Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting held on April 19, 1994 Honeywell Room - RMOC/HQ - 111 Lisgar Street Ottawa, Ontario 1. Board Members in Attendance David Sutherland Chairman Jean Wilmot Treasurer Al Seaman Secretary David Blackwood Julie Chahal Rosaleen Dickson Marc Labelle David Loan Stephen Toy The meeting was called to order at 7:01 PM by David Sutherland. Lisa Donnelly, newly appointed to the temporary position of Director of Operations, was introduced to the Board. BOARDWALK MAP 2. As agreed at the previous meeting a representative from the program, Ross Hammond, provided the Board with a presentation on the BoardWALK Management Assistance Program. The presentation included a brief interactive session conducted by Mr. Hammond to identify some of the issues of concern to the Board. A full scale workshop under the program would require 15 hours at a cost of $500. If the Board wishes to proceed, this should be confirmed with BoardWALK, and a proposal for a seminar, based on the information captured in this meeting, will be submitted by BoardWALK. MINUTES OF MARCH 22, 1994 MEETING 3. There was discussion of the proper form to use for reporting the results of in-camera Board meetings. There was general agreement that publicly posted minutes should contain the essence of any decision reached at such session, but that the names of any individuals involved should not be published. Minutes as distributed to Board members only should include the names of the individuals. 4. Motion by Julie Chahal, seconded by David Loan that the Minutes as previously circulated and corrected be approved, but that the public record of the minutes have the name of the individual removed from the in-camera session, section 19. Motion carried. 5. A request from a member of the audience for posting of draft Board meeting minutes as soon as possible after a meeting was noted. The Secretary agreed that in most cases where the draft minutes contained no controversial issues they could be posted before Board approval along with a prominent caveat that they were in draft form only. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 6. Volunteer Strategy status. Brian Monkman and Lisa Donnelly provided a brief status report on the Volunteer Strategy approved at the last meeting. Progress is favourable. A total of 44 people have registered, and responses are being sent to those people. Matthew Darwin is putting together a team to respond to problems arriving through the "ncf.admin" newsgroup. 7. Public Access Committee terms of reference Draft terms of reference were posted in article 238 of "ncf.board- discussion-moderated" by Julie Chahal. There has been no particular response. Motion by David Loan, seconded by Stephen Toy that the posted terms of reference for the Public Access Committee be adopted. Motion carried. 8. Board Priorities A draft Board Priorities document was posted as article 209 in "ncf.board-discussion-moderated" by Julie Chahal. There have been no responses. Motion by Julie Chahal, seconded by Marc Labelle that the Board Priorities document be adopted, and that it be posted in the Board Policy section. Motion carried. 9. Acceptable Use Policy David Loan reported that he has developed a first draft of an AUP, which is being revised. It will be available for discussion at the next meeting. 15. Public Terminal Usage Policy Stephen Toy is conducting a survey of all those involved with the public access terminals at the main Ottawa Public Library. He will report to the next meeting on the results of the survey in terms of problem issues and proposed solutions. NPTN MEMBERSHIP 11. A document titled "National Public Telecomputing Network - Affiliation Agreement" was tabled by David Sutherland at the previous meeting. After discussion it was generally agreed that with the expected incorporation of the Canadian National organization in the near future, we should hold off on signing the NPTN Affiliation Agreement at this time. The feeling is that the Canadian National organization should sign with NPTN, but that affiliated FreeNets in Canada should sign with our National organization. CRC PROJECT PROPOSAL 12. Alex Black provided a brief overview of a proposed research project, as prepared by Black, Patrick and Whalen of the Communications Research Centre, to document and understand the success of the NCF. It was stressed that the project would be conducted in a manner that would not violate the privacy of any NCF users. The results would be available to NCF. Motion by Rosaleen Dickson, seconded by Jean Wilmot that the research project as proposed be approved. Motion carried. PROPOSAL