The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. with Chris Cope as
Chair and Graeme Beckett as Secretary.
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INTRODUCTIONS
Board members present:
Christopher Cope (bz787), President/chair
Gary Eikenberry (aa353) 1st Vice-president
Graeme Beckett (aw958) Secretary
Alan McRae (fl334) Treasurer
Amy Yee (fp017)
Don Francis (ba990)
Mark Mielke (al278)
Jim Nubel (fm776)
Doug Hull (aa800)
Peter McKinnon (fr198)
Regrets:
None
NCF Management/Staff present:
Rowland Few (fp085), Executive Director
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
(see
draft agenda)
The agenda was adopted was adopted with no changes.
MOTION: The agenda be adopted as presented.
Moved by: Peter McKinnon (fr198)
Seconded by: Amy Yee (fp017)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried.
-
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
(see
minutes of prior month)
MOTION: Accept the minutes of the March 2009
meeting as presented.
Moved by: Doug Hull (aa800)
Seconded by: Gary Eikenberry (aa353)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried.
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ONGOING BUSINESS
- 2010 AGM (Graeme Beckett)
The AGM Chair (Graeme Beckett) appointed Mark
Mielke as the Director in Charge of Proxies. The Returns
Officer position was still in the process of being filled.
The AGM website volunteer and coordinator is Jim Elder. The
proposed dates for the 2010 AGM are as follows:
Feb 24 8am to Mar 10 11:59pm Nomination period
Feb 19 11:59pm Deadline for submitting special
motions
Mar 21 11:59pm Deadline for submitting candidate
information
Mar 21 11:59pm Deadline for submitting reports for the
AGM
Mar 23 11:59pm Deadline for voting by proxy
Mar 24 9am to Apr 6 6pm Voting period
MOTION: To accept the AGM dates as proposed..
Moved by: Jim Nubel (fm776)
Seconded by: Peter McKinnon (fr198)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried.
-
Motions
for 2010 AGM
The by-laws
of the National Capital FreeNet require members to
consider three standard motions at each AGM. These
are:
- Motion
A - Remuneration of Agents, Contractors, and
Employees
- Motion
B - Appointment of Auditors
- Motion
C - Rules and Regulations
MOTION: To advance the three standard motions
to the AGM.
Moved by: Gary Eikenberry (aa353)
Seconded by: Don Francis (ba990)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried.
- 2010 budget (Alan McRae and Rowland Few)
The Executive Director provided the board with
four 2010 budget statement scenarios.
(a) Modest increase of 30 DSL members a month: Net income
-$155
(b) Increase of 50 DSL members a month: Net income
$4,562
(c) Increase of 30 DSL members a month plus $0.50 a month
increase: Net income $1,980.
(d) Increase of 30 DSL members a month plus $1.00 a month
increase: Net income $4,114
After much informal discussion and two round table
discussions the board choose budget (a) which was the
Executive Director's preferred budget. There was concern
about the proposed implementation in 2010 of the HST tax
which would add an additional 8% to the DSL subscriptions.
The Board decided for reasons including but not limited to
"optics" and "marketing" to not increase the price of the
DSL subscriptions. After a period of reduced activity the
NCF marketing is due to be ramped up this year.with $6,000
allocated.
MOTION: To accept a balanced budget under scenario
(a) which would require the Executive Director to find an
additional modest savings of $155 and also does not
increase the DSL subscription price.
Moved by: Jim Nubel (fm776)
Seconded by: Peter McKinnon (fr198)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried.
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REPORTS
-
Executive Director's Report
(see
accompanying report)
Of note:
Financials (July - September)
- Net income -$16,203 vs. target of
-$13,653
- Donations $32,697 (-6%
decline from previous year)
- DSL subscription margin of $27.1K as compared to $30.6K
in the budget
- DSL hardware margin of $2,551 vs target of $7,500 -
Less modems sold in November and December
- Marketing expense $0 for quarter
DSL
- DSL users increasing by 20 to 30 a
month
- 2,300 DSL users at end of period
Infrastructure:
- Help FAQ is being updated
- Carleton Upgrade completed December 09
- New Back-up server operational December 09
- New conferencing service for Organizational
accounts – meet 21 Jan 2010
NCF development community to be
asked to field trial system
Staffing/Volunteers
- Thank you to the
office team for their continued contribution and
support
- Thank you to Adam Hunt
Providing Freeware/Open Source
SW on CD for members visiting the office
Covers browser, anti-virus,
desktop and Linux
- Thank you to Dan B.
