Present: Tif, Len, Stormie, Cory, Chinhae, Graham, Phoenix, Kate, Lorenzo, Frog, Beryl, Dwain, Leah (facilitator), Lyssa, Bernard, Caitlyn, Philip, Paul (minutes)

Kermit (first meeting)

Minutes approved.

Chinhae: Saw a skinny white guy casing the joint early in the morning, including in an unidentified compact with a white woman with red hair. Lock your doors.

Point of information: Maybe we should lock the laundry room at night.

POI: Maybe we could re-key the laundry room with the commons key and post a sign that the room will be closed to non-residents during night hours.

(Caitlyn) We need to figure out some long term solutions to food safety stuff in the commons.

Here are a few major problems I've seen that need to get addressed.

1. Mice/mouse shit. I found two cardboard boxes full of mouse shit which is disgusting and potentially dangerous. We need to deal with the mice and in the meantime make sure there's nothing out for them to eat

2. Bugs in flour. Flour keeps getting left out on pantry shelves which means mice and bugs get into them. The two containers of flour we have got filled from bags that had been left out previously and now they're full of bugs. Another two smaller bags needed to get thrown out because mice got into them and shit in there.

3. Leftovers. I know for a fact that Lyssa has bought tupperwares for the commons to store leftovers in but they keep disappearing so we're back to the original problem of leftovers getting stored basically in whatever they were cooked in. I also feel like leftovers rarely get eaten so it honestly might make sense to just throw them out if they don't get eaten after like a day or two. I've personally started erring on the side of cooking less food in order to minimize/eliminate leftovers.

Caitlyn: There are mice issues. There’s a mouse hole that needs to get patched up by maintenance. We need to keep flour so that it doesn’t get mice and bugs in it. And, I’d like to get Tupperware.

Bernard: We should not store flour in the fridge. The cold destroys the flour composition. And someone poured the old, weevil-infested flour into the new flour. People need to stay aware of health and safety in there and close containers afterwards, that’s why we have bugs.

POI: We’re not required to be a commercial kitchen but we should try to keep to those standards.

POI: I’m going to get some signs printed about some of those rules.

Lyssa, food buyer: I’ll try to keep more tupperware stocked.

POI: We should buy more restaurant-supply tall containers, cambros.

POI: I’d be fine with disposable containers too.

POI: That sounds like an action item, and maintenance has an item as well.

Discussion closed.

(Steward) Officer Reports

Beryl, steward: Not much to report.

Stormie, former membership coordinator: I believe Fred’s out, and we should be able to move someone into it.

POI: There’s a futon that needs to get tossed, and we should re-key the unit.

Bernard, kitchen manager: I come in very early in the morning and DCU is getting done.

POI: I’d like to see the position with a description and elected, if it’s an officer position.

Stormie, labor czar: I’ve created a description for the kitchen manager position, still need to get it approved by the house.

Leah, board: We’ve been trying to streamline meetings. We’ve got a new bookkeeper and closed out some old financial books, saving us some money.

Lyssa, food buyer: I finally got curbside to work, so I can go pick up orders without having to have the card or take delivery, which sometimes gets delivered to the wrong place. Please write specific things on the board and I will make it happen - we have some great cushion right now.

Bernard: I have a Sam’s Club card.

Stormie: We’ve also been working with Sasona to get a CostCo card.

POI: I appreciate the receipts being posted. I think it would make sense to meet with the cooks to figure out the shopping list.

Lyssa: I was planning on going to the kitchen manager/cooks meeting too.

Stormie: That’s part of the new kitchen manager description too.

Philip, grounds: Grounds is going good. There’s one person who hasn’t been doing labor - I need to talk to her.

Len, treasurer: I’m working on getting maintenance reimbursements and a few bills posted for our bookkeeper. I’ll be sending an invoice to NASCO for our maintenance last few months. They know we’ll not be sending the full payment in September. I’ll come back with the June/July/August costs later when they’re done. June was a doozy with the stairs. We’re still in OK shape. Hopefully we’ll be getting cards - MULTIPLE cards - from our new Frost accounts next week.

Stormie, membership coordinator: Most everyone has committed to signing a lease addendum. I’ll post a notice to vacate for the one remaining person. We’re going to change the locks in 104 and get Dwain a new roommate.

Stormie, NP board rep: NASCO Properties has been going through a rough patch with Peach Co-ops and other co-ops. There’s been a tax issue. Cash is very short. They’ll owe late lease payments. We’ve been working on selling the Peach Co-op properties in Providence. I helped reverse a decision that one of those properties only be sold to a mission-aligned organization, a decision made on the assumption that the other properties would sell quickly, which they did not. There’s another meeting September 15th.

Stormie, labor czar: People have four hours of labor. Flex labor can be done by anyone. Cooks also have cleanup duties, which makes them 4 hour positions. Kitchen manager is reinstated. If your assigned times don’t work, let me know and we’ll work it out. Targeting a labor holiday in October.

Chinhae for Phoenix, events: We had a movie night last week. Trying to have more dry or sober events, to be more accessible. I’m receiving an hour of Phoenix’s labor for doing announcements.

Stormie, labor czar: Unfortunately events is only 3 hours, and officerships need to be 4 hours to delegate a labor hour. I’m fine with it, especially as it’s an accessibility issue - let’s talk about it.

Tif, bookkeeper: Signed a payment plan with Robbie. Quarters are being handled by Russ for two weeks starting on Thursday. Update your automatic payments - our rent has increased but apartments dot com doesn’t automatically update the payment amounts, so you have to do it manually. Don’t forget to do that.

Frog, maintenance: Still getting into the swing of things. Trying to do Wednesday maintenance meetings - you’ll get an extra hour of maintenance just for showing up.

POI: Thank you to the maintenance team for moving swiftly to replace my broken fridge.

Cory: There’s a ton of water damage under the roof - a lot of the sidewalls and soffit is rotten and full of holes. Birds are living in one, I think. This is a long-term issue we need to deal with and let NASCO know about. It’s a pretty significant contract for structural issues.

No new business.