Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
December 12th, 2000

Present:

• Doug McCann
• Marilyn MacDonald
• Mark Rushton
• Grace Paterson
• Viola Winstanley
• James Carroll
• Andrew Wright
• Ed Dyer
• Chris Watt
• Sharon Parker
• Jeff Warnica
• Bernie Hart

Agenda:

1. Approval of minutes from previous meeting
2. Election of New Chair
3. Board Vacancies
4. Committee Reports
5. Office Manager Contract
6. Next Meeting

1. Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

2. Election of New Chair

Sharon Parker explained to the Board that she had been advised to reduce her workload and because of this is she will have to resign as Chair of the Board. Members expressed their appreciation for Sharon's dedication and her insightful leadership. She explained that Doug McCann had indicated a willingness to serve as an interim Chair and Marilyn MacDonald was prepared to serve as Vice Chair.

It was moved by B. Hart seconded by Marilyn MacDonald that the position of Past Chair be added to the Board. Passed. (This will require a change in By-laws but it was agreed this position will be recognized on an ad hoc basis until this change is made.) Sharon had previously agreed to serve in this position.

Sharon then called for nominations for the position of Chair. James Carroll nominated Doug McCann seconded by Grace Paterson. There were no further nominations for this position. Doug then assumed the Chair. There was some discussion about the status of position of Chair as to whether it would be interim or whether it would remain until the Annual Meeting. The consensus was that it would remain.

Doug then called for nominations for Vice Chair. Marilyn MacDonald agreed to stand. There were no further nominations. Doug called for nominations for Secretary. There were no nominations nor any volunteers.

There was also discussion about the procedure of selecting a new Board. The present practice is to select the required number of members and then to have the Board select its officers. Bernie indicated that he and Andrew, as a part of a By-law review, had discussed the possibility of having nominations for Board positions as opposed to simple board membership. Associated with this proposal was the notion that the nominee would sign a statement indicating he/she was familiar with the responsibilities of the position and agreed to carry them out. It was agreed any change of this magnitude would require careful consideration by the Board before being proposed to the Membership as a By-law amendment.

3. Board Vacancies.

Doug pointed out that the Board had now been reduced to nine members. It was suggested there needs to be a search committee for additional members. It was ageed the Executive would serve in this role. It was also agreed the membership would be informed of the vacancies and there would be a request for volunteers. A notice to this effect will be placed in the message of the day and in the Beacon. Chris Watt who was attending the meeting indicated he was willing to serve on the Board. The Chair asked that he provide a short "Bio". This was then distributed. B. Hart moved and Ed Dyer seconded that Chris Watt be invited to join the Board. Passed.

4. Reports * Finance, Operations, and Communications.

Finance

James reported that there is now a balance of $15,000 in the main account. At this point there is an outstanding bill from Dalhousie for $5,000. Doug added that revenue in the last 30 days (Office weekly and deposit reports) was $9,333. Also that a donation was received for $1,200 (not included in deposit). There is now one main bank account. All others were closed. In response to the need to continue with the Royal Bank as opposed to a Credit Union, Andrew indicated that the CU does not accept Visa. James Carroll pointed out the Fund Raising Committee had not met but would do so soon. At this point the matter of Andrew Wright's bonus was raised and Doug asked that the Board go "in camera". Andrew Wright and Jeff Warnica withdrew from the meeting. During the first part of the "in camera" session a motion was passed which endorsed the action of the Executive in awarding Andrew Wright the scheduled bonus.

The issue of an accounting package for the office was then raised. Chris Watt agreed to install a package which would meet our needs. It was agreed that this installation would be done in cooperation with the Technical Committee and the CCN Accountant. Grace Paterson added that "Fund Raising" accounting can also be downloaded.

Tech Committee

Ed Dyer raised the need for $300. to make line changes. This would enable the Committee to move all PPP lines to the modem bank. The funds will be required for cables. The expenditure was agreed to by the Board. The new disk drive has been installed which will mean periodic interruptions. There is a need to distinguish between PPP and POP mail messages. There is the ongoing problem of distinguishing between "users" included in our stats and members; 6,000 versus less than 3,000. It was pointed out that it is not easy to determine the number of actual members. Ed and Andrew will confer on a procedure to address the expiry issue.

Following a discussion about down times and messages associated with them, Jeff suggested we adopt the same procedure used at Dal and regularize the planned down times so the users can be aware of this possibility. Mark Rushton asked about the IP DB. Ed indicated that there has been no progress on this problem. Moved, Mark Rushton; seconded, James Carroll: That at the next board meeting, the technical committee report back with a suggested solution to the IPDB problem. Motion carried

POP Slowdowns: Tech is unable to verify what is going on

VDN Process: Tech has an interim solution with which it is not 100% happy

Tech contact information has been adjusted on the website

It was agreed that a projected list of expenditures, as opposed to a wish list, be brought forward by tech to concur with preparation of the 2001 budget

Ed Dyer requested some clarification of expectations re technical services. Is the emphasis to be on reactive rather than proactive measures? Chebucto also requires some resolution of priorities attached to various services

COMMUNICATIONS: Discussion of ideas presented by the communications chair regarding restructuring of the committees at Chebucto took place. It was agreed that the chair should bring forward a formal proposal at the next meeting

OFFICE MANAGER CONTRACT: The executive was instructed to prepare a contract proposal for the manager leading to a resolution of this matter by the year end

NEXT MEETING: January 9,2001. Computer Sciences Building

The meeting adjourned at 8.50 PM