Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board Meeting of 15 August 1995 held in the Honeywell Room RMOC Headquarters The following Board members were in attendance: David Blackwood, aa332 Scott Catterill, aa355 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Jessica Cohen, aa724 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Chris Hawley, ah654 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Stephen Toy, aa102 Absent: Brett Delmage, aa693 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 David Loan, aa112 Richard Mount, aa009 1. INTRODUCTIONS 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 18 JULY 1995 Moved by R. Taylor, seconded by Y. Dionne. 3. AGENDA It was decided to begin with the reports rather than the old business because some of the people involved were going to be arriving late. Richard Taylor noted that it was nice to receive agenda items early - the Financial statements were especially early. 4. REPORTS a) Executive Committee - D. Sutherland reported there had not been a meeting b) Operations Update - Lisa Donnelly reported that an ad has been placed for an administration coordinator, to begin September 5. Up to now, NCF has been using Carleton University's overhead display panel and borrowing a laptop from a board member for presentations by speakers. Lisa requested approval of $2000 to purchase a monochrome laptop. Moved by Julie Chahal, seconded by Richard Taylor that Executive Director be authorized to purchase a $2000 laptop. Carried unanimously. An insurance policy covering standard commercial items, including liability, has been purchased. This does not cover Directors and Board members liability - a separate policy was purchased previously for that coverage. Moved by R. Taylor, seconded by Jessica Cohen and carried that Finance Committee be formed. Members are: Jeff Bossert, Lisa Donnelly, Jean Wilmot and Rudy Wytenburg. It was agreed that there should be a Board member on the committee. No one volunteered immediately. c) Fundraising: Gordon Pearson unable to attend this meeting so Lisa Donnelly reported on his behalf. The next meeting of the Fundraising Committee is scheduled for August 29 at RMOC. The auction has raised $8000 to date - lower than previous auction at this point. It was noted that there are not the big-ticket items of last time (such as the pentium computer). People learned from the last auction and will do most of their bidding at the very end. The challenge campaign ends August 26. It is going really well - $43,000 to date. This is the first time we have sought donations from old members. It was suggested that it might be a good idea to have a media blitz for last week. Lisa will look into it. Gordon is sending thank you e-mail to donors. d) Financial report: Jeff Bossert distributed copies of the financial statements which had previously been posted on-line. There was some concern that the actual figures, both for revenues and expenditures, were not close to the budgeted amounts. Would it be possible to budget particular expenditures against specific grants in future? Jeff and Lisa said that they would make an effort in that direction for next year's budget. Jeff noted that an announcement has now been posted giving the timeline for preparing next year's budget and seeking input. OLD BUSINESS Dave Blackwood reported on the taskforce to study the exporting of ncf newsgroups. There were no physical meetings and the mandate of the taskforce needs to be clarified. There was a lengthy discussion and in the end it was decided that Jessica Cohen will call a meeting of the present taskforce and report to the September Board meeting. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY Discussion of desirability of having an AUP, although it was noted that the Board has previously carried a motion in favour of the principle of adopting an AUP. Some felt that an AUP was necessary to serve as a guideline to NCF administration and news administrators while others felt that AUP could eventually cause us grief if someone sought to legally hold NCF responsible for AUP statements. The Canadian Human Rights Commission has already indicated their concern with some of the postings on NCF. Is NCF like a telephone company, a publisher or a babysitter? Some Board members felt that the membership agreement covers everything and the AUP is unnecessary. Moved by Julie Chahal, seconded by Richard Taylor that we appoint one or two people to bring a proposal for a new membership agreement of less that 1 page in length to the September Board meeting. Motion defeated. It was noted that the present agreement will fit on one page if the print is small. Moved by Julie Chahal, seconded by Scott Catterill that purpose of AUP is to provide overall policy guidance to administrators of the complaints process. Defeated. Miranda Gray will write a draft of a short AUP for posting online and presentation at next Board meeting. NEWS ADMINISTRATION Moved by Richard Taylor, seconded by Julie Chahal that the Board confirm that the news administrator has the mandate to delete excessive cross or multiple postings to newsgroups. Carried. There was discussion of problem of dealing with complaints. When other sites get upset with NCF for posts originating here they complain and it is embarrassing. Perhaps we should give news administrators and complaints committee power to suspend accounts and require the offender to appear at a Board meeting to apply for re-instatement of the account. Considering the number of members, NCF really does not have many troublemakers. Lisa Donnelly will speak to Robert Pless and invite him to attend the September board meeting. Chris Hawley will speak to Paul Tomblin and suggest to him that he contact the Executive Committee directly when he encounters someone posting offensive material. ADMINISTRATION DATA BASE Chris Hawley reported that the developer has completed his work and it now needs to be tested. The testing has to be done in the office. Lisa Donnelly will arrange for the testing. Chris feels the developer should now be given the free three-line sponsorship message which he was promised. IN CAMERA SESSION The Board decided to appoint Rebecca Last (as006) to fill the vacancy on the Board. Motion to adjourn: moved by Andrew Patrick, seconded by Richard Taylor. Next meeting: 19 September 1995 - Honeywell room.