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

Collective Meeting Minutes - June 7, 2010
July 12, 2010

Velocipede Bike Project
Collective General Meeting
June 7, 2010

Collective In attendance: Tim Barnett, Peter Hegel, Lars Peterson, Gabby Vigo, Ben Scully, Noah Bers, Anna Ricklin

Also in attendance:    Ginny Duncan, Charles Flaherty, Joseph Breeding

Scribe: Peter Hegel
Facilitator: Peter Hegel
Minutes: Lars Peterson
Timekeeper: Gabby Vigo
Stack-taker: Ben Scully

Meeting began at 7:15 PM

*** Reports:

Volunteer Meeting:    Tim reviewed the super-volunteer program and benefits
Timeline?

Consignment at LBS:    We won’t be doing this now.  The market isn’t there.

As-Is Sale:        As-Is Sale will be held June 20th.  We will spread the word at TDP.  talk to Tim Barnett if you want to be a part of selecting the bikes for this sale.

Facilitator:  We will begin listing “affirmations” as well as concerns during the “concerns” part of the collective decision-making process.

*** Proposals:
Herring Run workshop:
Starts 6/18, 6-7:30.  We will be there on 7/9, 7/16, and 7/30.
Contact person is Boson Au
Bikes will be “mostly rebuilt” to begin with
Gabby Vigo:  could do 9th or 16th
>> CONSENSUS:  We’ll do this workshop

Reservoir Hill workshop;
Friday AFTERNOONS.  Time not yet established.
Starts 6/25 runs 6/25, 7/2, 7/9, 7/16, 7/23, 7/30 and 8/6.
We will need to bring a set of tools.
Contact Person:  Lars Peterson
Charles Flaherty:  wants to be involved
>> CONSENSUS:  We’ll do this workshop too.  Will buy another toolset as discussed prev.

Tour dem Parks:
What we’ve done:  Mobile Mechanics, Repair stand.
This year a LBS will run the repair stand
Mechanics this year:
35-mile:    Lars Peterson, Tim Barnett
25-mile:     Rod Bruckdorfer, Noah Bers, Boson Au

Many people want to table, too.  Anna will find out how we can do this.
>> CONSENSUS:  We’ll do this

*** Discussions:

Decision-Making and quorum (led by Tim Barnett)
What do the bylaws say regarding quorum?  What kinds of decisions do we need quorum in order to reach?
result of discussion:  Proposal for next meeting:  Amend bylaws to require quorum to make any decisions in general collective meetings. (this has been our informal policy)

Eliminating half credit, half cash glass case policy (led by Lars)

Pete: What about the unemployed and/or poor?
> This really only applies to exceptional materials and parts only.  We’re not really clear on that right now.
Tim: We could have credit-only parts available for more than our “standard” prices.
Ben S: Do we have a cash flow problem?  So what if people get stuff for practically free?
Charlie: Why is there no collective-specific price?  Couldn’t the rules be different? Would Super-volunteers also get special price consideration?
also, the stuff here [in VBP] is our money, and really nothing else.
Joe: Re: Cash Flow:  Just sell bikes!  He does not feel that members of the collective should get any special benefits in this regard.
Tim: The [current?] policy is very helpful.
Ben; We must justify any need for cash.
Anna: The current system seems confusing.
Noah: This gives the collective members an unfair advantage. Let’s not get worked up about accelerating sales.
Charlie: Referring to UA bicycles, which is now exclusively an eBay shop.  This is not a good direction for us, as it steers parts away from the local community.
Lars: We will always have a cash flow “problem” until we can guarantee the long-term stability of the shop, which requires money.

Policy
Tim is putting together a binder with three sections:
Policy
Precedent: Things that we’ve done or not done.
Unfinished Business: Brought up in meetings but never done.
How can we change this?
Tim: We could make a policy change board
Gabby: Maybe we could go over policies at our meetings?
[?]:  Shouldn’t some of this go into a co-op users’ manual, along with the rules?
Anna:  Let’s break these [policies, etc] down by area!

Bike Racks for outside the shop:
Who should we talk to?  Nate.
Some city officials have intimated that the bike rack is no big deal.
BBW has racks that are moved daily.  Perhaps we could put a rack out in the no parking area in front of our shop and move it in at the end of the night?
Will we need special permission to do any of these things?
>> Gabby will follow up.

Ben Scully is leaving:
Ben will be leaving for 9 months.

July 5th: Meeting Scheduled
Announcement: see new bike route maps from the city!

>>>Ginny Duncan was accepted into the collective.

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