Minutes of the Greenbelt Internet Access Cooperative Monthly Meeting, September 2, 1999

Preliminaries

The meeting was held in the Conference Room of the Greenbelt Police Station. Gilbert Lee, Acting President, presided over the meeting.

Attendees: MEMBERS: Patty Merryman, Shawn O'Neil, Gilbert Lee, Peggy Bates, Neil McLeod, Doug Love, Dorian Winterfeld VISITORS: Mary Camp (who was delivered a membership kit immediately after the meeting)

Topics on the Agenda,

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 with a quorum.

The Volunteer Incentive Program was discussed:

Since the previous meeting (August 2nd, 1999) the board voted by electronic ballot to discontinue the Volunteer Incentive Program, and increase the monthly fee to $15.00; with Norma Van Allen, Neil McLeod, Ed James, Doug Love, Dan Andrews, Patty Merryman & Shawn O'Neil voting to approve, and Gilbert Lee voting to disapprove the discontinuation and increase. This vote was finalized on August 28th 1999.

As most of the membership had already paid for September under the understanding that the VIP is in place, and realizing that this will cost GIAC along the lines of $60.00 from the operating reserves, it has been decided that the will end with the month of September being the final month credits can be earned and used. (G. Lee, Vice-President: absent; W. Dupree, Secretary: yes; P. Bates, Treasurer: yes) Doug Love summarized the state of the contract with CENTER ENTERPRISES for outsourcing the accounts management. The contract is still in draft form, and Doug is waiting for a call from InterNIC to discuss legal issues regarding the "ownership" of the GREENBELT.COM name. Neil McLeod wanted to clear up a misunderstanding about CENTER ENTERPRISES wanting the ownership of the GREENBELT.COM name, saying that that was not the intention, only that they want sufficient administrative technical control to be able to respond to ISP issues in a timely manner, and to preclude InterNIC freezing the use of the GREENBELT.COM name in the future if there are disagreements between CENTER ENTERPRISES and GIAC. A discussion was held on means to provide a monthly discount for the most active volunteers in the CO-OP. Neil McLeod listed the major principals: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Web Master, System Administrator, Social Director and Committee Chairmen (the Accounts manager function has been outsourced to Center). Of those positions the most demanding are the Officers and the System Administrator. A discussion was held on whether the class teachers should be included, and it was decided that the teachers would not fall in this category because teaching a class is not an activity that the same person does monthly, and this is an ongoing discount for the principals. It was moved and unanimously passed that each of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and System Administrator receive a monthly discount of $3.00 for performing the duties of their office.

The Upcoming Class schedule was presented by Gil Lee.

There was some discussion about providing an Internet shopping class before Christmas. The City has received their new projector, and it will probably be available at around $15.00 per evening. Discussion resumed on reimbursement of teachers because of the amount of time it takes to prepare and teach one class. It was moved and passed unanimously to establish $30.00 compensation (cash or credit to the instructor's service account) for preparing, teaching and providing the computer for a GIAC sponsored class.

Labor Day Festival Plans

Discussed, with Neil McLeod bringing us up to date with respect to the table, Doug Love assured us that the line from the Arts Center would be available. There is no entry from GIAC in the parade this year, due to the unavailability of a suitable vehicle.

Greenbelt New Years Web Site

With the resignation of Alexander Barnes, the Greenbelt New Year website will not happen, unless some other member (or members) picks it up.

Vice President's Report:

Gil Lee reported on Director and President recruiting with a request on suggestions for recruitment. Several names were suggested by Patty Merryman, and Neil McLeod suggested looking for someone who would be interested in using the experience on their resume. Gilbert Lee will draft a letter and circulate for proofing. There was also a suggestion for creating a classified ad to e-mail to all the members and place in the News Review. Gil Lee said he would create an ad to be reviewed by Peggy Bates and Patty Merryman.

Secretary's Report:

None given - Secretary absent due to illness in his family.

Treasurer Report:

Neil McLeod prepared a summary of the finances, and the current membership: The report is located here as ammended.

System Administrator Report

(Dorian Winterfield): Dorian had to leave early. Neil McLeod will send Dorian an update on the open system administrator issues.

Audit Committee report:

Neil McLeod reported: The 1998 audit is almost completed and checks have been sent to all the accounts that are due refunds. Refunds were sent to: a) Resigned accounts for which membership fees had not been refunded, and b) Resigned accounts which still retained a positive balance of prepaid service fees. Still to be processed: a) Resigned accounts which received overpayments, b) Inactive accounts, and c) Coop-only accounts. Still to be audited: a) ISP payments, and b) A few other miscellaneous payables. Policy proposals related to the 1998 audit have not yet been submitted.Members contacting our treasurer can discuss the organization's finances or come to a meeting. We will not post financial statements on the Internet.

Membership Committee report:

Status of Coordination of records

. The process of distributing Membership Committee and other shared records via FTP to /giac/offline is still underway. Procedures for utilizing those records to produce monthly reports, etc., remain to be developed by the appropriate GIAC principals.

Legal Committee report:

(Doug Caprette) None given - Doug Caprette absent.

Social Director report:

- Status of recruiting a social director - no progress has been made. (Although we tried to talk our newest member Mary Camp into volunteering for this position)

Volunteer activities:

To date there are three entries for the GIAC logo Contest. This was Brian Schieber's initiative and no endgame was defined. It was suggested that there should be a general e-mailing to the membership before each monthly meeting to remind the membership (and directors) that it is happening. This will be referred to the secretary.

Other Issues:

Peggy Bates will draft two letters. One to the Post Master addressing the issue of misdirected and late mail, and the other to the membership addressing: the end of the VIP and the new methods of reducing the monthly service fee; Methods of payment available - including the GIAC preference about multi-monthly pre-paids not crossing the yearly boundary for the purpose of reducing our income tax liability; the procedure when an account has insufficient funds to cover the coming month's service charges. New payment coupons will be needed for distribution with the VIP termination letter.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm. Thanks to all those members who helped fill in while I was attending my family matters. Bill Dupree

Next Meeting

The next monthly meeting is October 7, 1999, at 7 p.m.Greenbelt Police Station. Respectfully submitted William Dupree Secretary GIAC