Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting held on October 18, 1994 Colonel By Room - RMOC/HQ - Lisgar Street Ottawa, Ontario 1. Board Members in Attendance Andrew Patrick First Vice President Jean Wilmot Treasurer Al Seaman Secretary David Blackwood Julie Chahal Brett Delmage Rosaleen Dickson Marc Labelle David Loan Richard Taylor The meeting was called to order by Andrew Patrick at 7:07 PM. MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1994 MEETING 2. Motion by David Loan, seconded by Julie Chahal that the Minutes as previously circulated be approved. Motion carried. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 3. Status of Acceptable Use Policy In response to a question on the current status of developing an Acceptable Use Policy, David Loan confirmed that he has turned over all of the material that he had to Brett Delmage. Brett indicated that he will resume work on the AUP as soon as he is finished with the current On-Line Auction project. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 4. Summary from Andrew Patrick Andrew reported that there was no Executive Committee meeting in the month of October. In addition, he confirmed that one case of account suspension is currently under investigation. It was reported previously to the Board by Email, and will be reported on more completely when the investigation is complete. 5. Operations Update A summary of the Operations Update as available on-line was provided by Lisa Donnelly. In addition she also commented on some additional points: - Mike Anderson (bc574) has just been hired as Administrative Coordinator to replace Kyla Huckerby, and she introduced him to the Board. - A "Big Mouth" computer based telephone answering system has been installed in the NCF office to help in dealing with the many calls to the office during, and outside of, normal office hours. - Lisa will follow up with the various work groups in the Board Development sessions to get the goals and objectives material that they developed, and will nag as may be necessary. FINANCIAL REPORT 6. Jean Wilmot tabled a Financial Report for the period January 1 to September 30, 1994 as previously posted. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes. TABLING OF DRAFT MISSION STATEMENT 7. A draft Mission Statement that was developed as part of the Board Development exercise has been posted to various newsgroups for public comment. A copy was also tabled for discussion and decision at the November Board meeting. It was noted that the original document was done in English only, and that unofficial translations have now been posted by Robert Rattey and Richard Taylor. Marc Labelle, on behalf of the Francophone Committee agree to create and post an "official" translation. PRESENTATION FROM THE "THE RESUME BANK" 8. Digger McDougall and Andrew Landanowski of the Resume Bank were present to provide information on their concept. This is not a company, but is simply a group of interested volunteers. The intent is to establish a computer based repository for personal resumes with facilities for employers to search the information to find qualified candidates for their personnel needs. They would like to have NCF provide the public interface to this system since the free access of NCF would ensure that it was available to all job seekers. A number of technical and ethical questions need to be resolved before any involvement can be considered. Motion by Andrew Patrick, seconded by Al Seaman that NCF supports the initiative of the Resume Bank and that the project be referred to the Hardware/Software Committee for exploration. Motion carried. PROPOSAL FOR COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING FROM MARC GAUTHIER 9. Marc Gauthier produced a revised proposal on Oct. 11 which had been posted with the agenda documents. Gordon Pearson indicated that the proposal does not incorporate the details of prior discussions that he had with Marc, and that it was not appropriate for the Board to spend time on the current draft. Gordon will bring the topic back to the Board when a complete draft of the proposal has been developed. BOARD DISCUSSIONS IN PUBLIC 10. Andrew Patrick introduced a previously posted discussion paper and motion formalizing the mechanics for public discussion of Board business. Motion by Andrew Patrick, seconded by David Blackwood: 1. That the NCF Board of Directors adopt and operate under a policy that all discussions of the Board be done in public, except in cases that involve sensitive legal, financial, or personal information. Directors bringing items to the Board will be responsible for determining if an item is sensitive and should be private. If a majority of the Board determines that an item should be public, its status will be changed from private to public. 