This meetings blog is meant to keep everyone up to date to what was discussed at Velocipede collective meetings.

Collective Meeting Minutes - September 8, 2009
September 9, 2009

Present: Tim Barnett, Boson Au, Rigel Christian, Noah Bers, Anton Schaller, Gabby Vigo, Barbara Carignan, Anna Ricklin, Lars Peterson.

Doug, Trey, Rigel: Prospective members.

Amy: Visitor from BikeNow! Bikeshare organization. Kata: TA from MICA. Paulo: Facilitator for Saturday’s retreat meeting

Facilitator: Barbara
Scribe: Tim
Timekeeper:Boson

Tim: Hand Signals: facilitator and timekeeper can jump stack to do their job.
They allow quick communication w/o interruption
Agreement: flutter fingers
Direct Response: point both index fingers
Point of Process: make triangle with fingers

Planning retreat next Saturday.
Boson: Abel Street fair. Noon-5. We will table.  Kristin, Trey, and Jessie will be there, some minor maintenance.

Shop: We need to buy two more tool sets. Lars will repair toilets on Sunday, Noah Sez “No reserving Bikes”

Gabby’s fundraiser will be Friday Sept. 18th.

Proposal: Propose: donate B-a-B membership to Iraqi student aid program for one of their students.
Consensus: Go for it.

Proposal: Selling stuff on Craigslist: Starting with this Trek 1600 road bike
No one wants to buy some of the more expensive stuff we have lying around.  (passed out sample sale form)
Questions:    Trey: Any concern that road-worthiness safeguards are in place?
Lars: Is this okay with Craigslist TOS?
Suggestion: Note that bike may be sold
Noah: What’s the threshold of value?
Amy: Seemed okay with Craigslist Boston
Dileep: Sibley Bike Depot too
Trey: This is done rather widely
Rigel: Covered under our insurance? >> Yes.
Gabby: Can’t we use eBay?
Trey: Inspection process is important. These are As-Is sales
Dileep: We do have Sale forms that state that our sale is As-Is
Barbara: Let’s focus this on Craigslist.  It’s local.
Concerns:
Lars: let’s not undermine our mission to fix bikes by selling parts we need to fix bikes.
Tim: Let’s define the scope of this program as a later proposal.
Dileep: must take down listing immediately after sale. Tim will be point person.
Noah: Label the shop bike sheet with detailed instructions.

Proposal: Get D&O Insurance Policy:
Right now we have liability insurance, this does not protect our assets.   We have 11 directors (collective leadership) and three officers.  Premium is $595 for $500k coverage.
Questions: Does this cover mechanics?
No, our liability insurance deals with that.
Noah: where did this value come from?
minimum amount of coverage
Anna: How does this cover non-directors?
They are covered under liability insurance, also this policy.
Anna: What about non-injury coverage? i.e. sexual harassment?
Tim: Does this rate cover the collective regardless of the number of directors?
No.
Concerns: Rigel: Why not accept this policy and go over the policy in greater detail next month?
Lars: Yes. let’s do it.
Consensus:  Let’s get this policy.

Discussion: Amy from BikeShare: Start BikeShare program in Baltimore
Subscriptions: $40/year. (get details later)
Target: People who do not bike too often. Train commuters, students, quick rides.
Purpose: Making bicycling easy
Issue: program must be “part of the local community” to be successful.  Already has corporate sponsorship.

Tim: Thinks it’s awesome.  Theft? Bikes will be all over the place, parts will be stolen.
Amy: Bike is custom-made by Trek.  heavy, tracking device on bikes, parts are not easily removesd.
Barbara: What kind of support do you need?  Promotion?  Maintenance?
Amy: Not sure yet, looking for input.
Tim: Could help people getting into biking to get to our shop, among things
Anna: timeline?
Rigel: Is this for-profit?
Amy: Yes.
Anton: safety issues? helmets?
Amy: Could we support this program?
Boson: We can’t say at the moment.

Discussion: MICA community art class
MICA grad, TA for freshman class: Starting Nov 13th (Friday morning  between 9:00 and 3:00) would like us to show shop, do presentation of around two hours.
Barbara: can do Friday mornings
Boson: can do it too.
Noah: don’t we need to develop a curriculum?
Boson: point person:  Barbara.

Discussion:  MICA Bike Safety Day: Sat Sept 19th at 3:00 PM
About one hour of time, depending on curriculum.
Boson: Bike safety?  I am terrible.
Tim: will Barry (from one less car) be there?
Boson: maybe they’re just contacting us because that’s who they know…
Noah: We know a lot.
Boson: One Less Car has certified instructors.
Lars, Noah, Tim can work on this.

Discussion: MICA Community Involvement Day:
Friday Sept 25th from 11:30- 1:30 PM. Free. Table & Chairs.
Gabby: Sept 25th is radical book fair.
Palo: This is sort of an internship program?
Doug: We already have a program?
Tim: Let’s hold off on internships.
Anna: Who is available?  Tim, maybe?

Discussion: cups: reuse, Gabby will organize.

Discussion: Women’s/Trans night.
Gabby will be leaving for a while.
Barbara: It’s almost impossible to staff by yourself.
Lars: Who to contact if interested:  Barbara or Anna
Lars: We have a mailing list, I will set it up
Dileep:  More detailed questions on mailing list.

Discussion: Facilitator for long-term planning meeting.
Meeting will be on Saturday 10:00AM- 4:00PM at Benjamin Banneker museum.  Lunch will be catered.

Paulo:  (Passed out a handout)
Our process is pretty good.
Looks like we’ve changed over time.
His Role: Help us have the discussion.
Paid staff stay.  Volunteers’ motivations need to be considered so they stay around.
We’ll examine the agenda to start with… (see seven-layer cycle)

(Closed meeting session)

Announcements: Anna: Bike counts on Thursday.  Guilford & Mt. Royal, Broadway & Aliceanna, Falls& Maryland.  Times: 6:30 AM- 9:00 AM, 4:30PM-6:30 PM.
Gabby’s Yardsale on the 19th, Powers St.

Evaluation:
Lars: Should have read minutes, mission at 7:00 on the dot.
Tim: We did not get a whole lot covered, we should stick to our time limits.  Start on time.
Noah: He’s getting better at bringing email information to the meetings. Stuff should be ready to read at the start of the meeting.
Dileep: We should start on time. He’s sorry he was late.
Doug: impressed by how organized the meetings are.  Come to potluck on Friday.  We seem like we’re very much like a business.
Anton: Meetings are showing a lot of improvement. We are policing ourselves
Gabby: Loves hand signals.
Barbara: We have less side conversations, but  still the occasional side remarks.
Trey: We’re doing an okay job of giving people time to talk
Anna: We did a rockstar job.  As Facilitator, we should definitely focus on letting people do their roles , timekeeper should crack the whip.

Committee Meeting: Sept. 21st
Next General Meeting: October 5th.
Next meeting: Go over details of insurance policy, possible alternates.

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