International Institute
515 Stevens Street
Flint, Michigan 48502

Present:
Vahid Lotfi, Board Chairman
Larry Porn, Board Vice Chairman
Kay Schwartz, Board Treasurer
Solomon Johnson, Board Secretary
Dennis Cavanaugh, Board Member
Chad Cramer, Board Member
Scott Gifford, Board Member
Lynette Griffin, Board Member
Georgia Kitchen, Board Member
Les LeMieux, Honorary Board Member
Jerry Preston, Board Member
Harvey Sherman, Board Member
Garry Viele, Board Member

Also Present:
Robin Rabidue, Marketing Committee Co-Chair
Kenny Thomas, System Administration
Margot Brummett
Gareth Cumper
Kenneth Kitchen
Chuck Leamen
Juan Pimentel

Charles Wright

Call to order 7:15pm. Meeting conducted by Vahid Lotfi.

Board members were introduced with brief description of Board duties and vocation affiliation.

The minutes of the 2003 annual meeting were approved.

Reports:

Chair Report:

GFN Goals for 2004
Enhance Marketing Efforts
Development of Brochure
Placement of Brochures
Update GFN Web Site
Action Web
Enhance Service to Membership

Relocation of GFN
FALCON Changes
Partnership with GenTech
Server Move
Office Move

Issues Facing GFN
Financial Needs
Volunteer Needs
More Partnerships
local groups
agencies
organizations

Vice Chair Report:

Nominating Committee members for 2004:
Janet Craig
Ron Crang
Les LeMieux
Larry Porn
Robin Rabidue

The Board nominating process was reviewed. From the by-laws:

The full Board would consist of fifteen members. Jerry Preston and Vahid Lotfi are leaving after having served for six years on the Board. They are ineligible for nomination due to term limitation. There are six openings to be filled. Nominees for 2005 being submitted by the Nominating Committee are:
Chad Cramer
Lynette Griffin
Georgia Kitchen
Harvey Sherman
Charles Wright.

Secretary Report:

Solomon Johnson was elected Secretary at the May 24, 2004 Board meeting. The minutes for the subsequent meetings are on the GFN Web site.

Treasurer Report:

Estimated cash-basis LOSS for 2004 is about $13,000.

Revenues of the Free-Net in 2004 (through 9/30/04) have been lower than the same time period last year by about $5,000.

Expenses year-to-date are comparable to last year, except that $3,600 has been spent on marketing (new application form with new GFN logo) and $750 on Web redesign. MERIT is now billing just once a year, in April, and fees are the same as in 2003. The total pay to MERIT in 2004 is expected to be $47,600 for maintenance of 100 modems, plus membership and other fees.

With the move to GenTech there will be no T1 line cost sharing (about $16,000). If the predicted loss of $13,000 occurs, cash assets at the end of 2004 will be about $82,000.

There was a net decrease in GFN members from January 1 – September 30, 89 new accounts were set up and 145 accounts were deleted. This loss is somewhat offset by 30 accounts which were upgraded (some Charters from $0 to $25, other regular members from $60 to $100). This loss of membership is a matter of deep concern for the financial future of GFN.

Committee Reports:

Marketing and Outreach:
Plans:
Roll our new logo for community publicity – Newspapers, Radio stations, TV stations.
Restart classes to reach new members – Disability Network has asked for classes.
Distribute flyers – Currently Board members are distributing. Make available to all members. The flyers cost GFN $3,600.
Hold community events – Hot Dog parties to introduce GFN. Rent booths at computer shows.
Display at existing events – Crim Festival of races. Builder shows. RV and Camper shows. Music In the Park Series. Homecomings and Summer Festivals.
Think outside the box – Ask members for their ideas. Empower members to try their ideas. Share successful ideas.

Discussion arose when Jerry Preston asked if we knew why members depart. Robin Rabidue suggested that members depart for the advantages provided by broadband and not realizing they can have multiple ISPs.

It was suggested that GFN investigate the impact of broadband access and try to find the three top reasons why members leave.

Mentioned was the member referral program the Board approved where $10 could be credited toward next year's account renewal for each member referred, up to the amount of the member's account type.

Web Site Committee:
Chad Cramer Reported:

• New Web site design by ActionWeb Services.

• Hosted by GenTech.

• Incorporates new Technologies.

• Google Search (GFN and WWW).

• ABC12 local alerts.

• About 540 active Community links.

• Links down from previous years – many invalid links removed (about 150).

• Semi-automatic processing (maintenance functions).

• About 55 hosted non-profit and individual Web sites – includes 8 virtual hosts (hosted domains).

• Improve Setup Information.

• Provide out of area dial-up service (remote dial-up.)

• Provide user training sessions.

• Have regular member newsletter.

• Web links to Windows and other information sites.

• Supply software suggestions for spyware, anti-virus firewall protection.

• Enhance e-mail scanning for spam and viruses.

• Expand office hours to provide time to process paperwork separate from telephone call handling time.

System Administration and Technical Committees Report:
Scott Gifford reported:
Technical Committee Members:
Chad Cramer
Scott Gifford
Les LeMieux
Larry Porn
Kenny Thomas.

Modem pool usage: There are 16 users per modem, 20-25 users per modem is typical. There is only one no token error per 250 connection attempts. MERIT average is one no token per 52 connection attempts.

Accomplishments in the last year: The GFN servers moved to new colocation facility, GenTech. Provides access to a fast Internet connection. There has been increased integration of the database into system operations and improvements in spam filtering.

E-mail: Spam comprises 93% to 95% of e-mail traffic. Users see only about 10% of the spam due to improved filtering. Acme Mail program problems are due partly to the way it parses the e-mail header and glitches in some configuration lines. Access to the Mail server is occasionally restricted by “spam bombing” for a short time. Most of the time the server runs at 20% capacity.

There was a question whether GFN could offer connection acceleration. System people believe likely negligible increase in speed would be noticed. Process is mostly text compression.

Treasurer Kay Schwartz requested the committee's next year budget.

Thank you letters will be sent to GDL/FALCON and the Resource Center expressing appreciation for long support of the Free-Net.

Motion was approved that the Resource Center in-kind accounts be continued without fee for one year.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm.

Jerry Preston will write a proposal for GFN insurance to be given to insurance agents to obtain quotes before coverage expires November 18, 2004.

Respectfully submitted,

Solomon T Johnson, Secretary