Creative arts committee meeting 20210111
Creative Arts Committee Meeting
January 11, 2021
Meeting called to order at 7 p.m.
MINUTES:
Attendance:
Judy Kriehn*, Chair
Beth Appleton*, Sewing SIG leader
Liz Withers*
Lara Rosenblith, Vice Chair
John Norine, Leather SIG leader
Paul Wilson, Large Format Printing SIG leader
Astrud Aguirre
Cary Fleming, Dye-Sublimation SIG leader
(* denotes persons attending "in person". All other attended virtually.)
VOTES:
Approval of December committee meeting minutes:
Motion: Beth Appleton, Second: Lara Rosenblith
Vote: For - Unanimous
Motion to adjourn:
Motion: Beth Appleton, Second: Cary Fleming
Vote: For - Unanimous
Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
SIG Reports:
Dye-Sublimation - reported confirmation that the on/off switch is the problem preventing the 3D Press from turning off. Replacement part - covered by warranty - is being shipped. Cary will install.
Sewing - reported efforts underway to get machine service done.
Resin - Sam has taught his first class, and has plans for more.
Discussion Items:
(Old Business)
Chair made update on efforts to upgrade lighting throughout the space.
(New Business)
Chair reported on Finance plans to launch migration from the old committee financing method (combo of monthly stipend and honorarium co-pays) to an semi-annual budget process. Committee members in attendance were supportive of the move, but concerns were voiced about ensuring that checks/balances were also initiated by the board to prevent a chair from depleting the entire committee budget in a very short period via "under the $200 discretionary limit for chairs" purchasing power - bypassing the committee approvals altogether. Also concerns expressed about ensuring that members might be approved as committee chairs in future that might not take their responsibilities as seriously as they should. Discussion included responsibility of committee members at large to insist upon accountability and the added value of having purchasing agents separate from committee chairs to add an additional layer of accountability. Chair took notes to share with DMS Treasurer/Board.
AGENDA:
Approve minutes from December meeting:
(posted with agenda here: https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Creative_arts_committee_meeting_20201214)
Chairman's report (aka Old Business):
Infrastructure has begun getting our new computers for the digital room ready for deployment. One obstacle we've encountered on the vinyl cutter-connected system is that the software requires a license code. And thus far, I've found nobody who knows where that information might be. Worst case scenario, the Titan gets taken out of service and the new cutter is deployed with no training available. Ack.
SIG Reports/Requests
Sewing
Beth is pursuing the machine servicing issue. Neither of us have had time to get far on the "selling of the Consew" machine. If we consign to an online auction house, we will need somebody with a pickup truck to help us schlep said machine/table to the auction house. Then, be available to pickup the Juki we want to adopt to bring it to DMS.
Leather
Reports all is good for their SIG.
FiberArts
I returned a couple of items that got mixed in with the Hargrave donation to David Hargrave last week. He indicated he was pleased we made the effort to return them.
Resin
Sam has taught his first resin class. Class went wellOnly had one student, but was a day class. Will schedule next class in evening or weekend to see if sign-ups increase.
Wide Format Printer
_______
Other Discussion Topics
COMMITTEE FINANCE: MIGRATION TO BUDGET MODEL
The Finance Committee is planning on putting the “move to budgeting process for committee financing” in front of the board for the January meeting.
- The budget process is intended to cover small tools, consumables, maintenance, etc.
- Committees would still be expected to vote on/document via WIKI-posted meeting minutes expenditures not eligible for Chairman approval without a vote.
- Chairmen would still be able to approve small expenditures (up to $200) to cover unexpected needs between committee meetings but would be expected to keep the overall budget term limits/monthly budget total in mind when doing so.
- Major repairs or big purchases would be forwarded to the board for approval as they do today.
The budget process would replace the current method of committee funding, which is usually a combination of funds raised via honorarium and in many cases stipends.
- The “committee-directed” half of each class honorarium would be eliminated.
- Only the “paid directly to the teacher” honorarium would move forward
Note: I asked what would happen to honorarium payments if the instructor wanted to direct it to a committee. Jason said he would need to consult the Board on that question.
- Committee stipends would go away.
These had been directed by the Board to committees like CA that had many consumable items that couldn’t easily or fairly be charged to users. Ex: Sewing needles. Thread.
I asked what would happen to funds collected via the payment kiosks for consumables would go. Would they be returned to the committee budget? Or go to the general fund?
- The board wants to encourage committees to seek member payments for consumables when it is reasonable.
- Ergo, payments received via kiosks would be returned to the committee budget.
The proposed budget for Creative Arts is:
- $4,350 for 6 months (or $725/month)
As you may know, our membership numbers have fallen dramatically due to COVID, putting some financial pressure on the space. We’re in a good position long-term due to large reserves but we’re basically running break-even on a monthly basis. We’d be able to increase the budgets, once we start to see membership growth pick back up, hopefully next year.
Based on the expenditures our committee has approved over the last few months, I think this figure is quite reasonable. We just need to develop a plan for SCHEDULED purchasing vs. OMG! WE’RE OUT purchasing so we don’t have a large clump of high dollar consumables hit us at once.
So. Do any of y’all see any other issues/scenarios that Jason and the Board should address in this plan? I think that universally, we all want DMS to be positioned to thrive once we get past the pandemic crazies. This is one part of laying this foundation.
