Event:2014/11/13 Weekly Delegates' Meeting

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The meeting will begin promptly at 7pm.

  • Facilitators: Kate, Stephen N.
  • explain hand signals: deaf applause, raised hand, point of process, direct response
  • Stack: Kevin
  • Timekeeper: mary
  • Notes: Sarah p.
  • Vibe Reader: Ian
  • Next weeks facilitator(s): Ian, kevin
  • Delegates:Mary (CCL), Sarah P. (OMNIdance), Ian (Print Studio), Andrew (Backspace), Judy (TIL), Brendan (Sudo), Chloe (Black Hole), Anka (FNB), Stephen (BAPS), Pam (La Commune)
  • Quorum:
  • facilitators for next week:

intros

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

Working group report backs, max 5 mins each

40 mins

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

How We Organize

  • Meets Tuesdays at 7 pm. We could use more members. Join us!

communications

commons

cdc

finance

  • Omni currently has about $10,000 in the bank. This is less than our monthly reserve of $15,000.
  • ADA inspector has been paid.
  • We received a $10,000 grant from a private family foundation that should come through by the end of November.
  • Let's start the fundraising campaign soon!

fundraising

  • Launch party for the campaign will be Saturday, November 29. Fundraising WG will reach out to member collectives to solicit their participation. Stan will play with his band.
  • Text of the Indiegogo campaign has been drafted. Danny could use help editing it. Kate and Ian will help with graphic design for the Indiegogo page.

kitchen

chores

  • Sudo took out the trash on Tuesday. It smells bad! We need to locate the hoses in order to clean out the trash cans.

permits

PERMITS 11.13.2014 Fire Life & Safety updated compliance budget & proposed expenditure

  • Remaining estimated cost for Fire Life & Safety compliance - new emergency exit signs, emergency lighting, and panic bars for _whole building_ (not just ballroom) - in order to pass a fire inspection: $2700
  • See Fire Compliance google spreadsheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e5GpTbmNWGTttSh4-mEnTn0wp4JkKv5Xq5vhNPZVDWg/edit#gid=373089684

  • Approx. ~$540-1200 in estimated costs for more emergency exit lighting & panic bars were proposed and passed 10/16:

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2014/10/16_Weekly_Delegate%27s_Meeting#permits

  • $15K previously loaned for combined Fire & ADA compliance, at least $8K budgeted.
    • We've already spent more than $15k on Fire & ADA compliance
  • Once we pass our Fire inspection, we can then get paid back by the landlord for estimated ~40% of Fire code compliance purchases and 50% of all ADA compliance-related expenditures. But, until we pass that inspection we can't get paid back by the landlord for half of any of the money we've spent so far. So we have an incentive to finish the upgrades. This money from John will come in the form of a rent credit. If we finish soon, we will be able to take it off next month's rent :)
  • Friendly addendum: The proposal empowers the finance committee to spend this money when deemed viable.
  • Discussion:
    • David and Ben have been working with the fire inspector to approve no sprinklers in the basement. They could use some help getting it in shape (moving books, couches, installing ventilation, etc).
    • We need to pay for a pre-application meeting, which will increase our chances of the permits being approved. David wants to schedule the meeting in the next two weeks.
    • Once the pre-application meeting has been scheduled, David will let us know so we can have a big work party to get the building looking great.
    • Niki wonders how much $$ total permitting is going to cost. Will we need to spend more money later?
      • David can't say with certainty exactly how much everything is going to cost. Additional costs may be incurred for health code, ADA, etc. $500 - $1,000 more will be required to pay for city's labor. Worst case scenario is spending $2,900 on a new conditional use permit.
      • We also need to install the permanent wheelchair lift to the ballroom. We already have the lift in storage, but we will need to pay for the labor to install it.
      • Judy wonders whether we could wait until the grant comes through before spending the $$. David would rather get the permits finished as soon as possible.
      • David suggests moving the books to the south wall of the ballroom.
      • There is a lot we want to do in the Omni that depends on getting these permits.
  • 9 in favor, 1 abstention (Sudo Room). The proposal passes.

PROPOSALS

Please provide the following information with your proposal: the date the proposal was put on the pad; the group or person making the proposal; who will be speaking to the proposal at the meeting; where the full text or other information about the proposal can be found if it's not all here.


