National Capital FreeNet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale

NCF Board of Directors
Minutes of Meeting
June 15, 2004

SOME HIGHLIGHTS


Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors

Held on June 15, 2004 at 6:00 pm
Honeywell Room
Ottawa City Hall

The meeting was called to order at 6.08 p.m. with Chris Cope as Chair (acting also as Secretary).

  1. 1. INTRODUCTIONS

    Board members present:
    Christopher Cope (bz787), President/chair
    Gary Eikenberry (aa353), 1st Vice-president
    Mark Mielke (al278)
    Don Francis (ba990)
    Michael Williamson (cm324)
    Michael Mei (bi195)
    Mary Anne Dugmore (er983)
    Shing Kwong Lee (ez191)
    Graeme Beckett (aw958)

    Regrets:
    Sandy Campbell (dt820), Secretary
    John Hennessey (ev776)

    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. There was considerable discussion of the possible outcomes and impact of the coming federal election.

  2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF MEETING
    (see minutes of prior month)

    MOTION: That minutes be approved as published.
    Moved by: Shing Kwong Lee
    Seconded by: Michael Williamson
    VOTE: All in favor

  3. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA
    (see draft agenda)

    MOTION: That the agenda be adopted as published, with the addition of "Summer Meeting Schedule" under New Business as 7 b) and "Volunteer Ottawa Mayor's Walk" as 7 c).
    Moved by: Michael Mei
    Seconded by: Don Francis
    VOTE: All in favor

  4. ONGOING BUSINESS
    1. Report on 2004 Annual General Meeting (Mary Anne Dugmore, AGM Chair)

      AGM Chair delivered (orally) her final report on the AGM, indicating that the AGM process and election was completed satisfactorily with no unusual incidents to report. This year there was only one request for documentation in French and as no translation had been done, a note of apology was sent.
      The volume of email to the AGM Chair was low, with only about 10 enquiries being received. Although there were 3 requests for votes by Proxy this year, all 3 were rendered invalid for want of authentication. AGM Chair noted that the All-Candidates meeting was not well attended and suggested that we need to find a way to get more interest focussed on this event next year. It was further noted that the work done by Jim Elder was thorough and complete; perhaps it is for this reason that AGM ran smoothly with so few enquiries.
      Action Item (ED); Remove/disable AGM role accounts.

      MOTION: That the report of the AGM Chair be received.
      Moved by: Graeme Beckett
      Seconded by: Gary Eikenberry
      VOTE: All in favor

  5. REPORTS
    1. Executive Director's Report (John Selwyn)
      (see accompanying report)

      The ED referred to the "Spring Period" for his report, as there had been no meeting of Directors in May. All technical systems operated smoothly during the period with members experiencing virtually zero busy signals.
      Membership increased to just over 9,000 members during the period, although the ED forecasts a softening of the growth level during the historically slower summer months. Activity in the NCF's new web-based forums is increasing nicely, but again, traffic is expected to lessen somewhat during the quiet summer months.
      "Extended Access II" is now fully functional with calls exceeding our 276 inbound modem lines at Carleton now overflowing to 48 additional lines at Ottawa City Hall during peak evening, weekend and holiday hours.
      Donation levels during the period, particularly May were soft. In May, income from donations was approximately $10K of the target. The ED suggests that this is largely attributable to the way month-ends and month-starts are handled, always on a Monday; with May this year having only 4 weeks this year compared to the Budget, which was based on the previous year's May, which had 5.
      The ED indicated that now that the technical systems were working smoothly, the next stage is to breathe new life into NCF and lever existing and expanded goodwill into increased donations. On the drawing board for development in the near future are:
      *Revisions to the CRM or Help Desk functionality (Customer Relationship Management), where a volunteer has been recruited with experience in this field to overhaul our existing system and protocols.
      *Instant Messaging
      *Explore a partnership with Ottawa Public Library

    2. Treasurer's Report and Financial Statement(see financial statements for prior month)

      There being no Treasurer, the ED distributed copies of the Financial Statements for the period ending May 31, 2004 and reported on the significant financial variances (see comment on soft donations in May above).
      MOTION: That the Executive Director's Report and Financial Statements be received.
      Moved by: Graeme Beckett
      Seconded by: Mary Anne Dugmore
      VOTE: All in favor

  6. NEW BUSINESS
    1. Welcome new and re-relected Directors
      The Chair, newly re-elected himself, welcomed the sole new member of the Board, Shing Kwong Lee and congratulated the newly re-elected Directors, Sandy Campbell, Don Francis, and Gary Eikenberry.
    2. Summer Meeting Schedule
      Following a quick round table of summer availability and after receiving the ED's recommendation and report on planned activities and priorities during the summer months it seems that missing a meeting mid-summer would not be disruptive.

      MOTION: That the meeting scheduled for 20 July 2004 be cancelled, noting that there will be a requirement at the next meeting to elect officers from among the ranks of the current (as of 2004 AGM) Board of Directors.
      Moved by: Gary Eikenberry
      Seconded by: Mary Anne Dugmore
      VOTE: All in favor

    3. Volunteer Ottawa Mayor's Walk
      The Chair acquainted the Board with Volunteer Ottawa's plans to conduct a repeat of their highly successful Mayor's Walk," an event where participating agencies (member organizations of Volunteer Ottawa) are able to create teams to walk in the event. 50% of the proceeds from pledges related to participation of such organizational teams is given to the participating agency. NCF's participation was discussed noting that in addition to attracting walkers from among members, and encouraging them to walk under the NCF banner, there was an opportunity for additional exposure through a booth at the event and possible publicity.

      MOTION: That approval in principle be given to NCF's participation in the event and that Chris Cope be appointed as an ad-hoc committee to pursue this initiative.
      Moved by: Gary Eikenberry
      Seconded by: Shing Kwong Lee
      VOTE: All in favor

  7. Announcements
    No announcements.
  8. NEXT MEETING

    August 17, 2004 at 7 p.m.
    Room 402, Dunton Tower
    Carleton University

  9. ADJOURNMENT

    The meeting adjourned at 8.30 p.m.