meetings:2025-07-13 [Sasona Cooperative]

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====== July 13, 2025 ======

===== House Members Attendance: =====

Alex, Alice, Aiden, Bailey W (Star), Carina, Fay, Jessi, Mae, Matthias, Olivia, Rowan, Ruth, Shane, Sidney

===== Associate Members Attending: =====



===== Prospectives =====

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Dycus

  - interested in living at Sasona because my current roommie is moving so I'd like to branch out and meet new people
  - ends July 31, so Aug 1
  - 2 cats

Justin Watkins

  - interested in something different--doing something different socially. community housing is unique and interesting like burns, etc
  - maybe the next few months--no hard deadline
  - no pets

Second Meeting:

Vic Marcus

  - yes to labor
  - yes to meetings

===== Personal Check-ins =====


====== Officer Check-ins ======

**Archivist: ** \\

**Bookkeeper: ** \\

**CHEA Rep 1:** \\
I'd like to communicate there is an IT Committee meeting the first Thursdays of each month. David M and Corey are a part of that so we want to make sure Olivia has that for support.

**CHEA Rep 2:** \\
I want to clarify on the pest eradication policy--I'd like to make it clear that there's no immediate evictions. the policy states that if the requirements aren't met, it's an evictable behavior. I'd like to encourage people to stick to these facts and not use inflamatory language. 

**Culture Coordinator:** \\

**Food Planner:** \\
HEB was done on Wednesday, so I didn't do Thursday shopping. Ruth will go earlier this week. Sometimes I leave notes on if we have something, or if I didn't buy what you asked for, I write a reason on there sometimes.

**Grounds Coordinator:** \\
I sent out an email and it felt good to get that out, so check it out. We like the rain

**Kitchen Kaiser:** \\
Fay: Ruth and I met today and we need to do Aiden and Seb's orientation. 

**Labor Czar:** \\
We have 6 officer nominations up on the wall. sign up! we have a nominee for Minutes and Grounds so yay! Those will close on Friday. There's a new schedule! Almost done with June's accountability report and I'll send it out. Reminder when you fill out the accountability form, please fill out every box, except for the response box. If you're missing something there, I can't charge them. 
Fay: I have a concern about the comments being made by third parties and how it can be confusing.
Rowan: I don't think it's against our rules.
Fay: so they can change NS/Nudges?
Rowan: No, I do that

**Maintenance Coordinator: ** \\
Not a lot to report. I'm trying to get more organized and get on a schedule to get on track, so we can move forward. 

**Mastodon Overblower: ** \\
I was able to get on Slack on my computer so that I can effectively use the app. 

**Meeting Chair: ** \\

**Membership Coordinator: ** \\
we got some new housemates! we got Seb and Aiden. I also encouraged our new members to sign up for officer positions and anybody can do that sort of thing, so I'm excited with that. Sidney's room is open, I'll send it out to prospectives maybe tonight after the meeting. 

**Minutes Taker: ** \\

**Steward: ** \\
Communicating about the Pest Eradication Plan.

**Treasurer: ** \\
Rent is paid. Everyone's been able to get rent in. We're on our new payments! Treasurer is up for election, so be sure to sign up.

**NP Rep: ** \\
**Operations Manager: **
====== Wiki Updates & Announcements ======

====== Agenda Items ======

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===== Agenda Item 1 =====

(Jessi) Approve New Pet Policy 



===== Agenda Item 2 =====

(Star) Escalation of Poo Problem–Members shouldn't be evicted for not receiving neg fecal test

Star: I like being talked to about things so all these papers being put out aren't effective. Fay mentioned that there wasn't automatic eviction. I'm just confused and

Olivia: I want to second the sentiment.

Matthias: as Fay stated last week and again today, she's printed out a copy and it states that it's an evictable behavior that the house would vote on, so I think that statements that "you will be evicted". Last week, at the meeting, in the notes. there was clarification, and =I'm clarifying again that it is an evictable offense that will go to the house for the house to decide. also, i'd like to clarify something that Olivia said last week. that Olivia felt she was being quarantined but it's not what we're requesting. we're requesting the pets to be quarantined. that's why it became such a pressing issue that there were fleas and worms. the meeting that the board had wasn't really well received, our pet policy does clearly state our policy but it's not being followed. the board made it more clear about the eradication Plan of the pests.

Carina: I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. personally I come from a background where we just have animals outside all the time because the culture is not to take them to the vet. I have a high tolerance for gross things for both humans and pets. but i've kept Clementine in my room because of how people felt about being scratched by him. so i've had him in my room for a while, and he's crying. i've had to live with that for months before this, so I've been quarantining him unless they have all these things that are required now. it's hard to comply with because we all have jobs and priorities. I don't take clementine to the vet unless I need to. when I did see fleas on him, I took him to a Mexican vet in my hometown, so there's no proper record. I don't even process all that's required. I could try to take him to Emancipet, but I'm still a swim coach so that's hard to get to until i'm done with being a swim coach. the house voted for this, it seems like a common thing for people that have pets. it is a little frustrating, and annoying on my end. it seems a little much and I already have him quarantined. 