FOR LOGIN AND TERMINATION SCREENS 13. Action remains to implement the proposals for login and termination screens as raised at the AGM. It was agreed that the issue would be delegated to the Executive to develop an action plan. REGISTRATION OF LIBERTEL NAME 14. Marc Labelle submitted a proposal on behalf of the Comite Francophone for registration of the name "Libertel" as a French equivalent to FreeNet. The costs would include a $150 fee with the registration application, with a further $200 payable on approval. Motion by David Loan, seconded by Marc Labelle that the Board initiate the registration of "Libertel". Motion carried. OTHER BUSINESS 15. Proposal re disabilities. A proposal by Ravi Malhotra for a NCF Policy on Accessibility for People with Disabilities has ben posted as article 244 in "ncf.board-discussion-moderated". It was agreed that this item will be tabled for discussion at the next meeting. 16. BoardWALK discussion. There was further discussion as to the desirability of proceeding with the BoardWALK MAP seminar. There was general agreement that some form of seminar to help focus Board issues would be beneficial. However, other options appear to be available that may take less time, or cost less. It was agreed that Lisa Donnelly will get a proposal from BoardWALK, as well as any other groups or volunteers who might conduct such a seminar, and will report to the next meeting with the results. 17. Financial report Jean Wilmot tabled an updated Statement of Revenues and Expenses for the first quarter as Emailed previously to Board members. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes. NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY 18. David Sutherland reported that he had just been advised of his appointment to the National Advisory Council on the Information Highway as a representative of the FreeNet community. The first meeting of the Council is scheduled for May 5-6. NEXT MEETING 19. It was confirmed that the next meeting will be on May 17 at 7:00 PM in accord with the Board's monthly meeting policy. ADJOURNMENT 20. On a motion of Dave Loan, seconded by Julie Chahal the meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM. -------------- NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET Estimated Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Surplus for the period January 1 to April 30, 1994 * Actual Budget** Variance (estimated) (accrual (% budget) Receipts basis) Regular Donations (notes 1 and 2) 43,678 45,000 -3% Fundraising (note 3) 5,633 2,800 101% Public Access Site Cost Recovery (note 4) 1,980 0 Refunds and Rebates (note 5) 216 0 Government Grants 0 0 Total Receipts 51,507 47,800 8% Service Expenses Phone Lines (see note 6) 20,447 29,400 -30% Modems & Racks 173 15,566 -99% Terminal Servers 0 10,000 -100% Computer Hardware 33,395 35,000 -5% ONet fees (note 7) 0 0 Total Service Expenses 54,015 89,966 -40% General and Administrative Expenses System Admin. and Support 16,513 19,833 -17% Fundraising Staff & Supplies 0 4,600 -100% Office Staff & Supplies 14,375 13,650 5% Ops./ Exec. Director & Supplies (note 8) 1,150 1,333 -14% Admin. & Professional Fees (note 9) 4,947 4,000 24% Public Events 436 1,333 -67% Total General & Administrative Expenses 37,421 44,750 -16% Net Surplus (Deficit) from Operations (39,929) (86,916) NOTES *The statement has been prepared for the period January 1 to April 30 rather than January to March to give a more accurate picture of the NCF's financial situation since major expenditures have/will occur during April **Budget figures for the period January 1 to April 30 are interpolations of the original budget which was built on a quarterly basis. For comparison purposes, budget and actual figures are being shown on an accrual basis. Actual Budget 1. Registered Users at end of period 19,000 20,000 2. Avg. Donation per new user/yr $6.96 $6.00 Avg. Donation per old user/yr $0.21 $3.00 3. Fundraising includes: -line sponsorships $3,680 -corporate donations $500 -speaker fees from D. Sutherland $500 4. Expenses for public access terminal connections to FreeNet host are recovered from the public access providers 5. Directors' liability insurance refund $216 6. No. of Phone Lines: Actual - 97 Budget - 140 7. 1993/94 ONet fees paid in 94 are not reflected in this statement since they were accrued for in the 93 annual statements. ONet fees for 94/95 are due May 1, 1994. 8. Budget updated to reflect approval of motion on March 22/94 to hire part-time director of operations 9. Admin. and Professional Fees include: - board of directors expenses - printing expenses - bank service charges - accounting expenses