[CSL board] ACTION: senior tech grant / Fl wage

Thu Dec 21 14:31:37 EST 2006

I make the official motion as described below.

...Karen

Karen Zgoda, MSW, LCSW
Doctoral Student
Boston College

karen at karenzgoda.org
http://www.karenzgoda.org

> I will entertain a motion to hire Dan a the senior technician per our
> commitments on the Boomer Grant. It is important that this go through soon
> -
> if someone could make the official motion, second, and people weigh in as
> quickly as possible, it would be greatly appreciated.
>
> It seems to me there's more discussion to be had - see below for a few
> items. However, having Dan hired for the boomer grant is definitely the
> best
> option available to us, in my opinion.
>
> Based on Dan's breakdown (below), 25% of Dan's time can be devoted to the
> boomer project given the current staff. 25% would ideally be 10 hours,
> which
> sounds like it's just enough for boomers, once things settle in on the
> project.
>
> It seems like the biggest risk is Dan's time in the next few months. He'll
> be training a Vista (which will add to his load, not relieve it), taking
> on
> John's portion of tech support and bringing the boomer volunteers up to
> speed... Infrastructure improvements can stop for a while, but our servers
> and our clients both need love. Unfortunately, there's only one of Dan,
> and
> it sounds like he'll adding more to his workload than is being relieved.
>
> Dan - How do you feel about things right now? Do you have any concerns in
> regards to your available bandwidth? Is there anything that we as a board
> can do to reduce your load?
>
> Do we need more skilled labor for the next few months? Does anyone have
> ideas on how to get labor? It seems like that person would have to be
> either
> very technically competent or a CSL alum to reduce the load, rather than
> adding to it with yet another person for Dan to train.
>
>
> On 12/18/06, Dan MacNeil <dan at thecsl.org> wrote:
>>
>> A bit of new news. The grant is setup to reimburse us for grant related
>> expenses. We can apply for cash advances once a month and up to 30 days
>> before we anticipate expenses.
>>
>> > How is your bandwidth currently allocated?
>>
>> 20% overhead/wasted motion/restarting things/travel
>> 25% routine inquiries / correspondence
>> 15% day job
>> 10% project of the moment (utec, boomer/vista grants)
>> 10% supervising or thinking of supervision
>> 10% learning (linux journal debian-isp listserv,openspf.org etc)
>> 10% tech support
>>
>>
>> > [time saved not working for CS dept.]
>> 6 hours of wasted motion, 8 hours not doing CS stuff.
>>
>> > [time needed to fulfill grant]
>>
>> Most of January, 15 hours a week after that doing site visits.
>>
>> > How will losing the extremely competent and trustworthy
>> > John in a few  months and receiving an unproven VISTA
>> > impact your bandwidth?
>>
>> It's actually a bit riskier than that. Erich is extremely self taught.
>> He doesn't have a HS diploma or GED. A condition of his final acceptance
>> is getting his GED. We will have a struggle to convince the corporation
>> for national service to accept him. (CNS is upstream from Paul & Peter)
>>
>> We could wind up with nobody, which would be worse than somebody not as
>> good as John
>>
>> John does roughly the same amount of tech support that I do and spends
>> the rest of his time on learning/helping other agencies/project. In his
>> absence, infrastructure improvement and maintenance would stop. I could
>> double up on tech support
>>
>> > How's the process going? What should currently be
>> > underway (I think) is: advertising, publicizing,
>> > recruiting volunteers, and starting the process of
>> > scheduling.
>>
>> We're not on the grant timeline, We'll probably slip 3 weeks. but I
>> think Mass-Serve is ok w/ that.
>>
>> I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about things. The volunteer
>> recruiting piece is tough, but I'm in the groove after the last VISTA
>> push and I'm hopeful about the new magic of craig's list.
>>
>> This week I want to get the CL ad posted, emails to current customers &
>> NPA list out, some phone calls made.
>>
>> With luck Jerhico road will take the grant, turn it into a press release
>> and get us a story in the Lowell Sun and Boston Globe.
>>
>>
>> Josh Harding wrote:
>> > Link cover letter: http://thecsl.org/links/0002.pdf. The letter and
>> > application are both great!
>> >
>> > Dan: A few questions -
>> > How is your bandwidth currently allocated?
>> > Do you have a mental equation for how much bandwidth will be freed by
>> not
>> > working for cs.uml.edu and how much you will spend fulfilling this
>> grant?
>> > How will losing the extremely competent and trustworthy John in a few
>> > months
>> > and receiving an unproven VISTA impact your bandwidth?
>> > Will we need additional help?
>> > How's the process going? What should currently be underway (I think)
>> is:
>> > advertising, publicizing, recruiting volunteers, and starting the
>> > process of
>> > scheduling.
>> >
>> > I definitely think using the grant money to pay you would be well
>> spent
>> and
>> > well deserved. My only concern lies in making sure that we can do a
>> good
>> > job
>> > on the boomer project - you're committing a significant amount of your
>> > already busy days...
>> >
>> > Josh
>> >
>> > On 12/16/06, Dan MacNeil <dan at thecsl.org> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> We need to hire a senior tech as a condition of the Boomer grant. My
>> >> contract with CS Dept ends Dec 31 and will not be renewed. I'd like
>> us
>> >> to hire me.
>> >>
>> >> After the recent 14% Romney good-bye cut, the boomer grant budget is
>> >> approximately:
>> >>
>> >>         $12,600         # senior tech
>> >>         $2,520          # equipment
>> >>         $1,680          # advertising/overhead
>> >>
>> >> As a board member you should read the relatively short grant:
>> >>
>> >>         # grant
>> >>         http://thecsl.org/links/0001.pdf
>> >>         # cover letter
>> >>         http://thecsl.org/links/0001.pdf
>> >>
>> >> There is a meeting at the Service Allience on January 05, when we
>> will
>> >> learn the details of the payout. I've (just) emailed a request for
>> >> unofficial word on the payout dates.
>> >>
>> >> If people are generally inclined to hire me, A board member should
>> >> volunteer to prepare a contract for board approval and the signatures
>> of
>> >> me and our El Presidente and I
>> >>
>> >> Past staff contracts are at:
>> >>
>> >> http://thecsl.org/sys/finance.d/detail.d/contracts.d/csl_staff.d/
>> >>
>> >> David Siegal's contract is probably the best model. Given that the
>> grant
>> >> explicitly has overhead taken out. $12,600 may be a good number.
>> >>
>> >> This weekend, I'll finish the financial reports. I'd be surprised if
>> an
>> >> updated financial picture effects this decision very much.
>> >>
>> >> DAN DAY JOB
>> >> For 4 years, Tom Costello and Ken Kleiner have been kind enough to
>> work
>> >> very carefully with University/Union/State rules and paid me on the
>> high
>> >> end of the student worker pay scale.
>> >>
>> >> This is no longer possible. My last day of work for the CS Dept is
>> >> 12/31/06.
>> >>
>> >> Sometimes the Lawd-Gee-z-ass has good timing.  Assuming board
>> approval,
>> >> 6 months of work for the boomer grant will pay slightly more than I
>> will
>> >> have made these past 12 months. (I didn't work full-time over the
>> summer)
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>
>> >> ###To unsubscribe send blank email to:
>> >> Divinerightofkings-leave at lists.thecsl.org ###
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ###To unsubscribe send blank email to:
> Divinerightofkings-leave at lists.thecsl.org ###
>