Event:2024/01/18 Delegates

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Revision as of 17:40, 19 January 2024 by Pg (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Omni Delegates' Meeting - January 18, 2024 7pm-9pm''' == Meeting Details == * Talk at https://https://omnicommons.org/meet 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: paige/patrik === Delegates === * CCL: patrik * FNB: toan * LL: nobody here * ML: pallavi * SB: natalie * SR: alex * SM: ju...")
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Omni Delegates' Meeting - January 18, 2024 7pm-9pm

Meeting Details

Roles

  • Facilitator/s:
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper:
  • Notetaker/s: paige/patrik

Delegates

  • CCL: patrik
  • FNB: toan
  • LL: nobody here
  • ML: pallavi
  • SB: natalie
  • SR: alex
  • SM: juul (he/him)
  • Quorum (2/3 of active groups):

= Other attendees

  • yar
  • paige
  • philip bell
  • joe
  • silver

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 PROMPT people to share contact info in the chat, so we can stay in touch

status of proposals

  • yar: sudo room agreed last night foreclosure worse than all other proposals
  • yar: patrik and i working on proposals. disagreements on it. but then jamal discussion became more pressing. goal to compare PP and philips proposal objectively. was difficult.
  • patrik: need to be negotiating on both sides. havent fleshed out city in motions as much because will be mostly identical to PP. draft: omni put most income from rentals into a building fund. would need to save 10% to do things, like pay our lawyer. likewise pp or com would put a tbd percentage net income from events into that building fund. philip bell has said he would reinvest all events income into building. helpful tax wise. not sure if PP would be willing to do that.
  • alex: both proposals involve ballroom?
  • patrik: yes, events ballroom mezzanine disco room and exit stairs, and tiny kitchen. entrance hall tbd, and wheelchair accessible bathroom?
  • pallavi: den ?
  • patrik: id say all rooms above entrance hall for omni commons. make sense for long term rentals then renting on an occasional basis. so some groups making regular use could be managed through OC than PP. I was trying to subdivide large events room and spaces rented to collectives. lawyer mentioned where one party could take out a loan and charge the other party with that loan. so to collect funds to get roof replaced. i think that should be targetted oct 2025.
  • alex: do both of these proposals solve balloon payment?

yes

  • alex: PP has the money
  • patrik: negotiation with a trust. will have to agree to release that money
  • patrik: city of motion, philip has given sources of where he hopes. he would try to take out a loan without using building as collateral. wants to get amount for building plus some extra. theres not just 880k, also property taxes. philip is aiming for $1m. if we are short 20k, can probably make it. but 250k? different
  • yar: i was also talking with jamal with alternative with PP owning mezzanine, discreet corner of the building. 1. in omnis interest to own ballroom. both groups still able to use it for free with some shared agreement. not sure if it makes sense if ballroom and basement owned differently, so tied, fire safety. PP will love to hold events but primary is mutual aid and grassroots organizing, so they could use all those small rooms.
  • patrik: may be technical limitations on what we can say is owned in TOC. technically building co-owned by both, but can write who manages what spaces. may not be able to officially state they own
  • yar: so not like a condo
  • patrik: yes thats my understanding
  • alex: tax consequences?
  • patrik: part that changes hands would be reassessed for property taxes. my understanding but far too complex for me to understand, the 250k we still owe until assessor solves issue. whether paid immediately or start from tax.

SL: it depends on how it is transferred

  • marc: mortgage is 30 years?

