Board of Directors Meeting 2024-04-27

Board of Directors Meeting 2024-04-27

April 27, 2024 Annual Meeting Minutes [APPROVED]

Xerocraft Board of Directors

Saturday, April 27, 2024 in person at Xerocraft

Meeting called to order at 1:01pm

In attendance: Mike R, Dusty R, Don C, Geoff S, Ben W

Meeting called to order at 1:06 at Xerocraft in the craft room.

Potluck style, food and drinks were served during the meeting.

President Dusty Reyes reported the following:

  • Xerocraft submitted for another grant, this is the 2nd year of a 3 year grant
  • XC raised membership pricing last year, this increased revenue by approx $30K
  • XC raised the required number of hours for work traders from 5hr/month to 12hr/month. We also have a volunteer coordinator. This resulted in volunteer hours increasing from 2900 hrs in 2022 to 4600 hrs in 2023.
  • Teachers now get paid to teach classes. This cost XC approx $2K but increased revenue approx $9,800
  • General Manager is now a paid position at XC. Shop managers and others are volunteers.
  • Don Cue is running for another 2 year term. He will be “at large” on the Board.
  • Mike Runde is running for another 2 year term. He will stay as Secretary.
  • Bob Foster is running for a 2 year term. He will be the Wood Shop rep.
  • Ben Winkler gave the treasurer report. He stated that revenues are staying ahead of expenses. We are trying to build a cushion for a Capital Expenditure account to help with equipment replacement and maintenance of the space. 

Questions from the audience:

  • Have we ever thought of a day pass or punch card system for daily access? Answer: We are not sure how to administer this type of system. We would need more volunteers.
  • Why were Open Hacks stopped and are they coming back in the fall?        Answer: Open Hacks were suspended for safety reasons because we don’t have enough volunteers and staff to have a person in each shop to supervise. Yes, they are coming back but in a different form, maybe 1 per month, or on a schedule so that we can have extra staff on hand. Discussion will continue with the Steering Committee. Board realizes that Open Hacks are part of Community Service but maybe not necessarily for free. Board also realizes that our paying members are very important to keeping XC’s doors open and they need access to shop time. 
  • Is WAMO (our landlord) doing anything to help out? Answer: WAMO is working to grade and improve the exterior courtyard. They will be installing a shade structure over the back door/deck. There are also plans for 2 new metal doors. One at the rear by the metal shop and a second in the basement. There is also a lighted sign that will be installed at the front door, possibly after July 1, 2024. WAMO is also raising rent as part of XC’s long term lease. Rent will be increased to approx $2,500/month starting in July 2024. After this rent increase our rent will only increase as “cost of living” percentage. Part of this is a “catch up” from COVID years. 
  • Are there any clubs that are currently using the XC space? Answer: There are currently 3 different clubs. 1) Bit Buckets Robotic Club, 2) Pima Engineering Club, 3) Repair Cafe. All 3 have different needs and requests. The Board is working on their pricing plans on a 1 by 1 basis. 
  • Can you explain the teacher pay program? Answer: We currently pay teachers to teach a course. Some teachers don’t want to be paid but would rather donate the money back to XC, or trade for work trade hours. This is very difficult to track to account for hours, etc. So the policy stays that all teachers will be paid. They can then use this money to “purchase” a membership. 
  • Parking continues to be a problem. Is anything being done about this? Answer: Parking is a problem, especially when there are special events. Due to the Downtown Links project parking is limited and will get worse when the project finishes in the next year. XC and Steinfeld Warehouse (WAMO) will need to look into renting parking spaces but that is in the future, nothing will change for now. 
  • What are XC’s top 3 priorities for the coming year? Answer: 
  • 1) streamline the XC processes and systems to get more efficiency
  • 2) change some of the by-laws to get rid of some older things that no longer apply 
  • 3) work on setting up a capital expenditure plan to help with equipment replacement and maintenance
  • Is there a chance to raise the budget for each of the shops? Answer: yes, the Board will look into this. 
  • Final thoughts? We are working on increasing community support. We need some help with social media and fundraising. We want to give back to the community but we still need to be profitable to keep the doors open. We also want to build more classes for members and the general public.  

Meeting adjourned at 2:45