Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting held on July 19, 1994 Richmond Room - RMOC/HQ - 111 Lisgar Street Ottawa, Ontario 1. Board Members in Attendance David Sutherland Chairman Andrew Patrick First Vice President Jean Wilmot Treasurer David Blackwood Julie Chahal Brett Delmage Rosaleen Dickson Marc Labelle Richard Taylor Stephen Toy The meeting was called to order by David Sutherland. MINUTES OF JUNE 22, 1994 MEETING 2. Motion by David Blackwood, seconded by Stephen Toy that the Minutes as previously circulated, with the correction of the numbering for the notes in the appended Financial Report, be approved. Motion carried. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 3. Appointment of representatives to Telecommunities Canada Rosaleen Dickson, David Sutherland and Marc Labelle were elected by secret ballot by the Board members present as the NCF delegates to Telecommunities Canada. 4. Main Menu revision The main menu revision is being worked on by the Menu Design Task Force appointed by the System Design Committee. A report or recommendation from the task force will be available in the future. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 5. Operations Update An operations update was provided by Lisa Donnelly. Two new activities have started, and the Chairs were introduced: a) Sandra Hoffman, Chair of the Menu Design Task Force, and interim Chair of the System Design Committee, and b) Heather MacFadyen, Chair of the Documentation Sub-Committee, reporting to the Help Desk Committee. 6. Status of Charitable Organization Application There was discussion of our attempts to achieve the status of a charitable organization for tax purposes. There is some evidence that the government may be re-considering the issue of the tax status of FreeNets, and it was agreed that for now we should take no further action. FINANCIAL REPORT 7. Jean Wilmot tabled a Financial Report for the period January 1 to June 30, 1994 as previously posted. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY 8. David Loan has not been able to complete the draft Acceptable Use Policy due to personal time conflicts. Sandra Hoffman and Heather MacFadyen have offered to complete the draft AUP and to present it to a future Board meeting for review and approval. The offer was accepted by the Board. Brett Delmage agreed to obtain the completed portion of the AUP from David Loan and make it available to Sandra and Heather. DISTRIBUTION OF NCF NEWSGROUPS BEYOND NCF 9. There was a lengthy discussion of the possible distribution of NCF Newsgroups beyond NCF. Motion by David Blackwood, seconded by Marc Labelle that NCF Newsgroups be distributed beyond NCF. Motion defeated. It was noted that those individuals or groups desiring broader distribution of newsgroups on a specific topic may have that option by creating a Usenet newsgroup. The process is documented on line in the Usenet menu. ADVERTISING ON NCF 10. Gordon Pearson presented the proposal by Marc Gauthier for providing commercial advertising separate from NCF, but accessible from NCF. Motion by Richard Taylor, seconded by Marc Labelle that the proposal be accepted in principle subject to negotiation of a more refined agreement between Marc Gauthier and Gordon Pearson, with acceptance of that agreement subject to approval at a future Board meeting. Motion carried. OTHER BUSINESS 11. Accessibility of Seniors newsgroup The request by the users of the Seniors newsgroup for distribution of the newsgroup beyond NCF was considered to fall under the previous decision regarding distributing newsgroups beyond NCF, and accordingly the request was not granted. 12. Removal of Newsgroups The note from Richard Taylor regarding a process for removal of newsgroups was discussed. Motion by Richard Taylor, seconded by Brett Delmage that the Executive Committee be given the authority to remove a newsgroup from NCF if it is in violation of our Acceptable Use Policy or the User Agreement. All suspensions will be reported to the Board and such newsgroups will remain suspended unless the Board passes a motion to reinstate the newsgroup. Motion carried. 13. Transfer of NCF Information to external systems The request from Michal Zeithammel to consider copying selected NCF local/community information from menus and newsgroups to an external Unix server was discussed. It was concluded that this was closely related to the previous decision on external distribution of NCF newsgroups, and accordingly the request was not granted. 14. Name change of System Design Committee The move by the System Design Committee to rename the group as the System Management Committee was not endorsed by the Board. At the moment, the Committee is relatively dormant since its entire membership has reconstituted itself as the Menu Design Task Force until that task is completed. 15. Lanark Network Update An update on the proposed Lanark Network was not available but will be placed on a future agenda. 