NCF Board of Directors
Minutes of Meeting
June 15, 2021
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
- CRTC 2021-181 wholesale pricing decision was released - a shocking reversal of the 2019 rate reduction decision.
- Digital Equity meetings held
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors
The meeting was called to order at 7:17 p.m. with Chris Cope as Chair and Graeme Beckett as Secretary for the meeting.
INTRODUCTIONS
Board members present:
Christopher Cope (bz787) Chair
Anis Hanna (gb499) 1st vice Chair
Peter MacKinnon (fr198) 2nd Vice-Chair
Emmanuel Adenlolu (gc476) Treasurer
Graeme Beckett (aw958) Secretary
Lauren Gardner (fy923)
Martin Dubois (al432)
Michael Chan (ga869)
Majd Karam (gc029)
Lindsay Carreau (gc034)
Regrets:
Andrea Holland (es170)
NCF Management/Staff present:
Executive Director: Shelley Robinson
Guests:
None
Once around the table.
Informal pre-meeting conversation, with Directors taking turn offering personal views and commentary on interesting things that might not make it to the Agenda.
- Confirmation of Quorum
Quorum was confirmed.
- Review of the Agenda
Motion: To adopt the agenda as circulated.
Proposer: Emmanuel Adenlolu (gc476)
Seconder: Majd Karam (gc029)
The motion was carried.
- Review of the Minutes of the Previous Meetings
Minutes accepted as circulated.
- April 20, 2021
Motion: To adopt the minutes of the April 20 meeting as circulated.
Proposer: Anis Hanna (gb499)
Seconder: Martin Dubois (al432)
The motion was carried.
- Reports
- Executive Director's Report (Shelley Robinson)
Shelley distributed her ED report in advance of the meeting for both the open and in-camera sessions of the meeting.
Select Highlights from the public portion of the Executive Director's Report
DSL MEMBERS:
Mar. 1 21: 3058/2762 without CAF
Apr. 1/21: 3032/2737 without CAF
May 1/21: 3000/2709
Jun 1/21: 2991/2697
Jan-May 2021 sign-ups: 115
Jan-Mar 2021 cancels: 200
Net DSL growth Jan-Mar: -85
Jun. 1/20: 3211/2912 without CAF
Jun. 1/19: 3336/3055 without CAF
Jun. 1/18: 3347/3126 without CAF
Jun. 1/17: 3188/3061 without CAF
Jun. 1/16: 3028/no CAF
Jun. 1/15: 2919/no CAF
Operations:
● The new CRTC 2021-181 wholesale pricing decision was released, totally reversed the 2019 decision.
This has lots of implications for us in terms of sustainability, working through our options.
● There are ongoing hardware shortages because of COVID-19 but we are managing to keep enough
modems in stock..
● We had two different issues with email sending a few weeks apart. Andre has fixed it and is
establishing better monitoring for the future.
Communications and Advocacy:
● NCF participated in an ACORN Ottawa launch for their #Internet4all campaign, focusing on municipal
internet on April 24: good attendance, good feedback.
● As part of our Digital Equity grant from United Way with Social Planning Council. Of Ottawa, we held
a Digital Equity Ottawa Strategic Roundtable meeting (including. United Way, Ottawa Community
Foundation, Ottawa Catholic School Board, The Royal Hospital, Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa
Community Housing, Cllr. Jeff Leiper, The Community Health Centres and more): follow-up meeting
next week. Lots of interest in mesh and continuing this work.
● Held a Digital Equity Ottawa grassroots working group (ACORN, iSisters, OCH and others) to
complement this work.
● Following CRTC 2021-181 sent a message out to members about it as well as a press release focussed
on challenges for low-income users.
● AGM notice was posted on the StartPage and a message sent to members from Majd Karam, AGM
Chair. A reminder message will go out once voting begins.
● Circulating Director nominations information.