SL: most commercial loans are 20 yr max (in terms of banks) idk what CAST's terms are

  • patrik: starts with paying off interest
  • yar: i have a spreadsheet i will send tracking it
  • alex: are there any other proposals? PP, COM, and LLC, others?
  • patrik: when we took straw poll, highest was CLT. and nobody working on that except David K
  • marc: jesse has some experience with this too, could reach out to him. pay him to investigate
  • patrik: is a complex relationship, would take a long time to seal the deal. but if we start negotiating, we can tell our trust that and hopefully get extension. would need very concrete details next time we talk to them.
  • alex: do we have a list of land trusts?
  • yar: sogorea te and oakland CLT
  • alex: sogorea te?
  • patrik: they are holding land to rematriate.
  • philip: one of groups im talking to is CAST. I believe they are a land trust but focus on arts
  • alex: okay so need to make a list and empower someone
  • yar: we did empower david k to do this last year.
  • alex: whatever loan we get put against building.
  • yar: they dont want to bet on foreclosure. not going to approve a loan, want to see a business plan
  • patrik: likely put in place a building management team. hold omni to its own bylaws
  • yar: or lease it to some partner org. i.e. ballroom leased out
  • patrik: whoever has credentials COM
  • yar: or black repertory theater
  • alex: business plan for nonprofit much different that for profit
  • yar: bank looks the same
  • alex: but land trust
  • yar: land trust needs to get a loan
  • alex: they dont have an endowment?
  • yar: not always. not banks
  • patrik: managing other buildings. get some money from that. but not a big pot of money usually
  • yar: personally why i see PP as best option, but only option where we are debt free at the end of it
  • patrik: and CoM
  • alex: and land trust
  • yar: all involve someone taking out a loan, and passing that interest on to us
  • philip: not following what you are saying. someone is going to come in, erase the debt to trust. PP proposing outright. revenue of the building paying off debt. and some interest involved. but not sure how interest falls onto Omni commons
  • yar; PP doesnt require debt financing. and those require interest.
  • philip: immediately yes, but if building fully utilized, completely able to pay off debt. thats why trust did the loan they did... metric they have is could pay it back.
  • yar: if you get a loan, you will pass off interest to regular renters?
  • philip: yes i cant find someone willing to give $1m with no return
  • yar: proposal i was talking about, with PP owning NE corner.
  • silver: havent agreed to that. i wouldnt bank too hard on that
  • yar: this is a negotation and i think its a reasonable opening bid. compatible, still with CoM, and wouldnt require as much debt financing
  • silver: i dont trust omnis event WG getting their shit together for that
  • yar: im not saying omnis events WG continue as is.
  • patrik: i would offer them managing event spaces. including entry hall, as long as we have passage through that
  • philip: events, ballroom, everything above it, needs to be together. SR and CCL has a back entrance. Disco Room does have its own door. but doesnt make sense to have long term tenants in upper spaces because people crossing when events happening. small office spaces above entrance hall
  • silver: also want to discuss pickles, $200/month
  • yar: i think no long term contract, but continue until we get other offer
  • pallavi: the room with windows, corner office. im consulting with another nonprofit. deb gibbs foundation. interest in renting as office space, coming in as a member collective. working on intro to give. oakland native, variety of social services for mostly black and brown ppl in oakland. started on community outreach done in last decade. engaging reentry population. also wants to put on events. we are working on something where can figure out renting ballroom to him every wednesday. i will email consensus about it. confusing given uncertain state. he was okay, as long with working for next few months. need space to work from, send mail, and events space to fundraise for getting programs started
  • silver: sounds good. first step, bringing project to consensus. delegates review then bring to a meeting
  • yar: also sounds good, ill also say we are still negotiating with TANC for that room. TANC is expected to have a meeting in a week and a half. they wanted corner office for their office and the electrical room for the print shop.
  • philip: continue concern about renting rooms without everyone made aware, without talking to events WG
  • yar: ive been giving regular updates to delegates and the slack
  • patrik: need regular income
  • silver: as delegates, event WG, need to tour of building, what is an event space, what is a rental space, and rates. if we could do that once, really good. with pickles - still no signed contract. said pay $800 after, who is going bottomline that?
  • paige: still want that as event rental?
  • silver: never got $800 from that room for events
  • natalie: i have a friend wanting to rent a room in basement as a studio.

