Board Minutes September 2009

Boiler Room Board Meeting Minutes

September 16, 2009

Present:

Board Members: Steve Boruch, Terri Comstock, Andrew Reding (Treasurer), Maitland Hardyman, Cory Ench, Catska Ench (President), Mary Hilts, Gigi Callazakis, Chauncey Tudhope-Locklear (Vice President), Amy Smith (incoming Secretary)

Also Present: Noah Prince (Incoming Manager), Jason Green (Outgoing Manager), Annette Huenke, Elena Carianna (Americorp Intern)

Board Members Not Present: Julia Cochrane, Bruce Marston

GENERAL:

August minutes tabled pending Steve changing his vote on a motion

**ACTION ITEM** Steve will contact Julia so that the minutes can be changed and the minutes re-submitted for approval in October

The Board of Directors accepts Julia's resignation from the postion of secretary and acknowleges leave of absence for up to nine months.

Catska nominates Amy as Board Secretary. Steve seconds the nomination. All present in favor.

Andrew has scheduling conflict with third Wednesdays and requests Board meeting be held on second Wednesdays. Gigi mentions need to solidify date, not confuse people. Gigi motions that Board meetings be held on the second Wednesday each month. Maitland seconds the motion. All present in favor.

**ACTION ITEM** Catska will resume work on the "Board Board"

COMMITTEE DISCUSSION:

Some discussion of Committee make-up and chairs

Building Committee: Steve

Policies Committee: Andrew

Development Committee: Mary

Advisory Council Committee: Gigi

**ACTION ITEM** Chairs of Committees will send email to board with list of committee members and meeting schedules. Chairs will update and send out this list as necessary.

Forming Nominating Committee, Mary volunteers to chair. Also volunteering for committee: Noah, Amy, Cory and Andrew. Tasked with ensuring board conforms to by-laws regarding board members, recruiting youth representative, and recommending potential board members to the full board. Consider adding two board positions--not all positions are filled currently.

Advisory Council update:

Gigi has taken the lead in creating guidelines for the advisory council. To invite someone to the advisory council, the president or the president's designee will have an informal conversation with a person, bring the matter before the board and then send a formal invitation to the person in question.

The Advisory Council members will primarily be approached for advice by the manager and the president.

Advisory Council members will receive an email copy of the meeting minutes

Andrew motions that the newly created Nominating Committee be empowered to recruit Advisory Council members. Maitland seconds the motion. All present in favor.

TREASURER REPORT:

To date, $50 income from appeal letter

Not able to pay all bills

In October, the second $1500 installment of property taxes is due

DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:

Ironclad promise not to touch $10,000 development money without permission from Steve Moore

Board members encouraged to send more appeal letters with added BR funding sources and balance sheet

Interested in starting 500 Club or Boiler Makers again

Noah is putting together a newsletter

An auction is in the works, and details will be discussed at Development Committee meetings

POLICIES COMMITTEE:

Policy on banning and re admittance was reviewed by the policies committee

Cory motion that the policy be accepted with the changes made during the board meeting

Maitland seconds the motion

All present in favor

"BOILER ROOM POLICY ON BANNING AND RE-ADMITTANCE

The General Manager may ban individuals from Boiler Room premises either for serious violations of rules and policies, or for repeated violations of a less serious nature, where warnings have been ignored. These bans are not to be confused with the temporary situations in which a person on shift duty asks someone to leave the premises for the duration of the shift, or until the case can be reviewed by the General Manager.

The General Manager may set a period for exclusion from the premises, or in very serious cases may ban an individual indefinitely.

Reasons for the bans will be recorded in writing, and kept confidential in a secure location. A separate list of banned individuals, and the periods of the bans will be available behind the counter to whoever is on duty. That list will not state the reasons for the ban.

If the excluded individual believes the ban to be unjust, he or she may appeal to a committee consisting of the Board officers and the youth members of the board. The committee will meet in closed session to help assure confidentiality.

