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Plenum 2021-09-21 Minutes

Venue

20:15 Open

Credentials

  • Present: Joyce, Elise, Jen, Valentine, Huiren, Caj, Roland, icedwater, Junhao, Andrei, Robert
  • Apologies:

Reports

Regulatory (Valentine)

  • ACRA Annual Report: Up to date. Next due 30 Apr 2022.
  • IRAS: C-S (tax filing): Up to date. Next is for YA2021 due 30 Nov 2021.
    • Koh has prepared the forms and submitted to Valentine for signing.
    • Valentine to update again once signed.
  • IRAS: ECI: Up to date: Next due 31 Dec 2021.
    • Dyana has forwarded an email with ECI filing notification to Valentine.
    • Valentine to log into IRAS and change the email address on file.

Finance (Jen)

Cash

  • $16.5K in the StanChart+PayPal as of 1 September 2021
    • (Unable to report accurately this month as bank credentials have stopped working.)
    • (Valentine, Jen) Submitted new internet banking form, awaiting access credentials and tokens.
    • New StanChart token not yet arrived, should arrive within a week?
  • 0.66914519 in BTC

Accrual (up/down $?/month)

  • The bank credential problem means that reporting this month is not possible. There do not appear to have been significant changes to income or expenses, so last month's figure is likely to be close:
    • Including predicted upcoming costs amortised monthly, we are down $1.44K a month.

Significant changes to regular expenses (if any)

Regular ExpensesAmountFrequencyMonthly Cost (amortised)
Rental340012$ 3,400.00
Utilities (est'd)45012$ 450.00
Internet14812$ 148.00
CorpSec2402$ 40.00
Accounting/Corp Services (est'd)30001$ 250.00
Aircon9801$ 81.67
Cleaning (est'd)8026$ 173.34
Income Tax (est'd)6001$ 50.00
$ 4,593.01
  • Rental to decrease from December: to be reported

Memberships/Contributions (Valentine)

Update on new members and contributions:

  • New members
    • Vincenzo
  • Downgrades
    • 1 x 128 -> 0
  • Upgrades

Current membership/contribution breakdown by tiers:

TierCount
165
320
6417
12811
2561
5121

Old Hardware Pattern (Andrei)

  • Ref: recent Google Groups posts
    • Books need to be curated into keep/donate piles (Joyce to help)

OHP amplification (was: social media officer) (Valentine)

  • Updates, if any.
    • Joyce to amplify OHP notices/updates.

Storage boxes (Valentine)

  • (Valentine) Implement charging for additional boxes starting in October.
    • Update membership page, announce in relevant channels, add to invoices as required.

Back room water issue / Shifting of Hardware Room (Valentine)

  • Ref: GitHub issue
    • It is still leaking. We need to empty the tank now.
    • A schedule would help.
    • Regular users of hardware room should be included in the schedule.

KGB premises lease renewal / Potential reboot (Valentine)

  • Ref: Hackerspace Design Patterns 2.0 "Reboot/Refresh Pattern"
    • We have sought consensus from members who have frequented the space regularly, and have signed a 3-year lease (with option to renew for a further 2 years) at 336D.
    • Unit will be taken over by us on 1 October 2021.
    • Renovation works to the new unit needed, to be discussed later.
    • Help with moving our considerable amount of furniture needed.
    • 336D Renovation and Move Telegram chat: https://t.me/joinchat/DVDFybwXYG4wZWU1

Governance reboot (Martin)

  • Updates, if any.
    • We need to decide how we move forward, as a non-profit or as a company (further discussion w/ more than Jen and Joyce, please).

Further adjustment of membership tiers (Valentine)

  • Updates, if any.
    • (none)

Website revamp (Valentine)

  • Updates, if any.
    • (none)

House rules (Valentine)

  • Discussion, if time permits.
    • (skipped)

Permitting large group gatherings in a COVID-endemic Singapore (Valentine)

  • Updates, if any.
    • Need to figure out how to organise events within prevailing government guidelines.
    • Potential pilot events: JuniorDev (no fixed date), Hackware (October)

Events (not currently delegated)

  • Upcoming events that HackerspaceSG might be interested in:
    • (none)
  • Roland suggested that this could be added to communication function.