notes missed

  • Patrik: do we need to worry about non-profit status for long-term rental, to not impact our property tax status? Ditto for Pickles?
    • Sarah: I feel like I have explained the issues around "non-profit status" and the workarounds for it a bunch of times?
    • Patrik: Do the same workarounds hold for long-term rentals, as opposed to event rental?
    • Sarah: it is fine if someone / a group that is not an exempt org rents space long term, Omni just needs to construe it as Omni "granting" the space. it's what Omni did with GWS and Media Lab where they are "projects" of Omni
    • Patrik: Do we have a lease template with that kind of language? or can we just borrow something from the events contract?
    • Sarah: I could draft something and then Jesse could review it
    • Sarah: The board reso format (which we used most recently for NOMA I think) ... is useful if the "tenant" is a group that is unincorporated and doesn't have a tax ID. I think the way to go is to redraft a lease but word it in terms of the space being "granted" kinda like a "residency" in a way
  • natalie: can we make that an action item
    • jenny [in chat]: will try to track it down + share out..

Fundraising plan

  • pallavi: discussed fundraising plan with john. dont want to wait until contract. after having that meeting with jamal a week and a half ago about emergency donations, im going to prioritize that. john, jp, carlos from tanc, and me - list of funders we will reach out to, with some i will add from the area. main thing we need to establish is language with which we discuss financial need. i recommend us all coming together to determine what is going to be our emergency funds request. i can do most language on that. financial health of organization such far and capability of using those funds. dance between how transparent we can be with situation without inviting unwanted attention or scrutiny. we do want to be transparent, but dont want to scare. if too big, people might think 'oh whats my 10grand going to do'. 75k over 3months goal. if we can detail a plan of how to raise that, coupled with robust grant strategy, thats something i could put together. if strategic plan, could take that to a lender, or someone willing to give more money but need some structure from us. willing to do a lot of these things, i still have about 35 hrs of part 1 of my contract as development contract. john said that oakland privacy, or LL was going to get a 50k grant. fiscal sponsor fee could go into fundraising for me to continue for an additional 50hrs, to see this through for next 3 moths.
  • yar: important we retain pallavi. 2-3k a month
  • philip: do we have to pay trust still?
  • patrik: yes absolutely
  • pallavi: want to use time i have left at very least to come up with language for emergency fund request.
  • yar: for the record, i ran into a friend and told him omni was so broke we were debating whether to pay for grantwriting software. he donated $250 to the gofundme to pay for this month's instrumental subscription
  • pallavi: [missed notes on more planning] build out budget to facilitate further conversations. want to help folks understand there is a lot of potential and hope here. if we can move quickly on starting to get people who are interested in renting space in the building ASAP, they have their own networks of folks. i.e. deb gibbs, has tons of vendors in the area. as soon as we get something going, we have some opportunity to speak to more people. if we can negotiate with different community members, to make it equitable, better overall for our community engagement
  • natalie: hard with made up rates. agree with pallavi

winter revival

  • silver: FNB, SR tabling. can CCL table?
  • patrik: i dont know yet tbh
  • silver: lot of vendors. really cool if CCL there because people ask about it a lot
  • philip: one of my decorating staff will be there on friday. do we want to use that to beautify for saturday?
  • pallavi: yes definitely

ED contract

  • patrik: not enough work done on contract because disagreement on whether it was going through. did research on profits for ED nationally, vs oakland to come up with counter offer

discussion about what profits would go to ED percentage

  • yar: SR said wouldnt approve contract to give authority, but still has right for safer space policy to call for a ban.
  • patrik: yes can still call safe space ban, and recommend them
  • alex: salary negotiation, designated person?
  • patrik: recommend john, given his contact.