To be considered for re-admittance prior to the conclusion of a fixed length ban, or to seek termination of an indefinite ban, banned individuals must submit written apologies stating what they did, why they did it, and what they are doing to correct the situation, regain trust and make amends. These written apologies will be returned to the applicant at the end of the probation period (see below).

Applications for re-admittance will be considered by a committee consisting of the General Manager, Board officers, youth members of the board, and other employees. The committee will meet in closed session to help assure confidentiality. If the expulsion resulted from an offense against an individual, the aggrieved individual will also have a right to participate. The applicant will in that case be asked to apologize to that individual, and provide restitution where appropriate.

In all meetings, participants will be reminded that unless an illegal behavior needs to be reported to the police, what happens in the meeting stays in the meeting and confidence must be kept.

The severity of the infraction(s) will be an important consideration in determining how soon an application for re-admittance may be considered. In addition, the more serious the infraction, the greater the degree of evidence that will be required indicating that the applicant has made good faith efforts to correct the underlying problems.

As a condition of re-admittance, individuals must commit to respecting Boiler Room policies. They will be on probation for a period to be determined by the General Manager, with any further violations leading to a resumption of the ban."

Tobacco issue brought up by Noah, request to change from smoke-free to Tobacco-Free. Will not be searching anyone, hope to better live up to our mission statement.

Asking people not to roll tobacco or have visible tobacco product inside the Boiler Room. Allows us to comply with "anything illegal outside the Boiler Room is not allowed inside the Boiler Room" in reference to under 18 smoking.

Andrew motions that house rules change from smoke-free to tobacco-free. Maitland seconds the motion. All present in favor.

BUILDING COMMITTEE:

Sink is here, faucet will be ordered Sept 17th

Considering a drain in the floor

City camera on the end of a drain snake found the blockage in the drain--tree roots from a now-dead tree

Every six months or so, drain will need to be snaked out, borrow camera yearly to check condition of pipe

Vroom sold to Steve and Terri for $1000

MANAGER REPORT:

Holding Grand ReOpening on October 10th

**ACTION ITEM** Acquire list of contractors from Jason

Working well with Americorps Interns, Elena Carianna and Anna Vendola

Reviews petty cash fund terms

Figuring out ordering system, weighing Costco vs. local vs. Sysco. Will probably still need to go to Cash'n'Carry monthly

Wish list: Bathroom thingy mounted, storage in bathroom (Steve, Cory and Jason have solutions), hand dryer for bathroom, more shelf space in front room (Jason has solution), stress mats/industrial kitchen mats

Ellie Spitzbart and Collin Cabe will split the music/programs internship

There will be a volunteer appreciation party September 20, Annette donates $50 for food on the spot, Chauncey donates $10

Would like to work with an outside consultant on development/strategic planning

Would like to meet with Board Members individually to discuss individuals who were banned before became manager

Requesting a notebook computer, Andrew feels we can buy one from Noah's moving fund

Steve motions we spend the money from Noah's moving fund on a notebook computer, with the computer being Boiler Room property

Terri seconds the motion

All present in favor

SUNRISE COFFEE CONTRACT:

Jason suggests bring time down to two years

Terri points out that Bill and Sue have carried us through tough times, should say thanks and sign after looking closely at copyright issue

Andrew wants to send it to an attorney to look at, feels five years is too long

Gigi suggests reviews written into contract

Chauncey feels a five year contract is too limiting

Catska wants to see the contract again

Cory doesn't feel we're procrastinating, wants to make sure Sunrise can't claim our logo

Andrew feels the percentage donated is too small

Jason says Sunrise wants a five year commitment to ensure stability and see that all the product is sold

**ACTION ITEM** The Sunrise contract will go to Steve Guillard for review

NEXT BOARD MEETING:

Wednesday, October 14th, 6 p.m.

The Boiler Room

711 Water Street