August 2025 - Board Meeting

08/06/2025 - Area 515 Board Meeting

08/06/2025 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

• President: Dave

• Vice President: Jake

• Secretary: Brad

• Director: John

• Director: Matt

• Director: Chris

Absent:

• Treasurer: Meg

Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting

Vote to approve the minutes of the July board meeting

Yes: 6

No: 0

Result: Passed

Financials

• Meg renewed our certification with Benevity.

Current Members: 84

• A recent new member caused some shop problems, used someone else's stuff, and used some tools without training. This member will need to be reoriented to the way the space works before they can use it again.

Prairie Meadows Grant

• We got it!!!!!!!!!!! We received a $10,000 grant from Prairie Meadows for a new laser system!!!

• John sent them our acceptance email. The unit is now listed at $14,297 which is about $1k less than the quote we submitted with our grant proposal. Chris volunteered to ask for an updated quote.

• It was suggested that we look at 3rd party options for the rotary unit. All agreed we want to get the best base unit available.

Space Updates

• Isaiah got a bunch of Wood Shop tools functional again!

• Matt was talking with Iowa Wild. To be a non-profit sponsor we would have to sell a minimum of 25 tickets. Each ticket sells for $20, and we would get $5 back per ticket. Board members were intrigued by the possibility, but not confident we could sell enough tickets.

• In looking at all the storage cubes (aka "cubbys") many are claimed by people who are no longer members. Matt offered to draft an email to send to anybody whose cube is suspect.

• At the recent member meeting it was decided that Space Work Nights should try moving to Tuesdays at 6pm. Dave said he would send out a notice about this.

• One bathroom was marked Out of Order due to a possible leak.

• The key to our PO Box is still missing, but a replacement only costs $6-7.

• Jake brought in a new computer. We can use it to replace one of the janky ones.

• Don fixed the bagless vacuum. Someone used it to vacuum up nails and tacks, plus part of it wasn't sealing.

• There was a misunderstanding about the 3D printers' static IP addresses: They were made static awhile ago, then John messed with them, and now they're still static but have lower numbers.

Classes

• Member interest in classes was raised at the recent member meeting. Possibilities were discussed here.

  • Jason will be doing a leather belt making class for 4H.

  • Derek wants to do a knife making class for the general membership. The class would have a cost, and the possibility of some of the cost going back to the space was discussed.

  • Brad said he would talk with Connor, our Stained Glass Steward who previously talked about holding a class.

  • Matt volunteered to do a Soldering Class. He was very frustrated when zero people showed up the last time it was offered. This time it was suggested that we charge people for the class up front, rather than at the door. In the past we've done this through Meetup.com

Door Access Record Update

• Matt has a test copy working, but wanted to get board's okay before implementing it. The board said okay. He'll hook up the new test copy, but leave the old setup intact in case we need to revert to it.

Krieg Tool Shoot

• Krieg expressed interest in using our Wood Shop to photograph some of their products (a "tool shoot"). Matt met with them and gave them a tour.

• Krieg is interested, but they want to move some things around, like the CNC. They also said they would move everything back again. Board members were okay with this.

• The shoot could last for 12 hours, so the Wood Shop will be closed until they are done. We told them it would have to be on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

• They also asked if they could park a van in the courtyard. The board didn't think anyone would have a problem with that as long as our neighbors to the West can still get in and out.

• Matt suggested we could make them 2 keys that are only active for a day. The board thought this sounded fine.

• Krieg said they would pay us a location fee, but did not say how much (nor did we ask).

• They complimented us, saying no one else in town has a shop like ours, particularly for depth-of-field shots.

Wood Shop Purchase

• Jake would like to some new items for the Wood Shop, cost would be about $1500.

Vote to approve spending about $1500 on folding A-frame, a regular router lift, and more DeWalt batteries for the Wood Shop, to come out of General Funds.

Yes: 6

No: 0

Result: Passed

Meeting Adjourned

• General Life Advice: "Remember, a bolt can't be stuck if it's liquid."

• When it was mentioned that there's no cold water running to the sink in the South bathroom: "Guys!!!... I swear I do wash my hands, okay!??... Guys???... I swear!!!"

• Overheard from a discussion about working with a computer program: "It told me it lied to me. And that made me feel better about using it."