Event:2022/06/02 Delegates

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Omni Delegates' Meeting - June 2 2022 7pm-9pm

Meeting Roles

  • Facilitator/s: Billy
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper:
  • Notetaker/s: Yar, kai, Patrik
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s):

Delegates

  • inactive groups: CSC, FYE, GWS, LL
  • ANV: depends, silver
  • CCL: active, Patrik
  • CLP: active, Billy
  • FNB: active, Joe
  • MOP: active, nobody here
  • Sudo Room: active, jake
  • Sudo Mesh: depends, nobody here
  • Quorum (2/3 of active groups): if both ANV & Sudomesh show, need 5. otherwise need 4

Agenda

intros

BRIEF INTROS MAY INCLUDE: name, pronouns, groups you're in, land you're on, if you're a delegate, unmet access needs, meeting roles you'd like to help with, discussion topics or proposals to add to agenda, announcements/updates/report-backs from your groups, safe space issues or updates

  • linda, fnb
  • yar
    • rat proofing going slow & steady
    • new fundraising wg! hiring grantwriter!
    • walk-in grant
    • add meeting hosts! give me an email address and i'll help you do it
    • still need secretary, sarah resigned
    • rename delegates meeting to "omni general assembly"?
  • imma, treasurer
  • sylvia CLP
  • patrik CCL
    • county mandates masks again
    • temescal street fair june 12
  • joe fnb, events group coming together
    • peoples park demo & rally on campus tomorrow at noon
    • anarchist book fair sunday june 5 (tamarack)
    • events group meeting next thursday
  • kai they/them, my first delegates meeting, helping restart fundraising group. found grantwriter named bonnie. she'd start monday, take our spreadsheet and run with it
  • jake sudo
  • silver: cdp event next thursday june 9 5-10

basement

  • rodent proofing going slow but steady - yar cleaned out crawlspace under ticket booth
  • updates: new room is built, many helped. Paid $6500. village of love signing soon - reviewing lease. new storage area for CLP/MOP/free store. work party saturday to clear space. ian & sierk working hard to clear out VOL space. CC setting up new sewing/fabric area. rehoming many media lab things. silk screen stuff going to EBDCR. maybe a piano?
  • want $$ for: conduit, wire, motion sensors, metro shelves
  • Need help on Saturday, 6/4, starting 12p for moving stuff out, donated to Urban Ore, etc.
  • Imma and Joe can get trucks to transport stuff to the dump.

roof

  • yar met with mike, gave him one last chance to put up a down payment in good faith. he did not follow through. he verbally acknowledged to me and accepted the reality and the consequences. his new story is that his roof bid was too low and he spent all the money on roofing materials beyond what we paid him for. he claims to have spent up to $25k on fixing our roof. i cannot vouch for the truth of this statement. do what you will.
  • Patrik has been talking with David Keenan and Jesse.
  • patrik: jesse recommended a construction-specific lawyer such as Nomos LLP (https://www.nomosllp.com/). also, his license expired in november. not sure how that works legally. maybe small claims. i'm not comfortable shepherding that whole process.
  • bond info on https://www.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CheckLicense.aspx
  • Mike's original quote for skylights: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vmZ2cwAPpRLiexx7Uf3lRV9m2Tto8eMg/view
  • Lic.# 493245