discussion about ban power

  • alex: i would suggest some attempt at reconciliation between eric and jamal
  • patrik: had to do with eric misinterpreting, walked in at the wrong time, got emotional hearing about ban

discussion about legal liability in how transparent omni is

  • patrik: if we want to restrict line about "take necessary steps".. including "recommending bans"
  • marc: that line seems too vague
  • natalie: delegates in delegates meetings are just decided to be there. we are people part of space and more active, consciously making more decisions
  • marc: sounds like we are giving power to him to make decisions on our own
  • natalie: so how do we give equal power to collectives?
  • patrik: not necessary to be in the contract
  • natalie: i think it should be spelled out. so people can be accountability, and have boundaries.
  • marc: i dont know how we flesh out that line in the contract.
  • alex: omni has this tradition of radical openness. whether that is good... but if thats going to change, at least need a conversation about that
  • patrik: yes he feels radical openness is to the detriment
  • yar: i wouldnt characterize us that way. rather id characterize as opaque. right now if you want to do something, you have 100 bosses to talk to. i think we should replace that with 1 boss.
  • alex: i dont want to go into all complaints, if thats going to change, need to discuss
  • natalie: hes been trying to ask us, where are you going.
  • yar: not trying to be a dictator, but needs freedom to move quickly
  • pallavi: what about, if delegates cannot come to consensus within time frame, he has approval to make decision on our behalf. or only certain types of decision making he can have autonomously, vs other types of decision making.
  • patrik: i think the latter. i dont think he should have veto power
  • yar: not legally possible, baked into law. if we really want a compromise, delegates could commit to a oversight committee who do more realtime work with jamal. any type of encumberment we add could risk turning him off from this
  • marc: want to know what decisions he wants to do quickly, we could just give power to do certain decisions without permission.
  • patrik: some things he brought up, free store moving to not interfere with events. talking to more sternly to people who make a mess. maybe pallet chairs
  • toan: outside omni is public space
  • patrik: also things we can get blamed for
  • toan: good question to ask, what does he want to fulfill? instead of approving full power, can ask him what his plans are
  • patrik: authority to spend up to a certain amount
  • paige: also he is wanting to do media planning/events
  • yar: im afraid that spelling this out will come off as too much micromanaging of him
  • pallavi: he did veto instrumentl. already approved by delegates. less than $200 a month, but big potential to earn thousands from it. having that software is a no brainer for me.
  • yar: type of thing board can override. when described power, hes really saying ability to act quickly. board can at any time veto. baked into law regardless.
  • pallavi: idea, find another nonprofit ED to consult us/jamal on best practices. i have some of my own experience. community resources.... one that teaches about nonprofit executive decision making. also help him to more resources and other people in community with. one concern of going to the media without discussion of delegates of what okay to talk about. robust background on our org need to be given. i can give some advice there but someone with executive background helpful. he has a big network so could find advisor.
  • silver: would that person be paid for that?
  • pallavi: i am suggested mentor/mentee. but are resources for those learning these things. like paid trainings.
  • yar: he feels confident he can drum up large donations from his networks
  • pallavi: when i was hired on, i talked about my track record, how much raised. could ask for an example
  • patrik: we can ask for references.
  • marc: discuss how we want to have meetings notes posted. i thought point pallavi well. i also realize need for quick decision making. is there one person in the omni who we could pay to be very available, represent omni, to work with Jamal?
  • patrik: yes
  • yar: i am willing to do it for free
  • pallavi: i like that idea a lot
  • patrik: should be someone with experience doing contract negotiation? not me. john, but very busy
  • alex:
   ** 10% line, 
   ** banning clause, hope for reconciliation with eric but not sure how to bring up, but would like to happen at some point. those two things sound surmountable. yar: shouldn't be brought up now, though i would like that too
   ** 3rd clause to protect the building, vague, are there specific things we want to bring up?
   ** what pallavi brought up but how to communicate?
   ** patrik: w2 or contract. lawyer said w2. yar: wouldnt need w2 before first check. but finally to get to insurance and infrastructure for w2. have talked to sarah about it before, wasnt urgent to her but seems important
  • marc: need to go, any consensus decisions tonight?
  • alex: i think we should commit to not, 9pm already, should be end of meeting
  • natalie: is there a way we can do poll ?
  • marc: we use loomio that allows for quick votes. i know slack is used, might be enough
  • natalie: other collective we use slack for voting, can be talked in another meeting. but not always accessible for me or others to always be a the meeting.
  • alex: better to do this in writing?
  • patrik: not necessary to do this tonight
  • alex: we do owe him honest feedback
  • alex: hardline of 6months?
  • patrik: i believe so.

