[Makerspace-keymembers] Fwd: Key Deposit Question

[Emily Knox]

Response re keys.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UCIMC Operations Director <ucimcoperationsdirector at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 3:46 PM
Subject: Re: Key Deposit Question
To: Emily Knox <emilyknox at gmail.com>
Cc: chynowet <chyn at ucimc.org>, Latrelle Bright <judgecricket at gmail.com>,
Barry Todd <barry.todd at gmail.com>, Gary Storm <grstorm24 at gmail.com>, Durl
Kruse <jandurl at comcast.net>


Hi, Emily --sure; this does need clarification.  Dean started as Operations
Director Jan. 1, 2014.  I joined in the office with him, starting a short
time thereafter, in various and increasing levels of capacity, and, to my
memory -- I can double check by the key privilege forms and receipts-- he
and I always charged the $20.00 fee per key to working group members.  The
only people to whom we stopped charging a distinct key deposit --(of $20
per key)-- are tenants who pay monthly for an office/art studio room lease
(since their lease already requires a $100.00 security deposit) --Danielle
and I arrived at this decision in a verbal conversation (nothing was
written  --so, it's a policy more so by way of being a practice maintained
consistently, although it may have already been possible to deduce that
from info that was already contained and/or not contained in the lease
agreement  --i.e., I don't think it was at all explicit, though);  We
eliminated that fee for their first complete set of keys and would only
charge them for any duplicate keys that they might want beyond that set
(and that would still be $20 per extra key).

Earlier this year, due to an instance, Danielle and I had a conversation
around what various policies should be, including whether there should be
or why (what is the rationale?) the compound key charges for volunteers; a
question of incentive also came up: Do people really return their keys and
come get their $20 back? (yes, they frequently did). [And as ongoing
presently, they still do]; etc. [Recently, one of the air shifters, after
surrendering his key, actually forfeited the return of his key deposit and
asked that it instead be donated to the IMC.] Anyhow, although there was
mention of escalation to the Board over this matter, those questions
remained rhetorical, nothing was decided or concluded between she and I;
and so the practice went on in the same way that it was understood it
should be by Dean (who in turn, had trained me) and I.

I spoke to Latrelle about this key fee matter a few days ago.  She
rationalized the plural fees for plural keys in a way that I think of it,
too, --that the single fee is not only the replacement value of the single
key itself, but also the surrounding costs of the time that it takes for
someone to go out and replace the key --and then what if a member loses
their whole set of keys? [whether one by one, or all at the same time]
--this is why the charge is by the each.  I'll also add here that the fee,
if it needs to be retained, can also be seen as helpful toward funding the
immediate or eventual replacement of locks. --Each key that seems to be,
somehow or other, permanently lost urges toward the need for that.

There are many policies that need to be written. People occasionally
request member privilege/benefit handbooks; and I mentioned, at the IMC's
15th Anniversary "next steps" Sunday breakfast activity, the idea for the
IMC to produce one [--or produce more than one, such that there is a
separate handbook devoted to key holder members, including info about key
fees].  As you likely know, as of yesterday, Barry Todd is now an IMC Board
member, which should give you all a measure of leverage on this topic --as
I think he does intend to raise it on behalf of key holder members of your
and other groups.  Also, there may be installations of more keypad locks in
the future which may, in turn, reduce the need for as many keys or
eliminate the need for keys altogether to access certain locations within
the building.  As one idea --Under a special circumstance, I've seen B2P
offer to fund the cost of certain volunteer participants' keys.

Well, that is about most or all of what I know.  Hope that helps.  If you
have any further questions on the matter, please feel free to ask.


Sincerely,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sophia Lewis
Interim Operations Director
UCIMC * 202 S. Broadway Ave. #100, Urbana, IL 61801
217-344-8820 * www.ucimc.org

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On Sun, Dec 6, 2015 at 10:26 AM, Emily Knox <emilyknox at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Sofia,
>
> It has recently come to my attention that one of our new members was
> charged $40 for her key deposit.  This seems to be a new policy as I was
> only charged $20 for my keys in 2012.
>
> If this is a new policy, can you please point me to where this information
> is listed by the IMC?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Emily
>
>
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