Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
December 2, 2004

Attending:

• Tom Daly
• Ed Dyer
• Marilyn MacDonald
• Bill Matheson
• John McKay
• Tanya Moxley
• Jeff Warnica
• Andrew D. Wright

Regrets:

• Bernie Hart
• Mark Alberstat

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Moved by Bill / Tom moved that we approve the Minutes of October (as circulated on mailing list) and November (as provided). Motion carried.

Election to Executive

As Chris has resigned from the Executive, a new Secretary is required. Moved by Tom / John that Tanya be elected as the new Secretary. MoOtion carried with Andrew abstaining.

Marilyn provided Tanya with a form to sign for the bank. Tanya will also need to go to the bank at some point (to be arranged by Marilyn) to sort out the signing authority.

Staff Matters

Following some discussion, Ed / Tom moved that we hire Johnathan for four months at 20 hr / week with a 2% raise. It was agreed this motion was unnecessary, given the motion approved last month.

The motion was withdrawn and Ed simply informed the Board that, following up on a motion made at the November meeting, Johnathan Thibodeau has been hired for four months at 20 hr / week at a wage of $12.25 per hour.

There is also some project work that needs doing, including a Webmail upgrade, mail server upgrade, adding an RSS news feed, etc… Moved by Ed / Tom that we create a Technical Support position for four months at up to 20 hours per week, and a wage of up to $10 per hour.

Discussion:

• This is not a co-op position for Jason.
• Should we be adding new services when existing ones are breaking?
• What are the timelines and deliverables for the new projects? Ed will bring more details to January meeting.
• Main benefit of new services is increasing our marketability.
• Can we afford this position? Yes.

Motion carried with one abstention and one opposed. Jason McNeil is proposed for this position; Ed will report in January whether Jason has accepted.

Changes to Memberships

The Policy Committee is proposing some changes to account names and features, based on current usage and some confusion resulting from current nomenclature.

Following some discussion, the following motions were made: Andrew / Jeff: That the current "sustaining membership" be renamed to "Chebucto Plus Membership". Motion carried.

Andrew / Tom: That a new Chebucto Plus Family Membership be created, with the following features:

• One PPP dial-up account.
• Up to six individual user accounts, each with 4 Mb mail space and 10 Mb file space.
• All other rights and privileges of being a Chebucto Community Net Member.
• Cost of $140 per year, with a second dial-up account available at $50 per year.
• One vote at the AGM (Annual General Meeting).
• Only one person is the signatory of the User Agreement for all other account holders in this membership.

Implementation of this account is dependent on modifications to the User Agreement which will allow for one person to be the signature holder for the account, who will sign for all the others. Changes to the User Agreement will be circulated on the mailing list and approved online. Motion carried.

Andrew noted that this membership category applies to new sign-ups and will not affect those who currently hold a "Family Sustaining" membership unless they wish to switch to the new membership type.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee

The air conditioner has been replaced with no downtime.

Ed will check for John on whether hits to the Message of the Day are increasing now that its placement on the web site has changed.

The Dept. of Math & Stats has agreed to give us a tape backup library which holds 28 - 30 tapes. Ed will make arrangements to acquire & install it.

Backups on Athena are working very well. Restores have been tested successfully.

There was a crash on the Halifax server today. Investigations are underway.

Ed will bring information about potential future projects to the January meeting.

In response to Jeff's question from November about time spent maintaining various equipment, Ed does not have an automated way to retrieve this information.

We should have some information available at the AGM about mailbox sizes, as people are likely to ask why we offer so little when Google/Hotmail/Yahoo offer a lot more.

Finance Committee

No report as Bernie has been away.

Marilyn will meet with Bernie re: discrepancies between his figures and Andrew's.

Marilyn will ask Bernie to provide new statements at January meeting for October, November, and December. Hopefully the Oct. and Nov. statements can be provided online prior to the Jan. meeting.

Policy Committee

No additional report.

External Committee

Received a survey from Word on the Street asking for feedback on event and potential new locations. Marilyn & Andrew completed and returned it based on discussions at our October meeting.

Following discussions about a Christmas promotional activity in the Herald, Bill / Jeff moved that we approve up to $1500 for whatever activity Marilyn feels will get us "the best bang for our buck". Motion carried.

Historically the External Committee has planned the AGM. Is it OK with everyone if they continue that this year? General agreement. Date to be selected at January meeting.

Internal Committee

No Report.

Other Business

No luck finding additional Board members yet; 3 "No, Thank Yous" so far. They are particularly looking for people with marketing or communication experience.

Adjournment

Tom moved that we adjourn at 8:15 PM.

Next Meeting: January 6, 2005. 6:30 PM, Colloquium Room