2026-02-09 Community Council Meeting Minutes

2026-02-09 Community Council Meeting Minutes

Attendees: @Tom Cramer @Johanna Radding @Stephen Short @Rachael Kotarski @Vanessa French @Karen Elena Jara Maricic @Shawn Nicholson @Peter Murray @spampell @Kemner-Heek, Kirstin @Kristin Martin @Maccabee Levine @Petra Schneider @Martina Schildt

Guests: @Kathleen Berry @Kemner-Heek, Kirstin @Kristin Martin @Mike Gorrell

Regrets:

Note Taker:

Discussion items

Item

Who

@Notes

Item

Who

@Notes

Note Taker

 

Note taker for today: Martina Schildt
Note taker for next meeting: 2/23/2026: Steve Short

Treasurer’s Report

@Kathleen Berry

  • $374,000 in total actual income

  • $85,000 in the green, so we are covering our expenses this year still with income that we are making in this year.

  • total annual income of about $460,000, which is $25,000 more than we projected

  • Income for this year will be exceeded by our expenses by $42,000.

  • our spending is overall under what was projected for us

  • AWS costs under $30,000 a month

  • still spending more than we made this fiscal year but far less than we had anticipated

  • Money market account: we have made about $7,000 in interest this year.

  • more than $136,000 as our estimate for our carryover.

  • There are 3 members who prepaid in the year 2022. That money is officially up at the end of this fiscal year, so there will not be any more funds for those three organizations. Kat will reach out to them and see if they want to renew their membership.

FOLIO Members Committee draft charge

@Mike Gorrell @Kemner-Heek, Kirstin @Kristin Martin

Please find draft charge here:

  • Proposal to make the group an official subgroup/committee of CC. FMC should formerly become a group that reports to CC.

  • The group is supposed to be a conduit between the members and the folio community and the community council.

  • Envisioned are 6 to 7 representatives; there are no real guidelines or rules planned in terms of who can be part of this membership.

  • Outeach SIG will be a different group than the Members group; Alexis asks whether Outreach includes Onboarding. → Mike confirms that yes outreach would include onboarding

  • Kirstin proposed having members from both the member subgroup and outreach team to ensure close connections.

  • Steve raised concerns about the budget and emphasized the need for core conversations regarding the stability of the platform, highlighting the limitations in funding for initiatives.

  • Discussion on becoming more action-oriented and addressing core issues more effectively, with a focus on identifying platform risks and necessary technical improvements.

  • Steve mentioned a plan to allocate $500,000 for refining existing features and improving APIs, rather than developing new ones, stressing the need for community benefit and collaboration with larger institutions.

  • Tom suggested a community council meeting to surface various initiatives and foster awareness, aiming for better alignment and collective action in addressing community needs.

  • Steve pointed out ongoing technical issues, particularly with indexing and infrastructure, and the necessity for a working list of core problems to prioritize resources effectively.

  • Tom highlighted the necessity for increased membership and funding to support a stable product. He proposed the creation of a "software marketplace" to effectively allocate resources for software development.

  • Alexis shared insights from the Product Council about developing a list of top priorities, focusing on broader themes rather than specific features, to address the community's needs holistically.

  • Kat raised concerns about potential cuts to development due to budget constraints, emphasizing the importance of maintaining AWS costs to ensure ongoing development efforts.

  • Kristin pointed out the "free rider problem" in open-source projects, suggesting that institutions may not see the value in membership without clear benefits. The discussion highlighted the need to understand non-member perspectives to improve membership appeal.

  • The draft charter is open for comment and for review for 2 weeks. There was general support for the Members committee becoming an official subgroup of CC as a means to enhance transparency and communication between the council and its members.

 

Community council members please consider to become part of the Community Outreach group.

Agenda items for Feb 23, 2026 meeting

@Paul Kloppenborg @Tom Cramer

  • WOLFcon 2026 Preview (@Jennifer Eustis @Jesse Koennecke )

  • Training (@Paul Kloppenborg @Petra Schneider @Martina Schildt)

  • Review of Feedback and Thoughts “FOLIO Members Committee draft charge”

  • Any other topics?

Call for Agenda Items

@Paul Kloppenborg @Tom Cramer

Potential Items, to be scheduled:

  1. Eureka Progress

  2. Communications Needs / Review

  3. Communications & Outreach SIG

  4. Metrics Group

  5. Membership Value

  6. Membership Levels

  7. Software Marketplace / Software Maintenance strategies

  8. Other Topics?