jamal joins. patrik reports research he did with watchdog agencies recommended executive salaries

  • jamal: salary that is the average makes sense. that's what i could try to communicate. i think your on right track of setting a cap. hypothetically if i raise 5mill, I would make an extreme amount. in terms of revenue going to salary, i would follow what other nonprofits do. no matter revenue source. if we say 10% of rent, $600, not talking about excessive amount of money. any revenue source is a revenue source. largely because right now not really a revenue source. not necessarily as concerned about money than ability to do work. ability to focus on raising money, not drama between people.
  • patrik: ban through delegates, except in case of a safe space ban. ok to start an investigation, that could be done on the spot, not needing delegate approval
  • jamal: not opposed. painful decisions will need to be made. i.e. marketing. need of consistency in delegates. grant documents, need same names going down. set a term for board members. at least for 12 months needed consistency for sake of institutional knowledge.
  • patrik: other stakeholders who are not official delegates, but who come regularly. like yar, has at least as much institutional knowledge. how much are you okay with degree of openness?
  • jamal: more communication in order. suggesting people pay attention to how regularly your board changes. set of bad publicity that a stable board can control for. need to be stable for donors
  • patrik: what about officers?
  • jamal: that should be taken seriously, law prescribed
  • patrik: in the past, problem recruiting for those positions. i dont know what extent you could help with that
  • jamal: should be inside. suggest treasurer should be same as bookkeeper
  • SL : treasurer and bookkeeper should definitely be two separate people!
  • patrik: some orgs make clear distinction, prohibit that
  • yar: unlikely to me that we can recruit knowledgeable person within omni to do that role. i think that would have to be a hire.
  • jamal: i think 30 day unpack of finances. imperative to be able to articulate our revenue stream and potential revenue stream. i agree we dont have revenue right now to pay for someone, but 90 days. ideally a CPA. W2 employee
  • patrik: talked about catchall line of "necessary steps to protect the organization." spell out more duties in the contract, and which things would be board approval or not
  • jamal: setting a cap is important. i.e. no more than $1000 recurring expenditures spent without board approval. also language choices on marketing. thing come up as concern, how we talk about our situation. do not have the luxury at this point to not be real with where we are at in terms of foreclosure
  • patrik: trust, still need to be paying mortgage. expenditures cap would have to be from the amount we have available in excess of what we need to pay the mortgage
  • jamal: try and raise some money in short order, events appropriate. also final decision on who bookkeeper is, very important. would like to interview this person, board can decide. but dont want to come in with bookkeeper i cant work with. also events coordinator. should not be arbitrarily made to work with someone not comfortable working with, especially in financial.
  • pallavi: also wanted to see if you had some references we could contact
  • jamal: yes. VP and former employers.
  • patrik: anybody who could vouch for capacity as ED. we'll try and appoint one person to do further contract negotiations. probably john
  • jamal: when do you think you can have a draft?
  • patrik: before next week's delegate meeting so we can discuss
  • jamal: ask that people who talk to my references know what they are talking about, retaining these connections important
  • jamal: also ask establish vacancies for events coordinator and bookkeeper
  • patrik: we had a vote about allowing phil to keep working in events. decided it wasnt really a conflict. would not be able to discuss anything to effect CoM decision.
  • yar: not to say you cant hire someone else, but in transition conflict decided not
  • jamal: i see events director going out to find people to rent the space. not just what events coordinator. phil would be reporting to them.
  • jamal: once we have contract good to go i will communicate my references
  • patrik: any news between you and eric?
  • jamal: no i have not been reached out to by them? open to talk on phone or email.
  • alex: so you are open?
  • jamal: eric has communicated about [redacted]. but that was only communication. didn't ask to talk though
  • jamal: i reached out to one org, also a trust. thing that stuck with me with communication with lawyer, is finding a bridge loan. that is possible. my hope is that we could possibly get $1.75mil. goal to pay trust back, but absent renovations will be hard to get people to rent the space. space in this building for staff to work. need dedicated space to work. that should be included - staff space available to work in
  • yar: tuesday morning draft contract?
  • patrik: also john wanted to run contract by his colleague
  • yar: vote on a final contract next week?
  • alex: i dont see that
  • patrik: if delegates feel like they are ready to vote on it. been many discussions on jamal as ED, separate from contract. if delegates think details fleshed out, then make vote of if we want it for not
  • jamal: cart before the horse. i think send to me first, then you can give attorney a final draft we have agreed. you can say: "here is a contract pending review of an attorney."
  • jamal: heard cleaning went well. talked to carol fife and other elected officials. my hope is this contract doesnt take another 3 weeks, because we dont have that time imo. also patrik in terms of mitigating costs, president should be the person talking to the attorney. every time the attorney talks we are billing. communication needs to go through board designee or ED. money you dont have to be giving away at this month.
  • patrik: effort to get president in place
  • jamal: paige has been doing good job. are you still delegate?
  • paige: no
  • patrik: support to you if wanting to take on more of role of president if willing
  • jamal: i can come in person next week

