Sumac Admin meeting minutes,
06.01.14

Present: Jack, Tom H, Tom G, Tasha,
Kate, Dom, Andrew

Apologies: Rob

Big-ups
to Rosie for making the Solstice meal
happen with limited help

Qualms
The Sumac was left in a state after the
Christmas Day party there
Approx. £700 has gone missing in
recent weeks (from the bar and PK).

Action points to carry over from
previous meetings
Chris to draw up a map of the
garden plot
Dom to print off and put up
statement about the Sumac and young people
Jack to contact female DV
survivors again, about using the Sumac as a meeting space
Dom to make laminated ‘Private
meeting’ signs for groups using the Sumac
Residents and finance group to
meet and discuss rent and bills
Tom & Abdul to make a ‘to do’
list for the yard
Pat to speak to Abdul about young
people’s involvement in the fox graffiti project
Kate to rationalise Sumac
post-boxes
Trayen and Rosie to carry on with
mural work

Bins
Tasha 9th
Dom 16th
Tom. H 23rd
Tom. G 30th
There’s a new calendar of which bins go
out when in the Sumac diary

In-tray
Tasha to follow up with Safeway
Fire & Security Services RE: letter dated Jan 2014 about our an
annual maintenance renewal and charge of £300.
Dom to take on the weekly fire
alarm check + attendees to start doing a fire alarm check after the
Admin meeting

Collectives
Veggies – No rep

Sumac Café
Money has gone missing from the
Solstice meal, and from some other PKs.

Suggestion to use the drop box by the
hatch that people can use to post takings.
Rosie and Tasha to think about how
to better safeguard the takings from PK

There has been a request to clarify
what PK fundraisers can be used for.
Rosie and Tasha to draft some
guidelines by next meeting

Residents
Tom G has set up a direct debit for
paying his rent. Big up.

Garden
Message from Jen: The collective is
planning to send out a message to set up a new garden collective in
the spring.

Bar
Money is going missing (e.g. takings
from the 28th Dec)
People have been letting themselves
into the bar over Christmas and it isn’t clear if they have been
taking drinks without paying for them.
The bar has been left in a mess several
times over Christmas
Suggestion to put stock behind the bar,
lock it and take the key away from the Sumac during holiday periods
in future
Bar collective to re-locate the
safe key and change the cellar code
Bar collective to post more
guidance on how to run the bar, as there are several new volunteers

Jack wants to reduce his involvement
and feels he is bottom-lining too much of the bar at the moment.
Dom to resubmit the proposal for a
paid role to look after the bar, to be discussed at the next admin
meeting

Food bank – no rep

Finances
Nothing new to add, except that this
year the Sumac probably lost money and didn’t manage to save any for
the maintenance fund either.

Assembly
Having a meeting this week about the
next assembly

ESOL
Starting up next Monday (13th
Jan)

Education / homework club
Planning to start running 1-2 sessions
/ week from the end of February.
Plenty of volunteers are interested in
being involved.

Maintenance
The boiler – It will be installed this
Wed. Veggies have fronted £2500 for it, which will need to be repaid
The wall – No move on it so far
Kate to call the insurers
Dom to chase up those who were to
pass on details of builders

Roof – Roofers came and fixed broken
tiles and part of the parapet. They will return Tuesday (7th)
to finish this and get paid.
Kate to continue getting quotes
for a roof replacement

Chan has a new alarm for the disabled
toilet and new lights for the yard
Chan also has a load of carpet,
possibly suitable for the Sumac
Tom. H to talk to Chan RE: faulty
yard lights
Tom. H to follow up Chan RE: the
carpet and give anyone who wants to see it a chance to do so

Bookings
Request for an event for a fundraiser
for the Children’s Society
Dom to Email informing them of the
capacity of the room (110 max), the need to charge for room hire,
that Sumac will keep bar takings and can only have donations at the
door.

Radical Routes
Laura’s proposal for how to make
decisions about RR proposals was passed.
Next RR gathering is in February.
Kate to put a callout for a RR
agenda items meeting when the agenda is released

AoB
Vehicles in the yard
Deans car to be removed from the yard
if it is not gone by the next meeting.
Jack to inform Dean of this

Reminder that parking spaces in the
yard are available for residents living in the flat before summer
2013. From that time on, no new residents have a parking space in the
yard.

Compost bins
A PK fundraiser was held in December
for this. Tasha doesn’t know where the money is for this. Until this
is resolved, the project is on hold. But when the money is located
will put a callout for a work day for this.