Alice: I wanted to say that, from my perspective as someone who doesn't own a pet, I was frustrated at the lack of response from some of the pet owners. It seems performative to show everyone what's going on when the only requirement was to send it to the pet Kaiser.

Fay: I feel a little bit called out, Alice, because Matthias and I are the ones to create more transparancy. and that's because no one has been following through with the plan. we have an active pet with tapeworms. we've had issues with the pets--with charlie acting out and having accidents in the house. this has been an ongoing issue--it's not a habitable living condition with the feces in the hallway. the board had to step in because the house wasn't able to solve these issues. hopefully the animal poop outside is being picked up. I understand these feel stringent, and this is what we agreed to. the board agreed to 14 days because it needs addressed. no one wants to evict anyone. I also understand that accessibility is a thing--and I think we've tried to stress what's important. I've also tried to come in and try to integrate my elderly diabetic cat, but that's not been the case for me. no one is being targeted. everyone is being treated the same. we're lucky to be able to work through this together. I want to help people find resources. it's hard when accountability is seen as vilianizing--it breaks down the accountability and transparancy of the house.

Carina: i've lived in coops my whole adult life from 18 to now 24 and it's a big issue. every summer, the maintenance coordinator from ICC and College Houses are aware of this issue. this is an issue that happens to a lot of places in the summer, and I feel like it's being stressed excessively. how I see it is that this is the biggest scale difference of how we react to it. there are other critters outside. I think we can tone it down a little bit.

Matthias: the fleas don't come from inside but they do come from outside. it's important that we have our pets on flea treatment, including heartworm treatment. the problem is if you don't have your pets on treatment, they'll get transported inside from an untreated animal. we also get fleas on humans, and no one likes that. the only way for the fleas to stop, they have to stop. I feel interrupted (Star and Fay interrupted)

Star: treatment is to treat it, preventative is to prevent it. if the intent is not to evict people, it shouldn't be mentioned 

Matthias; fleas don't start off in the house, as I was saying. if they come it, it affects the rooms, their guardians, and spreads to the living room, the carpets, and more fleas. it's important that I know we haven't really been following our pet policy, and I know we're not really talking about that before moving in, and what's actually required before moving into the house. I think we should be working to what our pet policy is requiring of pet owners in this house and this is an opportune time with the flea and tapeworm issue

Jessi...

Fay: I was the one who discovered the worms in the poo. for Alice, not enough treatment for some people--we cant' tell what animal has the tapeworm--we need treatment for the tapeworm, or a neg fecal test. star, your last test was in May, June 20 was the tapeworm poo, so we need to treat everyone the same. we're trying to all get on the same page with everything. animals outside our house aren't pooping inside the house.

Rowan: I felt it was important to clarify that we're not following the pet policy. I want to clarify that some people have been, but it's not been tracked for enforced. if we're dealing with emotionally charged issues, it's important to take other people's words at their best intentions and to understand that your words will be taken at the worst intentions. it's scary to have your housing at risk and be in situations like this

Olivia: I wanted to thank Jessi for the acknowledgement. other than tapeworm, everything else is taken care of. the meeting where I pledged to take him in was 21 days ago. i'd also like to say that just because I can leave the room doesn't mean it feels different because Pippin cries a lot. he's got treatment/preventative for fleas and the other worms. he doesn't have different poops or dietary changes. 

Jessi: pass

Matthias: I appreciate you explaining the comment from last week. I understand that Pippin feels trapped--as free as that dog has been. I am sorry that any of the pets are being quarantined. from my personal...I hope that we can take care of our pets as best as we can. if we're struggling, financially or otherwise, there's a whole room of people here. I want to express my support in anything that still needs to be done in eradicating the pests in this house. including preventing/treating the tapeworm. my dog is 13 IDK how much longer she has. as pets get older, they're affected differently. hopefully I get 3 years or more out of her. I sympathize--and if there's a financial or time constraint, we can figure it out.

star: seems like there's some sympathy for financial and time constraints. beans is my ESA and he goes everywhere. I feel really anxious by completing something by this Thursday. i'd like to proceed with my motion.

Matthias: no one is going to get evicted. the board said that not having these already existing requirements--that those things are evictable behavior. it's because we haven't been following/enforcing the policy that we're in this policy. 

