GIAC
Monthly Board Meeting
November
13, 2003. Police Station
MINUTES
Present: Board members:
Douglas Love (Chair), Mary Camp, Neil McLeod, Ed James, Alexander Barnes and
Leonie Penney. Member: Peggy
Bates.
=== PRELIMINARIES ===
1. Call to order at 7:08 PM
2. Additional Issues to
Agenda
Renumber all items from # 13 on by 1 (13 becomes 14 etc.)
Add item 13: Spam Report (Neil McLeod)
3. Approval of Agenda
Expanded Agenda was
unanimously approved.
=== MONTHLY REPORTS ===
4. Secretary report (Leonie
Penney)
a) Leonie handed out the minutes of the October 9,
2003 Board Meeting.
Some typos were corrected, some statements were clarified.
The amended minutes were unanimously approved, and will be
posted.
b) Last month’s action
item:
Leonie handed the listing of the Names of the Presidents of
Greenbelt Home-Owner Associations to Neil.
5. Treasurer’s report
(Peggy Bates)
a. Financial Report
Peggy handed out Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss
Statements. They have a different
format, as they include estimates for November and December, thus giving
an approximation of how much to spend
this year. The Profit and Loss
Statement showed an estimated Total Net Income for 2003 of $ 616.71. The negative Net Ordinary Income for October
is due to payment of our phone bill and of our P.O. Box. However, not all of
Mary’s expenses have yet been included.
Note the increase in our Fixed Assets in October, due to the purchase of
our Projector.
Regarding how to spend and
how to record the spending:
Neil will look up the depreciation
rules for small businesses. Can we expense or depreciate:
what are the rules? And, if we have a choice: what is better?
b. Membership Report
We got one more member for a total of 55 members.
New membership application:
Scott Legendre. Neil will forward the
facts to Mary, who will send a packet.
c. Last month’s action items:
* Send to the Board an e-mail for approval of the purchase of a
bulb (around $ 400).
See under 6 below.
* Send 1 more mailing to "dead" members; if
non-responsive, transfer money to General Fund
Neil will help Peggy: (1)
mail coupons to members who want them (see also 7a below).
(2) send 1 more mailing to “dead”
members. If non-responsive, transfer money to General Fund
* Get the second signatory from the B.o.A.
Doug and Peggy will get
together on this: Doug will set up an appointment.
6. Vice President report
(Mary Camp)
Mary handed out membership
kitts.
a. Classes.
October 29, Neil gave a class “How to Can SPAM” November 12,
Mary gave her class on "How to buy a Computer". No classes in December. In January: class
by Neil on firewall or virus, or spying?
b Action items from
last month
* Mary bought a projector,
and showed it off. Wow!! She also
bought a subscription to Symantec’s 2004 Anti-Virus software (for the
laptop). And Doug gave Mary a
mouse. The
Board approved to buy a
bulb for up to $ 350.- Purchase of a
surge-protector was discussed.
c This month’s action
items:
* Send Peggy a list of 2003
classes, instructor’s names and what to do with stipend.
* Send Neil a list of
classes and their instructors from October 2000 up to the present.
* e-mail all Board members
a request for help during a class.
* e-mail all members
announcement of next class. Anybody who wants to help sends reply to
everybody, to prevent duplicate help.
* Buy Mail Washer Pro for
laptop.
* Make a wish-list of items
to be purchased before December 31.
7. President's Report
Last month’s Action
Items:
* Promotional Discount
e-mail to all members
Not yet done. Wants to
include asking for volunteers. Peggy suggests to include with her Discount
coupon (see 5c above).
Note: On December 8 Neil
and Mary will help Peggy with assembling stuffing.
* Send an e-mail to all our members, asking for people with legal
training
This refers to the Legal
Committee(see 12.c below). Neil and
Doug will meet with Clement Lau.
* Write ad for System
Administrator, once Task list for same is complete
Task list is adequate. Will
write ad and sent info also to Neil and Membership.
* Look into possibility of an Intern
Will do this in next weeks
* Identify who was Secretary on dates of missing Board-meeting
Minutes
Done, but cannot find
paper. If found: people will have to be contacted.
* Discuss with Comcast person sharing of high-speed access
Comcast does not want to
talk to us. Looked into other possibilities. Will give Leonie report to include
in Minutes.
* High-speed access for
GATE, GIAC classes
Alternative to high speed
service: use City’s DSL service? (Neil)
8. System Administrator report (Peggy Bates
and Doug Love)
* What has been done this
past month:
Some people had problems
getting hooked up - this was taken care off (was Boonet problem).
* President to write an ad
for System Administrator. See under 7
above.
9. Webmaster Report (Neil McLeod)
a Calendar update
Neil is in the process of
building a Calendar for 2004
b Action items:
* Organize procedural
decisions made during Board Meetings.
ongoing
* Liquidate “Dead” members
issue
Works on this with Peggy.
See 5c above
* Determine from Boonet
what tools are available for managing user mailspace.
ongoing
* Respond to Network
Solutions inquiry about expiration of Greenbelt.com domain
Paid up till 2008. Neil
will write them
10. Director’s Report (Ed James)
Action Item: Continue setting up WiFi access point at
home.
Bought an 802.11b WAP
(Belkin F5D6310), added it to my ehternet hub, and got it working.
