Event:2014/11/06 Weekly Delegates' Meeting

November 6, 2014, Delegates' Meeting Notes

• Facilitators: Laura T., Sarah P.
• Timekeeper: Judy
• Notes: Andrew
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Next weeks facilitator(s): Kate, w support from Laura T
• Delegates: Scott (BAPS), Sarah (OmniDance), Kevin OMP (not a delegate), Kate (print collective), Andrew (Backspace), Jenny (Sudo), Helen (FNB), Chloe (Black Hole Cinema), David (La Commune), Judy (TIL)
• Quorum: Yes 9

Intros

Name; affiliation; if you are new, one thing that brought you here.

Working group report backs

Reports consist of answering 3 questions: What did you accomplish this week? What problems or action items do you need to bring to our attention? When is your next meeting?

commons

• sent out rental policy and pricing guidelines
• Saturday at 1pm

How We Organize

• Have you done your chores yet?

communications

• comm meeting will be monday at 6:00pm
• working on booking / calendar system, may be done by the weekend
• hope to get report backs from collectives about money

cdc

• financial transparency, how do we encourage an open/loving conversation about money
• planing a series of exciting conversations over the next few weeks

finance

• Facts:
  • We have $7,000 in the bank right now.
  • We'll have $12,000 when member colletives pay invoices
  • Omni owes $46,000 total in loan repayments. That does not include the $17,000 we have paid thus far.
• Bottom line:
  • Considering that Omni's monthly expenses are approximately $20,000--we need to be concerned about cash flow issues this month unless there's a sudden windfall. Fundraising is essential. Payments from member colletives are essential.
  • No more spending on any improvements until we build a reserve back up! Please know that if you spend money on building improvements, you may not be reimbursed!

fundraising

• We need help to raise 70,000 by the end of the year
• Meetings are Mondays at 7:00pm

kitchen

• We want to make the kitchen larger. Expand "L" shape into next room to complete the rectangle

Bans

Update on status of Chris B (Jenny)

• CB was found sleeping sunday
• Sudo is reframing ban as a self imposed hiatias
• Chris is planing to stay away for a while

Proposals Discussed

Revisit Don's space agreement for using den pending full Backspace proposal

The two weeks Don was given rent-free to use the den space and do some specific renovations and repairs end today.

• Don would like to pay $100 to Omni
• Don has completed renovations: painting, partitions, and floor repair
• Don will bring this to the commons working group

11.4.14 Proposal from the Finances working group: PASSED 9/9

-Proposals to spend Omni's money must name a person to be responsible for maintaining a budget and keeping track of spending on the project. The person must agree publicly to take on that responsibility. Template budgets can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xBeAakFKuJGgrA0u_2uiK17zcfxNII43jv2Iipv07n4/edit#gid=0.

-If the project may go over budget, a separate proposal must be made to the delegates to approve additional funds before work on the project can continue.

-Once work as begun on a project the person responsible will give weekly report backs about sending and progress.

-Budgets will be included on the wiki.

-A Time frame for the project will be established.

$1k for ballroom soundproofing: PASSED 8/9, 1 stand aside

• need to approve this money, already spent. Someone paid, but needs to be paid back.
• Amendment: we vote to pay it back but ask the finance committee to approach the person who gave the money about a payment plan

Verification of Member Collectives' and Tenants' Insurance Coverage

Background: Last month, John received a cancellation notice for one of the member collectives insurance policies. Niki asked him how he received the notice because that seems strange, but the more important point is that if any of the member collectives fail to pay their insurance polices and said policies are cancelled as a result, the OOC is in breach of our lease agreement and could be subject to a 10% rent increase ($1,300).

• Proposal from Niki: All member collectives must provide monthly proof of payment of insurance policies. If, due to financial hardship, member collectives are unable to make payments on their insurance policies the member collective in question is responsible for meeting with the Finance Committee to address the issue. The outcome of this meeting with be determined by the specific details of the circumstances.
• Member collectives who do not provide monthly proof of payment of insurance policies and who allow their policies to lapse without seeking resolution via the Finance Committee may be subject to any fines or fees incurred by the OOC associated with this lapse.

The circumstances of the cancellation notice were clarified. TIL changed to an annual (or bi-annual?) insurance payment plan. Ins. Co. sent cancellation to John in error. Miscommunication was cleared up and there is no fine. However, the possibility of mandatory insurance lapsing is real and there was general agreement that something like this proposal makes sense.

We did not vote on this proposal because clarification was needed as to whether it would mean having to re-write the subleases.

Proposal to allow Scott to sell books outside/nearby the Omni up to 2 days a week

Submitted by Scott 11/6/14. More info in email sent to discuss, consensus, sudo-discuss, and BAPS email threads. This will be discussed and voted on at next week's meeting

Breakout discussion

Omni will soon be open to the public - La commune will have a grand opening Nov. 16th. What are peoples' concerns about being open to the public? What problems can we forsee? We'll come up with criteria to evaluate an "open to the public" proposal. https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Preparing_To_Be_Open is a proposal David B wrote a while ago. Some is obsolete. He talked to similar spaces (Long Haul, Quilombo) about their experiencese being open to the public to get some ideas of what to anticipate and how we might handle those situations

List of Concerns/problems anticipated

• print studio open to common space
• staffing: how will that work? Training? Scheduling? Accountability?
• inappropriate behavior in the space, eg. agressive, intoxication, theft, harassment, "mice"/domestic use
• cops - what are our alternatives? what to do if they show up
• how do we WANT tothe public to use the space?
• equal focus n welcoming atmosphere, maintaining + felt experience of the space
• culture of suspicion and fear
• maintain sudo 24/7 open policy
• over-arching Omni policy, too many rules
• community member access after hours
• conflict and violence
• how to deal with ongoing issue of recognition of labor in this context
• support for vulnerable without foolishness

We didn't finish the second part the discussion. Will take another 15 minutes a the next meeting. What the group came up with so far:

Criteria for evaluating the"Open Omni" proposal

• addresses concerns around equipment accessible to public and safety (eg print shop machines)
• structure for delineating public space vs not-public space and communicating that to visitors
• strikes a balance between safety and a welcoming environment
• creates a staffing coordination system with clear roles, a fair distribution of labor, and accountability
• answers the question,"Is the building open if it's not staffed?"
• facilitates the activities of the member collectives