MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET BOARD MEETING 18 June 1996 held in the Honeywell Room, RMOC Headquarters The following board members were in attendance: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 NCF Staff Present: Lisa Donnelly, Executive Director Sheila C. Alder, Administrative Coordinator Roy Hooper, System Administrator Ian Allen, Technical Director NCF volunteers/members present: Jean Wilmot, Brian Monkman, David Jones, Noreen Dertinger, Miranda Gray, Pat Drummond, Jean-Yves Fortin, Elat Lerner, Michael Mason, Alana Boltwood, Simon Coakely, Andrea Kujala. Dave Sutherland called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The chairman announced that input from the floor would be restricted to presentations arranged in advance and specific requests for information from the Board. 1. INTRODUCTIONS 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 16 APRIL 1996. Rebecca Last noted that she had volunteered for the nomination committee formed to recommend a candidate for the Board of Directors (item 8). Dave Sutherland pointed out that the committee would have to be modified in any event because Brett Delmage has now resigned from the Board. Moved by Richard Taylor, seconded by Rosaleen Dickson that the minutes be approved. VOTE: FOR: Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 ABSTAIN: Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Absent: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Jim Elder, aa456 Natalie Munro, aa966 Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 3. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA It was agreed to move the Complaints Resolution Tools Report to the beginning, to be followed by the Financial Report. The second item from the Complaints Committee (re IRC) was withdrawn. 4. NEW BUSINESS - COMPLAINTS RESOLUTION TOOLS Simon Coakeley gave a brief summary of the Report of the Complaints Committee, which had been posted online. Main points of the discussion: Perhaps users should be given tools to avoid items they find offensive. Perhaps reduce the two hour time limit for offenders. Q: Is cutting back time limit or limiting access to services feasible? A: Cutting back time limit is easy. Cutting access to services based on account name is possible. We may be able to get software from Toronto and it would require a few days to install it. The members of the Complaints Committee are very frustrated because they are not able to respond quickly enough. Board members expressed support for the actions of the Complaints Committee and agreed that more prompt response is desirable as long as the Board is kept informed. Members should retain the right to appeal suspensions to the Board. MOTION: Moved by Rebecca Last, seconded by Richard Taylor and carried unanimously: that the report of the Complaints Resolution Committee be accepted and the proposal contained in the report, as amended during the discussions, be adopted. The final wording is: 1 The CRC be authorized to suspend members' accounts and/or limit a members' per day access for a period of time to be determined by the nature of the members' behaviour and that the Executive Director be asked to assign staff and/or volunteer resources to develop the necessary software immediately. 2 Suspensions would only be imposed after members had been advised of the nature of the complaint against them and had been given the opportunity to respond to the complaint. 3 Suspensions would only be imposed where the nature of the offence and/or the frequency of the offence is such that the normal warning is an insufficient response under all the circumstances or the members in question have failed to modify their behaviour to conform to NCF policies. 4 Subsequent suspensions for longer periods of time could be imposed if a first suspension fails to convince members to adhere to the User Agreement and/or Acceptable Use Policy and that the CRC adopt the notion of "progressive discipline" if additional sanctions are imposed. 5 A member who is subject to such a suspension will be able to appeal the suspension to the Board. 6 The CRC is to provide an immediate notification of suspensions to the Board and a quarterly summary report. 7 The CRC is to post an announcement in ncf.sub.complaints each time such a suspension is imposed. Without identifying the person against whom the suspension was imposed, the CRC is to post sufficient information to permit members to know the nature of the complaint and the sanction imposed. VOTE: FOR: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 b) REPLACEMENT OF BOARD MEMBERS Two Board members have now resigned (Scott Catterill and Brett Delmage). There was some discussion on how to fill the vacancies, since Brett Delmage had volunteered to chair the previous nominating committee and had subsequently resigned. MOTION: Moved by Jim Elder, seconded by Rebecca Last and carried: That a Committee be formed to recommend candidates to fill the present vacancies and to suggest procedures for filling future vacancies. VOTE: FOR: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) AGAINST: Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 