==11.6.14 Proposal from Niki: Regarding New Member Collectives and Tenants:

  • All new member collectives and tenants must speak with either the Fianance Committee or How We Organize (can HWO confirm whether or not they agreed to take on overseeing new member/tenant subleases?) to ensure that the terms of their sublease are understood *before* they are offically voted in / pay rent.
  • Reasoning behind this proposal: Several new tenants were not aware they they needed insurance or had to pay last month's rent and deposit!
  • Sarah suggests that we don't need to vote on this officially. How We Organize WG is taking on this task and will work with Niki to pass the baton.

11.11/14 Bay Area Public School interim space proposal

BAPS proposes to steward two rooms—the old TIL office, and, in coordiantion with Icarus, the ticket booth room — for BAPS classes as well as other, shared uses TBD. The immediate future of the basement library is uncertain (since improvements by OMP are scheduled to begin), so we’re looking for new places to convene. We intend for these rooms to be freely accessible, and never locked. We intend to work to improve and maintain them, including setting up chalk/whiteboards, permanent furniture and tables and comfortable lighting. We intend to facilitate the sharing of these spaces when not scheduled for use by classes. We’d like to take over (from the Booking Committee) coordinating with community groups who request to hold meetings (as opposed to public events, private parties, etc.) at the Omni, and find them space (In these rooms or elsewhere ), post it to the calendar, etc., in the interest of mutual aid and as an experiment of what it might mean to "steward" a commons. As the online calendar evolves , we want to make our class schedule highly visible and accessible to all, specifying what rooms we’ll be occupying, both for class participants as well as others who might make use of the spaces in between classes. Our intention is not to permanently designate space/s for BAPS, but to provide BAPS classes with some consistency and reliability as far as location in the present interim, particularly while we have yet to establish an Omni-wide reservation system and building map.

Discussion: 

   * Brendan wants to acknowledge that this proposal is really well articulated. Great job, BAPS!
  • 10 out of 10 delegates in favor. The proposal passes.

==11/13/2014 Andrew (Backspace) Backspace To Withdraw With The Intention of Reapplying==

Backspace would like to withdraw as member collective. After careful consideration of all the options available we have decided that the best way for Backspace to move forward is with a blank slate.

In order to facilitate this we will be withdrawing officially as a member collective. Our intention is to reapply as a new collective in the coming weeks. While the makeup, needs, values, and mission of the new collective will be similar to the old it will be an entirely new collective with respects to the Omni.

Financially we propose the following:

A $6000 deposit was given on May 1st.

$2000 will go to first month (July)

$1000 will pay for rent in September

about $1000 will pay for back utilities (July - September)

The rest will be given back to Andrew Lowe, who will keep it in the Omni account as a no interest loan for a period of 1 year.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Discussion:

  • Niki is grateful to Backspace for clearly articulating this plan. She wants to express her support for Backspace and for Andrew.
  • Brendan wants to know what this means for our lease? Andrew: Backspace will likely need to get off the lease.
  • Niki: We should have a longer conversation about the lease and how to move forward. The question is more whether Backspace wants David K to continue being the officer of the LLC.
  • Ian: Is the money that the LLC costs paid quarterly? Andrew: It's paid yearly.
  • Ian: Would it be possible to reasses the situation with the lease once Backspace has a new proposal?
  • Andrew: We just need to have a longer conversation with David K and Backspace before making a final decision about the lease.

Andrew restates the proposal: Backspace will pay $2,000 for rent in July, $1,000 for rent in September, and $1,000 for back utilities. The remainder of Andrew's $6,000 deposit will be paid back as a no-interest loan in one year.

  • 9 delegates in favor, 1 abstention (Food Not Bombs).

New proposal?


Breakout discussion

announcements

"wiki" calendars are going in each room of omni. Please put all plans for that room there. This will help anyone not online or right there wanting to use the space know if it's available. Feel free to add/change/prettify these calendars :) And if the month is changing but the calendar is not, feel free to make one

20 minute breakout discussion ideas

  • Labor at the Omni: Can distribution of labor be "fair" in a collective? How can we make visible and recognize all the different kinds of voluntary labor that people do at the Omni?
  • OMNI Finances - How can move toward more transparency about how much the Omni costs? And more comfort talking about money within the Omni and its members
  • TOPIC: kindness, forgiveness, self care, debt and jubilee
  • TOPIC: friendships, relationships, and organizing
  • TOPIC: What is your 50 year vision for The Omni? The year is 2064: What is the Omni? Who/What makes up its membership? How has it changed Oakland and the rest of the world?
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