Vancouver Community Network Board Meeting Minutes - November 30, 1999 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Vancouver Community Network, Board of Directors, held on Tuesday, November 30, 1999 at 6:30 P.M. in the Boardroom, 411 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC. Present: Alison Curtis, Steve Forrest, Lyle Gardiner, Penny Goldsmith, Sujay Nazareth, Jonn Olldym, Greg Sturk Staff: Jason Currell, Carolyn Nantais Absent: Michael Gurstein, Suzanne Klinga, Sadia Ramirez, Richard Smith, Richard Songhurst. Chair: Greg Sturk Secretary: Sujay Nazareth 1. Adoption of the Agenda, M/S/C. 2. Minutes of the October 27, 1999 meeting accepted, with corrections noted and made, M/S/C. 3. Staffing Update: Due to Peter being away on sick leave, and the general lack of manpower in the office during December we've hired Rod Claper to work in the office for that period. Jason recommends hiring a full-time, or at least a part-time Help Desk Coordinator to help in coordinating the help desk and the volunteers as well. Motion to give Steven Chan the Root Password, while Jason is away, so that he can attend to the system if the need arises M/S/C. 4. System Administrator's Report We now have a proper backup in place. A power upgrade has been ordered for the server room. The Upgrade costs $250. Once the Upgrade is complete, our new UPS can be plugged in securing the system in case of power outages/spikes. The new UPS will automatically power down the systems properly, in the event of an outage, and power them back up once power is restored, without manual intervention. Sprint has donated 20 Pentium 75Mhz computers. We will be doing an upgrade on the systems, in the office, and giving them to some of the organizations involved with the Volnet project at a lower cost than some of the refurbished computers. Ford Canada may also be donating some systems to us. It was decided that we should put a Thank You message on VCN's front screen thanking Sprint for the donation of these systems. Steve suggested contacting Paul Hunt at VCC for some more used systems. We have temporarily taken it over Jack's office adding an additional $75 to our monthly rent. 5. Major Project reports In Peter's absence, Terri Kennedy will be in contact with Industry Canada. A conversation with Industry Canada indicated that they were very happy with VCN and were all praises for us. They have also asked us to do an analysis of HOTLINE. Penny suggested that we provide Industry Canada with some acceptable alternatives like list-serve instead of HOTLINE. It was decided that we should also inform Industry Canada that Corel Suite will not be usable with the refurbished systems that some of the Volnet organizations have received. Industry Canada has asked us what VCN needs to better it's services. A proposal has been submitted to them to increase or phone line capacity as well as getting a new server. Steven Chan has been contracted to work on the Vancouver Foundation & Community Learning Networks projects. Penny and Steven interviewed people for two short-term assistant positions. With input from Peter, Margaret and Steven, Carolyn is working on a grant application from the city of Vancouver. There was a motion to thank all the staff for pulling together and managing all the projects in Peter's absence. M/S/C 7. Treasurer's Position a) Jonn is considering taking over as Treasurer. He will let the board know as soon as he has made his decision. b) It was noted that VCN currently has $169,633 in current assets as of 31st October 1999. c) Motion to approve Greg Sturk, Allison Curtis and Steve Forrest as signors on VCN's account. M/S/C 8. Committees A brief discussion took place on which board members would be attached to various committees. It was decided in depth conversation on these committees and their goals will take place at the annual retreat. 9. Important Dates Volunteer appreciation day will be held on Wednesday 29th of December from 4:30-6:30 at the VCN office. There will be no board meeting in December. The annual board retreat will be held on the 22nd of January. The retreat will take place from 10:00-2:30 followed by the board meeting from 2:30-3:30. There is a possibility that the board meetings will be held on the 4th Thursday of every month instead of the 4th Tuesday of every month. 10. Other Business VCN will be having a community outreach presence at the Kennedy Heights Swap Meet in Surrey on December 12th. The Board Meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM