[Fg-general] FreeGeek April Monthly Meeting Minutes

[Luke Closs]

For your reading pleasure.  Also on the wiki at:
http://wiki.freegeekvancouver.org/article/Monthly_Meeting_-_2009-04-14

I tried hard to get the minutes out on time this month.

FreeGeek Monthly Meeting
Tuesday April 14th 2009

Attendance: Luke, Bernie, Anthony, Frank, Randall, Dan, Ifny, Alex,
David, Sumi, Jack, Severin, Mike, David, Simon, Steven ,Gregor

Old business

Reports

Financial
4k revenue from scrap
Sales down, $12700 this month.   Possible factors - gift PC's,
slowdown in dropoffs.
Pickups slowing down a bit but large enough to keep Mike busy.
More pickups out in Coquitlam and Surrey.
$15 pickup fee and current economy could be discouraging people to use pickups.
Discussed alternative fees, e.g. not charging for (large) pickups or
using a donation scheme.
Noted that current pickup fee is significantly less than alternative
recyclers ($50-$60)

Staff
Adam left FG - directors agreed to pay out leave for the rest of his time.
Discussed the difficulty of running an open organization while
respecting the privacy and legal requirements of HR.
David has been volunteering in the warehouse and cleaning up the area.
Many were disappointed by Adam's abrupt departure, proposed a sendoff
for Adam via a yet-to-be planned FreeGeek Social

HR
Open positions (2) are looking to be filled, HR committee is sending
out questionnaires, resumes reviewed
Interviews scheduled for 16th/17th
Staff morale down from Adam's leaving.
Warehouse reorganization going well.
Following Adam's leaving, a proposal for staff conflict and discipline
is being reviewed.  An improved staff review process is also being
worked on.  Directors will have a large role in the new review system.
Noted that the organization of the new staff proposals are scattered
throughout wiki, proposal to improve structure.

Strategy
Mentioned a TV advertisement for an electronics recycling scheme,
questioned if new competition would have an effect on business.
Noted that FG cannot afford TV advertisements, and other recyclers
work as downstream recyclers too.
Public service announcements are a possibility for exposure, currently
we have radio spots but no TV.

Grant
See below.

Directors insurance
Megan tasked with sending in director's insurance form.  Simon to
follow up with Megan and insurance.


Events

Earth day upcoming on April 22.  EA rounding up staff hardware for
pickup by FG, equipment drive.
1 year anniversary of e-stewardship coincides with Earth Day.
Annual General Meeting - Sunday May 24th, Maritime Labor Center
Invited to attend CosFest (Calgary Open Source) but may not be able to.
Ubuntu Vancouver is having a release party, Fri April 24


New business

Standardize meeting minutes

Currently no fixed format and inconsistencies between minutes
Improvement could be effected by a paid staff member, fixed form.
Discussion deferred to next week.

Helpful links for you to review:
* http://wiki.freegeekvancouver.org/article/General_Meeting_Procedure
* http://wiki.freegeekvancouver.org/article/Agenda_Proposal


