Remuneration of Agents, Mover: Jeff Bossert (au025, NCF Treasurer) Contractors, and Employees Seconder: Richard Taylor (aa333, an NCF director) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be it resolved that pursuant to By-law 15 of the National Capital FreeNet, all resolutions concerning the remuneration of agents, contractors and employees passed by the Board of Directors of the National Capital FreeNet since the February 1996 Annual General Meeting be confirmed. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Jeff Bossert, Treasurer) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NCF bylaws call for this resolution to be considered by members. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voting 'Yes' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. Appointment of Auditors Mover: Jeff Bossert (au025, NCF Treasurer) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Richard Taylor (aa333, an NCF director) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I move that the National Capital FreeNet appoint the firm of KPMG Peat Marwick Thorne as its auditors for the 1997 fiscal year. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Jeff Bossert, Treasurer) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCF bylaws require the appointment of an auditor at the annual general meeting. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voting 'Yes' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. Rules and Regulations Mover: David Sutherland (aa001, NCF President) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Richard Taylor (aa333, an NCF director) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be it resolved that pursuant to By-law 40 of the National Capital FreeNet, all resolutions concerning rules and regulations passed by the Board of Directors of the National Capital FreeNet since the February 1996 Annual General Meeting be confirmed. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (David Sutherland, President) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The by-laws state that all rules and regulations set by the board of directors must be confirmed at an annual general meeting: "40. The board of directors may prescribe such rules and regulations not inconsistent with these by-laws relating to the management and operation of the corporation as they deem expedient, provided that such rules and regulations shall have force and effect only until the next annual meeting of the members of the corporation when they shall be confirmed, and failing such confirmation at such annual meeting of members, shall at and from that time cease to have any force and effect." SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voting 'Yes' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. Board size Mover: Jean Wilmot (aa145, an NCF director) ~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Andre Vellino (an386, an NCF director) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be it resolved that the National Capital FreeNet reduce the size of its board of directors from fifteen (15) members to eleven (11) members. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Jean Wilmot, NCF director) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A board of 11 members is expected to be more effective, more responsive, and require less support from the Executive Director. Other FreeNets in Canada generally have boards with 8 to 13 members, with most around 11. An odd number of board members helps avoid tie votes. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NCF Board is committed to increased effectiveness. This summer, the Board completed a 15 hour United Way Board Development consulation aimed at effective Board operations. During these sessions the Board was strongly encouraged to reduce its size to improve decision-making. Eleven members is recommended for most non-profit organizations (9 to 11 is average). Voting 'Yes' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. Account renewal process Mover: Joshua Gilbert (ba743, NCF Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Vivien Milat (bv684, NCF Member) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Capital Freenet shall not require renewal of its membership on a mass or random basis. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Joshua Gilbert, NCF Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The renewal process forced upon the members early this year will unfortunately see alot of members leaving not because they don't use the system, but because they found the renewals process too much of an inconvenience. Lower end users won't bother out of inconvenience and high-end power users will find the renewal process insulting. This will leave the NCF with only a small number of middle-end users. It has already become apparent this is the case with the statistics recently released by the NCF concerning how many users have renewed. While the users didn't have a say this year, they should have a say now. This issue has been argued to death in the unmoderated board discussion group, and it was mostly users versus the board. It's time we listened to what the users of this system want. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once a year, each member will be asked to confirm continued interest in their NCF account by simply mailing a letter saying so to the NCF office. The renewal process serves two main purposes: 1) It identifies unwanted accounts so that idle resources can re-assigned to new members; 2) It provides a stimulus for people to support NCF with a voluntary donation at a time when other sources of income (e.g.. government grants) are becoming unavailable. The renewal process has been a resounding success. $42,000 has been received as of the end of January and over 89% of the renewals received in January included a donation. While the Board was very concerned about the sustainability of the NCF, the results of the renewal program are cause for optimism. Without this program, NCF would likely fail. Voting 'No' on this motion is *strongly* recommended by the Board and ED. ncf.* and ott.* newsgroups Mover: Miranda Gray (ak717, NCF Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Matthew Darwin (aa673, NCF Member) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I, Miranda Gray (ak717@freenet.carleton.ca) move that the National Capital FreeNet change its practices regarding ncf.* newsgroups to lessen the walls between NCF members and other participants in the local online community by 1) encouraging the creation of more ott.* newsgroups, 2) encouraging its Information Providers to consider alternatives to private ncf.* newsgroups and 3) discouraging the use of ncf.sig.* newsgroups when a comparable ott.* newsgroups exists or is created. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Miranda Gray, NCF Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Ottawa-Hull area needs free, open, accessible, community meeting places on the net which are not dominated or controlled by commercial or government interests. These meeting places can't be owned by one community organization either. Newsgroups are these meeting places. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Board believes that NCF members who create newsgroups at NCF ought to consider the pro's and con's of each type of newsgroup. The Board has already directed staff to ensure this information is provided. The motion above contains implementation details the Board believes are best left to the judgment of the Executive Director's operations team. Therefore the Board recommends voting 'no' rather than unnecessarily interfering with details of implementation. Voting 'No' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. Usenet access for internet-based members Mover: Matthew Darwin (aa673,Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Miranda Gray (ak717,Member) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be it resolved that the NCF allow access to hierarchies of regional interest (e.g. ott.*, qc.*, can.*) through its NNTP server in the same way news.* and ncf.* are currently available. SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (Matthew Darwin, NCF Member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many members do not have access to news except through NCF's services. NCF's mission states: "[NCF] links the people and organizations of this region, provides useful information, and enables an open exchange of ideas with the world". This motion is in keeping with this mission. Implementation: The exact implementation details of this motion are operational, but a procedure similar to the existing procedure for adding sites to NCF's proxy server shall be followed. It is anticipated that the impact on the NNTP server will be minimal. This is due to the fact that hierarchies that are likely to be added are on the smaller size. SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCF members have access to several hundred NCF newsgroups and several thousand Usenet newsgroups if they dial-in or if they connect to NCF from the internet by telnet. However, if a member has their own internet access (for example, by paying an ISP or provided at a workplace) and, rather than using telnet, uses their own newsreader, NCF provides only NCF newsgroups; it is assumed the provider of internet also provides Usenet newsgroups to the internet-based member and therefore NCF ought not assume this burden. The Board believes this motion asks NCF to provide selected non-NCF newsgroups in the previously mentioned circumstance. The Board believes that at this time there are few people who would benefit from this and that member donations to NCF are better spent in other ways at this time. Voting 'No' on this motion is recommended by the Board of Directors and ED. NCF supporters Mover: David Sutherland (aa001, NCF President) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seconder: Julie Chahal (ab161, NCF Vice President) SECTION ONE: Motion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCF is a large group of people (over 60,000) joining together to share expenses and do something good for themselves and their community. I move an expression of gratitude to everyone making NCF possible, including: * volunteers (including members of the board of directors), * staff, * community and corporate partners, * everyone providing community content * all the many thousands of members who donate to support NCF SECTION TWO: Comments from proposer of the motion (David Sutherland, President) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you for making a difference in our region! SECTION THREE: Comments from your NCF Board and Executive Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voting 'Yes!' on this motion is recommended by the Board and ED.