Vancouver Community Network
Board Meeting Minutes - March 28, 2000

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Vancouver Community Network, Board of
Directors, held on Tuesday, March 28, 2000 at 6:30 P.M. in the Boardroom,
411 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC.

Present: Alison Curtis, Steve Forrest, Lyle Gardiner, Penny Goldsmith,
Michael Gurstein, Tom Hansen, Richard Smith, Richard Songhurst, Greg Sturk

Staff: Steven Chan, Jason Currell, Carolyn Nantais

Absent: Suzanne Klinga, Sujay Nazareth, Jonn Olldym, Sadia Ramirez

Chair: Alison Curtis   Secretary: Greg Sturk

1.   Adoption of the Agenda, M/S/C.

2.   CLN proposal (Steven Chan)
Steven gave the Board the outline of what may be a major 3 year project for
the VCN. He was at a conference in Montreal last week to hear input from
major organizations. The project concerns community based education,
informal learning, and multi-purpose access, all controlled by the
community. There were 4 consultations and 5 workshops in February with
several dozen groups. The intention is to increase community capacity for
East Vancouver, through the neighbourhoods, linking to Urban Cap for
infrastructure. This project provides the reason and motivation to use the
Internet for community. The plan is to :
Incease commercial capacity in Vancouver in the West End, Downtown Eastside,
Hastings-Sunrise, and Grandview-Woodlands, with an assets based community
development.
Identify community assets
Build relationships
Local economic development
Community planning
Mobilize outside resources
Six community centres will be informal learning centres addressing
multicultural groups.
Motion to endorse the Community Learning Proposal as presented by Steven
Chan, M/S/C.

3.   Minutes of February 29, 2000 meeting accepted, with corrections notes
and made.

4.   Staff reports
a) Carolyn presented the Acting Coordinator's Report, the details of which
are in the Volnet and Urban Cap updates.
b) Jason pressented the System Administrator Report. We now have 2 half time
technical support workers overseeing helpdesk operations. The Volnet budget
provisioned funds for a new Max 4002 and four 12 port 56kK modems cards. New
phone lines will give us 47 for users and 23 for groups. We have set-up
Power of Attorney with a customs broker to help speed shipments from the
U.S.
c) Motion that all hiring decisions go though the hiring committee, M/S/C.

5.   Financial report
Financial report for February and a summary from September 1, 1999 to
February 29, 2000 was presented by Tom. Currently our financial books are in
Abbotsford, Tom proposed that they be be moved to our offices.
Motion to give notice to the current accounting service that the VCN will be
doing financial statements on site, M/S/C.
Motion to accept financial statements, M/S/C.

6.   Project Updates:
     a) Volnet - Industry Canada has approved VCN's renewal proposal with
some financial cuts. We will connect a further 200 non-profits this year,
and in fact have already received 32 applications. We received approval for
an additional Help/Desk/Installtion Coordinator positon and approval for
aditional phone lines and group modem pool. Work on the contact database for
outreach has started and several newspaper and event opportunities have been
identified.
      b) Urban Cap - We will organize 4 workshops in the lower mainland for
Industry Canada and have hired Terri Kennedy to organize. The focus is to
develop community partnerships for our network and offer services for
groups. At a meeting in Surrey there there was disagreement on who is to
represent the VCN.
Motion that Randall MacKinnon does not represent the Vancouver Community
Network in any function, M/S/C.

7.   Committee reports:
      a) technical - Tehnical committee has had a couple meetings where
system security, backup and a compete re-design of the VCN system has been
discussed.
      b) web content and design - A meeting is to be planned, policy
concerning links to be presented.
      c) fundraising - Members have met with several groups concerning
possible projects. The committee proposed a President's Commission to access
the future of the VCN, discussion tabled for a future date. Committee
proposed a VCN social before the beginning of May.
Motion to set $300.00 for a party, M/S/C.

8.   PPP account validation
Jason presented a proposal for User Authentication Methods with several
choices. The proposal was tabled until the next meeting.

9.   BCCNA & BCIA spring conferences in Whistler Apr 29/30 - May 3
Motion to approve sending Jason to the BCIA conference, M/S/C.

10.  Any other business
Motion to endorse the Seattle conference, M/S/C.