Proposed budget

Budget proposal has been created by Ifny and David, covering 2009.
Vancity grant would be required for full HR retention, operating costs.
Budget includes staff benefits that have been in the pipeline for a long time.
Covers 5 full time staff Jan-Mar.
Full-time staff pay $24000 - budget follows this staff pricing from
April onwards.
Vancity grant will cover Build and Education coordinator salaries.
When grant runs out, may have to look at ending one of these positions.
Bank balance is positive but not a large cushion.
Noted that the budget is drastically different from last year.
Reflects large growth but smaller cushioning margins.
Budget predicts store income very conservatively ($12000 up to August)
Ifny stepped through individual budget items.
New accounting services charge now that we use an accountant.
Suggested comparing budget with previous year's to see changes in
usage trends - utilities, wages.
e.g. power use much larger than last year's - some suggestions to
reduce utility use -  closing open doors, using LCD monitors, pulling
inactive power adapters.
Ifny noted the budget figures for gas were based on the last couple of
year's usage.
Noted that utilities make up a relatively small percentage of operating costs
Most of the operating costs is for staff.
Question raised if the ratio of paid workers:volunteers has changed.
Currently 1070 registered volunteers, no exact figures on active
volunteers.  Typical to have 15-25 daily volunteers.
Rent has increased as of March now that FG rents the entire venue -
from $1851 to $2880
Paying $285/mo for storage, limited capacity.  Differing views on
whether the need for storage will increase or decrease this year so
have budgeted for the entire year.
Proposal for a "build-party" event after hours, for processing build fodder.
Training programs budgeted, including communication and first aid
courses for staff.
Budget does not include costs to produce a safety instruction manual
and have it reviewed by safety consultants.
Calls for volunteers to help with the safety manual.  Safety joint
committee will need to be formed.
Questioned why FreeGeek does not get government grants.  FG has
applied for some govt grants but not received any, pointed out
constraints that grants impose, meeting requirements, external
auditors.
Can be difficult to communicate the objectives of the organization and
how they relate to grant requirements.
FG has been run successfully as a non-profit business and this is the
primary means of raising revenue.
One of the starting principles was to keep FG financially independent.
David felt the budget was more realistic than last year's and
relatively uncontroversial because not running in deficit.
Next budget will be more difficult because will not include Vancity
grant money - recommendation to begin the 2010 budget earlier.
Proposal to formally adopt as the official budget, no objections
raised, consensus reached.


RCBC Board Election

RCBC (Recycling Commission of BC) board of directors meeting is coming up.
President is resigning, new president will be appointed from the board.
Proposal: FG supported candidates will be selected by a working group,
Ifny to put out a call for volunteers.  Consensus reached.


Weekly "Internal day" proposal

Staff under high workload.
Some activities (e.g. policy production, discussion) being overlooked
because staff do not have enough free time to attend to.
Proposal to have an "internal day" every week to free up staff for
these activities.  Volunteers will continue working normal duties on
these days.
Suggested to have more trained/experienced volunteers rostered on internal days.
Questioned if staff require a whole day.  Luke noted the proposal is
to run the internal days for 3 months, not a long term proposal.
Ifny felt that a full day was appropriate.
Suggestion to have volunteers finish an hour early, leaving an hour of
extra time at the end of the day for staff to work without
distractions.
David had an alternate proposal to shut down FG for two weeks, to get
through backlog of outstanding tasks.  Suggested Friday as the
internal day, allows preparation for busy Saturdays.
Objective is to "go slower to go faster later" - taking some time to
reorganize will help FG run more efficiently in future.
Frank suggested having staff take half-days to work on backlog while
keeping FG running as usual.
David noted that current work backload is affecting staff training of
volunteers - less staff numbers working with volunteers and less
attention due to other work distractions.
Suggestion to avoid scaling back activities that produce revenue.
Suggestion to have volunteers that do not work on the benches, but are
solely responsible for helping volunteers at stations.  Role of
support volunteers was raised, covers these responsibilities.
Suggestion to rotate a free staff member and have others working
normally, allowing FG to continue running while letting a staff member
work on tasks.  David noted that staff have dedicated roles and so
wouldn't work out.  Implementation of some suggested ideas would
require staff to create more structure/processes, adding to existing
workload.
Ifny noted that we can't close receiving or the store, and the store
requires full time staff.  Suggested teaching first-timers in groups.
Sumi noted volunteers looking for more orientation information.
Environment and support given to volunteers directly affects the
volunteer experience, perception of working at FG.
Proposal for internal day for 3 months, day to be picked by staff with
a brief review at the next monthly meeting - no objections raised,
consensus reached.