Described next steps. Is
considering a Letter to the Editor; “who wants to join?”
11. Director’s Report
(Alexander Barnes)
a Action Item: Penn Camera storage charges $0.29/MB/year; that
would be
less than
$.12/5MB/mo/. GIAC charges $2 for that,
more than 16 times as
much; and, currently it
isn't costing GIAC anything.
Alexander also pointed out
that as long as we charge more than we spend we
will have trouble
maintaining our non-profit status.
Talked at Co-op Annual
Meeting. Is trying to get them aboard.
12. Legal Committee (Doug
Love)
a. Regarding the 501(c)(3)'s efforts: the State charges
Property Tax!
b. Doug will change the GIAC Resident Agent with the Maryland
Corporation Commission
c Find persons with
Legal training: see under 7. above.
13. Spam Committee (Neil
McLeod)
See posted Report. Neil
commented on
a Mail Washer Users
b Mail Washer Pro Upgrade
c Other GIAC user Spam software: Spam Cop, Spam Killer.
14. Audit Committee (Mary Camp)
Appointed in December to
begin the Annual Audit in January
15. Anyone: Find in
previous minutes minimum amount allowed in checking/savings account.
=== OLD BUSINESS ===
16. Director's Responsibilities.
Remains Tabled
17. Review Greenbelt.com services offered (Neil
McLeod):
a Establish an ISP
Committee.
- Neil, Alexander, Ed and
Leonie volunteered.
- Develop and propose new
service package(s). Alexander wants to do a poll of the members.
b Endymion Professional Edition.
Boonet tells us we don’t
need it. We can get it for free, but Boonet has to be pressured in to it.
Let ISP committee discuss
this.
=== NEW BUSINESS ===
18. Additional Issues:
a News Review
Account (Neil McLeod)
Neil met three times with
them this week. They want to dump us. Neil works with Eileen Farnham. She uses Mail Washer. Endymion does not read well incoming
mail. The fax-machine and e-mail share
the same telephone line.
The News Review is a tenant
in the Community Center. Possibility of using City’s Broadband Access? Neil is
helping Jim Giese and Diane Oberg writing letter to City.
b Review monthly
financial procedures (Neil McLeod)
Problems relating to late
subscriber payment and the monthly reporting cycle were resolved before this
Meeting.
=== CONCLUSION ===
19. Next Meeting: December
11 at the Police Station
20. Voice Mail Roster: Don’t forget to check out
GIAC@greenbelt.com !!!
Nov. 9 - Nov. 15 Alexander Barnes
Nov. 16 - Nov. 33
Ed James
Nov. 23 - Nov. 29
Leonie Penney
Nov. 30 - Dec.
6 Neil McLeod
Dec. 7 - Dec.
13 Mary Camp
Dec. 14 - Dec. 20
Doug Love
21: Action items from this
meeting:
A - Doug: * Promotional Discount e-mail to all
members (include with Peggy’s Discount Coupon?)
* Send
an e-mail to all our members, asking for people with legal training
* Write
ad for System Administrator. Sent info also to Neil and Membership.
* Look
into possibility of an Intern
* Find
paper on which written who was Secretary on dates of missing Board-meeting
Minutes. Those persons will have to be
contacted!
* Will
change the GIAC Resident Agent with the Maryland Corporation Commission
*
High-speed access for GATE, GIAC classes
- Doug and Peggy: will get the second signatory from the
B.o.A.. Doug will set up an appointment.
- Doug and Neil: will meet with Clement Lau.
B - Mary: will send packet
to prospective member Scott Legendre
Will buy a bulb for not more than $ 350.-
Will send Peggy a list of 2003 classes,
instructor’s names and what to do with stipend.
She also will:
* Send Neil a list of classes and their instructors from October
2000 up to the present.
* e-mail all Board members a request for help during a
class. Anybody who wants to help, sends
reply to
everybody, to prevent duplicate help.
* e-mail all members announcement of next class.
* Buy Mail Washer Pro for laptop.
* Make a wish-list of items to be purchased before December 31.
C - Neil: will look up the depreciation rules for
small businesses (expense and/or depreciate?)
will forward to Mary facts re prospective member
Scott Legendre
will continue building a Calendar for 2004
will continue Organization of procedural decisions made during Board
Meetings
will continue determination from Boonet what tools are available for
managing user
mailspace
will write to Network Solutions re Greenbelt.com
domain
- Neil and Peggy: will
mail coupons to members who want them.
will send 1 more mailing to “dead”
members. If non-responsive, transfer
money to General Fund
- Neil, Mary and Peggy: on Dec. 8, assemble stuffing
D - Ed will continue setting up WiFi access
point at home
E - Anybody: *who wants to help Mary in her
class will send reply to everybody, to
prevent
duplicate help.
*find in previous minutes minimum amount
allowed in checking/savings account
F- ISP Committee: discuss
Endymion Professional Edition to be installed at Boonet
develop and propose new Service Packages
22: Tabled Items:
Director’s Responsibilities
In December: form Audit
Committee
23. Meeting Evaluation
(Doug Love)
A lot of time was wasted
being contentious about unimportant things.
24. Closed meeting at 9:??
pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Leonie Penney, Secretary