ACM Minutes, 02-11-2026

ACM Minutes
February 11, 2026
In attendance: Lynda, Emily, Kerry T, Michael, Brian, Christy, Ben, Renae, Coleman, Laraine, Steven

Announcements
-    Common house committee has decided to do giveaways only on Sunday ACMs, rather than both Sunday and Wednesday
-    Ants have begun visiting CH kitchen, so be sure to clean up when sinks are used, particularly after events
-    Guests in bedroom this weekend, and birthday party on Sunday 

North Field Playground Swingset
-    Renae’s childhood swingset has been installed in the north field adjacent to the playground there
-    Newly powder coated with new hardware, and is very sturdy
-    Christy asks if the swingset is permanent or needs to be affixed to the ground
-    Renae responds that it is very sturdy and that insurance has approved it
-    Ben adds that State Farm had some expectations for the swingset, such as that it is on liability coverage but would not be replaced if damaged
-    Lynda wonders if there is some kind of anchoring system other than concrete “footers” that could affix the swingset to the 
-    Laraine asks if community would be liable if injury occurred on the swingset; Ben answers that yes, we would be, but this is similar to other 
-    Emily asks if damage occurs, who would be responsible for repair; Renae responds that the community would not be expected to be paid for the repair 

Parents Committee Update
-    Laraine asks about schedule for parents committee; Renae reports that the last meeting was in January and the next one will be in April
-    Coleman says that a holistic look at the playgrounds is in the plans for the near future 

Discord Six Month Check-in and Discussion

Positives (Deltas)
-    Opt-in and opt-out to view information on various channels
o    Notifications and channels can be added/updated at will
-    Organization/transparency of information about projects/activities/work parties
-    Committees able to communicate more effectively
-    Threads allow us to keep track of information within categories or topics (better than email and better than text threads)
-    Opportunity to digitize records and history of community and finances
-    Good for informal “eavesdropping/lurking” and stay apprised of activities even if you’re less involved day-to-day
-    Great for real-time needs like “Rides and Requests”
-    Separating community communication from personal emails 

Still missing/To be resolved
-    Email integration to wasatchcommons@gmail.com is not fluid
-    Outside people can’t contact us on Discord
-    No “catch-up” channel if you fall behind
-    Hesitancy about adding any non-community members to the Discord, but there are other means to contact us: email, Facebook, Instagram 
-    Access timing is a question:  when should new members be added to the Discord, when should members be removed; Ben responded that with Google Groups this occurred when houses were purchased
-    Some members still need more training; steep learning curve
-    Can be tough to remember where particular information is within channels or threads, and that means it can’t be found if you forget; suggestion is to use the search function 
-    Opting-in is less straightforward than email is, when everything arrives 
-    Difference between channels isn’t clear (general, announcements, urgent); so perhaps a channel orientation or a paring down of the channels 
-    We should decide as a community about channel names and definitions 
-    More for real-time communication than historical documentation, but we have the Wiki for the latter 
-    Search function is a little less robust than email, so as information accrues it may become difficult to access past discussions
-    There can be a disconnect between what you opt-in to and information spread; Ben suggests that opting-in could be the default for all channels at onboarding, and opting-out afterward as needed 
-    Push notifications to everybody are limited to within the Urgent channel, by tagging @everyone 

Further observations
-    Lynda suggests one more educational evening prior to proposal adoption
-    Coleman asks about the long-term stability of the company
-    Ben reports that Discord has exists for ten years, is a private company but is considering an Initial Public Offering, which could change things
-    Some security concerns have arisen lately, including age verification 
-    Renae suggests that our particular community, with physical proximity allows us to be resilient if issues arise, and we can fall back on in-person communication
-    Ben reports that alternatives for Discord may be in development, but tough to predict what the outcomes will be
-    “Self-hosting” would be a fallback option if the redundancy of Discord’s backups 
-    It’s possible to create discussion threads within Discord messaging for smaller-group needs such as monthly cleaning groups 
-    “Nitro” upgrade is not something anyone has experimented with; but it is more user experience rather than functionality 
-    Feedback channel is a good place to insert comments about which channels could be combined/removed/added
-    Renae reminds everyone that we can’t fall back on Discord as a replacement for the person-to-person communication and community-building 
-    Steven suggests that for those who don’t adopt Discord, there should be a “point person” for important communications 
-    Christy suggests that part of the training can be about how to reduce the number of notifications so that contact can be moderated as desired 
-    Renae suggests if that announcements are happening on Discord and in person, perhaps the time saved in ACMs by not extending announcements in person could be rededicated to check-ins of some kind; ACM Planning will consider this

Next Steps: Ben will write a proposal that will be presented for consensus at ACM on 2/22; Thread will be created from the posting of minutes from this meeting to solicit comments from those not in attendance

Space usage / Vision and values statement
-    Everyone is encouraged to think about the use of spaces in the community for the 3/11 ACM based on changes in needs/wants/desires among the current community membership, their hobbies, et cetera 
-    This should be include both space needs and how to use existing spaces 
-    Laraine has collected various cohousing “vision and values” statements and would like to talk about them with a group or at an ACM to help identify who we are and who we want to be as a community 
-    Ad-hoc committee was formed at last ACM conversation about Vision and Values in 2025, and this could be reinvigorated 
-    Steven asks if this conversation is starting with space, then is this an inventory, a space audit, which could be something that informs the vision/values
-    Renae wants to add landscape spaces to the space audit/inventory and potential microclimates