Providing on-line member
support
Training of the office team
- Thank you to Beverley for continued office support
- Thank you to Meredith for continued office support
- Thank you to Howard Eisenberger for continued
online member support
Marketing
- Met with Ottawa Public Library twice since October
- Metrics:
Dial-up membership down 14%
yr/yr
DSL membership up 20% yr/yr
- Survey summary:
Appreciate local support
Improve community
outreach/awareness
- Work with Marketing committee:
Meet early in February
Promotion to existing and new
members
Outreach / training to
members
New Initiatives:
- Office support
Review on-line ticket
system for members
Upgrade support PC’s
Upgrade office voice mail system
and fax machine
- Network hardware
New Gateway server for redundancy:
Spring 2010
VPOP server / off site back-up: Spring
2010
Cluster (2x Servers for redundancy):
Summer 2010
Mail, Database and Storage
- New Dial-up lines – VPOP Spring 2010
Roll-out to members
Opportunity to reduce costs
- New Web mail
Team to select new service and trial:
Summer/Fall 2010
- Architecture review continues
Redundancy
Server lifecycle
MOTION: To receive the Executive Director's
report.
Moved by: Jim Nubel (fm776)
Seconded by: Gary Eikenberry (aa353)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried
- Treasurer's Report and financial statements
The financial statements for the quarter and
for the year were distributed during the budget
discussions. The Treasurer commended the Executive Director
for being frugal and running so close to budget for the
year.
Finances for October - December
Net Income: -$16,203
vs. target of -$13,653
Total income from Donations: $32,697
vs target of $33,096
Down from $38,936 last year (-6%)
Total Income from DSL: $216,089
Vs target of $218,400
Up from $186,254 last year (16%)
Margin of $27.1K as compared to $30.6K in the budget
DSL hardware: $12,531
Target of $15,000
Margin of $2,551 vs target of $7,500
Cash on hand: $114,418
- Cashflow: $6,507
- ING interest account: $69,344
Total current assets: $133,846
Total A/P and Accrued Liabilities: $52,448
Total Equity: $80,777
Finances for January - December
Net Income: -$16,203
vs. target of -$13,653
Total revenue $ 1,037,058
Vs target $1,061,961
Up from $911,300 last year (14%)
Total income from Donations: $155,931
vs target of $151,281
Down from $177,977 last year (-12%)
Total Income from DSL: $821,626
Vs target of $847,680
Up from $649,507 last year (26%)
DSL hardware: $56,721
Target of $60,000
Down from $79,470 last year (-29%)
- Report of Executive Committee (Chris Cope)
The Executive Committee did not meet.
- Report of Strategic Planning Committee (Jim
Nubel)
NCF met with the Desk Top committee of the Ottawa Public
library on Jan 6th with consensus to move forward with an
up-dated MOU which will establish an agreement with regard
to promoting NCF services at their sites to include signage
and brochures and training for staff. The library staff
provided recommendations for promotion of NCF services
across a number of organizations they felt would benefit
from the services provided by NCF
The Strategic Planning Committee will meet again in early
February.
MOTION: To accept the report from the
Strategic Planning Committee.
Moved by: Peter McKinnon (fr198)
Seconded by: Alan McRae (fl334)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried
-
NEW BUSINESS
- 2009 audit discussion and committee
formulation (Alan McRae and Rowland Few)
Gary Eikenberry proposed the following motion.
MOTION: To strike a committee consisting of the
Treasurer, the Chair and the Executive Director.
Moved by: Gary Eikenberry (aa353)
Seconded by: Alan McRae (fl334)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried
- Nominations Committee discussion
The four board members who's terms are expiring
had indicated that they would be running again and would
agree to be nominated. The committee would for additional
candidates and among those discussed was locating a
representative form the library and OPERA (the retired
teachers association).
MOTION: To receive the report from the Nominations
Committee.
Moved by: Peter McKinnon (fr198)
Seconded by: Alan McRae (fl334)
VOTE: All in favor.
VOTE: Carried
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
February 12, the city is to have an economic
development meeting at Ben Franklin Place.
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NEXT MEETING
Teleconference to review Nominations Committee Report.
February 23, 2010 at 3 p.m.
To review audit, March 23 at 7 p.m.
Suite 302, Trailhead Building
1960 Scott Street
Regular board meetings resume, April 20, 2010, at 7
p.m.
Suite 302, Trailhead Building
1960 Scott Street
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ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m.
