Event:2023/07/06 Delegates

Omni Delegates' Meeting - July 6 2023 7pm-9pm

Meeting Details

• Talk at https://meet.google.com/diw-hszw-msr or 515-428-1108 (PIN: 465814905)
• Type at https://omnicommons.org/notes
• Send proposals to consensus@lists.omnicommons.org prior to the meeting

Roles

• Facilitator/s:
• Stacktaker:
• Timekeeper:
• Notetaker/s:
• Next meeting's facilitator(s):

Delegates

• ANV:Inactive
• BOGSS: Danielle
• CCL: Patrik
• CLP: Rafiq
• CSC: Inactive
• FNB: ABSENT
• GWS: Inactive
• LL: ABSENT
• MOP: Inactive
• SM: Inactive
• SR: Jake
• Quorum (2/3 of active groups): Met!

Daniel: TANC

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

• Patrik: CCL, he/him
• Rafiq: fillng in for Silvia for CLP
• Danielle: BOGSS she/her

TANC Member Collective Application

• Proposal to use GWS/CSC room, who have not been using that room for a while. GWS/CSC are paying $400/mo, TANC is offering $700/mo. GWS and CSC have other offices in Oakland as well.
• Daniel sent out the proposal for review.

1. What do you do that makes a difference in the world?

TANC is a tenant union, so we are tenants getting organized to fight back against the landlord class. From our website: We are a group of Bay Area tenants who are fed up with rising rents, evictions, and harassment at the hands of landlords. We are fed up with our neighbors having no option but to live unsheltered and at constant risk of police harassment. We want to stop landlords, developers, and cops from looting our communities. Capitalism is what connects all of these housing issues. Profit has been prioritized over our quality of life. There is only one way to push against a system that exploits our need for housing: we have to get organized. Together we can take collective action, and begin to force overdue rent reductions across the Bay Area. If you or someone you know wants to organize for lower rents, timely maintenance, end landlord harassment, or focus on any other housing issue—reach out to us.

2. Briefly recap your history as an organization. TANC was founded in 2018, and has grown since then, splitting into multiple union locals and approving an official constitution. We now have about 800 dues paying members and are actively organizing multiple buildings at any time.

3. How do you make decisions? How many people are involved?

TANC has various ways of making decisions, detailed here: https://baytanc.com/constitution/. Organization-wide decisions are made at monthly assemblies or yearly conventions by vote of the membership. At least 20 people must vote to make a quorum for any decision, and it's currently rare to have more than 60 people vote.

4. Please include links to any organizing documents you may have: bylaws, mission statement, etc.

Same link as above, here: https://baytanc.com/constitution/.

5. State your goals for becoming an Omni member collective. How would your presence in the Omni contribute to its purpose and Statement of Solidarity?

TANC organizes working class tenants, generally aligns with the statement of solidarity, and also puts a lot of effort into language justice. The union also has many members and should be able to contribute consistently to the culture and operations of the Omni.

6. What dedicated space do you need? What will you do in it? (For example: office, work space, etc)

TANC would be looking to move our office to the Omni. We use the office for union work, meetings, some storage, and weekly office hours.

7. What shared space do you need? What will you do with it?

TANC already uses the Omni shared space for our North-West local meetings and our conventions and other large events. We plan to continue doing so, and would pay similar rates while the OMNI is in financial difficulty.

8. Will you need to modify the building? (Include floor plans if that makes your proposal clearer.)

We've looked at an office space upstairs, currently being rented unused by the Chiapas Support Committee and the Global Woman's Strike groups, with the understanding that they would be happy to hand over the space. No modifications necessary!

9. How much are you able to pay?

TANC can pay $700 per month for the office space.

• Potential thing we need to clear up: reach out to CSC to propose transfer of space/lease to TANC. Not clear who exactly will reach out to CSC.
• (Patrik)Would print shop discussed be under a seperate lease/agreeement or part of this?
  • Daniel: yes would be seperate, some things up in the air with that space.
    • Mentioned Carlos would be TANC delegate.

• Patrik: How many people are most actively involved?
  • Daniel: 9 coordinators (union wide leadership) - technically admin but obviously these people are leaders. 10 stewards (onboarding). Semi Active Membership: ~150. Big chunk of 800 membership is paper membership

• Patrik: has lack of formal bylaws (points to constitution) been vetted by a lawyer
  • That's exactly why we have the version of the legal bylaws
    • Patrik: According to your bylaws, who elects the board
      • Daniel: 509c is unincorporated nonprofit, does not require a board (technically don't have one)

• Danielle: BOGGS needs to interview/review application

• Patrik: what is diversity like at leadership level?
  • Daniel: gender diversity is very good.Being a tenant union helps. Leadership is roughly 50/50. Racial diversity is not as good among active membership, more diverse in the semi/inactive membership. Especially the buildings/people we organize. We are trying to make strides on
• Rafiq: is this just east bay or is it the rest of the bay area chapters (SF/South Bay)
  • Daniel: Initially definitely for the whole region, eventually if other chapters expand we may end up being just for EB.

