The meeting was called to order at 7.15 p.m. with Chris Cope as Chair and Sandy Campbell as Secretary.
Board members present:
Christopher Cope (bz787), President/chair
Gary Eikenberry (aa353), 1st Vice-president
Sandy Campbell (dt820), Secretary
Mark Mielke (al278)
Don Francis (ba990)
Regrets
Michael Williamson (cm324)
NCF Management/Staff present:
John Selwyn (es347), Executive Director
Members/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.
MOTION: That minutes be approved as published.
Moved by: Sandy Campbell
Seconded by: Mark Mielke
VOTE: All in favor
MOTION: That the agenda be adopted as published, with the
addition of "Board initiative" under New Business as 7
b).
Moved by: Sandy Campbell
Seconded by: Gary Eikenberry
VOTE: All in favor
Results of the AGM votes were posted online; report of the AGM Chair was postponed to the next meeting of the Board.
The ED reported that because of accounting schedule,
results for March extended into April, resulting in March
member contributions amounting to $26,597 versus budgeted
$22,298. Although April results will be reported as
lower, we will be about on target for the year. Expenses
for March were lower because of the System
Administrator's involvement in the Extended Access
project. That has now ended and expenses will return to
budgeted levels in April.
The Extended Access project has been delayed because Bell
has been slow in configuring the "time of day" enabling
of the number of NCF's partner. As well, the upgrade of
the Mitel Extended Access was unsuccessful; the hunt is
on for new cards to enable 56K support on Mitel lines,
which for the time being remain at 33.6K.
MOTION: That the Executive Director's Report be
received,
Moved by: Sandy Campbell
Seconded by: Gary Eikenberry
VOTE: All in favor
MOTION: That the Financial Report be accepted.
Moved by: Gary Eikenberry
Seconded by: Mark Mielke
VOTE: All in favor
The ceremony was quickly attended to.
Director Sandy Campbell elaborated on his "election platform" published in connection with his candidacy in the AGM Board elections:
"I was first elected to the Board of Directors of NCF in 1999 and re-elected twice after that. Based on five years experience, I want to offer an outline on what I think should be the main concern and preoccupation of the new Board. "Since 1999 the Board has progressed from being dysfunctional and counter-productive to the point of being able to carry out its basic duties and functions quite effectively. There is a direct connection between the improved quality of the Board and the steady and dramatic progress made in the quality of service FreeNet has been able to offer to the members. "Now, along with its oversight role, I believe the time is right for the Board to take on additional responsibilities. Membership and membership contributions have been increasing gradually and that is encouraging, but NCF still faces the spectre of going broke before enough members contribute enough money to pay the bills. "Therefore, along with its fundamental role of monitoring the performance of the Executive Director and staff, the Board ought to focus its talent, energy, and experience on finding ways for NCF to achieve stable annual revenues. In the past, there have been numerous discussions of the Board's need for "visioning" in terms of NCF's overall goals and roles, which consisted of much talk, but no action. "I believe NCF's fundamental purposes and objectives are sufficiently well-known to all. We do not need more open-ended debating and philosophizing about the FreeNet "concept." What we do need is a sharply-focused plan of action to produce reliable funding to make it possible for NCF to keep putting the concept into practise and to keep adding and improving services to keep FreeNet relevant in the fast-changing internet world. "I plan to present my ideas on this and to ask my colleagues on the Board to do likewise. Varied views and approaches will provide raw material and a starting point for a thorough discussion and investigation of the doable options available. While preserving the basic concept, I believe the Board must be innovative and be ready to think outside the box of tradition. I am confident the Board will rise to the challenge of this top priority: Developing a strategy to put FreeNet on a stable and reliable financial footing. In my view, this is absolutely essential to future growth and development, beyond mere survival."
There was considerable discussion, with reservations about an "activist" Board voiced by President Chris Cope and ED John Selwyn. There was a consensus that because the full membership of the Board was not present, an in camera session to discuss and debate the idea would not be useful at this time.
May 18, 2004 at 7 p.m.
Honeywell Room
Ottawa City Hall
The meeting adjourned at 8.55 p.m.