● Executive Director Shelley Robinson in a podcast “We Fight for That” with PIAC’s John Lawford, out on Friday: part 2 of their
analysis of the wholesale decision/affordability/FTTH. Part 1 was Andy Kaplan-Myrth VP at TekSavvy.
Apparently they have about 1000 listeners.
Covid 19
Communications:
● On Fri. June 11th Ontario has opened up a bit more but nothing really changes for us.
● NCF COVID-19 response: www.ncf.ca/coronavirus
● HelpDesk hours: Monday-Friday 10am-7pm, Saturday 10am-5pm.
● Office hours: Monday-Friday: 10am-5pm.
● Masks must be worn in the office at all times.
● Following national and local health guidelines we’re encouraging office staff to use the three-layer medical masks we provide, rather than their own
● We have two extra-large air purifiers for the office: one for the office and one for the HelpDesk area
● Only one member/member group in the office at a time, chairs are in the hallway spaced more than 2m apart
● many staff are still working remotely to ensure staff can maintain appropriate social distance in the office.
● We have a daily office cleaning checklist.
● We have a plexiglass shield for the front desk and a washable plastic cover for the debit machine.
● We now have hand sanitizer, gloves, lots of cleaning fluid, hand soap and face masks.
● We encourage members to use the lockbox (during and outside of office hours) for modem and payment drop-off.
● We continue to encourage members with no payment method on file to use forms of payment that don’t require them to come to the office in person. We continue to accept cash.
Motion: To move in-camera.
Proposer: Emmanuel Adenlolu (gc476)
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
The motion was carried.
Motion: To receive the Executive Director's report..
Proposer: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
Seconder: Majd Karam (gc029)
The motion was carried.
- Ongoing Business
- AGM - Miscellaneous Items
Motion: To nominate for the 2021 AGM, as a candidate for the Board of Directors, Martin Dubois, Anis Hanna, Michael Chan, Emmanuel Adenlolu, Graeme Beckett and Peter MacKinnon.
Proposer: Majd Karam (gc029)
Seconder: Lauren Gardner (fy923)
The motion was carried.
Subsequent to this motion an additional candidate was confirmed by the Nominations Committee and a second nominations vote was scheduled via electronic mail beginning June 20th. Just preceding the vote the additional candidate informed the committee she was unable to continue as a candidate. An amended vote proceeded without that candidate's name and the same slate of candidates was reaffirmed.
June 21, 2021 vote by electronic mail:
National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Resolution to Approve Nominations
Moved By: Andrea Holland (es170), Chair Nominating Committee
Seconded By: Chris Cope (bz787), Co-chair Nominating Committee
RESOLVED that the following names suggested by the Nominations Committee be put forward by the Board as recommended candidates for election by the members in the 2021 Annual General Meeting.
• Peter MacKinnon
• Graeme Beckett
• Anis Hanna
• Emmanuel Adenlolu
• Martin Dubois
• Michael Chan
The motion was carried.
- Auditors Report
Motion: Motion: to accept and present the auditors report at the 2021 AGM for member approval.
Proposer: Emmanuel Adenlolu (gc476)
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
The motion was carried.
- Appointment of Auditor for 2021
Motion: That Motion A, appointing the auditor firm Marcil Lavallee, is approved by the board and that it be presented at the 2021 Annual General Meeting to be voted on by the membership.
Proposer: Majd Karam (gc029)
Seconder: Lauren Gardner (fy923)
The motion was carried.
- New Business
- CRTC decision 2021-181 Final Rates for Aggregated Wholesale High-speed Access Services (Shelley Robinson)
This item was discussed in-camera.
Motion: To move out of camera.
Proposer: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
Seconder: Emmanuel Adenlolu (gc476)
The motion was carried.
- Announcements
- There were no NCF announcements.
- Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled to be July 20th, 2021 and was subsequently revised to July 27th 2021 at 7pm.
Location: Electronic meeting.
NCF Offices are located at Suite 206 Richmond Square, 1305 Richmond Rd.
- Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.
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