the costs
  • a major announcement that we'll be having a meeting Sat the 30th- noonish, a working day for signing, changing the fiscal model, make all the documentation line up, thigns to correct for 501c3 status
  • Next Saturday, the 30th, having a 'Get Our Shit Together' day. Come!
  • Need to change the fiscal sponsorship model, would be good to get people in the room to sign things
  • All very important for our 501c3 application, come and learn all about it- come if you are interesting in finance work!
  • We are in need of a new Omni treasurer in two months. Our current treasurer, Matt G, would like to work with this potential new treasurer next month (May).

Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 6:30pm

• The accounting stuff is directly contributing to both the 501(c)3 application as well as the mortgage application to get a ~$1 million loan to buy the building.
• If we can make the mortgage happen, we save ~50% on rent -- which instead is paying a mortgage payment.
• Steps for us to get the mortgage are mainly getting the work done on our accounts, so the meeting on the 30th is really important

Proposal: Art Bison Design Collective Membership Application

• Marcus representing them as best he can
• Art Bison is a silkscreen/printing coop open to anyone. There is membership for those who want to become committed members. Primarily a feminist-run organization, currently housed in a building in SF, but most members are in the East Bay and they would like to move here. Their building is getting sold, so they need a new location. For the most part, they like the idea of Omni Commons.
  • Matt: So, where? Do they have a better feeling about where they want to be?
    • Marcus: Kazoo was hoping for some place on the ground level (friends who print with us who are wheelchair-bound). I told her that could be difficult.
    • Jenny: Entrance hall is also an option.
    • Sang: Lighting?
      • Matt: Permit we pulled includes 4 lighting fixtures, Robb wants to add a chandelier.
    • Alex: Are you proposing the use of that space? Is that taped off?
      • Group: No, this is a new proposal.
• Steve: Would you put up a wall around that area?
  • Marcus: Wall for darkroom space, depends on what people want, whether to be more enclosed or not
    • Steve: My thinking about is that if there's going to be a cafe, people who are organizing the cafe should be involved in how it's organized
      • Jenny: We talked about it a bit, interested in working with them, think they would bring a lot of positive social value to the space - concerned about issues such as plumbing and air cleanliness
        • Marcus: Talked a bit with them about the basement space, let them know about the sink available down here.
• Alex: Would like them to come back with a more clear proposal that we're able to vote on.
• Ken: I would like to see everything we brought up at the last meeting addressed - kids in the space, noise, the mezzanine use, etc. Would be nice to have *them* here ready with a proposal that addresses all of these issues, ready to go
  • Steve: If they're going to have classes, we need more discussion. If they're in the cafe, a lot of voice interferences, which is another reason why the basement is a better idea. Would like to have a better sense of the layout of the thing before we can vote on it.
    • Ken: Kids in the building is a big issue
      • Matt: Talked with Curiosity Hacked, previously Hacker Scouts. Guilds all over the country. Their hack - don't necessarily have to deal with fire / city / planning / zoning - if you're doing childcare, lots of scrutiny, but private instruction, even working with minors, doesn't trigger these qualifications. Tell insurance you're doing private instruction, fulfill their reqs, easy. Art Bison already has insurance, need to get them to agree to the new location.
• Alex: Recommend they get their proposal to the list by next Thursday, so we can vote on it the following Thursday.

Proposal: Project Management Software Selection

• Jeremy: Looked into more tools, in particular set up an instance of Sandstorm. From what I understand, two of the collectives are using different project management tools - Buried Seeds (Trello) and Liberated Lens
  • Matt: We'll be working with it on the 30th if anyone wants a tour
• Tabled!

Proposal: Personal Mail

• Matt: Update - Jake just scored a pretty sweet mailbox, not the best solution but definitely an improvement.

• Personal Mail must be addressed "care of" at least one collective, or speciic recipients can be given exceptions through a formal decision by a member-collective and announced at the omni commons delegates meeting.

• Consensus: In favor (6), Abstain (3), Block (0) - Passes ^_^

Proposal: Books Project Update

• Marcus: The leader of the project started going to school, so things are.. not really happening.
• Marcus: Plan was to set up free book libraries in W Oakland, that people in the community could just take books from - additionally as a solution for all the books left here by the bookstore, to be distributed throughout W Oakland.
  • Alex: Can talk to Birdhouse, some people may be interested.
    • Marcus: Were going to build little mailboxes and put them on street corners throughout W Oakland.

Discussion: 10pm Building-Wide Curfew Update

• Marc is making progress on this right now.
• Music is involved to incite CLEANING.
  • It's also a chance to make sure that only members and guests of members are here after 10pm, decreasing the stress on those who are regularly here late to sweep the building and ask everyone still here to leave when they do.

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.
  • Gerald (from Liberated Lens) was interested in this position
• Create a Delegate's term that lasts 1 year.
• Raise rent to incorporate both a reasonable rate for use of space as well as pro-rated share of operating expenses.
• New Proposed Sub-Lease (in the pipeline with our lawyer Jesse)

