Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
January 10, 2008

Attending:

• Richard Connolly
• Bernie Hart
• Jim MacLennan
• John McKay
• Kent Murray
• Mary Rigby
• Alan Turner
• Andrew D. Wright

Regrets:

• Ed Dyer
• Marilyn MacDonald
• Bill Matheson
• Matthew Newton

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Minutes for the December meeting were not available. Members present expressed a sincere thank you to Bernie Hart for hosting the social gathering after the December Board meeting.

New Year's Levee for Internet anniversary

Committee Reports

Financial Report

Alan Turner gave the financial report. He noted the revenue for December was $7575 and for the year was $103638. A $5000 GIC was cashed in late November.

The revenue for December 2006 was lower, $6699, but for the year as a whole it was larger, $122198. This latter total included a $10000 infusion of cash from two $5000 GICs.. Expenses for December were $11111 while those entire year were $116895. 2006 expenses were greater for the month as well as the year, December expenses were $13107 while for the year they were $128732.

There has been a saving of $300 per month since the number of lines were dropped in the fall.

A short discussion focused on the need to generate a higher stream of income. This would be particularly useful to pay extra costs which may be incurred as the wifi project goes forward.

Technical Report

Andrew Wright noted that spam, which has been constantly increasing, seems to have reached a plateau recently. Regarding the wifi project Johnathan has cleared up the software problem associated with the node reception. Kent Murray is working on a couple of aspects and will arrange for some collaborative time with Johnathan within the next week to ten days.

Member Retention and Attraction

A brochure and/or poster is needed. Kent Murray suggested that these items might be done as a student or even a class project in a graphic arts programme. He will explore this further. Andrew noted the fact the free CCN Wireless service will provide access to the websites of all three levels of government should be advertized.

The fact that Chebucto could be a user's permanent address even though they roam into other spheres should be stressed. The fact that CCN is a secure system, and mail is private could be useful selling points.

Telephone calls to former and present members could retain members and cause some to return to the service - Bernie, John and Mary are interested in working on this route. Bernie noted that community information and connections should be stressed in CCN promotional materials. In view of the time it was decided that it would be beneficial to hold a brainstorming session focused on this topic. The evening of 17 January was chosen as a feasible date for such a session.

Next Board Meeting

Meeting adjourned 7:50 pm.