Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
May 15, 2001

Attending:

• Jamie Carroll
• Ed Dyer
• Tom Fullerton
• Bernie Hart
• Marilyn MacDonald
• John McKay
• Grace Paterson
• Mark Rushton
• Jeff Warnica
• Chris Watt
• Viola Winstanley
• Andrew D. Wright

Minutes of April 3rd

Andrew will post the April 3rd minutes and provide the Board with the URL. Once they are approved they will be posted for public access.

Andrew Wright reported that the necessary reports and information have been supplied to the Registry of Joint Stocks.

Confirmation of Election of Officers

Chris Watt indicated he is now able to deal with the banking with the assistance of Marilyn MacDonald.

It was moved by Ed Dyer and seconded by John McKay that the four members of the Executive (Marilyn MacDonald, James Carroll, Chris Watt and Bernard) be authorized to arrange with the Royal Bank and the Credit Union for signing privileges. It was agreed that the procedure of requiring two signatures on each cheque would be continued. Passed.

Following a discussion re a change of Banks it was decided to remain with the Royal in order to maintain credit card transaction facility for membership renewals.

Expression of Thanks to Doug McCann

Marilyn indicated she would write the letter.

Policy Respecting Refunds

It was moved by Bernie Hart seconded by Mark Rushton that in future when a person has paid for and successfully established a PPP connection there will be no refunds and that this will become a CCN policy to be provided to members in writing when a new account is being opened or when there is a renewal. Further any requests for refunds (under the connection provision) require Board approval. Passed with two abstentions.

It was moved by Jamie Carroll and seconded by Mark Rushton that a refund for the PPP account be given to Amanda Gouthro (au157). Passed with 1 Abstention and 1 Opposed.

It was moved by Jeff Warnica seconded by Mark Rushton that the responsibililty for reviewing requests for refunds be passed to the Policy Committee. Defeated with 2 Voting in Favour.

Policy Respecting IPs and VDNs

Issues:
• There is no longer a functioning IP Committee.
• There is a lack of vision as to how Web Sites on CCN should appear.
• We do not have a satisfactory method of initiating/orienting new organizations wishing to become IPs.
• A significant number of sites are no longer being maintained by organizations.
• It was agreed it's now a communications/procedural issue and not a technological one.
• There is a lack of technical rules which organizations can follow.
• Previously there were several champions of the IP process but this group no longer has control.

Suggestions
• CCN needs to prepare a comprehensive package.

CSuite Project Update

In explaining the present status of the request for funding from the Office of Learning Technologies (OLT - HRDC) Marilyn indicated a grant had been received by a previous Board for $25,000 from OLT for the purpose of preparing a full proposal to undertake the development of a new version of CSuite. All or part of the $25,000 had been used by those associated with the CSuite Co-op to prepare the Development Project proposal. The funding had been made available for this project through CCN but the Board did not approve expenditures. David Murdoch, on behalf of the Co-op had asked the CCN Board to be the sponsor of the second stage. The Board reviewed the proposal and made revisions. There were also conversations with David Murdoch, Gary Shearman and John Nemeth representing the Co-op. Jamie expressed concern that there still appeared to be financial activity relating to the project.

The revised proposal had been submitted by CCN to HRDC and the response was that it was not sufficient. The consensus was that there is presently a serious question about ownership - who owns CSuite and who is able to legitimately apply to HRDC for funding to make modifications.

The following actions were agreed upon.
• A letter will be sent to the CSuite Co-op through David Murdoch directing them/him to make financial records available or legal action will be taken.
• A clear distinction will be drawn between the grant request which originated with the Co-op and the new one to be submitted by CCN.
• Any re-submission will be done under the name of Chebucto Community Net.
• Jamie will contact OLT to determine what is required to complete the CCN proposal and to make it clear that CCN will not be playing the role of a sponsor for the former proposal submitted by the Co-op.
• Mark asked that there be more on-line communications on this project and similar issues between Board meetings.

Staffing

• Vacation relief for Andrew.
• Carry out the backlog of technical requirements.
• Learning operational procedures required by the Office but not available to the present Board.
• Do the technical fixes on an as needed basis.
• Possible work on special projects such as "streaming audio".

Jamie recommended Johnathan be paid at a rate of $7.50 per hour for a 35 hour week. Members expressed concern about making this commitment without being sure of the funding available. There was also a concern re income in view of the number of people not renewing their memberships. (We have lost 50% of the members who signed up last April.)

It was moved by Ed Dyer and seconded by Tom Fullerton that the Executive be empowered to hire Johnathan on an as needed basis and in keeping with the available funding. Passed.

Space

There was agreement that the Board should seek and entertain proposals to be brought to the Board for consideration.

Partnering Opportunities

Committee Reports

Chris distributed a Financial Statement. He pointed out that there is a surplus of $8,365 with respect to the current years activity. CCN's total "non-capital" assets are $47,718. Chris pointed out that for last year there had been an operating deficit of $26,000. And while our operating costs will be less our projected income will suffer due to the monthly loss of memberships at the rate of 100.

Chris indicated he would be able to have a complete financial statement for the next Board meeting. He also reported he would be able to file our income tax return by the end of June in keeping with CCRA requirements.

Ed reported he had purchased the Non-interruptable Power Supplies and that he may be able to install them during the next weekend. This will involve one existing supply and two new ones.

He indicated that attendance at Tech Meeting has varied from two to six. There is one new volunteer. There was a question as to whether technical problems may be the cause of members leaving. Ed suggested a more likely reason is the speed of our service.

General

Mark suggested the September Weekend did not go far enough and we did not get beyond the identification of problems and issues. He agreed to convene a meeting(s) to explore and develop new response to the "community" components of Chebucto.

Other Business

There were questions re the Provincial Server. Who owns it? What is its purpose and can we seek funds from its users? Marilyn asked that this be raised at the next meeting.

Marilyn asked that anyone who has had mail or phone contact from Robert Speirs should report this to the Police.

Meeting adjourned.