Discussion

• Joe: Lease or sublease?
  • Sublease - the contract between a member collective and the Omni as an organization
    • Or alternatively fiscal sponsorship agreements
• Tatille: Suggestion for a verbal reportback at meetings - would suggest a spreadsheet that each collective can add to each month
• Mary Ann: Once the member collectives who are not currently 501c3 or something else - once Omni is sponsoring some of the collectives, you're going to have to get their money. I was proposing that those collectives provide their monthly report to go into Quickbooks. Just a simple spreadsheet showing the Omni balance - in total - not each collective, we'll never get trough the meeting that way. That way each collective understands what the budget looks like. Not that each collective bring their spreadsheet to a meeting. That's confidential information. The groups that are sponsored are going to have to report that to you anyway.
  • Matt: Currently Finance WG is running on fumes, which is why we don't have that summary. Wrt financial reportback, I hear you, but Fundraising/Finance has been discussing how to make us financially sustainable - major issue is collectives collapsing / going out of business and not giving any forewarning whatsoever - we have to do something, bc right now we just get totally caught in left field.
• Tatille: If that Communications position happens, they could have monthly one-on-ones with each member collective to get a sense of the financial health of each collective, and communicate that with Finance.
• Mary Ann: I have no problem with giving a verbal report, but think some of the collectives that are actually businesses, or 501c3s, and they should only have to report that everythings okay and we can pay our rent, etc.... but to open up the whole book to the whole group is a little scary
  • Matt: Not suggesting to share all your books, just what you're comfortable with
• Joe: Why isn't wether a collective is paying its bills or not enough?
  • Matt: Other things we could benefit from knowing - whether a benefactor is going to stop giving, a grant is running out, etc
• Ken: As a 501c3 your records are public information. The rest of the collectives need to know your financial situation. Not saying we want to do that, just that it can be done.
• Joe: I don't feel good at all about owing $45K
  • Jenny: Actually it's $40K, between two individuals who are close members of the community - friendly, no-interest loans. Our loan agreements have us paying them back on the order of $250/month starting in August over 3 years. Once we get a mortgage loan, our costs lower to ~$7-8K/month - which is what we're currently bringing in from member collective contributions alone. By then we'll be in a better position to host large, public, well-paying events in the ballroom that can bring in an additional $2-5K/month that will go toward loan repayments and building/maintenance costs.
• Matt: Go back to your collectives, see if you can do anything to pull in a bit more each month to contribute to Omni. If everyone does this,
• Ken: Will there be an educational component to this meeting on the 30th? Need to know more about how the Omni operates, even though I've been here a long time - don't feel comfortable taking on something as grandiose as running a ballroom event
• Jenny: *Clarifies financial situation*
• Matt: So about 40% monthly shortfall - if you know any nonprofits being evicted, bring them in here, cultivate relationships.

Discussion: Liberated Lens Space Proposal Update?

The gist: $150/mo for the ticket booth room, because our current suite is too small to accommodate our growing membership and gets too hot in the summer.

More recently, it was so warm in that room that our computer overheated and shut itself off, and it's not even summer yet (fans will blow the warm air around and make humans feel a little cooler, but this is not sufficient for our hardware. We actually need a cooler room).

We are unable to undertake a buildout in the basement, therefore we would prefer the ticket booth room. However, most members were not amenable to having it double as a general meeting space, over concerns about security for our equipment and computers. If there is a group that regularly requires ADA accessibility, we could schedule with them specifically; otherwise, the room must remain locked and secure.

We hope you will consider our proposal anyway. If $150 is not considered equitable, please give us a price quote and we'll see what we can do. Thanks!

• Laura: My friendly amendment is that we give LL the ticket booth room for 6 months, with the goal of them having the capacity to move to the basement at the end of that period.
  • Liz: Could we be allowed to stay in the ticket booth room if we can increase our rent contribution after that time period instead? I'm personally hoping to avoid the headache of doing a bunch of construction in the basement, and moving twice, which is quite disruptive
• Sang: What happens when there's an event in the ballroom
  • Liz: we're already affected by ballroom events, it's whatevs. We put headphones on to edit
  • Jenny: That collective is probably the most involved in events that take place in the ballroom - helping with sound, lighting, filming etc. They're usually using headphones when editing, anyway
• Joe: So the proposal is the MPM space as the 6 month move-in?
  • Liz: no, that's Laura's amendment. LL hasn't talked about that
  • Matt:
  • Jenny: Library space has been discussed as a potential recording studio / media production space for both classes, recording and locked equipment storage. Several incarnations over the time we've been here of attempts to turn that area into a media space
• Steve: Library space is a really good space for classes (BAPS)
• Matt: Channeling yar: this is the only space that enables a person in a wheelchair to close the door and have a private discussion - would be interested in hearing her thoughts about this potential compromise.
  • This discussion is also asking for a number, do folks have ideas on a number? It's a bit tough, see where yars coming from... it's been treated as a storage room, discourages use. We're in a tough situation - room is under-utilized, could be treated better / differently, should make choices that represent what we want to do with our space. Bummed not to see a proposal for use in the basement - two rooms available, such as the room currently being used by Lulzlux for lighting projects in the building
• Alex: Not very much in support of this proposal... think it would be a shame if we lost the only accessible meeting space we have that's not the ballroom. We're already very wheelchair-unfriendly. Lots of things we don't do for accessibility, slowly getting better, but I think this would be a shame. Some people say "well, there aren't many people in wheelchairs around here" - but that's because we're not accessible
  • Lot less than what collectives are paying who don't have designated space. Look at what other people are paying for similar space and adjust accordingly
• Ken: They provide a lot of services to Omni, but would personally love to see classes taught through such facilities, could charge a lot for classes elsewhere. Why not meet down here, already?
  • Liz: We have an editing suite above the stage
    • Alex clarifies what is and what might be going where
    • Liz: Robbs room could work but its full of stuff. MPM's space is too big of a construction project for us.
      • Matt: Robb agreed going into this proposal that he would move out of that space as soon as someone wanted to rent it.
        • Liz: If all the black mold has been abated we might be interested, yeah.
• Joe: You do realize moving them to the basement makes it less accessible for their potential wheelchair members? Just to fuck things up. :D

Action items: Liz will talk to LL about basement room, see if Robb is willing to trade. If so, we will approach delegates with another proposal.

End of Meeting

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