Minutes of Genesee Free-Net Board of Directors Meeting Annual Meeting
October 24, 2002

International Center
Flint, MI

PRESENT

Garry Viele, Board, Chairman
Vahid Lotfi, Board Vice Chair
Les LeMieux Board
Pat Peterson, Board
Kay Schwartz, Board
Jerry Preston, Board
Lynnette Griffin, Board
Scott Gifford, Board
Matt Groulx, Board
Chad Cramer Board and Staff

Also present:
Kenny Thomas, Staff
Sol Johnson, Office Volunteer
Wayne Schneider, Chair of the Systems Administration Committee
 

CALL TO ORDER

Call to order 7:00 pm. Meeting conducted by G. Viele. Minutes of the last annual meeting (October 25, 2001) approved electronically. The members were introduced by the President.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

None. Nine members were present for the meeting.

CHANGES TO AGENDA

There were no changes to the agenda as published and distributed.

OFFICERS' REPORTS

Board Chair

Report to follow.

Vice Chair

V. Lotfi described the procedure for nominating and electing board members.

Secretary

P. Peterson described process of getting minutes to the web site.

Treasurer

K. Schwartz distributed the report.  She said that there is a estimated cash-basis income for 2002 will be about $4000.00.  Merit modem service costs increased $6,000 over the year beginning 7/1/02.  Interest rates are still dropping causing GFN to move its revenue into interest bearing checking and money accounts instead of c.d.'s.  The membership is stable and the organization is in good financial shape.  The Total Assets is $78,751.00 as of 10/21/02 and is estimated to be $95,000 by year's end.

Committee reports

Marketing and Outreach

L. Griffin reported that the new membership plan publicity is ready.  The committee is highlighting improved services, more interaction with GFN members, and finding new members.

Web Site Committee

C. Cramer reported that the layout has not changed and the minutes of the board meetings are being added.  In June the web servers were upgraded.  There are 956 links to other community sites and there is more traffic to the site.  A new program to measure page views is being installed.  There are 41 active organizational accounts.  Six or seven accounts are using their own domain name.  The committee is working on a new web mail program.  

Office Operations Committee

L. LeMieux reported that the office is staffed by dedicated volunteers.  They are the first line for communicating with members.  Questions go to the Technical Committee if they are unable to take care of a problem.

Technical Committee

W. Schneider reported that his committee does server maintenance and problem solving.  Changes were made to the account structures to coincide with the new account structure.  The new individual accounts structure is not yet in place but the new organizational accounts are working.  He explained how the modem pools work for GFN.  The ratio of users to modems is 14.8:1.  There were slightly fewer sessions than last year.  No token reports are very rare since June when the Montrose issue was resolved.  In February there had been over 8,000 no token reports for the Montrose modems.  In store for 2003:  the new accounts structure will be in place, a new web mail interface, a new membership database for the office staff will be working, and there will be a security certificate for encrypted web mail and SSL/TLS protocol.

President's Report

G. Viele gave a brief historical perspective saying that the GFN began in 1993.  Its uniqueness and success are because of volunteers and a shared vision.

• Objectives Status:
  Reorganization of committees to meet the needs of the organization.  Status - 99% completed.
  Develop list of activities distinguishing GFN's ISP and information functions.  Status - not started.
  Implement new Public Participation Plan no later that April 2002.  Status - 90% completed.
• Issues facing GFN:
  financial
  volunteer needs
  alliance needs - partnering with local groups, agencies, and other organizations
• Key Spending Areas:  marketing, general and administrative, and hardware
• Summary:

GFN has completed or started working on its objectives and is meeting its goals and objectives.  

Next Meeting:  December 5 at 5:15 pm at the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Peterson, Secretary