Meeting Minutes

Free Ride Council Meeting Minutes
3.10.2018 || 12:00pm – 2:30pm || Everyday Café
Attendees: Scott, Tom, Tess, Kyle, Dave, Katie, Joel, Hannah
Absent: Jennifer

Agenda

1. Summer Hours
   a. Starting April 1st
   b. Weekly Hours = Monday Volunteer Nights, Wednesday Women & Queer Nights, Thursday Open Shop Nights, Saturday Open Shop Afternoons
   c. Hanna is going to host Volunteer Nights starting this Monday to focus on shop rearrange
2. Shop Rearrange
   a. Have cabinets in place and painted
   b. Started organizing parts in milk crates, still need about 8 more milk crates
   c. Tom is going to cut 55-gallon barrels for tire storage after Hanna draws up designs
   d. Construction Junction has $3 bike racks we could use for rims, Scott will grab soon
3. Tee Shirts
   a. New short-sleeved T-shirts have arrived
   b. Lime green and army green, unisex and female cuts
   c. All staffers should be wearing them during open shops! Staffers grab!
   d. Scott spent 20+ hours, the printer spent 20+ hours making these (donation)
4. Volunteer Portal
   a. Scott presented design
   b. $800 to develop (discounted)
   c. Can use emails that volunteers provide for initial survey/follow-up to their first visit
   d. Discussion about unused hours for volunteers / zeroing out hours after a time
   i. Unnecessary because there should be plenty of storage space to keep everyone’s hours
5. Women & Biking Forum
   a. Katie has been talking to Jane && Free Ride is Co-sponsoring
   b. Ryder, Danielle, Katie + are helping out with the Fix-a-flat workshop & marshalleing the finale ride
   c. Scott will print more cards to hand out to participants (non-event specific)
   d. Should Free Ride corporate sponsor BikePGH?
6. Bike & Brew
   a. Hanna and Carya had idea to do BYOB and fix up bikes
   b. Discussion about street-ready and bicycle safety checklist
   c. Maybe Second Friday of the month?
7. Classes
   a. Discussion about classes
   b. Aryn, Carya, Ted have expressed interest in teaching – Tom will check in
   c. Will start in May so we ca check back in about when/how much
   i. Potentially Tuesday nights & pay-what-you-can?
8. “Overly Helped”
   a. Discussion about volunteers/volunteering in the shop space
   b. Asking someone if they are being “overly helped” could be easy/PC way to check-in
   c. Maybe we could have a “novice station” for those that might need more help?
   d. Maybe we could have a volunteer “class” about how to best help someone?
   e. Katie will work on poster for volunteer guidelines, will send to Scott
9. Tag Team Staffers
   a. Having two staffers at each open shop
   b. 1 greeter, 1 mechanic
   c. Will need more staffers to step-up to support this
   d. Everyone will ask their people
   e. Katie will ask W+Q staffers
10. Price Tags
    a. Ready to go, Scott will print
11. Volunteer Summer Kick Off Event
    a. April 30th (Monday Volunteer Night)
    b. Invite all volunteers, 1 part “class” for how to volunteer, 1 part “thank you/morale” for appreciation, 1 part staffer recruitment
    c. Maybe we could have swag bags for people

Free Ride Council Meeting Minutes
2.10.2018 || 12:00pm – 2:00pm || Everyday Café
Attendees: Scott, Tom, Tess, Kyle, Dave, Katie, Jennifer, Hanna
Absent: Joel

Agenda

1. Reuse Fest
   a. Saturday, April 21st
   b. Scott will make poster/flyer
   c. We have 2 areas at event: loading bikes and tabling (BikePGH also offered to table for us)
2.  Pittsburgh Feminists for Intersectionality
   a. March 8th (international women’s day) asking to use the shop 9-3pm
   b. Jennifer will open shop/be at event
   c. UPDATE: Event cancelled
3.  Officer Duties
   a. Do we need “operational goals” and to delegate?
   b. Jennifer will compile list of duties that need to be done (at all) and we will come back together to delegate
4. Volunteer Digital Log
   a. Scott brought template, discussion around all the functions it should/could do
5. Shop Rearrange
   a. Built 50 bike stands last weekend, now need to attach to the walls
   b. 2nd phase is the rack, still figuring that out (and liability)
   c. Dave is interested in new (fold up) white board from CJ since we will take the one off the wall
   d. UPDATE: Katie got one free for us
6. Email List
   a. Problems = hard to use for 2-way communication, different lists (council, staff, volunteers, W+Q) overlap
   b. Discussion around what tools we already have (Mail Chimp) and what we could use (Google)
   c. Everyone will only email 1 email list at a time (theoretically all volunteers are on the broad one, and more specific from there)
7. Agenda Setting
   a. Should we make agenda ahead of time so that at meetings we can jump right in?
   b. Should agenda be public? On the calendar?
   c. It has been on website before
8. Women & Biking Forum
   a. Katie is taking scrap materials for participants to practice on real parts
9. Tags for bikes
   a. $25 increments from now on, should simplify things
   b. Include height (of seatpost) on tags (correspond to typical heights of people)