event money

  • yar proposes the event team gets to keep surplus beyond $6k/mo as operating budget
  • billy: seems wise, efficient, enable them to be effective
  • joe: we're kinda floundering. we got so many new people in, many who we never met face to face. the contracts say event presenters are supposed to be reimbursed costs, but they don't collect receipts or keep track. it's not easy, idk if anybody's ever done it. to have a bank account when we're so scattered... i'd like to put it off. idk how many people from events group are on this call. we haven't had a chance to talk about it amongst ourselves.
  • sylvia: omni's goal is not just to succeed but to be good, to eventually be able to pay people for their labor
  • imma: i see the utility, i hear joe's concern about needing to be clear about how we collect info operationally. look forward to discussing it at events meeting about what those accounting needs are.
  • yar: my proposal does not raise the bar needed for accounting vs what we already require. we should not be messy, but if we are messy, this contains the mess better.
  • billy: agreed we'd need structure for how the events wg decides what to spend money on. but in order to have successful events you need to spend money ahead of time. that level of professionalism requires capital to invest. if it's all volunteers all the time and we never get to tap into that, there's a huge gap of what we can achieve vs what's possible. bringing in a professional guarantees some money and we can learn from that process (like kai hiring a grantwriter)
  • patrik: just want some clarity on what kind of expenses we're talking about. at first i thought maybe it was toilet paper, etc. but it sounds like you're talking about us organizing events rather than outsourcing the production. what would money be spent on?
  • yar: it'd be up to the events group to make their own processes on what to spend and how to spend.
  • Joe: shouldn't we have better records to cover us Re: nonprofit issues? E.g. make sure we have receipts for how much paid to the band etc.
    • Yar: receipts are not such a big deal - only needed if the event organizer wants to count sumething as reimbursement rather than income. Main thing is to get the contract signed with required non-profit language. Get their name so we can send them 1099 form.
  • not all discussion was written down
  • yar: this interacts with my upcoming proposal, also to standardize omni's budget processes https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Building_Team

Covid Update

  • Alameda County is reinstating mask mandate for most indoor settings
  • UCSF Asymptomatic Test Positivity Rate at 6% - 1 in 17 people you meet may be infectious - see https://twitter.com/Bob_Wachter/status/1531764134580088832/photo/1
  • Wastewater surveillance numbers still rising, now above January Omicron levels - see https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/CalSuWers-Dashboard.aspx#
  • Hospitalization level rising - see https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/ - but still relatively low, thanks to good vaccination numbers and some protection from previous infections.
  • patrik: case numbers are seriously on the upswing. wastewater higher than they've ever been... if people are slacking off with mask usage, i'd recommend we start paying attention to it again
  • yar is tired of enforcing masks, it's an uphill battle, i give up. not happening.
  • patrik recommends we keep our official policy for mask usage, that we inform events that we have a mask mandate as well.