Build program & grant

Vancity has given a grant for $42000 to cover specific tasks hiring
two people (education and build coordinator) to implement a build
program.
Plan to implement grant requirements was outlined in the grant proposal.
David raised questions of Steven to determine the status of phases of the plan.
Steven noted the plan is behind schedule in parts.  Transition/startup
issues, coordination.  Noted the plan was ahead in terms of numbers of
computers being taken out of the waste stream, the primary objective
of the grant.
David raised concerns about fulfilling grant requirement and
implications of failing to fulfill obligations.
David noted no formal procedures available for running the build
program, making it difficult to transition if build coordinator is
replaced.
Vancity have been informed that the program start was delayed due to
time taken to find a build coordinator.
David proposed a decision should be made to either return the grant
money or we commit to the program and begin drawing from the funds.
Ifny noted the decision to start spending would affect the formal
start date of the program.
Question raised if the objectives were reasonable. Ifny felt they
were, Steven had concerns about the responsibilities outside of just
building but overall were OK.
Luke asked Steven how to get visibility and accountability on the
program status.
Steven recapped program status.
Proposal for build program coordinator to come up with a monthly plan
of action items from the original Vancity grant that can be checked at
the next monthly meeting.
Ifny raised concerns about inducting new build volunteers, pointed out
need for procedures and more process, visibility.  Concerned about the
state of the program and meeting grant requirements.
David noted that there have been times when external customers have
been unable to source desktop PC's from FG, no infrastructure for
build program.
David raised the point that the 40 machines built last week have all
been sold, citing high demand as a reason that PCs are unavailable
from the store. e.g. NDP ordered 50-100 machines recently.  On a
general basis the build capacity could fill the store but high demand
results in unavailability.
Sumi questioned the objective of the program for FG - idea is to set
up the infrastructure for a build program and have a pool of trained
volunteers able to keep the program running.  Noted the 20-hour
adoption program was the most popular program run by FG.  Relies on
training volunteers to help new volunteers, internal day would also
help set up infrastructure goals.
Ifny noted the difference between building computers and coordinating
a build program, noted that it's easy to get distracted by the former.
Problems raised with visibility of recent Adoption vs Build Meeting Minutes.
Steven - Actions from the meeting will be used to guide starting the
build program tomorrow, but can be changed at a later date.
Luke proposed to get a status plan of the program covering the first
two months from Steven for next month - no objections.
David suggested a HR committee organize a meeting to address internal
concerns regarding the build program.  Can be elevated by committee to
FG directors and staff - no objections.
Need a way for the planning and progress to be made visible and enable
participation from the FG community.  Noted that sending the meeting
minutes to staff only was an oversight.
Suggestion to catch up on Vancity proposal items while working through
build program setup as outlined in minutes.
Severin - if we're paying a build coordinator then the formal start
date is irrelevant - money has been spent.
Luke - propose starting the program, spending the money, form a report
of current status, work through backlog of work on the program and
improve communication on the project.  Consensus to do it!


Staff conflict/discipline proposal

David summarized history of proposal sent to mailing list (also on the
wiki, see http://wiki.freegeekvancouver.org/article/Staff_Disciplinary_Policy_and_Procedure).
Randall suggested getting a legal review for the procedure.
Proposal to tentatively adopt the procedure as a living document,
pending legal review - no objections.  David volunteered to find a
lawyer, starting at our previous lawyer.
Any changes to the document should be considered separate revisions,
and should follow normal proposal procedures.
Luke proposes after legal review, staff be educated about the plan and
sign it.  Consensus reached to proceed with that.



Proposal for warehouse coordinator

Finding a replacement for Adam.
2 weeks getting warehouse organized and set up.
Final week to train replacement warehouse coordinator.
Mike, Sumi expressed support for David to be coordinator.
Proposal to contract David at regular staff wage for the next 3 weeks
- consensus reached.
Stephen proposes: Amendment to extend it back retroactively to cover 4
weeks - consensus reached.


Next Meeting: 05-12 - Facilitator: Gregor, Scribe: Jack?