meetings:2025-08-06 [Sasona Cooperative]

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====== August  6, 2025 ======

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

Fay
Matthias
David
Jessi
Olivia
Mae
Rowan
Alice
Kaycie
Vic

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

Caleb

===== Non-Regular Attendees: =====

David M
===== Personal Check-ins =====

===== Prospective Members: =====

**First Meeting Question:** 
  - Full Legal Name 
  - Pronouns 
  - Why do you want to live at SASONA? 
  - When would you want to move in? 
**Second Meeting** 
  - Are you willing to do 5 to 6 Lumps (hrs) of Labor a week? 
  - Are you willing to attend a minimum of 2 house meetings per month and 2 labor holidays (4 lumps each)?

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

**Archivist: ** \\
**Bookkeeper: ** \\
**CHEA Rep 1:** \\
**CHEA Rep 2:** \\
**Culture Coordinator:** \\
**Food Planner:** \\
**Grounds Coordinator:** \\
**Kitchen Kaiser:** \\
**Labor Czar:** \\
**Maintenance Coordinator: ** \\
**Mastodon Overblower: ** \\
**Meeting Chair: ** \\
**Membership Coordinator: ** \\
**Minutes Taker: ** \\
**Steward: ** \\
**Treasurer: ** \\
**NP Rep: ** \\
**Operations Manager: **
====== Wiki Updates & Announcements ======

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

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

(Jessi) Thymell owes Rosewood $150

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(@@Proposers@@) @@Proposal Text@@ 

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Jessi:

Mae: What's the circumstances?

Matthias:

David M.: you voted her in on her second meeting, and there was already a discussion on how she is to pay. she wants to pay through PayPal and Wise, which would be for foreign exchange. I was questioning her as well because typically y'all do money orders for some reason. She didn't want to do that for some reason. there appears to be inconsistencies with her answers, and when we looked into it, there are lots of fees associated with PayPal. there was a discussion about how we could make an exception since she had to pay a short term stay elsewhere. she was trying to get an angle and it seemed like she was trying to finangle her way into stuff. I saw her talk to Jessi and then come to me, and it felt kinda like trying to get another answer, but that's hearsay. I'm not a member here so I don't want to tilt the scales, but I also want to hold to the policies. but as this progressed, she seemed to give inconsistent answers. I heard Matthias say she lived at Rosewood, so I reached out to a friend who lived there, and I explained the situation, and she knew who it was and that she owed Rosewood $150 and doesn't really intend to pay it back. There's some other social issues going on that I don't really want to go into. I followed up with my Rosewood friend about questions about safety, etc. She wasn't aware of any objective safety issues. then I talked to Ruth and Jessi about the situation and decided we should have an emergency meeting. I also discussed the general situation with Joe and Maggie from NP and they reminded us to ensure we treat this like normal. the good news is, she hasn't signed a lease yet. from my perspective it seems like the $150 thing would be an evictable offense.

Olivia: moving is stressful and asking for a prorated rent rate is awkward. I'd like to stick to the facts rather than vibes. how long ago did Thymell's relationship with Rosewood end?

Alice: I do think this feels more vibes based and I'd like to see what Thymell has to say about this

Mae: I'd like to see what that $150 is for. 

Matthias: I think someone asked when it ended. she said she needed to be out by the end of the month and would have liked to move in Aug 1, but ended up getting an airbnb, so that's where she was concerned about finances and trying to pay for things here. I'm not sure how much that has to

Olivia: so Rosewood was where she was in July?

Matthias: yes

Jessi: 

Caleb: to answer the question about the $150, they require to give 2 months notice and there may be a fee associated with that. my best guess is that it's the fee. 

Matthias: you lived there before right? 

Caleb: yes

Matthias: what's the security deposit?

Caleb: they do payment plans and she could have been on a payment plan for the security deposit

Kaycie: i'm wondering if inviting her back for a third meeting would be good. it could give us a lot of clarity. getting that clarification directly from her makes sense.

Rowan: IDK a lot about financial stuff. PayPal nearly always sides with the person who's paid, so we should be cautious with Paypal.

Matthias: that's my concern with Paypal. we had an old account linked to the treasurer. it wasn't active, no money, etc. we tried to see if we could set it up. ther's a large fee for transfer from a foreign account. there's one thing that she's needing to pay different than normal. PayPal is just one more complex thing to add to our business model. it's an unknown for us to take that on. IDK about the retgurn policy that they have. there's some things that are also concerning regarding paypal. I know if I went overseas, I'd be able to get cash out of an ATM. a money order is possible that way.

Alice: PayPal has 2 different methods, between trusted people or for goods and services. I see no reason to use PayPal, I've not heard of any other housing situation to use PayPal. anti-paypal here.