bogss

  • original version https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/hKtAjkH0814Cr5ynSChp6tjW/
  • sudo version https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/6IhZqwyXxN6CrEvtiljmnqTa/
  • billy: i missed previous conversations. don't know where we're at.
  • patrik: questions on the sudo copy
  • sylvia: the main comments i remember were about the power bogss would have
  • Yar: someone felt that they should not be pressured to join this group just because of their identity
  • jake: ppl @ sudo have lots of strong feelings about this proposal, but don't want their names attached to it.
  • jake: "my position is complicated by trying to represent people who don't want to be identified. it's not coming from me"
  • jake: "i do strongly believe in the need for the proposal and i want it to succeed so we can get to a yes"
  • jake: talked with one of the co-signers of the proposal
  • yar: what is the process of getting to a yes from an anonymous person who won't give their objection?
  • jake: do you want buy-in? or do you just want quorum and pass it? want a friendly amendment
  • yar: what amendments do people want?
  • jake: could be more agreeable to discuss from other direction. BOGSS has special powers to mandate certain things. "or else"? what is the "or else", want it to be spelled out more carefully.
 * what if BOGSS mandates that someone goes to sensitivity training and they don't want to? what's the or else?
 * sudoroom concerned party: currently enjoying omni, part of another makerspace, white woman who runs makerspace took offence to WOC's email address containing a word she didn't like, WW said "go to sensitivity trainig," WOC said "fuck you no", moved to sudo room
  • yar: recourse is that BOGSS is a democratic congress
  • jake: BOGSS 5 people could become an echo chamber. sudoroom won't have representation in bogss. it becomes its own thing that's composed of people who feel like being part of it. so members of sudoroom want to know what their special powers are and what their or-elses are if they make a decision people don't want to comply with.
  • imma: it shows sudoroom's lack of diversity
    • jake: no, sudoroom doesn't have a lack of diversity
    • yar: yes it does
  • imma: there are way more than 5 collectives in omni. why is sudoroom demanding representation if the membership won't engage in doing the work, belittles it, says it's women's work. sudo seems to be acting as if empowered already (?)
  • silvia: do any other member collectives have a strong issue w/ this proposal other than sudo?
  • yar: FNB, CC, ANV, CLP here (but CLP signed it)
  • patrik: not a strong objection
  • comment on kicking out a collective with a simple majority vote (?) [someone coughed, i don't know what exactly the comment was -kai]
  • should check w/ bylaws re: rules for kicking out collective
  • but those are just implementation details. i don't disagree w/
  • imma: thought i was part of sudo? why is jake saying no one agrees? do i not count? disheartening to see sudo say they don't care about the work (minus ppl like yar and jake). why are they saying it is so extraneous
  • jake: it sounds like you're saying when poc don't agree with bogss, then they're outside (?)...
  • imma: we're talking about everyone else that hasn't been able to access omni. if poc are already engaged in omni that's great, but we're talking about new folks like CLP not having any support when they were first coming in, lacking the baseline compassion from others. the whole point of bogss is to have an affinity group so there's more support for new people that might be the same thought patterns as everyone entrenched at omni commons already. it's not about poc being wrong or right, it's about having a framework of protections for people aren't even in the room yet.
  • silver: things like this should always be supported. you always get a lot of backlash. when an issue arrives we'll collectively come to a solution. this is something we should inherently support and move towards.
  • kai: what is role of non-delegate non-collective member in this committee?
    • yar: you are bottom lining a working group, you can absolutely join via your wg
  • billy: can still join or be represented by committee? (?)
  • imma: main issue with friendly amendment is that it undercuts BOGSS bc any decision of theirs could be overturned
  • jake: that answer you give, of putting it on the delegates meeting, is what i was looking for
  • jake: can BOGSS kick out a collective
  • patrik: no, bring it to delegates meeting and they do a simple majority vote on it. but we should check the bylaws. fundamental decisions like that shouldn't be a majority vote.
  • billy: consensus-1?
  • patrik: yes, consensus of all collectives not involved
  • joe: i want confirmation that those votes wouldn't be majority but would be our regular process, consensus or consensus-1
  • silvia: next steps?
  • yar: up to the delegates, whether they think their groups would support this or not.
  • jake: wants one more round with sudo where i tell everyone the updated thing, some concerns were addressed, let's move forward & try to get a yes
  • silvia: can sudo add their comments to the original proposal?
  • patrik: removing a collective actually requires changing the bylaws, because the designating collectives are in the bylaws. https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Bylaws#SECTION_4._TERMS_OF_OFFICE_AND_DESIGNATION_OF_DIRECTORS
  • yar: no one is blocking this. we could pass it, but we are choosing to wait another few weeks to get more proactive buy-in. is that right?
  • jake: yes
  • yar: don't want the narrative to be that sudo blocked it. we are all in good faith going slow at it. but our goal is to pass it on Thurs June 16? get final draft ASAP
  • silvia: re jake's amendment mandate, what was the resolution?
  • jake: clarify that when mandates are made at BOGSS, when they are ignored, it goes to the delegates and asks them to take action
  • imma: rafiq added it (?) recently
  • yar: not a lot of mechanisms for overruling future delegates' decisions. if there's a fight, delegates win (and no subcommittee of omni can change that). delegates can create processes, but legally it's up to the board. hopefully our community all acts in good faith though. we're not set up to survive an adversarial process
  • yar: come to the work party on saturday!!!!
  • silver: budget event this thursday! mock neighborhood assembly talking about finances.
 * need someone to record it
  • patrik: temescal street fair, sun june 12, 12-6p
 * booth applications due tomorrow - if interested in teaming up with CCL to staff a booth, contact Michael Arent <cclarent4799@gmail.com>
  • joe: anarchist book fair, sunday june 5, 1501 Webster
 * defense of ppl's park
 * not an agent provocateur
  • bye!

End of Meeting