Minutes of the Board of Director's meeting of August 29, 1995 Vancouver Regional Freenet Association Approval of the Agenda was moved by T. Hansen, seconded by V. Vaivads, and passed. Motion to approved the Minutes with the spelling of Vic Vaivads name corrected was moved by Tom Hansen, seconded by Vic Vaivads, and passed. Name Change The NPTN claims to own the right to the term "Free Net" in both Canada and the United States. In order to have permission from NPTN to use the term, VRFA must maintain its membership in the NPTN and pay yearly dues. Since the VFRA has decided not to follow this course, it was moved by Neil Guy, and seconded by Tom Hansen, and passed that: "A motion be put forward at the upcoming A.G.M. to change the name of the VRFA to one of 3 proposed names: Vancouver Region Community Net Vancouver's Community Network Vancouver Regional Community Network Neil Guy presented a report on the Telecommunities Canada Conference: -T.C. is organizing itself as an umbrella organization on a non-control model. There was a suggestion that where possible, member organizations donate .05% of their revenues to T.C. -A consensus of delegate was that without prior knowledge, a network cannot be held liable for libel, but is responsible to remove such statements once notified of them. -it was once more expressed that some other community nets would like VFRA to drop its appeal of Revenue Canada's decision not to give it a charitable tax number. The Board discussed this, but saw no reason to reverse its decision to go ahead with the appeal. -It was suggested that a small committee be set up to look at programming initiatives that could help with the tax number appeal. The Nominations committee has found at least one candidate for all positions except the following: Fundraiser, Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President, and Public Relations. User Training Manual: Steve Gauer is now working on producing a manual in the near future. Conversion from Freeport to the Web: Neil Guy announced that he has converted all existing I.P information on the system into Web format. It was then moved by Neil Guy and seconded by Margaret Coates, and passed, that: The VFRA will stop putting up new information on Freeport, and then will move the whole system to a Web based Format as soon as technically feasible. Chebucto Suite It was decided that Tim Guay, Vic Vaivads, and George Lindholm will evaluate the package of software tools created by the Chebucto Freenet to see if we will want to adopt the package when it becomes available for use. Tim will be asked to announce to user's that they may wish to go to the Chebucto Freenet, try it out, and give feedback to him. The Treasurer reported that our financial position has improved relative to a year ago, with a projected $99,000.00 surplus. The proposed budget was discussed, and amended to add projected income of $10,000 from service clubs and $15,000 from corporations. Expenditures were amended by reduced the amount for the part time staff position, and increasing allocations for data line installation. As well, an item for computer maintenance and hardware for a $20,000 expenditure was added. Moved by Tom Hansen and seconded by Margaret Coates and passed that the budget as proposed and amended by approved. Moved by Tom Hansen and seconded by Margaret Coates that the Financial Statements by approved, subject to minor adjustments, and attached to the proposed budget. OPERATIONS COMMITTEE: Moved by Margaret, seconded by George Lindholm, and passed, that $500 total be paid to help defray the costs of sending Tim Guay and Jason Currell to Ottawa to study the NCF technical set up, etc. Noted: That the Treasurer or the President can alone authorize the expenditure of up to $100. Two table officers can authorize up to $1000, the Chair of Hardware/Software up to $500 for system emergencies, and the full Board must be consulted for expenditures over $1000. COMMITTEE REPORTS: HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: The new computer may be installed on the weekend. SYSTEM DESIGN: Will refer to the new Board the issue of installing express phone lines PUBLIC RELATIONS: Neil presented the announcement of the AGM, and is working on a press release. Needs a new volunteer to give public presentations on the FN. Would like office volunteers to be kept abreast of developments, like availability to web pages for IP's, installation of new computer, development of SIGS, etc. FUNDRAISING: A written report from Cathy Fournier was distributed. Plans to take visa card numbers over the Freenet are being pulled back from for the moment. `Names have been collected to form a committee for membership, subscribers, and phone support. MEMBERSHIP: Out of 2300 members, 1800 are currently paid up. The rate of new members joining slightly exceeds that of old ones expiring. VOLUNTEER: Volunteer orientations continue. Neil Guy suggested that a "credits page" be created so anyone who had volunteered can enter their name on it. A resolution was not felt to be needed for this. USER TRAINING: User training in ongoing. MISC: It was moved by Tom Hansen and seconded by Vic Vaivads that a motion be put to the AGM to appoint an auditor for the Freenet. NEXT MEETING: Sept. 14, at 6:30 p.m. a short meeting will be held just before the AGM.