Event:2018/01/18 Delegates Meeting

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Annual Board Meeting of Omni Commons and Omni Oakland COmmons- 18 January 2018 7pm-9pm

Agenda

  • Introductions, Meeting Roles, and Delegates Count [10 minutes]
  • Access Check-in [5 minutes]
  • Announcements [5 minutes]
  • Bans [5 minutes]
  • Working Group Report-Backs [15 minutes]
  • Proposal: Amend the bylaws of Omni Oakland Commons
  • Proposal: Member Collective Updates and Designation of 2018 Board Member
  • Proposal: Officers for 2018/2019
  • Discussion: Officer-Elects for 2018/2019 [10 minutes]
  • Proposal: 2018 Omni Budget Approval [15 minutes]

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name, Preferred Pronoun, Affiliation

  • Jenny (she, SUDO, many WGs);
  • Liz (she) & Liberate Lens
  • Julian, BAPS, CDC & Comms WG
  • Mary Ann, Chiapas Support Committee & Fundraising WG
  • Ken, CCL, They
  • Laura - Finance&Fundraising and Commons WG (she)
  • Brian - Treasurer, Finance WG
  • Troy/Praxus - Library
  • Marcus - he/him, WGs, ABDC
  • Yar - she/her, SUDO, Building WG
  • Maria she/her going down with the old OOC ship
  • Phil, FNB
  • Melissa Crow she/her sudoroom, new "hi"
  • Helen, FNB, she/her
  • Kazoo, we/they, ABDC, remote
  • Lynn remote,she/her, Commons WG, president

Meeting Roles

  • Facilitator/s: Jenny (begin) / Yar (continue/conclude)
  • Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
  • Stacktaker:Julian
  • Timekeeper: Maria
  • Notetaker/s: yar marcus laura jenny
  • Vibe Reader: Marcus
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s): Thu Feb 1, no takers yet Kazoo can be Feb 1st Facilitator

Delegates Present

  • ABDC: Kazoo (on the pad)
  • BAPS: Julian
  • CCL: Ken
  • CSC: Mary Ann
  • FNB: Helen
  • GWS: Rachel out of town
  • LL: Liz
  • Sudo: Melissa
  • TIL: N/A Inactive
  • GCEA: almaz was here last week but not this week?
  • Quorum: 9/10 active - yes

Access Check-In

Is everybody able to participate fully in this meeting? Do people have unmet needs or concerns regarding their participation?

  • Julian - think it should be part of the intros, so no one feels put on the spot to declare their access needs
  • Yar will change on the wiki template
  • Helen - I dont hear well and have problems hearing in this meeting, so I need people to speak loudly.
  • Mary Ann and Troy also have problems hearing and would like everyone to speak loudly
  • Yar suggests moving moveable walls around the table, and it is done.

Brief Announcements

  • Marcus: Unfortunately I am moving as of February. This Saturday (1/20) I am having a yardsale/giveaway 10am - 6pm. 4529 MLK Jr Way.
  • Jenny: SudoMesh having a Build Your Own Internet Workshop next saturday (1/27 2-5pm). Newbie friendly, hands on and talks.
    • Also, Internet Archive has confirmed that they will gvie the mesh *gigabits* of bandwidth.
  • Mary Ann: Waffles & Zapatismo on the 27th 10am-1pm (before the BYOI workshop) - report from the people who went down to the Zapatista Science festival

New Bans/Mediation Follow up

  • Phil: Status of ZRW mediation?
    • yar: in-process, people are working on it
      • julian: pending signing from SEEDS that mediation has been completed, BAPS intends to make ZRW a member
        • laura: my recollection was we're waiting for a signed agreement to be approved
          • yar: we could put this as a separate discussion item or follow up at the next meeting
            • melissa: how do you get banned? [others re: complex topic]
  • troy: lots of books on mediation in the library
  • Add to list of people asked to leave

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: 1st & 3rd Mondays @ 6pm

  • This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
  • Yar: The plumber is coming Thursday. Water will be turned off from 10am-when plumber is done.
  • Laura: Got a bunch of free green bins - some are huge & best for new kitchen, but also some smaller ones. Would like to have a much clearer trash sorting system so it's obvious what goes where. Need help getting rid of unnecessary bins, marking existing bins better
    • Troy - will help with this(?)
  • Julian - Omni Cleaning Day is this Saturday - I'm bottomlining. Come join us! 12-3pm - come clean the Omni
  • Meetings haven't been happening. Jenny can't facilitate/convene anymore. Need these to start kitchen permit and demolition process
    • Yar and Julian will have a conversation about finding a facilitor/convener.
  • kitchen meets first wednesdays, but this month we might do next wednesday also. otherwise we split into building, comms and events

Commons

Meetings: First and Third Thursdays at 6pm

Communications

Meetings: Second and Fourth Wednesdays at 6pm

  • Julian - another person came to the orientation - may become a BAPS member, poetry class
    • Events calendar still getting many opens
  • new member ^_^ someone who loves spreadsheets is helping with a communications strategy and timeline for the fundraiser

Finance

Meetings: Currently conjoined with Fundraising, 2nd & 4th Mondays at 6pm

  • we have to approve the budget later. nothing to announce

Fundraising

Meetings: Currently conjoined with Finance,, 2nd & 4th Mondays at 6pm

  • brewster kahle gave us $10k, woo!
    • for phase two? For anything
    • We might use it as a matching donation for phase 2 of the kitchen fundraiser
  • phase 1 is currently at 49% - ~$11k
  • generousity - hard to find it by searching, not currently on front page
  • can find it at omnicommons.org/kitchen

Member Collective Updates and Designation of 2018 Board Member

What is going on with your collective? What are you working on? What have you accomplished? Any events coming up? Any difficulties you are encountering that you need help with?

