Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Executive Committee Meeting 96/01/12, at VON's prepared by Richard Taylor, Board Secretary 1. Staff and Contracts Lisa' contract expires at the end of March 1996. Usual cycle is 6 month renewsals. No problem with standard renewal. Ian's contract has just been signed. Similar to previous except a bit more management duties. Full time from Jan. 1 to Apr. 30. Will need to renegotiate rate and amount of time for May onwards. Gordon's contract is under negotiation now. Sheila is an employee on salary. Her performance has been very good and she has been taking on more responsibilities, Therefore she will have a pay increase this year. Roy is an employee on salary but with a standard 3 month probation period. So far he is doing well and demonstrating good people skills as well as technical expertise. A Projects Coordinator will be hired on a 6 month contract starting Feb. 1, 1996. A number of good candidates have applied for the position. 2. Proposed Organizational Structure Lisa described the proposed organizational structure for NCF as covered in a draft document distributed by e-mail. Basically, she suggests three divisions: Technical, Operations and Development/Public Relations. Staff will be assigned clearer roles and responsibilities in these divisions and all divisions will report to the Executive Director, who reports to the Board. Executive Committee members were asked to comment on the draft document before it is brought to the full Board. 3. Status of Hareware Donations Lisa, Jeff and Andrew described the status of recent and expected hardware donations. Unfortunately it is proving difficult to coordinate the next expansion of modems lines given the number of interdependent components. It is important that we announce how we are using the Challenge Fund money before starting another fundraising campaign. 4. Utilization of Current NCF Hardware The transition of the news server and the testing of Solaris and WWW software have made two NCF computers unavailable to members. Possible solutions were discussed. Paul Tomblin or Roy may be able to help John Stewart get the news server working. Freenet 4 could be made "dual boot" which would allow it to be used by members when not actually needed for Solaris work, and until it is actually needed for WWW services. 5. Budget Issues Finance Committee has met (at great length) to address the changes that arose at the last Board meeting. In addition to the baseline budget, a package is being prepared based on the Strategy initiatives. There appears to be sufficient resources to do all three aspects: transition to WWW, public outreach from a storefront location with office space, and some new modem lines. Jeff will make a presentation at the next Board meeting to explain how this budget package addresses the Startegy document. After some discussion, it was agreed that the transition to WWW should have a lump sum budget since it is still unclear how this will be implemented. A Task Force should be formed and asked to make specific recommendations to the Board for the detailed implementation and detailed budget, within the overall sum available. 6. Searching for NCF Public Space There is a strong need for office space for staff and volunteers combined with a public "storefront" space for outreach. Various possibilities were discussed. 7. AGM Issues Andrew expressed strong concern about lack of Board member participation in AGM planning. It is essential that announcements about the AGM, motions and candidates be made immediately. The Board must be prepared to deal with motions suggested by the general membership, and answering questions about the activities and business of the year. Motions from members will be dealt with as per By-Law 32. We should also think about recruiting appropriate candidates to run for Board positions. However, there was no support for having a formal recruitment committee. Motions will be brought to the February Board meeting as previously planned. A template of information about candidates could be suggested but should not be mandatory. Lisa will call Garth Graham to check if he is still willing and able to be returning officer. 8. Agendas for Upcoming Board Meetings AGM motions should be removed from January's agenda and put on February's agenda. It was suggested that the Chair be firmer about limiting the time that each person is allowed to speak, and to budget the time available more carefully so that important issues receive more consideration and less important issues are handled efficiently. Although policies have been on the agenda for three months, it was felt that the Strategy document and the Budget had taken Board members' attention - policy decisions should wait until February or March. It was suggested that drawing up a yearly plan of activites might make preparing Board meeting agendas easier. Jeff presented an example. 9. Next Meeting Friday, Feb. 9, 4:30 - 6:00pm VON's.