Free Geek Michiana : Board/Council Minutes 11/30/2009
FREE GEEK Michiana, Inc. - "Helping the Needy Get Nerdy"
Submitted by Tom Brown, Director.
Present: Richard Zimmerman, Chuq Jackels, Mike Cook, Marc Rockwell, Fr. Robert Bower, Tom Brown.
Tom called the meeting to order at 6:34 PM, in the Pokagon Room of the St. Joseph County Public Library. Several board members were late so the meeting started late.
A.Welcome and orient new board members.
B. Discuss recruiting more board members.
C. Review donation policies.
D. Discuss adding board members to frgeek list.
E. Discuss creating a private email list for board members.
F. Change the meeting dates to the last Monday evening of each month.
The agenda was confirmed by consensus.
There was no old business.
Marc Rockwell and Carol Sanner accepted our invitations to join the board of directors. Carol had a prior engagement at Wilson School and was absent, but Marc was able to attend.
Tom had met with Marc last week and oriented him so there was no need to take additional time at the meeting. Marc requested the freedom to ask clarifying questions, and the board granted him the request.
Tom reviewed the objectives in recruiting more board members.
Tom invited the board to give him information about prospective board members.
Richard and Chuq in particular as warehouse supervisors, but all board members in general, see the necessity to better control our warehouse space, inventory and volunteer time.
A key element in improving our recycling and refurbishing operation is managing the volume and type of material donations. Material donations directly and indirectly affect almost all aspects of FGM operations and programs. Donations are in fact central to FGM.
Richard and Chuq briefed the board on changes in warehouse operations which are agreeable to the board but do not rise to the level of board issues.
There are two policy issues on which there is agreement, limiting material donations to only useful material and selling excess inventory. In the past FGM has accepted donations which added to clutter and which were not useful or were too difficult to recycle.
In general, there are two classes of items which FGM board members agree not to accept: hazardous materials and items which we cannot readily recycle or reuse. To be clear with the public and ourselves, the board decided to generate a list of items which FGM will not accept.
Tom said he would correspond with FGP (Free Geek Portland) regarding their donation policies.
There are more areas of disagreement regarding managing donations than areas of agreement. The board did not reach consensus on all the issues before time ran out so the board will continue the discussion at our next meeting.
Mike proposed that we add new board members to the publicly archived mailing list (frgeek-michiana). Marc said he would like to be added to the list. Tom will contact Carol regarding adding her to the public list.
By consensus, the board decided to create a private email list for board members.
The concerns were the board needs to discuss issues which should not be recorded on the publicly archived list, and the public list may have too much traffic for some board members.
Richard will configure the private list on our colo server.
Tom proposed we change our board meetings to the last Monday of each month. Chuq and Richard seconded the proposal which passed by consensus.
A primary concern is we lose one warehouse volunteer session each time we have a board meeting because warehouse supervisors shutdown the warehouse in order to attend the board meetings. Monday evenings were good for all board members in attendance.
Tom adjourned the meeting at 7:50 PM in order to clear the room by closing time at 8:00 PM.
The next meeting is Monday, December 28, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM, in the Molloy room at the public library main branch in downtown South Bend, Indiana.
Page last updated: Tue Dec 29 12:24:58 2009