ABDC

  • Kazoo (KLS) will continue to be the designated board member, and will be able to be much more present this year.
    • yay!

BAPS

  • no new updates. groups still meeting, pretty well attended
  • Julian will continue as the board member for antoher term.

CCL

  • lots of new classes, esp mushrooms - plant tissue class; revamping of Real Vegan Cheese project; Insulin project progressing; talk that RVC will be getting serious funding
  • Ken will be on board for another term

CSC

  • Mary Ann: in addition to waffles events restarting, we are working at going to Chiapas for a womens events, and are organizing a couple of art shows
  • Mary Ann will be board member; Alicia & Jose will be alternate

FNB

  • Helen: Nothing new to report, busy with same old stuff
  • Joe's delegate, Helen's alternate. Phil maybe idk

GCEA

  • Almaz is the designated board member

GWS

  • Rachel West has been designated the new board member. She is unable to attend the meeting tonight.

LL

  • Liz: first film night of 2018 is jan 28, ciutat morta
  • haven't chosen board member yet. currently dragon

Sudo

  • melissa is new delegate; lots of alternates
  • Melissa fixed the lazer cutter; Sudo got a book scanner
  • recently cleaned, fixed laser cutter

TIL

  • Currently Joel, they're not here

Proposal to Amend the bylaws of Omni Oakland Commons

  • Brought by Laura
  • In order to streamline the function of OOC, reduce the work being done by OC officers/delegates, and eliminate any chance of the IRS questionning if OC and OOC are "related organizations," I propose that the board structure and method selection of officers be changed in the bylaws to the following:
    • - The board will consist of the minimum legal requirement: a 3 member board consisting of a President, as Secretary, and a Treasurer who will serve 2 year terms.
    • - Those officers will not sit on the OC board
    • - The OOC Officers/board will be consensed upon by all OC delegates after conferring with their collectives.
  • If this is agreed upon, we can choose the new board members at the next meeting

Jesse's comments on this idea: In 2016 before OC purchased the building, I looked carefully into the risk of whether OC and OOC would be characterized as related organizations and concluded that they would not. The critical period for that determination was at the time of the transfer. Anything that you do now - long after the transaction - is not relevant to the questions of whether or not the two were related organizations at close of escrow.

If you want to amend the bylaws of OOC for reasons of simplicity of operation or other reasons, I think that is fine. There are specific reasons for the composition of the OC board, but at least based on my understanding of how OOC is currently functioning, those reasons do not apply to OOC.

Discussion

  • Laura: Just keeping OOC dormant w/ minimum # of officers/board members. Keep the board completely separate board members.
  • Ken - due to Trump Admin, CA orgs may be under greater IRS scrutiny as a Sanctuary State
    • Laura - OOC officers will have little work
  • Melissa - registered address?
    • Laura/Yar - shouldnt be an issue that its the same
  • Helen - does OOC have any assetts?
    • Laura - no, just a small bank account
  • Melissa - if the money used to buy building never was touched by OOC, then the IRS shouldnt see any issue
  • Julian - the "alternates" aren't an official role, so could some of them be
  • Ken - I'll find some folx
  • Maria - yes, i'll be Secretary
  • Ken - I can find a president (which is powerless)
  • Jenny - Jose will stay the treasurer, not on OC board
  • Current OOC Board - Julian, Ken, Joe, Dragon, Jenny, Joel, MaryAnne, Kazoo, Almaz, Lori.
    • Officers: Jenny (Sec), Lynn (pres), Jose (treasurer)
  • OC: almost exactly the same except Brian instead of Jose
  • Kazoo: from the notes its a little hard to understand what the risk would be of making the switch as proposed. ABDC can defer to Marcus's decision if he's willing. Thanks M Thank you!

Consenso

  • YES: melissa, liz, julian, maryanne,. ken, helen, almaz, marcus (abdc)
  • no abstains
  • it passes - but we still need to come back in 2 weeks with actual names of new officers

OC Officer Elections

  • To approve Lynn Howe as President for a term of 1 year
  • To approve Jennifer Ryan as Secretary for a term of 1 year
  • To approve Brian Feraru as Treasurer for a term of 1 year

Discussion

  • Jenny & Brian are swapping - Brian will be secretary and Jenny will be treasurer
    • Discussion of whether we can consenso wrt a last-minute change
  • Jenny: Only instances in which I recall a specific officer being required as signatory is 1) Secretary for Board Resolutions and 2) Lynn (President) on a doc related to building purchase
  • YES: melissa liz julian maryann ken helen almaz kazoo
  • yar: "i guess it happened"

OC Officers-Elect

Discussion

New OC Delegates Approve/Disapprove the budget for 2018

Budget is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rvkMc5lmd8PovoViNLdvlrv0tSyvrH7iB0SmGqaFec8/edit#gid=646767419

Discussion

  • YES: melissa, ken, mary ann
  • Abstain: Helen, Julian, Liz, Almaz, Kazoo
  • waiting on ABDC, sorry.. reviewing the spreadsheet. I don't know what changes are from last year. I'm going to abstain on the part of ABDC becasue we haven't reviewed.
Signing off, I'm guessing we are done. 

Last Meeting Notes

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2017/01/04_Delegates_Meeting

End of Meeting