Common House minutes: 2018-09-11

Minutes:

Common House Committee Minutes

9/11/2018

Present: Nancy, Gail, Marta, Thomas, Elph, Annie

Agenda

1.Accessibility issues

2.Misuse report

3.Maintenance report

4.Pre-assigned work positions

5.Budget

6.Recommendations for Annie

1.Accessibility issues

Judith says, “Is it possible to make the common house more accessible? I'm
talking about handicapped accessibility. One big problem for me is access
to my mailbox. All of those packages are usually in the way. I'm sure
there is another way to display them. Entry to the kitchen is another
problem with those wastebaskets in the entries. I'm sure those wastebaskets
could go somewhere else.”

Discussion included:

There are many more boxes being delivered. Maybe move to the entryway? Not
when we are using it for coats?

How about some Signage about boxes - ask people to work at keeping them
pushed back?

Boxes on the floor are difficult to pick up. Put them on a table? Would
solve both issues.

Put paper recycling somewhere else? Go down to 1 box. That would give us
more room for the boxes

What do other folks think?

2.Misuse report

Hermann says,

“I had been expecting a payment from Tevah and one from Gail for a number
of days, but when I did not find either payment yesterday, I contacted
these neighbors. Gail placed her check in an envelope which she put into
our cubby on Labor Day. On Sep. 5 around 11 a.m., Tevah put 11 $ in cash
into our cubby, wrapped in a piece of paper marked "thank you Hermann."
Becky reminded me that in the spring $ 40 in cash in a sealed envelope,
which she had put into Fatima's box, disappeared as well.

In my opinion, we unfortunately cannot consider the cubbies safe
anymore. I urge CH C. to report these incidents to the Community and
suggest to our neighbors to no longer leave cash or checks in the cubbies.”

Discussion included:

Should we warn members about putting cash and checks in cubbies?

Yes.

Maybe we can suggest and solicit alternatives, such as to give to the
person, mail it, use venmo/square cash/apple pay/paypal, or urge them to
pick it up quickly.

3.Maintenance Report

Maintenance: Hobart leaking when running

Called for repair

Fan in West side - should get it looked at - it does not seem to run when
the AC is off

Elph will call for repair

Thermostat review - how is the new thermostat doing? Should we recommend to
replace others?

Not yet.

This western side is a bit different in that we have Melisa using the
office during the day and adjusting the thermostat accordingly and guests
often in the guest room adjusting it at night. The other sides of the
common house don’t have that same regular pattern. There have been two
problems. One is that the fan does not seem to work when the AC is off - it
does for the other parts of the CH. Two is that many people had
difficulties with how to use the thermostat. it is simply twist to the left
or right to adjust temp, there are no buttons. It may be that we should
have done an educational campaign on how to use the new thermostat.

First steps: Fix the fans, do some education, then see what folks think
about getting more of them.

Work crew is very happy with the new vacuum. Thanks to Gail and Nancy for
doing the shopping for it.

4.Pre-assignments for work

Elph Morgan 992 Counted member (Common House) 2.00 1 Common House
Emily Adama 295 Kids Room Painting and Fix-up 3.00 1 Common House
Eric McGlohon 591 Aquarium manager 2.00 1 Common House
Erik Kauppi 298 Solar Panel Optimizer 1.00 1 Common House
Erik Kauppi 597 Hot Tub Maintenance 2.00 1 Common House
Gail Graham 265 Community Office Manager 1.00 1 Common House
Gail Graham 992 Counted member (Common House) 2.00 1 Common House
George Harmon 220 CH dining room floor cleaner and waxer 8.00 1 Common House
George Harmon 220 CH dining room floor cleaner and waxer 8.00 1 Common House
Marta Dabis 120 CH Committee convener 3.00 1 Common House
Mary Swain 231 CH game and fitness room cleaner 2.00 1 Common House
Michele Myers 210 CH bathrooms cleaner 2.00 1 Common House
Nancy Harter 992 Counted member (Common House) 2.00 1 Common House
Nancy Harter 200 CH clean-up coordinator 1.00 1 Common House
Nancy Harter 285 CH laundry room cleaner 1.00 1 Common House
Ted Chesky 150 CH maintenance coordinator 2.00 1 Common House
Ted Chesky 970 Workshop Manager 2.00 1 Common House
Thomas Rode 992 Counted member (Common House) 2.00 1 Common House
Willie Northway 212 Kitchen Redesign Honcho 5.50 1 Common House

5.Budget

Check with Sarah and Teva on eliminating the $1200 for Satellite TV

Increase the amount for Maintenance and Improvements to meet expected work
next year.

6.Recommendations for Annie

Annie came to the meeting to ask about what she should know concerning
misuse of the common house in regards to her teenager. Jake comes up in the
late evening to have some time out of the house and to work in the common
house.

We first talked about how the common house committee does not consider the
misuse issues to be teen issues and has always framed them as community
issues.

And there are some things that she could make sure that Jake understands
about using the common house. It includes, make sure to clean up after
yourself, reserve the rooms if you will be using them for any extended
time, be careful having friends over late at night - it can get out of
control, don’t give out the door code to non-Great Oakers, report any
issues to ch at gocoho.org
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