2. That the Board mailing list be restricted to Board members and the Executive Director, and that only items designated as "private" (see Point 1) be sent via this mechanism. Board members who send messages to the list that should be discussed in public will be reminded by their peers to use the public channels. 3. That in-camera sessions of Board meetings be restricted to Board members, the Executive Director, and individuals invited to discuss particular items (e.g., users involved in unacceptable use issues). Only items designated as "private" (see Point 1) will be discussed during in-camera sessions. 4. That the online discussion groups, moderated or unmoderated, be used for all other online discussions of Board business. Motion carried. OTHER BUSINESS 11. Updating and Distributing the Survival Guide A team from the Help Desk Committee including Matthew Darwin, Colin Dickinson, Pat Drummond, Miranda Gray, Heather MacFadyen, Don McCallum and Ben Kennedy has completed a total revision of the Survival Guide, including a printed version for sale to the public. The Board endorsed the concept of the document and the plans for distribution, and expressed appreciation for completion of this task. It was suggested that the document include (a) a one page information sheet on NCF, and (b) an envelope for users to mail a donation to NCF. NEXT MEETING 12. It was confirmed that the next meeting will be on November 15, 1994 at 7:00 PM in accord with the Board's monthly meeting policy. The location is to be the Honeywell Room at the RMOC/HQ. The deadline for agenda submissions is November 8. ADJOURNMENT 13. On a motion by David Loan, seconded by David Blackwood the meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM. ------------------------------------------------------------------ NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET Statement of Revenue, Expense and Surplus for the period January 1,1994 to September 30,1994 (accrual basis & unaudited) Actual Budget Receipts Regular Donations 108,832 101,250 Line Sponsorships & Fundraising 12,055 24,200 Revenue from Affiliations (1) 772 n/a Public Access Site Cost Recovery (2) 2,208 n/a Government Grants 25,000 25,000 Conference & Misc. Revenues (3) 17,326 n/a Promotional Item Proceeds 1,928 n/a Deferred Contributions (4) 7,368 n/a _______ _______ Total Receipts 175,489 150,450 _______ _______ Service Expenses Phone Lines (5) 42,671 52,176 ONet fees (6) 11,070 10,834 Conference Expenses 14,917 n/a Cost of Promotional Items 1,264 n/a _______ _______ Total Service Expenses 69,922 63,010 _______ _______ General and Administrative Expenses Office Staff and Office Supplies 31,612 31,275 System Administration 36,951 44,625 Operations/Exec Director & Fundraising 21,949 27,600 Admin. & Professional Fees (7) 7,574 9,000 Public Access Sites 171 n/a Public Relations & Events 584 3,000 Depreciation of Equipment 20,750 n/a _______ _______ Total General & Admin Expenses 119,592 115,500 _______ _______ _______ _______ Net Surplus (Deficit) from Operations (14,024) (28,060) ======== ======== NOTES 1. Revenue from Network Training Services affiliate 2. Expenses for public access terminal connections to FreeNet host are recovered from the public access providers. 3. Includes '93 conference fees received in arrears, and Sutherland's speaker fee. 4. Deferred contributions relate to the unrecognized portion of contributed computer and telecommunications equipment. 5. No. of Phone Lines Actual: 160 Budget: 160 6. Includes $5,445 of the $14,445 ONet fees for May 1/93 - Apr. 30/94 and an accrual of $5,625 for the period May 1/94 - Aug. 31/94 The bill for 94/95 has not been received 7. Admin. and Professional Fees include: - printing expenses - bank service charges - accounting & audit expenses - volunteer honorariums - board & committee admin. expenses - insurance NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET Balance Sheet as at September 30,1994 and December 31,1993 (accrual basis & unaudited) September 1994 December 1993 (unaudited) (audited) Assets Current Assets Cash 41,810 107,335 Current Receivables 0 3,000 Capital Assets,net of depreciation Computer Equipment 63,064 28,558 Telecommunications Equipment 77,988 53,095 Accumulated Depreciation -30,957 -10,207 ________ ________ Total Assets 151,905 181,781 ======== ======== Liabilities and Equity Current Liabilities Accounts Payable 722 35,181 Accrued Liabilities (1) 25,975 0 ________ ________ Total Liabilities 26,697 35,181 ________ ________ Equity Deferred Contribns,net of amortization 27,020 34,388 Surplus 98,188 112,212 ________ ________ Total Equity 125,208 146,600 ________ ________ ________ ________ Total Liabilities and Equity 151,905 181,781 ======== ======== NOTES: 1. Includes accruals for a terminal server, ONet fees and Bell Canada installation and line charges for June, July, August & September