September 2025 - Board Meeting

09/03/2025 - Area 515 Board Meeting

09/03/2025 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

Vote to approve minutes of the August board meeting
Yes: 7
No: 0
Result: Passed

There are some checks that need to be signed.
Our PO Box will be renewed soon, we need to make sure our payment info is up to date with USPS (see next heading).
Dave obtained a new PO Box key and brought over our mail.
One of the letters we received concerned a class action lawsuit. We think it was legit so we didn't throw it away.

The big news recently was that we forgot to update the payment info needed to renew our domain name (area515.org). Here was the order of events as we've subsequently pieced them together:
- The domain was registered through namesilo. It was set to autorenew, however our payment info changed. On July 25th it expired.
- Namesilo emailed us many times, but they used an email account that isn't checked regularly.
- After it expired, Namesilo gave us a one month grace period which expired on August 25th.
- After that, Namesilo held an auction for the domain name. The winner of the bid apparently paid $116. We do not know who the winner is, therefore the Secretary shall henceforth refer to them as "Jerkface."
- Jerkface took the domain name, parked some skeevy advertising on it, then listed it on the domain auction site sedo.com with a minimum bid of $500. On the Saturday before this meeting, we offered a bid of $500 but have not heard back from Jerkface.
It was asked what we should do if our $500 bid is not accepted. The general response was along the lines of, 'Meh, it would be a chance to rebrand.'

The new member who needed retraining, mentioned in last month's minutes, chose to no longer be a member.

Vote to approve Lia X as an official Laser Steward, based on recommendation from current Laser Stewards, Brad and Bailey.
Yes: 7
No: 0
Result: Passed

We received $10k from the Prairie Meadows grant. Members pledged $3950 towards the new laser. The board voted to match up to $5,000 in new laser donations at their February 2025 board meeting. Consequently we have enough money to purchase the new BOSS HP-2440 laser.
Because the Secretary is anal retentive, a vote was taken to purchase the laser and whatever accessories the Laser Stewards decide we need.

Vote to approve purchase of BOSS HP-2440 laser and whatever accessories the Laser Stewards decide we need.
Yes: 7
No: 0
Result: Passed

We will probably have to remove the wall between the Laser room and the Wood Shop in order to get the new laser in there.
We'll coordinate delivery with Jerry. We'll need to use his loading dock.
It was suggested the Laser Stewards talk with Derek as he may be a good candidate to teach the small business class that was on our Prairie Meadows grant application.

Holding an event like this again was part of our Prairie Meadows grant application. Brad agreed to spearhead the effort, Meg volunteered to help as well.
Scheduled for Dec 6th, 1-5pm

The deadbolt in the door to the courtyard has been found unlocked recently. The door has a lock, but both the lock and the deadbolt should be engaged. If anyone notices this happening they should let Dave know.
It was asked why an RFID reader wasn't installed on the courtyard door. This is because Jerry's employees use that door every day and we don't want to get in their way.
Matt is still working on the new RFID door system, one that will record the times each key is used. It isn't installed yet, but Matt is going over the schematics of the current door system in preparation.
Darron let us know that he'll be taking his Saw Stop table saw home soon. The Wood Shop Stewards said they would look into replacement possibilities. We can also discuss it further at the October 18th member meeting.
Dave brought in 2 new servers to augment our security camera system.
Some day we should replace the rest of our fluorescent tubes with LED ones. Our LED supply can be found next to the cabinet in the Wood Shop.

When discussing how we can make the door to allow the new laser through: "Between the sawzall, angle grinders, propane torch, and sledge hammer we can get it in the door."
When discussing alternative domain names: " We could get area515.sucks, it's only $100 for the first year" "I want to be Area 516 because it's one better." "maker.space is only $5000 for the first year" "Let's not do this again."
Context lost to history... Person 1: "It looks a little unsafe." Person 2: (Considers for a second) "There are more unsafe things."

Last updated 4 months ago

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