Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
November 21st, 2000

Present:

• Sharon Parker
• Doug McCann
• Mark Rushton
• Ed Dyer
• Andrew Wright
• Marilyn MacDonald
• Grace Paterson
• Bernie Hart
• Krista Olmstead.

Regrets:

• James Carroll

Agenda:

1. Call to order.
2. Approval of previous meetings minutes.
3. Board Liability Insurance
4. 2001 - The Year of the Volunteer
5. Christmas Party
6. New Business
7. Committee reports
8. Adjournment / Next Meeting

1. The meeting was called to order at 6.42 pm
2. Minutes approved for previous board meetings: July 18th, July 25, August 8th, Sept. 19th, Oct 10th, October 30th.
3. Board Liability Insurance
   1. Sharon Parker reported that she had been given two policy options by the insurance company for board coverage. The first option was for one year, and the second option was for three years. No obligation to pay for the remaining years would be held accountable to the board if Chebucto fails as an organization.
   2. The board opted to take the three year policy.
4. 2001 - The Year of the Volunteers
   1. There will be a launching for "The Year of the Volunteers" for all Halifax volunteer groups held at Proving House on December 5th at 4:30 pm. Following the launch and raising of the flag, will be a reception held at the Sheraton Hotel at 5:00 pm. All Chebucto volunteers are invited to attend.
   2. Volunteers are asked to submit their names to Sharon Parker by November 30th, if they wish to attend
5. Christmas Party
   1. Sharon Parker suggested having the Christmas Party at Coburg Cafe. There is no alcohol allowed at the cafe so this would ensure that all Chebucto volunteers will be able to equally participate in the activity.
   2. Krista Olmstead suggested having a Bowling Night Christmas Party. The bowling lanes have bars so the legal age volunteers would be able to have a drink while not excluding the younger volunteers. This would also be an active event and would be more fun for the participants.
   3. A discussion ensued regarding who should be invited to the party, in regards to full membership or just volunteers. The board decided to invite volunteers only due to the short time frame and complexity of organizing such a large event.
   4. The board voted to to have the bowling night party. Krista was assigned the task to find an appropriate venue and will report the date and time to the board. Sharon Parker will then send an announcement out to all volunteers.
6. New Business
   1. The board needs new board members and it was suggested that new members should be approached.
   2. Training - PPP training is needed for seniors, and other Chebucto members. There is currently no training being conducted since Clive Bagley stopped due to an inferred lack of interest. No efforts have been made by the board since that time to start another training program. Ken Burke is reported to be volunteering his time to teach beginner text training at the Halifax Regional Library, Main Branch. Ken has been conducting this training for some time but has had no contact with the board for years. Bernie Hart volunteered to approach Ken to see if he would be interested in joining the board. Bernie reprted that Chebucto should be able to get funding for training fairly quickly and easily, (in about two to three weeks). Bernie volunteered to look into the posibility and report back at the next board meeting.
   3. Sharon Parker reported that the Chebucto GIC's will be renewed this year, and not cashed in.
   4. Grant Application - The Board of Directors is handling the Grant Application. The Technical Committee will advise the Board of the Tech Team's ability/capacity (both technical and human resources) to fulfill/develop each of the specific proposals within the grant application. The Board will develop a set of specifications for whatever contracting-out work it deems necessary in order to fulfill the terms of the Grant.
   5. Web Corps - Andrew Wright has proposed the creation of a new branch within Chebucto, a Web Corps. Chebucto would split web page design fees with qualified volunteers. A pilot project has been successful and Chebucto has received $350 as a result. Andrew asked the Board to consider what services we could provide to Web Corps clients. Bernie Hart expressed concern over possible Chebucto liability. Andrew agreed that a client agreement would be drafted and go before the Policy Committee for review.
7. Committee Reports:
   1. Volunteer - No Report.
   2. External Relations
      1. The "Computer Project" which has been initiated under the direction of James Carroll, Andrew Wright, and Bernie Hart has made some progress. Bernie reported that there may be some funding coming forth for the project, and will report at the next board meeting.
      2. The "City Portal" is underway and Bernie Hart reported his hope that Leo Deveau is still championing Chebucto as the host for this non-commercial portal. Bernie will make contact with Leo to determine the status of the project. There will be no linited access on this portal and the project will be an IP project for Chebucto. Chebucto will be informed if they will receive funding for the project.
   3. Communications Committee
      1. Advertising Banner has not been used effectively recently. The Election Banner was never implemented. Feedback was requested from the Technical Committee but no response was received.
      2. A committee meeting will be called to discuss internal communications. The Communications Chair proposes calling a meeting with all committee chairs in regards to internal communications. A proposal to change internal structure will be submitted before the next board meeting.
   4. Policy Committee - No Report.
   5. Technical Committee
      1. Additional new memory has been installed on the servers, but there are still performance issues. The extra memory has been helping because it allows the system to recover from shocks faster.
      2. The committee is waiting for a new hard drive and will need four to eight hours "down time" for installation.
      3. There is currently on going work on the expiries program.
      4. There are also some additional problems with C-Suite regarding accounting packages that the committee is working to resolve.
      5. Work on the IPDB needs to continue.
      6. Some of the current modems have bugs that are being worked out.
      7. Some users have complained about slow POP mail downloads. The committee is determining who is having these slow download times and why to determine a solution.
      8. Virtual Domain Names are being considered by the committee for the near future. The committee is currently designing a "road map" on how to do this properly. Michael Cormier has volunteered to work on this.
      9. Last weekend the Chebucto server was down for no clear reason. The system was rebooted by David Potter but the committee received no definitive answer as to what caused the system to go down.
   6. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm. Next meeting to be held on December 12th