Free Ride Council Meeting Minutes

1.13.2017 || 12:00pm – 3:00pm || Everyday Café

Attendees: Scott, Tom, Tess, Kyle, Dave, Katie, Joel, Ryder, Jen*, Hannah*

 *= remotely called in 

Agenda

1. New Council Term
   1. Applications given to those interested (2018 term)
   2. Scott, Tom, Tess, Kyle, Dave, Joel, Katie, Jen, Hannah shared intent for Council
   3. Applications due back to Free Ride safe, Tom will collect & process
2. Re-Use Fest
   1. Saturday, April 21^st at Children’s Hospital in Lawrenceville
   2. Are we interested in being a part of this?  YES
   3. Will need people support day-of (2-3 people)
   4. Will need to rent van to transport bikes (Joel has Cargo Van, may work)
3. Shop Rearrange
   1. Are we interested in moving forward with the rearrange?  YES
   2. Hannah will email out designs to council list
   3. Aim to start one day per week during “off hours” (perhaps Sunday)
4. Volunteer Application
   1. We are in need of an electronic way to track volunteer hours
   2. Are we interested in Scott developing a proposal for web-based application?  YES
   3. Kyle is talking to a co-op in Illinois that uses an electronic sign-in, will bring to the table if that is an option
   4. Scott will draft proposal idea and bring it to future council meeting
5. Email/Mail Chimp Communication
   1. Discussion around use of current communication method (mail chimp, mass email) as a notification system versus a two-way communication system
      1. Several different lists in the system (volunteer, staff, council, Women & Queer)
         1. Scott will differentiate when sending out notifications in future
      2. Can’t send attachment with Mail Chimp
      3. Emails are also located on Webpage
   2. Discussion around alternative methods (google account, slack, etc)
      1. Jen will look into alternative ways that could work for us
6. Frigid Bitch
   1. February 17^th ladies alleycat race
   2. Do we want Free Ride (Women & Queer) to sponsor again this year  YES
   3. What should that sponsorship look like? Everyone gets:
      1. 3 Fee-Waived passes to Women & Queer Open Shop
      2. 3 Passes to our classes
      3. Stickers
      4. [Only Winners] Purple/Women’s cut Free Ride T-shirt
   4. Katie will draft the W&Q passes, send to Scott for edits & prints
7. Saturday Hours
   1. Should we extend hours beyond the 1-5 current hours?  UNSURE
      1. Looking at maybe two shifts (9-1pm / 1-5pm)
      2. Desire to be open longer, yet unsure if we have the volunteer/resources to effectively make this reality
   2. Brainstorm discussion about alternate ways to include staff
      1. Pitt/University Volunteers
      2. Bike PGH (Positive Spin)
   3. Will table this, everyone able to brainstorm ways to bring on more staff
8. Officer Duties
   1. Brief discussion around what the officer (President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc) duties are
   2. Tom will make a draft of what the duties might be
   3. Everyone will brainstorm what they want of those positions to discuss further next meeting
9. Duties of Staff and Volunteers
   1. Brief discussion that we (staff) don’t always have same priorities for volunteers
      1. Sometimes volunteers have specific projects they want to work on
      2. There is a written list of volunteer duties on website and in the shop
   2. Kyle and Katie will collaborate about making those more visible in the shop
10. Two Staffers During Open Shop
    1. Do we want to have 2 staff people during open shop  YES
       1. Used to do this; increases safety & accountability
       2. Have 1 person as “greeter” who understands Free Ride, can do cash register, greets people as they come in, introduces what Free Ride is/does
       3. Have 1 person as “floor mechanic” who has bicycle knowledge, helps people tinkering with bikes
    2. How do we make this a reality?
       1. Pair up two people to staff in teams (1 experienced person with 1 newer person)
       2. Through a calendar (have 2 slots for staff) if not two slots filled, no open shop
          1. Maybe have an officer manage this?
       3. Have an outreach/growth position on board to build our staffers
    3. Goal for the moment; will check in again about making this reality

Additional Agenda Items Tabled for Future Meetings:

• Tags for bikes
• Signage in shop
• Marketing/website/Instagram
• Year-end books
• Bike!Bike!
• Heat in shop
• Ability to pay people

Council Meeting 11/16/2016

Attendance

1. Tom
2. Scott
3. Tess
4. Greg
5. Mike

Greg Requested a new lock for the gate so it is more visible at night.
We will get  a new coded lock that easier to read

Color Code Bikes for sale
Did not discuss

Drugs and Alcohol in the shop
Discussed no tolerance for drinking or taking drugs while staffing. Everyone agreed on this. No policy would need to be written

Electric
Discussed final bid from Bob Boden for the Electric
Should have dropped off final Proposal on Saturday 19th

New Dead Bolt for Door.
Scott Will install at some point over winter it will be a coded lock so no keys will be needed to enter shop.

Shop restructure
Talked about new in shop bin

Mr Baker Bakers Market Homewood
Greg would like to do a bike giveaway every sunday for kids. Everyone Agreed  great idea Greg’s Pet Project.

Kids – Lisa was absent.

Classes Next Year.
Still working on proposal for to submit for grants .
Tom is going to work on Getting the needed Paperwork up to date.

Council

Vote at next council meeting December

Email Collection

Discussed a 40,000 piece email collection from gmail account requesting people to join our mailing list. This would be a one time request. Scott said he would be working closely with mailchimp to make sure we did everything legally and within the companies parameters.

Winter Hours

• Sat 1:00-5:00
• Mon 6:30 -9:30
• Wed LGBT Night 6:30 – 9:30

Next Council Meeting 12/17/16 10 am at Food Coop.

Attendance: Scott K, Tess F, Tom A, Mike

Damaged Door: Rather than replace the door, the door handle will be replaced and a new combo-lock / dead-bolt will be added.

Electric: The electricity and lights require a transformer not included in the original estimate.  The estimate will be revised to include this – work will begin soon.

Domain Registration for Freeridepgh.org: Completed.

Free Classes for 2017 – Discussion: We would like to have additional instructors in 2017.  To become an instructor one must ‘shadow’ the class they want to teach.  Then they have the opportunity to co-teach the class with the current instructor.  When they are comfortable teaching the class solo, and have the approval of the current instructor, they can teach the class for Free Ride.

BIKE BIKE! Discussion: Reimbursements have been sent.

Free Ride is interested in finding local artists who would like to paint murals.

Painting the entry Way: Adding murals to the inner-entry way was discussed.  The murals would need to be positive and bicycle themed, they could be painted directly on the orange paint in the entry way, behind the fence.

Murals in General: Adding murals to the inside of the shop was discussed.  The murals could be painted on another surface, then hung around the shop.

Drugs and Alcohol in the shop: You must be sober in the Free Ride space while volunteering.

Shop Trailer: forgot to discuss.

Collection of Email address’s and adding them to the email volunteer list from our gmail email account: Scott would like to gather all unanswered email and phone messages and add them to a new list in Mail-Chimp – and solicit them to opt out or remain on the volunteer list – to build up the current version of the volunteer list.  We agreed on this.

Committing to Colored Sheets with for Pricing bikes $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 – New idea for pricing, large, colored sheets – with a very visible price – no specific bike information – they would be re-usable.

Rearranging stuff in the shop: Discussion about rearranging the shop touched on

1 – Removing hanging bikes to make them easier to reach – ie: one row only – keeping reserved bikes hung and lofted – but other bikes would be kept at ground level.

2 – Creating a ‘to-scrap’ corral and a $10 to $15 bike bin where the kitchenette used to be

3 – Relocating the big-blue rack and rearranging items on the rack

4 – Relocating truing stands to fixed work-benches and possibly adding stand-heads to freed-up caster desks

5 – In general relocating all used parts to the CJ-Side of the shop and all tools to the opposite-outer-wall

Register opening balances low again – go around: The register opening balance has been low again, please keep an eye on it.

Suggested Donation Board: Free Ride would like a suggested donation board to guide pricing for shop-users and the open-shop-cashier.

Kids’ Bike Fix Up: For Christmas, Free Ride would like to do bike-building for kids.  Tentative plans include reaching out to a group that Mike knows and to see if they are interested in receiving 15-20 kids bicycles.  After that the target audience would be Kraynicks or the Red-Lantern bike shop.  Tentative fix-up-nights are December 1,8 and 13 from 6:30 – 9:30 PM.  Donation recipient and calendar dates will be finalized at the next meeting.

Next meeting date : November 16 at 6:00 PM at Free Ride (if it is above 45 degrees F), otherwise the meeting will be held in the East End Food Coop.