Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
November 10, 2005

Attending:

• Mark Alberstat
• Tom Daly
• Bernie Hart
• Marilyn MacDonald
• John McKay
• Alan Turner

Regrets:

• Dale Crory
• Ed Dyer
• Bill Matheson
• Tanya Moxley
• Marni Tuttle

In the absence of the secretary Alan Turner agreed to take the minutes.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Tom / John moved approval of last month's minutes. CARRIED

Board membership

Marilyn pointed out that we were still short one board member. We should take some action. It was agreed that it would be good if the new member came from MISA. Bernie will pursue. It was also noted that one member had missed 3 consecu tive meetings, which is often an indication of a lack of interest. However regrets had been sent all 3 times, the member is technically in good standing, and we will not assume the worst - no action to be taken.

WI-FI

Nothing new since last meeting. John will email members to arrange a meeting to discuss where we are and what we want to do.

Youth at Risk

Computers are to be made available at schools and outside non-profit groups. 12 youths will be trained. We offered 12 accounts. We are hoping that sponsors would make donations to cover the cost of these. Attendees at the meeting were a mazed to learn what we had to offer (even a former member of CCN), underlining our need to promote ourselves. We intend to stay involved with this program.

Envision Halifax

Tracy Boyer made a presentation on this project, which she found a natural match with our vision and objectives. The intent is to make a leadership program, as has been done in many of the larger cities across Canada. There are many idea s and initiatives astir in Halifax and Envision Halifax (EH) wants to set up "Village Square" meetings, what they call "learning labs", to bring together people of all different interests. EH does not want to espouse nor compete with any initiative but h opes to facilitate confluence and synergy that will bring about a powerful movement encompassing all interests. Danny Graham has been very active in bringing this to fruition. We see our part as being the provider of on line connection after the initial personal contact, to provide continuity. Tom was very supportive of the EH initiative. He said that change was currently being forced upon us by "regional planning" (which consists of just 4 persons) and sees this initiative as people power vs. the rul ing class.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee

Andrew said that the WYSIWYG HTML editor is up and running and being tweaked. It is open to access, but not secure. It will provide some assistance in building a web-site.

Finance Committee

Bernie circulated the financial statement to Oct 31. It is drawn from the bank statement and still has to be reconciled with Andrew's figures, which are more up-to-date. Our expenditures are still running ahead of our revenues, though An drew pointed out that 40 more "plus" accounts would put us in balance.

Policy Committee

Nothing to report.

External Committee

The brochure has been re-worked (thanks to Andrew for his hard work). The ad. was placed in the Coast at a cost of $325. Andrew has helped Mark with the "Mousepad". This still appears only on Sundays, the only space available. Mark wrot e to 40 other newspapers in the province and received no responses. The Herald does not keep an archive of our columns. Would they install a link to our web page? Mark will explore.

Internal Committee

No report.

Other Business

None.

Adjournment

Tom moved adjournment at 8:05 PM.

Next Meeting

December 8, 2005. 6:30 PM, Colloquium Room