Jessi: we can't modify this as this is the board's decision

motion to extend: PASS

Olivia: I'd like to second the motion and this should be the house's call. unless the house is demonstrably negligent--taking the decision out of the house's hands is anti-democratic

Matthias: I think that there's a timeline that we're hoping to reach and that we re-address it next Sunday so that this isn't something that gets pushed off. it should be addressed again next Sunday and if there's some people that should need help--we will continue to offer help financial and time help available. we can't push this off. if you're having issues with time/finances, there's plenty of support at the house level and the board level, there's plenty of people here to help.

star: this makes me feel powerless. it was hard for me to write this on the board. i've reached out to David and Jessi and I don't know how to believe that it will... i'd like to have people in this house to have more of a say and I'm really scared. 

matthias: the board had stated specifically that the house would have to deal with. to clarify, the board is not evicting people. the house has to deal with it. no matter what the email said, the fact is the board isn't evicting anyone--it's not taking it out of the houses hands, we need to deal with it at the house level. it's very democracy-oriented.

Rowan: the board has decided that ...

Alice: reminder that direct responses should be to the point

Ruth: procedure thing: the board passed the policy is kinda unfortunate. we have this to deal with, we have it to deal with, but it's bigger than just our house 

Seb: I have procedure questions because i'm new. the uncertainty of Sunday...

Rowan: if its the board's decision...putting eviction on the notice is scary. people have been membership reviewed before. i'm not saying that you can't criticize something that happened a long time ago. what if now I have to worry about eviction for evictable offense. star has been threatened with a membership review before.

Fay: "failure to provide treatment within 14 days is evictable behavior". as I understood it, it would be just like a member review process. I think it has to get scheduled out a certain days in advanced. if a member needs accommodations, they can reach out to David. I know Star said they reached out to David but didnt get help, and as your board reps we'll work towards a solutuion. we're all trying to figure this out.

Olivia: these clarifications aren't reassuring. mentioning evictions in communication is a great responsibility. i've heard a lot about intentions, and i'd like the same amount of space for impact. it feels like a threat with impact.

Jessi:

Motion to extend 10 mins PASS

Star: Ruth mentioned earlier that we could maybe modify if we could talk to people from LaRe--does that mean we vote today and then LaRe votes? what can we do?

Ruth: I don't remember specifically--i just remember that when LaRe got founded, that's something we added. as long as we're not saying anything directly against what the Board has said, we can modify it. we could allow extensions "We, Sasona, are allowing for extensions..." or we could modify our member review process to allow for 14 days

Matthias: I do want us to recognize that this affects our house only, and i'd like to say that the request for the house should go to the Board

Fay: I hear that it feels like a threat. the board's intent is to solve the problem. there's lots of emails, meetings, slack posts. the board stepped in because the house couldn't figure it out and it's a health concern. people can legally stop paying rent or break their leases because of this issue. I don't even know that the new people feel about this... it's not even about having some stipulation about eviction, it's about accountability. I'd want to emphasize that this is to protect our shared living environment.

Matthias: I think this has nothing to do with LaRe. I think that the Board --me being on the board... maybe just telling the board our plan . there has to be a line drawn about when this needs to end. I think it's reasonable to cooperatively understood that the house is going to do what it can to resolve this. I can accept it and push it for this house. 

Jessi:

Rowan: I had a motion in place of Star's motion--would a week or two weeks, would that be enough for you?

Star: IDK when I could go. I don't want to put a timeframe on it when eviction is still on it

Rowan: I MOTION the Steward to authorize extensions to the Pest Eradication Plan. If any member wants to contest the Steward's decision, they write it on the next week's agenda, and a membership review cannot be called for until a decision has been made regarding the member's extension. 

Alice: I want to summarize what i've heard so far to see if there's a clear path. on one side, people feel threatened with eviction, and on the other side, i'm hearing that the plan is not intending to evict but it is a possibility. on the overarching subject, i'm hearing that we're wanting more transparancy and more communication about accommodations.

Star: as a member of the house, if it is as simple as Matthias makes it, I'd like to formally request that the board revisit this in collaboration with the pet owners at sasona. I think that's a big part of my fear. I am going to ask for an extension. when I talked to David about it he said he wanted to stay out of it

Fay: that's surprising to hear, star, and i'm sorry. alice you summarized everything perfectly. as the person is showing intent to getting it done...no one can get evicted unless the house decides to evict that person. 

Seb: 

Rowan: 
MOTION: 
1) Members may submit a request for extension on meeting pet requirements to the Steward--including a plan and appropriate timeline.
2) If a member wishes to contest the Steward's decision, they may write it on the agenda of the next business meeting.
3) A membership review for pet requirement non-compliance may not be called before a decision is made by the house (at the business meeting).

8-0-3 PASSES


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