Admin help wanted (Valentine)

  • We are actively looking for volunteers to reply to Facebook page messages asking to visit the space, among other things.
    • Handle inbox requests.

New business

Telegram group chat (Valentine)

  • We have a new Telegram group chat!
  • https://t.me/HackerspaceSG
  • Please press the big button when you join to confirm that you're human.

Server hosting business in the new space (Joyce)

  • Some members have seen the initial and revised proposals.
    • Joyce: 3x3m space in the front office for a "data floor".
    • Server space would be one of the nodes in a distributed data centre model.
    • Offer to handle construction and cabling in the new space for the data floor.
    • SGD 650/month proposal includes rent / membership for 3 members (512 + 64 + 64)
    • Caj: proposal should not be decided at this point as not all members have seen the new space yet.
    • May not be a good idea to sacrifice possibly the best part of the new space.
    • (Ventilation something hardware room something)?
    • Joyce: may be costly to site ventilation add-ons e.g. ducts and fans in suggested hardware room area.
    • Robert has posted 360º video of the new unit.
    • Further discussion of proposal in a semi-private Telegram group chat, as this is a business matter. Please contact Valentine for access.

(344B) Facility maintenance and issues (open)

  • Ref: https://github.com/hackerspacesg/KGB/issues
  • 344B aircon issues (Huiren)
    • Valentine: aircon servicing contractor has said that aircon in the middle should not be used, to cover up IR receiver.
    • Andrei: aircon in library smells mouldy.
    • Huiren: contractor said that there's nothing technically wrong, probably the carpet.

Miscellaneous HSG administrative matters

  • Ref: https://github.com/hackerspacesg/admin/issues
  • Code of conduct (Joyce)
    • Received messages from a supposed visitor to the space with inappropriate questions.
    • Code of conduct will need physical/online differentiation.
    • Huiren: who is going to enforce it?
    • Discussion to carry on in the GitHub issue.

336D renovation and move

  • Discussion, if time permits.
    • Valentine, Robert + contractor friend, Joyce were at the new space to enumerate the work needed.
    • Robert: proposed that this should be done by this week ahead of key collection on 1 Oct.
    • Robert: suggest putting the hardware room in the front to lower renovation costs to see if budget fits.
    • Valentine: budget tentatively set at 900 x 12 = 10,800.
  • 336D networking
    • Previous tenant used unfurnished toilet as a node for the network cabling.
    • Plan is to waterproof this existing toilet, i.e. everything inside must be removed.
    • Joyce's proposal includes absorbing cost of relocation of network ugliness (see above).
    • Floor plan and suggested modifications to be uploaded (Robert).
    • Caj: need a map of the network cables.
    • Robert: not very possible to do so given the current setup, drywall, etc.
    • Further discussion offline.
  • Renovation fundraising
    • Huiren: should we raise funds for renovations specifically?
    • Jen: social enterprise grant would be even more applicable to the new space.
    • Slides for renovation to be reviewed, discussion in Telegram group.

Any Other Business (AOB)

  • Huiren: cleaner is not cost-effective enough.
    • Need more details about specific cleaning arrangement, Robert suggested to check with Luther about cleaning contract.
    • Members should also be involved in the cleaning than they are now.
  • Caj: proposal for actually moving to 336D
    • Discussion in the Telegram group.
  • Roland's handover
    • Suggestion: identify functions/initiatives from plenum for executive team structure.
    • Keep plenum as a "clearing house".
    • New Zoom subscription required.
    • Equipment listed in Roland's email to be collected and distributed/reassigned.

Next meeting

  • 2021-10-19 20:00 tentative (tentatively scheduled for 3rd Tuesday of every month, but subject to change depending on the schedule of key people)

21:30 Close (approx)