Rowan: I think it would be helpful to get that info in writing why it needs to be PayPal.

Fay: IDK where I heard this recently but I heard that we're not supposed to pay rent over PayPal or zelle. 

Matthias: zelle how I've been paying here and my new landlord is accepting payment through Zelle. these things are procedural. IDK if we need more info from Rosewood about what the $150 was for. maybe if she could explain from her side, too. it seems reasonable to find out

Jessi: is there a danger in asking for a 3rd meeting?

David M: I was just told that having them come back for a third interview would be a different process. it could also be argued that we're looking for clarification

Jessi: I propose we pause Thymell's pending membership, ask for a 3rd meeting for clarification, gather info from Rosewood and Thymell, and, if accepted, and she signs a resident contract, she pays in full with a money order. 

Rowan: if the meeting is gonna be a legal issue, maybe we could do more 1:1. i'm also not against paypal, as long as we're super clear on why it needs to be paypal

Matthias: I think western Union also may be an option. it's basically a digital version of a money order. I also don't know if we need to have another house meeting for them to explain their side, maybe having 2 officers and an email chain would be best. I also want them to know what our concerns are because it sounds like they're struggling with what their steps are

Caleb: it sounds like it's the multiplacative factor of paypal plus oweing money. I would be comfortable with the money order--that would stick to our policies and then we can further assess. in terms of fair housing, it would make sense to not require a third meeting if she does a money order. we don't want to prevent international people from living here if thats a real concern

Fay: have y'all discussed that it didn't work out with Rosewood?

Jessi: procedureally

Olivia: finding that there should be moving out of one community shouldn't affect another community's acceptance. we'd have to pass an exemption if we actually required a money order. 

Matthias: I couldn't find the policy, but it has been a practice for security. we don't actually required it.

Jessi: I propose we pause Thymell's pending membership, ask for a 3rd meeting for clarification, gather info from Rosewood and Thymell, and, if accepted, and she signs a resident contract, she pays in full with a money order. 

David M: if we contact Rosewood, will the way that Rosewood talks about how much money she owes, will that affect the decision? 

Matthias: I can assume that there's someone at Rosewood that can make it legit. maybe we get an email from them stating this. 

David M: then it should go from officer to officer.

Rowan: I don't have a problem with you being involved as Ops Manager vs David, friend. 

Jessi: Steward and Ops Manager will contact Rosewood, then Steward and MemCo will reach out to Thymell regarding topics discussed today, then will report those in our Sunday reports for this week. Then we will proceed from there as normal. Thymell's pending acceptance will be paused until these issues are communicated, and only a money order will be accepted as payment in full for security deposit and prorated rent, if applicable. 

Caleb: Second

Kaycie: i'm concerned about timeline.

Matthias: they've picked out room 3--i'd hate for someone to drop money on that room.

Matthias: I still think we need to clarify what we're doing with the room. it would feel unfair to hold them back from paying for the room. it feels unfair to not hold the room

Olivia: would it be possible to place a hold on the room through Sunday, that would automatically expire unless extended by house vote. does that sound fair? 

Jessi: we also don't have a money order in our hands.

kaycie: agree with the amendment

Mae: I think it would be fair if we waited until Sunday. holding it would be good through Sunday.

Jessi: Steward and Ops Manager will contact Rosewood, then Steward and MemCo will reach out to Thymell regarding topics discussed today, then will report those in our Sunday reports for this week. Then we will proceed from there as normal. Thymell's pending acceptance will be paused until these issues are communicated, and only a money order will be accepted as payment in full for security deposit and prorated rent, if applicable. Room 3 will be held until Sunday, August 10, 2025. 

kaycie: we need to know that she can pay with a money order, and that there wasn't any evictable behavior at Rosewood. if she shows up with a money order, we also need to know these things. 

Matthias: it sounds like the $150 was a payment plan on a deposit. it sounds like it didn't work out. I didn't hear that she was evicted, just that it didn't work out. we have a stronger system where the deposit is paid up front where that stays with us. our policies also don't state that we have to police outside of CHEA as much as within CHEA.

kaycie: I trust our officers will get the necessary info. 

matthias; I think we need to be clear on what happened at Rosewood. 

Jessi: Steward and Ops Manager will contact Rosewood, then Steward and MemCo will reach out to Thymell regarding topics discussed today, then will report those in our Sunday reports for this week. Then we will proceed from there as normal. Thymell's pending acceptance will be paused until these issues are communicated, and only a money order will be accepted as payment in full for security deposit and prorated rent, if applicable. Room 3 will be held until Sunday, August 10, 2025 at 9 PM.

Caleb: Second

9-0-1 PASSES
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