Minutes for July 3rd 1999
GIAC Board Meeting
Meeting called to order promptly at 7 pm. Our President's opening remarks:
When my watch goes off at 8:30 get ready to leave...Those members in attendance
were Brian Schieber, Patty Merryman, Shawn O'Neil, Neil McLeod, Gilbert
Lee, Bill Dupree, Ed James, Doug Love, Clement Lau, Jeanette Bass
Signature forms were mailed to Nancy Allen, but not to get ahead of
this item, Nancy was voted via Online Board Voting Procedures to be the
new GIAC Treasurer.
In our "Responsibilities of the Treasurer" page it was spelled out
that ALL expeditures go before the Board of Directors. At the meeting it
was motioned by Patty Merryman and seconded by Neil McLeod that disbursements
of up to $50 be allowed for regular expenses and all other amounts above
this new limit still go through Board approval. It was passed.
Secretary's Report
It was asked where the January, Febuary and March minutes were for 1999.
With a secretary leaving, a temporary one coming on, the vice president
resigning and minutes being taken by numerous people the files have not
been received by the new secretary for publication. It was suggested to
ask Tom Crompton if he had any of those papers and the secretary will contact
him. It was also asked that a previous position paper be amended to the
minutes of the time period in which it occurred, for clarification purposes.
No vote was taken and a copy of the paper needs to be submitted.The Secretary
received the past files from the President to organize. These contain the
originals of our articles of incorporation,tax exempt efforts, financial
reporting, member correspondence and tax returns. New papers from this
current year have been added where available.
Vice President's Report
Computer Utopia has not shown interest at this time to giving classes for
GIAC. Gilbert Lee will try his hand at July's Internet Basic Class. Beverly
Palau of the City's Channel 10 may help us with a projector for the classes.
Brian is talking to NASA individuals about classes as well. Gilbert also
has a list of videos on "how to" subjects he found on a net search.
Patty Merryman has volunteered to head up the Labor Day Parade plans.
She would like a member to volunteer for the information table organization
and ideas for the parade as soon as possible. Laura O'Neil is continuing
News Review information submissions. Thank you all who have volunteered.
Treasurer's Report and Audit Report 98/99
The new treasurer is doing data entry to Quicken to make reporting and
member accounts more efficient. She also has the key for pickup at the
PO box and authorization for check writing.
Although the Audit report was due 90 days after January 1st on the
website the personel changes pushed it back a bit. An AD Hoc committee
did verification of balances, payments, disbursements and evaluated the
record keeping procedures. The books are fine. There were some errors in
the members journals and the treasurer purposes to correct them. We need
to adjust the VIP accounting. Those that were misapplied were omitted.
There was a $14 dollar difference in a balance of $11,000, all checks were
validated but record keeping was difficult to review. The new treasurer
will layout procedural needs so everyone can understand them. Some of the
procedural proposals were 1) need to make adjustmants to VIP credits on
accounts 2) disbursements need review by the audit committee 3) payment
to payees should be monitored by a third person.
ISP Report
Trouble calls during month:Trouble with long login names, mail server setting
was such where you could not leave messages on the server, 2 perl script
problems(Ed James is working on them), online registration and problems
with receiving the customized software promised by Chesapeake.This list
will go to our ISP. We admit Chesapeake is hard working but they seem to
be shorthanded at times. Chesapeake has also experienced line interuption
from AT&T which is not their fault, usually they will send an email
if there has been a service problem. The accounts managers Shawn O'Neil
and Cathleen Cooney receive work orders and user login names, then the
secretary gets a copy of the transactions and sends out a membership kit
(we need some more kits)The ISP committee does the System Administration.
The Accounts manager should not have to verify the work orders. The ISP
committee has the responsibility of following up on work orders.
Legal Committee Report
The secretary has all the papers pertinent to the creation of a tax exempt
non-profit organization. The Legal committee chair should contact him to
arrange a pick up at a regular meeting. The RockNet site is still there
it is an example of what GIAC wants to do. Clement Lau has asked that GIAC
help the Greenbelt Library by donating and or sharing grant monies in work
on archiving the Tugwell Room materials. He asked the Board to consider
helping when asked.
Social Directors Report
Jeanette asked that miscellaneous expenses be covered ($11.32 for cups
and plates) stemming from the Annual Members and Board Meetings. Brian
motioned and Patty seconded, it was approved.Jeannette brought a delicious
cake and Shawn brought cheese crackers to share during the meeting. Jeanette
also purposed we hold some off seasonal/holiday get togethers and would
like your suggestions. Not just Board members but membership! Be a part
of the process. Pictures of the Annual Meetings were passed around for
every one to share.
President's Closing
The president wants to simplify things so any one of the members can feel
good about stepping into a task at GIAC. He also wants to be informed of
things so email him with constructive items (no spam please).Also we want
to give another month to those of you entering the LOGO CONTEST and we
are looking into reordering shirts for members who wish to show they are
Greenbelt.com members. AND LAST a technical reminder: If you set up a group
email button on your browser you are limited by the ISP to 20 remote addresses
or 50 local addresses or in the case of I.E 2.0 400 characters under
one button.
Meeting adjourned at 8:26pm
Classes
If you can pass on some of your expertise in the field of computers and
the internet we would like you to volunteer to give a class, contact us
via e-mail. The COOP is all about helping others. Please volunteer to help
and to be part of the active process of running the COOPERATIVE. Respectfully
submitted Bill Dupree Secretary GIAC