jamal leaves

  • alex: about turnover. i wasnt planning on being delegate for more than a month
  • patrik: some collectives value rotating delegates, but dont know how good that is for the org
  • alex: are we going to follow up with more detailed notes
  • paige: jamal said board of directors stable needed for donors?

yea...

  • alex: implicit desire to change org. but has to be conversation about how we are doing that. i foresee a lot of members feeling like decision made for them. i think will react badly. maybe need to make effort to clarify what new direction is. i see direction towards traditional change, board rather than delegates.
  • patrik: board still delegates.
  • alex: changing terminology has other assumption
  • patrik: less turnover implies more hierarchy
  • pallavi: maybe you have core delegates, then 1 rotating. core group is the designated board positions
  • patrik: asking delegates to serve for a year is a valid ask
  • silver: agree
  • yar: 990s in a month, now time to clarify
  • alex: paid boards traditional?

no

  • patrik: no boards of bigger nonprofits need to bring in donations to even be on board. buy your way into board
  • alex: whats incentive to be board member?
  • patrik: get to have a say in the direction of the org. and name
  • alex: so would be a change in culture? at least in SR, delegate is simply a mouthpiece. thats been the understanding
  • patrik: in CCL we have board, 2 years serve. we encourage putting that on your resume
  • alex: also transparency stuff changing?
  • patrik: personel issues. bans, contract negotiations. shouldnt be discussed in open. legal liability.
  • yar: i dont think this has to change what matters
  • patrik: people in charge to make sure things dont fall throught the cracks.
  • alex: all true but also a matter of perception. how people feel, the place they have been coming to has changing
  • pallavi: a lot less change this way, this is least restrictive long term at least
  • yar: i think the dynamic where sudo room gets veto over what happens in community center, has been too long. if ppl
  • alex: not entirely familiar with that delegate
  • yar: too much micromanagement. better to have 1 boss then 1000
  • alex: do we see consensus changing?
  • patrik: yes. from beginning bylaws say we vote on majority of board memebers present, given 2/3 quorum. not in alignment with how we have been doing it
  • yar: we try to do consensus but then if it doesnt work we fall back
  • patrik: i proposed bylaw change, any collective can propose a week to
  • pallavi: were those bylaws submitted/filed?
  • yar: wasnt a change
  • patrik: we have made changes of who appoints delegates. we need to send that to ___
  • patrik: do think we should make bylaws more in line with how we actually make decisions
  • alex: why did i think it was all consensus?
  • patrik: web pages say that, but not bylaws.
  • yar: personally over consensus. i like it when everyone doing the labor, but no guarantee for that to happen. consensus is used when nobody trusts anyone else. un security council use consensus because any one could blow each other up.
  • paige: so only consensus thing in bylaws is?
  • patrik: adding and removing things in the bylaws
  • alex: and heard it right jamal is open to reconciliation
  • patrik: now is time to be talking about what duties
  • yar: im concerned just about the money. just 6month contract. we could make some good hires with the help in that time
  • alex: interesting seeing how this has changed, from starting from occupy. flatness of structure, or at least desire of flatness, came from that
