SUMMARY * Review and discussion of 1997 strategy ----------------- Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Directors of the NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET held on Tuesday, April 15, 1997 at 7:00pm at the St Laurent branch of the Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa, Ontario. Present: Jeff Bossert, Treasurer, au025 JB Jessica Cohen, aa724 JC Yvonne Dionne, ao594 YD Jim Elder, Secretary, aa456 JE Natalie Munro, aa966 NM Michael Mason, an956 MM Dave Sutherland, President/Chairman, aa001 DS Andre Vellino, an386 AV Jean Wilmot, aa145 JW Absent: Chris Hawley, ah654 CH Nadia Diakun-Thibault, ab341 ND NCF staff present: Lisa Donnelly, NCF Executive Director, xx412, Minute-taker: Denise Skrypkar Dave Sutherland took the chair and Jim Elder acted as Secretary of the meeting. Directors being present and notice of the meeting having been duly given, the meeting was declared to be properly constituted for the conduct of business. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The Chairman tabled the draft minutes, amended, of the last meeting of the Board held in February 1997 which, upon motion made by Jeff Bossert, seconded by Jessica Cohen, and carried, were approved. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA Tabling of the report from the Bylaw committee was removed (Nadia was absent); a report from the Complaints Resolution Committee was added. Time guidelines were assigned to several items. TREASURER'S REPORT Jeff Bossert, Treasurer, discussed the unaudited financial statements for March. The financial situation is brightening as donations from members continue to be as budgetted. However, line sponsorships are below budget, with none received again in March. Jeff notes that NCF has not made any new capital acquisitions and that existing equipment is aging. Expenses are below budget due largely to unspent allocations for a part-time system administrator. The processing of donations received with renewals may delayed in mid-April due to vacations. This may affect monthly figures but should not affect overall revenue. Jim Elder distributed a graph illustrating the response time of members to renewal requests. It has a poisson distribution centered near the due date and trailing off after about 40 days. From this data, it appears most members are responding to the letters in the initial stages of the renewal process. Relatively few of the unrenewed accounts show much activity. Consequently, it is predicted that 'hibernation mode', a later stage of the renewal process, will maybe improve the overall response rate only 10 to 20%. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT Lisa Donnelly, Executive Director, presented highlights from her monthly report. Lisa reports that we need a more powerful processor for packet filtering, more memory for freenet4, and additional LAN equipment. Lisa hopes to receive these as donations, but asked for and was granted approval to spend up to $5,000. She indicated that the entire architecture would be reviewed in early May, but that in any case the previously mentioned equipment would be desirable. NCF members benefit greatly from volunteer contributions, so it is fitting that NCF celebrate National Volunteer week enthusiastically. Accordingly, Lisa will be collecting volunteer stories and conducting several associated initiatives. The planned online auction turns out to be more work than expected and will be deferred until autumn, when the first year of renewals will be completing. OLD BUSINESS 1. Tabling of the draft bylaws Deferred; Nadia not present. 2. Board manuals and board calendar Lisa distributed updated board manuals. New sections include items from the board development sessions last summer, and job descriptions, facts, information. Also a project list and the 1997 strategy. The audited financial statements will be updated next meeting. 3. Annual report from the Executive Director Lisa presented and reviewed her annual report to members. It will be made available to members online soon in the 1997 AGM area. 4. Update from the Executive Director Hiring Committee Jean Wilmot presented an update on progress and response to-date. Many people have applied. Applications will continue to be accepted, and an advertisement will be published in local print media. NEW BUSINESS 1. Review and discussion of the 1997 strategy Julie Chahal led a review of the 1997 strategy, covering each of the main areas. Public participation: Much activity in this area. Discussion of how to increase participation and increase membership base; growth vs. quality of service; also how to increase french participation. Organization: The major accomplishment was turning around the rather dismal financial trends in 1997. It was generally agreed that the current three-person staff model allows us to 'tread water' but that more staff would help improve services, and that failure to improve services will eventually result in declines in donations. Several people suggested a renewed emphasis on partnerships and volunteer activities. Several possible partnerships were discussed, including libraries and schools. Content and services: Focusing on personal webpages and searching abilities. Access: Much enthusiasm for an idea of partnering with local institutions to make use of excess off-hour capacity. Dave Sutherland will pursue this. There was much discussion about possible service improvements. 2. Review of committees in preparation for filling positions next meeting Everyone was reminded that next meeting we will be reviewing committees and filling positions. 3. In camera session to discuss an issue raised by the Complaints Resolution Committee NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be Tuesday, May 20, 1997 at 7pm at the Olde Forge community centre, Richmond and Carling, Ottawa. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business the meeting then ended.