Committee members: Rebecca Last, (Chair) Rosaleen Dickson, Jessica Cohen. The Nominating Committee was asked to report at the next meeting. FINANCIAL REPORT Jean Wilmot presented the financial report since Jeff Bossert was unable to attend this meeting. The financial statements have been posted online. Jean noted that the donations are below budget and expenditures have been held back as a result. Q: Are we up-to-date paying our staff and taxes and payroll deductions. A: Yes. Q: We are going to be asked to approve a $15,000 expenditure. Can we give this approval? A: Yes, provided you look at other costs to see if you can cut somewhere else or look to improve corporate donations before you decide to spend. Q: If we decided to wrap-up FreeNet what would the costs be? A: NCF has hardly any liabilities. There is a contract with Bell (5 years?) and notice must be given to staff members. NEW BUSINESS - OUTREACH CENTRE Lisa Donnelly noted that the Report on the Outreach Centre is available online. There are two current options: Two small rooms at the Ottawa Public Library's new branch at the Don Gamble Recreation Centre near Montreal Road and St. Laurent Boulevard in Vanier or former classroom space at Andre Laurendeau Secondary School at the corner of McArthur Rd. and Olmstead St. in Vanier. Highlights of discussion: Q: Does the high school option provide enough space for our office. A: Yes, but there would be costs for wiring and renovations. Q: Is there a possibility of office space near the library? A: Perhaps in the community centre. There could be insurance and security problems with the high school location. The library is offering free ISDN and wiring. Laurendeau is a French-language school and it's possible that a synergy may develop. Laurendeau is much larger space. The library has offered to manage a site on their premises. Choosing one does not end the option on the other. Office space is our top priority. Location in Vanier provides opportunities for funding which are not available in Ottawa. Library option is quick start - no wiring or renovations are required. Perhaps we should set up outreach centre at the library immediately and investigate setting up an outreach centre and office at Laurendeau a year from now. Additional office space is probably available at Carleton for the time being. MOTION: Moved by Richard Taylor, seconded by Rosaleen Dickson and carried unanimously: That an outreach centre be set up at the Public Library site in Vanier with a targeted start date of July provided that $8,000 can be raised through special fundraising. VOTE: FOR: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 NEW BUSINESS - WORLD WIDE WEB PROPOSAL Lisa Donnelly noted that the Board decided in 1995 to move to the Web and the plan now posted online is the first step in implementation. Highlights of discussion: NCF has never intended to charge for service. If an individual or organization wants to use a large amount of space for FreePages, they should be asked to make a compensating donation. E-mail is kind of old but it is still very important. Access is one of our key services. Maybe this will bring excitement back to FreeNet. Sophisticated users with large websites could donate to FreeNet instead of paying a commercial internet provider. We need an element of urgency. Let's just do it. MOTION Moved by Chris Hawley, seconded by Yvonne Dionne, and carried unanimously: Do it! (Implement the World Wide Web proposal as presented.) VOTE: FOR: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 NEW BUSINESS - FUNDS FOR INCREASE IN NEW LINES This is a joint initiative with the world wide web initiative. $5,000 has already been budgeted and allocated in conjunction with the Challenge Fund. MOTION Moved by Richard Taylor, seconded by Yvonne Dionne and carried unanimously: That we accept the proposal to spend $10,000 (plus taxes) in addition to the $5,000 already allocated, for new lines. (Note: the full proposal is posted as a separate menu item.) VOTE: FOR: Jessica Cohen, aa734 Rosaleen Dickson, ac174 Yvonne Dionne, ao594 Jim Elder, aa456 Chris Hawley, ah654 Rebecca Last, as006 Natalie Munro, aa966 Andrew Patrick, 1st Vice President, aa118 Dave Sutherland, President, aa001 (Chair) Richard Taylor, Secretary, aa333 Absent: Jeff Bossert, au025 Julie Chahal, 2nd Vice President, ab161 Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 REPORTS - FRANCOPHONE COMMITTEE Rosaleen Dickson asked Jean-Yves Fortin to report on an information folder which has been prepared by the Committee. Draft copies of the folder were distributed. The committee plans to distribute the folder at the franco-ontarian festival next week. QUESTION RE OPERATIONS REPORT Q: Are the racks (for modems at Carleton) completed yet? A: No. Q: Was the online donor drive cut short? A: Yes. There was no set time and we decided to start a new initiative. Q: What is the status of the donor data base? A: We are still working on it. NEXT MEETING Tuesday 16 July 1996 ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned shortly before 10 p.m., moved by Richard Taylor, seconded by Andrew Patrick.