  • yar: i dont see desire to make that real.
  • patrik: some friction in CCL of that "just want to do our science, affordable insulin, not politics"
  • yar: statement of solidarity, laid out what important to me. bare minimum for me, need everyone to be onboard. after 10 years urge to spray paint lies over it. willing try a different way of achieving that
  • alex: are those compatible?
  • patrik:
  • alex: yar is asking for active outreach?
  • yar: i think mostly compatible. but sometimes not aligned. like when someone in ccl meeting said "already gentrified" so should cash out
  • patrik: yes they were saying they want to buy building better suiting needs.
  • yar: still extracting wealth. who will have $4m
  • alex: a land trust possibly
  • yar: feels like carbon offset logic
  • patrik: explained my priorities before, as delegate to CCL my first interest is what is CCL's, 2nd omni, 3rd community around us. but we decided thats not option
  • yar: SR had unanimous vote of foreclosure is worst option
  • alex: problem with worst, theres always other worst options
  • patrik: well aligned buyer less worse than auction
  • patrik: not enough support for pursuing that anyway
  • pallavi: what if one collective wants to sell their equity
  • yar: i would argue no collectives have equity
  • patrik: i agree. omni commons has equity. if decide of dissolve, requires consensus-1, can decide what to do with pile of money but i dont see that happen
  • yar: if it came to that, i say we donate to sogorea te. weve been getting cheap rent here.
  • patrik: it was still a good deal if just rent paid, as opposed to paying off a loan.


land trust

  • dk - recommend getting a refi person. specialized in community financing, real estate financing. most important thing is who their relationships are. community vision
  • dk - multiple types of structures possible going forward. trust now is first position on title.
  • dk - one option, just donor. not land trust
  • another model: land trust. has mission. way easier to go to clt if you already have capital. clt anonymizes donor. answerable to donor. makes sure donor paid back. clt additional function of admin. deed restriction/permanently off market, at least 1% owner to enforce deed restriction. built in thing about oversight. community properties retain communities etc. 3-5 yr minimum time minimum. i.e buying out a partner.
  • rehab spreadsheet to revise. dedicated staff person working on grants. big pool of grants opened up with CLT. can show some easy to understand thing, how to make ballroom pay for itself. qualify for a refi.
  • yar: exit clause?
  • dk: not there, right now, in phase 1: willing to think about land trust and go in good faith. could be in partnership.. many different structures
  • most likely CLT itself not financing it, would be someone they are working with, like a donor/trust, someone with a need to spend
  • probably would be a loan to a CLT. but wouldnt be financed at something omni couldnt do. lender loans thru another entity, like our trust.
  • what would be the delegates role?
  • different ways. one way: percentage ownership. once omni paid past interest, eventually own 100%. examples luggage store with CAST. lease to own. interest is much lower though. another way: land trust own land, omni uses property. gives teeth into oversight.
  • yar: long term omni commons can incrementally get more autonomy.
    • thats a phase 2 discussion
  • community vision good working that out
  • in terms of the physical building: covenant it or think about compromise