16. UUCP Connections David Blackwood raised the question of NCF supporting UUCP connections. In the following discussion it was concluded that the Board had previously agreed that some limited UUCP connections would be supported, and that the requested UUCP connection for Chris Lewis is within that guideline. 17. NCF Style Guide Matthew Darwin and Miranda Gray made a presentation on the new draft NCF Style Guide which is now available on-line. They are asking for review and feedback from the Board with a view towards formal Board approval of the Style Guide at some time in the future. 18. Richard Laframboise Issue This item was withdrawn from the agenda by David Sutherland on the basis that it was being handled separately and required no Board intervention at this time. 19. Registration of Libertel A request was made for an update on the registration of "Libertel", the French equivalent of FreeNet, which was approved at the April 20, 1994 Board meeting. David Sutherland confirmed that the application for registration was in process. 20. Request to appoint a Libraries Representative to NCF Board A request has been received from FORUM, a library association, that they be allowed to appoint a member to the Board of Directors of NCF. This was refused since the NCF bylaws provide only for directors who are freely elected. A letter will be sent to them indicating this, and also offering two Board members with connections to the public library community, Julie Chahal and Stephen Toy, to formally liaise with the Forum. NEXT MEETING 21. Since the next meeting according to the agreed schedule will be in conflict with the Canadian Community Networks Conference, it was agreed that the August Board meeting should be cancelled. It was confirmed that the next meeting will be on September 20, 1994 at 7:00 PM in accord with the Board's monthly meeting policy. The location is to be the Richmond Room at the RMOC/HQ. ADJOURNMENT 22. On a motion by Andrew Patrick, seconded by Richard Taylor the meeting adjourned. ------------------------------------------------------------------ NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET Statement of Revenue, Expense and Surplus for the period January 1,1994 to June 30,1994 (accrual basis & unaudited) Actual Budget RECEIPTS Regular Donations 67,954 67,500 Line Sponsorships 6,660 4,200 Public Access Site Cost Recovery (1) 2,208 n/a Government Grants 25,000 25,000 Other Revenues (2) 753 n/a Promotional Item Proceeds 8 n/a Deferred Contributions (3) 4,912 n/a ________ ________ TOTAL RECEIPTS 107,495 96,700 ________ ________ SERVICE EXPENSES Phone Lines (4) 30,324 37,128 ONet fees (5) 5,445 7,223 Cost of Promotional Items 156 n/a ________ ________ TOTAL SERVICE EXPENSES 35,925 44,351 ________ ________ GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES Office Staff and Office Supplies 21,174 20,600 System Administration 24,453 29,750 Operations/Exec Director & Fundraising 7,300 13,800 Admin. & Professional Fees (6) 6,434 6,000 Public Relations & Events 584 2,000 Depreciation of Equipment 13,664 n/a ________ ________ TOTAL GENERAL & ADMIN. EXPENSES 73,609 72,150 ________ ________ _________ _________ NET SURPLUS (DEFICIT) FROM OPERATIONS (2,039) (19,801) ========= ========= NOTES: 1. Expenses for public access terminal connections to FreeNet host are recovered from the public access providers. 2. Includes '93 conference fees received in arrears, and Sutherland's speaker fee. 3. Deferred contributions relate to the urecognized portion of contributed computer and telecommunications equipment. 4. Number of Phone lines as of June 30, 1994 was 160. 5. ONet fees of $14,445 for May 1,1993 - April 30, 1994 are allocated as follows: $9,000 to fiscal year 1993 and $5,445 to fiscal year 1994. The bill for 94/95 has not yet been received. 6. Administration and Professional Fees include: - printing expense - insurance expense - bank service charges - interest expense - audit expenses - accounting services - administrative computer hardware - administrative computer software - volunteer appreciation & honorariums NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET Balance Sheet as at June 30,1994 and December 31,1993 (accrual basis & unaudited) June 1994 December 1993 (audited) ASSETS Current Assets Cash 43,248 107,335 Current Receivables 0 3,000 Capital Assets,net of depreciation Computer Equipment 61,943 28,558 Telecommunications Equipment 77,988 53,095 Accumulated Depreciation -23,871 -10,207 ________ ________ TOTAL ASSETS 159,307 181,781 ======== ======== LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current Liabilities Accounts Payable 258 35,181 Accrued Liabilities (note 1) 19,400 0 ________ ________ TOTAL LIABILITIES 19,658 35,181 ________ ________ EQUITY Deferred Contributions,net of amortzn 29,476 34,388 Surplus 110,173 112,212 ________ ________ TOTAL EQUITY 139,649 146,600 ________ ________ ________ ________ TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 159,307 181,781 ======== ======== NOTES 1. Includes terminal server, June phone bill and Dir. Dev't payment