Coop Meeting #7

Sunday April 15, 2007, 5pm, @2012

Present: Jill, Nico, Cassandra, Hodg, Rickey, Lloyd, Steve, Rick, Pete, Amy D., Mark Fick (until 6:15)

1) Conversation with Mark Fick (CCLF and Stone Soup)

·         STONE SOUP HISTORY

o   Started by looking for a place to rent

§  Found a convent in ‘97

§  Raced to create a structure for their organization

§  Started with about 12 people…over time some fell off and others joined

§  Early on they created a budget… how do you evaluate a property? cost of living?

o   They held two types of meetings

§  Tuesday night pot luck dinners for social energy

§  Business meetings on Sunday

o   Board

§  Originally everyone was on the board at Stone Soup

§  Created a smaller board when they added more houses

·         Some people didn’t feel comfortable with the board having power over the group, and so they changed the by-laws such that a meeting of the general membership can override the board

·         Board works as more of an information resource, though at times has had to make difficult decisions that an individual house was not/could not make

§  Does mean there is a little more paperwork if everyone is on the board

o   501(c)(3) status…pros and cons

§  Stone Soup didn’t do it

·         If you become a tax exempt entity, you lose a coop housing status on the fed level

·         Different price shares, but only one class of membership

·         LOGISTICS

o   Creating a legal entity

§  Fill out a two page form from office of Sec. of State, pick board members, and pay $50-75 and presto! you have a non-profit corp (not 501(c)(3))

§  Board can either be everybody or just a couple of people, and we can change it down the road, as we figure out our structure….stone soup started with everybody on the board but after they acquired a second house they made a smaller board made up of reps from both houses.

·         The decisions of the smaller board can be overridden by a meeting of the entirety of the coop membership

·         There is not a defined set of laws for Illinois of a coop

o   It means there isn’t one way of doing things

o   In the end, the Board members are accountable, but non-profits are pretty well protected in Illinois

o   Master lease…when renting as a corp instead of as individuals

§  Can have slightly different terms/structures from a individual/group lease

o   Code: the Grey area in which a shared housing operates

§  Housing code

·         Certain number of people per square foot

·         Amount of space per adult
per kid, etc.

§  Zone code

·         Could define shared house as an single room occupancy (SRO)

o   Require fire suppression system

o   Elevators

§  We want to get the house itself up to code (or moving in that direction) as quickly as possible. Once we get a loan for a bank, they’re going to want that to be done anyway.

o   What kind of connections do we need?

§  Maintenance and carpentry

§  Lawyer: Legal experience

§  Bookkeeper: Finance balance budget/spreadsheets

§  Yearly auditor

§  Alderman

·         DECISION MAKING/INTERNAL ORGANIZATION

o   For Stone Soup this entailed developing a consensus-making system

o   At some point we need to create bylaws (not necessary initially, but will be required when actually purchasing a house)…this includes:

§  Board member roles, elections, removal from office

§  Decision-making relationship between the board and the membership

§  Membership guidelines

§  Statement of purpose, mission, etc.

o   Property management plan

§  Purchase agreement (like buying a share of the corporation)

§  Occupancy agreement (Move-in date, terms of stay, monthly payment, work responsibilities)

§  Bills

§  Maintenance

§  Who is responsible for what?

o   Separate corps for housing/working

§  Mark suggests focusing on the housing first

§  Don’t create a system that requires both being successful

§  You need to be able to know up front that you can cover all the bills

 

·         THE FINANCIAL SPHERE

o   Money come in

§  One-time membership (share) purchase

·         Zero-equity/group-equity (how Stone Soup works)

o   When I move in I pay $1000, and when I leave I receive

o   This money goes to the annual operating budget and long-term capital improvement reserves

o   All increases in value of house/land/corp stays with the corp

o   Some limited-equity coops do add 2% to deal with inflation.

·         Market-rate coops

o   the money usually goes from individual to individual rather then through the organization

o   I could sell my share for whatever I wanted

§  Monthly Assessment

·          At Stone Soup, based on the size of bedroom space

·         Includes room, utilities, dsl, newspapers, tp/lightbulbs

·         Another $100 for food

·         Pretty much stay the same every month

o   Money go out

§  What % did you put down initially for the loan?

·         CCLF will cover 100%

·         Show that you have reserves and a good plan

·         CCLF covers some predevelopment financing, but they won’t feel comfortable covering the loan unless some personal money has been spent/accrued.

§  Stay on top of property tax assessment

·         They check every 3 years

·         If you file the forms, you can usually argue them down

§  Create thirty- year plan for dealing with house maintenance

2) Conversation after Mark left

·         Grey Water is the decided name

o   We should write a narrative of our name.

·          Q: If we form this nonprofit are individual donations tax deductable?

·         We need filing cabinets! Somebody please find us some.

·         Workspace/livespace

o   We want to have communal space that is available for communal purposes.

o   Designated workspace that people can use that, but they pay a share

o   Work coop as a separate entity can rent/lease space from housing coop

§  How will that structured?

3) THE FUTURE

o   Bylaws

§  Probably a good thing to take a look at the other coops

·         Checkout websites, send emails

o   Incorporation forms

§  Meeting on Wednesday night at 6ish

§  Who is going to be on the board?

·         Probably people who are going to sign the lease

·         Others who are interested

§  Mark suggested that it is a good idea to start by renting as a corporation. Many voiced that it is very important that the new home of the current inhabitants of 2012 be leased to Grey Water

o   Acquire Bank Account

o   Think about fundraising

§  Parties/Art Shows/Gatherings

§  Dues at meetings? Perhaps a fishbowl (or bucket  or hat or vessel of similar size) for possible contributions…

§  Emphasize that we are requesting donations…$5 isn’t the same for everybody

§  Big yard sale (2014 Rice is having one the weekend of Apr 21-22)

§  Things we can sell: art, shirts, alley stuff (on eBay, at events, etc.)

§  Get together and make stuff

o   Second annual Chicago coop gathering will be at Logan Square this year.

o   Email Mark and request: (update----Jill emailed Mark about the following on Monday Apr 16)

·         Stone soup bylaws

·         A year end balance sheet (to Rickey)

·         Link to non-profit Illinois structure

·         Contact info for Logan Square coop

§  Examples of most of the documentation/templates

§  Possible banks w/ whom to start relationship

o   Email Jim: (update----Jill emailed Jim about the following on Monday Apr 16)

§  master lease sample

§  Examples of most of the documentation/templates

§  South Shore Bank contacts

o   Let us retreat…to Mexico City!

 

 

·         “hey Jill, why don’t you stop being barren and start being fertile? -at the Making Babies Coop