Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
September 4, 2003

Attending:

• Mark Alberstat
• Ed Dyer
• Bernie Hart
• Reg Hody
• Marilyn MacDonald
• Gerard MacNeil
• Jeff Warnica
• Andrew D. Wright

Regrets:

• Bill Matheson
• John McKay
• Chris Watt

Absent:

• Joan Jones

Call to Order

Minutes of August 7, 2003 Meeting

• Motion: that the minutes be accepted as amended.
• Moved by: Andrew Wright
• Seconded by: Reg Hody
• Resolution: Motion Carried.

Operations/staff matters-
Overview of Summer problems
Issues:

• equipment maintenance
• Technical operations deficits
• Executive informed that Ed Dyer will be forced to cut back on his volunteer system administration/ maintenance/ troubleshooting commitment

Discussion

• what staff is needed for
• Operation manager/ management functions
• Jason Kenney mentioned as possible stop-gap solution to enable the technical problem backlog to be cleaned up by year end.
• Problems include (but are not limited to): low speed text logins, mailing lists, ascend upgrade, postmaster issues, Big Brother (web delivered monitoring suite), spam, virus, account management (user accounts), integration of secure server, documentation, security, software infrastructure
• Bernie raised the issue of opening applications
• Gerard requested clarification on exactly what hole Ed was going to leave (big), and that the priority should be in covering those deficits.

Motion

• Motion: that Chebucto Community Net Society will create a 4 month full-time technical position to be advertized to the membership.
• Moved by: Bernie
• Seconded by: Mark Alberstat
• Resolution: Motion Carried.

Motion

• Motion: that a committee of three be struck to draft terms of reference (for the above position), including salary range.
• Moved by: Bernie Hart
• Seconded by: Mark Alberstat
• Resolution: Motion Carried.

The committee will consist of Andrew Wright, Ed Dyer, Bernie Hart,

Inner City project- report by Bernie

• There is a need to get a new server to be eligible for reimbursement. It was pointed out that the money was specified for "increasing the server capacity" of CCN, for which the new server qualifies. (There will be a new cheque next week)
• We need to push David Adekayode concerning the allotment of 20 email accounts.
• Discussions were held with GPI concerning their next year's application.
• Bernie reported that the Burnswick Street United Church had very large facilities.
• It was pointed out that the CCN office was crowded and storage was needed.
• secure TT
• A user list is needed for email setup (see above)
• There may be an opportunity for a volunteer initiative
• The issue of hosting Newfoundland software was raised.

WiFi project-
Report (Gerard McNeil) and discussion

• The was a project delay on Aug 27 (power outage).
• Firm prices have been obtained and the project is proceeding.
• This will be our chance to introduce an alternative to dialup.
• The actual installation on Fenwick requires a weather window which is rapidly closing (winter).

Secure Server- update

Committee Reports

Technical Committee

• What did Jason do for us for the summer.
• Ed and Andrew will do an evaluation.
• The staff will try to build a halifax.chebucto.ns.ca replacement.
• The staff will try to build a "drop-in" replacement.
• cheese.chebucto.ns.ca is the new "used" server.
• cheese.chebucto.ns.ca satisfies the HRDC requirements if we can get the bill in time to claim the amount.
• Ed described the different options available for cheese.
• There is a difficulty in differentiating the sources of long distance calls. This makes billing for the 1-800 service impossible if uncorrected.
• There will be a purchase of new terminal concentrators.

Finance Committee

• Our reserves seem to be growing over that past three years:
  • 2001- $62,000
  • 2002- $66,000
  • 2003- $73,000
• The anomolies of the Dalhousie and Eastlink billings (yearly/ bi-yearly) will be addressed.
• The number of CCN users appears to be stabilizing at 1,300.

Policy Committee

• September 28, 2003; 11am - 17:00
• there will be no connectivity
• Tanya Moxley will run a special web hosting event (Sept. 23/24) sponsored by CAP.

External Committee

• Anna Quon wrote an article for Atlantic Cooperatives.
• She is requesting an information session.

Internal Committee

No report.

Other Business

Adjournment

• Motion: that the meeting be adjourned.
• Moved by: Bernie
• Seconded by: unnecessary
• Resolution: motion passed