This page is where you will find all the rules which have been passed by the Board to supplement the Bylaws. These supplemental rules will cover venue specific rules, procedures for various tasks and/or services, and more detailed explanations of certain Bylaws that needed clarification.

Membership

Membership Agreement

All members are required to fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the Membership Agreement.

Makerspace

Rules

The following rules apply to anyone making use of our makerspace including members, guests of members, and the general public while they are in our facility:

  • Events and classes provided to the general public allow anyone regardless of membership status to access our facility to attend. However, this access is restricted to the times the Education Center is open to the public. Only paid members of TheLab.ms have 24/7 access to the facility.
    • General public access hours have not yet been established and will be posted here and at the facility when they are.
    • Events open to the general public allow public access to the space even if the event is held outside the normal public access hours.
  • Member 24/7 access should not be abused.
    • No overnight stays or moving in.
    • Guest accompaniment is limited to the number and types of guests specified in the Membership Agreement.
  • No tampering with any security mechanism in use at the facility.
    • This includes but is not limited to locks, keys, RFID readers or tags, cameras, signs, authentication servers, firewalls, network equipment, wireless controls, logging systems, and any other physical or logical security system.
  • Help us keep things clean.
    • Put things back where they belong.
    • Straighten up your work area.
    • Deposit waste into the proper receptacles.
    • Members, please make sure guests clean up after themselves, too.
  • Smoking/Vaping is not allowed by City of Richardson ordinance.
    • Smokers and E-cigarette users must go outside at least 25 feet from the facility entrance and from entrances to neighboring businesses.
  • Consumption of alcoholic beverages in the facility is allowed by persons of legal drinking age as long as they do so responsibly.
    • TheLab.ms reserves the right to decline or revoke the privilege of alcoholic beverage consumption in our facility for any reason at any time.
    • TheLab.ms does not have a liquor license and will not be selling any alcoholic beverages.
    • TheLab.ms may occasionally provide packaged beer or other alcoholic beverages for people to consume in our facility free of charge.
    • Members may bring their own alcoholic beverages to consume in our facility.
    • Persons wishing to consume alcoholic beverages in our facility will need to show proof of legal drinking age to a leadership member on request.
  • Area Host roles and responsibilities within the Education Center:
    • This role has not been fully defined in our new space as of yet.
    • Once it is defined we will post more details on that role here.

Procedures

The following procedures apply to anyone wanting to make use of the resources in our makerspace.

  • If you notice any issues or have problems with anything in the facility please let someone in leadership know right away
  • Training room reservations and meetup announcements for events should be requested using our event creation form
    • Here is the link to the event creation form:
  • Laptop and other equipment checkout for use should be requested using our equipment request form
    • Here is the link to the equipment request form:
    • Teachers checking out equipment for their class to use should indicate that on the form
  • 3D Printer and other large equipment reservation times should be requested using our large equipment time slot request form
    • Here is the link to the large equipment time slot request form:

General Rules and Clarifications

Membership Points

 This section updated Sept. 2019

Here is they text from the Bylaws section on membership points:

`

Members can be awarded Membership Points (Points) for various things they do that benefit the space. 
          Points can be redeemed for items purchased from TheLab.ms and/or used to reduce a member's dues. 
          Points can be earned by:
                  * Bringing in donations from third parties (cumulative throughout the year) $100 gets 1 Point, 
                         then an additional point every $200 thereafter.
                  * Running a public event of ten or more attendees or class of five or more earns 1 Point. 
                         Only one member can receive a Point award per event or class.
                  * Performing a substantive, significant service to TheLAB.MS (as determined by the Board of Directors). 
                         For example: a cleanup event, organizing a large scale party, donor event, etc.
      Things Points can be redeemed for:
                Get 1 month of Member status for no charge.
                Other, as determined by the Board of Directors.

      The Treasurer shall maintain record of Points.

      Points have no cash value, and they expire 12 months after issuance. 
      Points may be transferred from member to member by contacting the Treasurer.

`

Definition:

Membership Points are awarded by the Board of Directors and can be exchanged at TheLab.ms for various purposes that benefit the space.

  • The record of these points is maintained by the Treasurer.
  • Points have no cash value, meaning they cannot be exchanged for cash. They may only be redeemed for the items documented in this list or anything approved by the Board of Directors.
  • Points expire 12 months after issuance.
  • Points may be transferred from a member by contacting the treasurer via written or emailed request to the Treasurer.

Earning:

A Membership Point can be earned in the following methods:

  • Bringing in donations from third parties. One Point is earned by the first $100 and another point is earned every $200 thereafter. These donations need not be all at once, they are added up cumulatively throughout the fiscal year.
    • Points earned from bringing in third party donations are awarded when the end of fiscal year data is calculated.
    • Third party donations credited to a member through Dec 31st will count towards that fiscal years point award for that member
    • If multiple members worked on securing the same third party donation then they will each get credited for a percentage of that donation.
    • The membership points will be credited and reported to members at approximately the same time that end of year receipts are sent out.
    • Membership Points will be credited to members the following month after they have accrued the appropriate amount of donations.
  • Running a public event with ten or more attendees. This applies to any free event publicly available (ie. through meetup.com) offered at TheLab.ms or representing TheLab.ms at an alternate location.
    • Only one person can receive a single membership point per event and the board will determine which member gets the point.
    • Each instance of an event is awarded a point as long as it meets all other requirements.
    • Only one point can be earned per month for running an event (including classes).
  • Running a public class that has five or more attendees. This follows the same rules as public events (described above) but must be classified as a class. A class is defined as a gathering with the intention of teaching a lesson with a clear goal or set of goals. In order to be considered a class this must be approved as a class by the Education Coordinator prior to hosting the class.
  • Points can be awarded for time members spend volunteering, helping TheLab.ms with events and classes and other tasks. Volunteer hours must be approved by the Board prior to the start of the event or task.
    • Each 20 hours a member volunteers awards one membership point.
  • Points can be awarded for services outside those listed in this document by the Board for providing a valuable service or deed that that Board deems significant.**

Redeeming

A member who has accrued membership points can redeem them by email request to leadership@thelab.ms for the following:

  • One month of Membership status for no charge
  • TheLab.ms ‘Conceptual Intercourse’ shirt
  • Others as determined by the Board of Directors

Tracking

Membership points awarded for providing classes or events will be tracked by the Education coordinator and reported to the Treasurer to be stored in the Salesforce database. Until the Salesforce database is completely setup for the Treasurers use of assigning, allocating and redeeming of membership points, this report will also be passed on to the CTO.

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