Refinance Progress: Sarah

• Sarah: 2 key things for lender:

   1. Loan to Value Ratio (worth to what you're asking for)
   We meet this criteria, building worth >x2 of outstanding loan amount

2. Debt service coverage ratio Is OMNI bringing in enough money to cover the mortgage. Lenders tend to be conservative (looking for buffer/healthy margin). What we've been trying to do is meet those numbers. When Sarah/David K met with the loan officer last year they said: 3-4 straight months of meeting that number and we can get a loan: OMNI has 1-2 good months at a time and a month or 2 that is not good. Sarah has been trying to focus on fundraising problem. Encourage Susan Silber's work on fundraising but look at operational revenue. Grants are also something that lenders are conservative about. 1 off grants don't help a lot but having a consistent record for grants over extended period of time. Mulberry trust is bridge loan lender and this might help secure another extension. Some grants like this Helman grant are individually driven, flexible and easier to leverage personal relationships for grant terms/timing. We're also not meeting numbers for a partial loan, and realistically we need a larger amount to do repairs. Can OMNI come up with enough to avoid getting a loan for 890K (full amount). Under impression that one of the things Susan S (fundraising consultant) is working on is the grants Sarah is focused on generating revenue through tenants and events. Focus grant money and other funds to the event areas of the space and to bringing in more events through paid labor in event organizer. example is the hellman money being used to haul junk and open up more usable space.

• Patrik: Are you and david talking to more potential lenders?
  • Sarah: Something we should start planning for in the next month. Want to have some positive momentum to bank on with event money coming in and staff getting paid to generate revenue. Unblock things that prevent functional use of the space. Plan on starting the outreach.
    • Is that too late?
      • Sarah: realistically with where we are at financially, we need more time unless something miraculous happens. Get into serious negotiations with a lender and we can get an extension from mulberry. For a building like this, lenders want more things it's a bit of a slow process compared to a home mortgage.

• Sarah: at some point Jesse (attorney) will ask us about selling the building. Some sort of arrangement where a nonprofit/performing arts venue takes over operations of portions of the space with an agreement to let us continue using the building. Could be used as a tactic to extend available time.

• Rafiq: what's the number for revenue for 3-4 months that would be enough to secure a loan?
  • Sarah: referencing spreadsheet. Annually ~275k (gross). If we assume 885k, interest rate ~7%, we'd need net income of 8k a month. Issue we've gone over before: rent vs events vs common space etc. Construction to create more rentable space
• What's our current gross from rent?: $8100 a month

Helman Grant Funds Allocation Part 2

• At previous meeting, consensus on "must haves". Leaves us with 23,750 dollars. Funds cannot go to general operating expenses.

1. Having paid staff for revenue generating activities. Incentive for someone like Billy from CLP to do a good job to secure further income. It takes time to build up the programming and to build a calendar in advance. 2. Improvements to facilities for events. ex: Major speaker broken in ballroom. Theatrical lighting system has stopped working, needs to be fixed. Improves capacity for event revenue.

• Jake: is the capacity thing the most critical vs parking or alcohol (as examples). Is investment into increasing capacity the right call vs downpayment etc. on other things.
  • Sarah: yes, definitely something that is coming up regularly. Big difference in rental cost for something that has ~250 capacity to ~700 capacity. Things like alarm system are necessary and were agreed upon a long term.

• Inexpensive improvements to disco room floor. Alcohol license/paperwork (something that could eventually be a great benefit to OMNI). Ratproofing the crawl space in the basement. Allocate sarah's salary from this grant.

• Really a balance between capacity and other things we want to spend money on.

• Jake offers for Sudo to take care of repairing the PA, theatrical lighting controller problem
  • On one of the tuesday night sessions if Sudo room folks want to join Sarah and Billy in helping fix the lighting etc. Also offered help with alarm system and locks on sound booth to save money. Have Sudo room and events work together to identify and fix problems.

• Would alcohol permit be in play before end of the year? Hard to say

• Proposal: Approve $2500 for rat proofing (if quote is for more than $2500 -- we will vote again to approve the extra)
  • YES: Patrik/CCL, Danielle/ BOGSS, Rafiq/CFP, Jake/Sudo

• Proposal: Approve $7,200 for Event Staffing (@$30/hr) - additional allocation for trained personnel (15 hr/wk for 16 weeks)
  • YES: Patrik/CCL, Danielle/BOGSS, Rafiq/CLP, Jake/Sudo

Proposal: $9,250 to reimburse OMNI general fund for items we've already paid for, but which would fit under this grant (lines 9-14) - buys us greater flexibility in allocating money in general fund.

• • Fundraising Consultant (Silber) (portion paid of $10k contract) - $750.00
  • Property tax Legal Help (Oatfield) (paid $1755 so far in 2023) - $684.00
  • Finance Manager (Emily/Toast) - $5,396.00
  • Property Tax Welfare Exemption Filings (Lockhart through Safer DIY) - $2,420.00
  • YES: Patrik/CCL, Jake/Sudo, Danielle/BOGGS, Rafiq/CLP