PRESENT:
Dennis Cavanaugh, Chair
Larry Porn, Vice Chair
Harvey S Sherman, Treasurer
Solomon Johnson, Secretary

Scott Arnst, Board
Chad Cramer, Board
Georgia Kitchen, Board
Les LeMieux, Board
Kay Schwartz, Board
Garry Viele, Board
Charles Wright, Board

ABSENT:
Scott Gifford, Board
Dean Johnson, Board
Robin Rabidue, Marketing
Kenny Thomas, Systems

Call to order at 5:15pm. Chair Dennis Cavanaugh presiding.

Montrose Dial-in Number.
Merit negotiations resulted in a toll free dial-in number being made available for GFN members in Montrose. Number portability was not applicable and the dial-in number was changed to 810-988-2586. Users dialing in are not supposed to incur long distance charges.

Denny Cavanaugh nominated Montrose resident Dean Johnson to fill a vacant position on the Board. Harvey Sherman moved that Dean Johnson be accepted as a member of the Genesee Free-Net Board. Larry Porn seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Denny Cavanaugh reported that Douglas Ford, Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau IT person, will notify him of the next Michigan Broadband Authority meeting. Denny intends to represent GFN as an interested party in the proceedings of the Authority.

Denny has made no contact with area TV stations for marketing GFN. Scott Arnst mentioned having a contact at Channel 12.

Modems.
Larry Porn questioned if GFN was successful in reducing commitment to 25 Merit modems. The last three month billing was for 100 Merit modems. Larry estimated cost for the Gentech modems at $2168 per month exclusive of telephone expense. Yearly Gentech cost is estimated at $26,026 for 69 modems exclusive of telephone expense. Yearly Merit cost for 25 modems comes to $11,800. Total yearly cost for services is estimated to be under $39,000 for 25 Merit modems and 69 Gentech modems, about a 30% savings over past expense.

Membership.
Larry Porn reported that GFN lost members in June but has added about 12 members so far in July. Late fees received in June to reinstate accounts was about $100 and $75 so far in July. Concerned expressed was that the hefty late fee of $25 is a deterrent to membership retention. Larry Porn moved that the late fee to reinstate accounts which exceed the cut off date by 15 days be reduced to $10. Les LeMieux supported the motion. The motion carried. The postmark date on the returned renewal statement letter will be used to determine when the 15 day cut off period is exceeded.

Tabled was suggestion by Georgia Kitchen to break member renewal payments into 3 or 4 smaller amounts.

Board Minutes.
The June, 2005 minutes of the Board meeting were accepted as posted to the Website.

Finance.
Treasurer Harvey Sherman and past treasurer Kay Schwartz are trying to schedule time to work out a report structure for reporting financial status to the Board. Harvey believes that the interest cut off at ELGA is $50,000. The GFN account stands at $79,000 to date but will be close to the no interest level as expected expenses are paid. Kay Schwartz has the final transfer of funds check from Citizens Bank for deposit to ELGA which will help keep funds above the no interest level.

There was some confusion with respect to putting the SBC billing on automatic pay. It appears that Jerry Preston and Kay Schwartz are designated on the SBC account and Harvey cannot make changes to billing procedure. Harvey also needs the GFN password to the SBC online account. Kay Schwartz will contact SBC about getting Harvey designated on the GFN telephone account.

Harvey indicated that he does not always get to read the daily office report and that embedded financial items placed in the report to his attention may be missed. He requested that a separate e-mail be sent to him. A finance e-mail distribution list will be set up with Harvey, Denny and Larry as recipients.

Website.
Georgia Kitchen questioned whether the new dial-in numbers could be posted. It seems that the numbers are already there but hard to locate. Chad Cramer will place a link on every page for ~SCall-in Numbers for Your City.~T

Chad Cramer reported on a problem where the Website was not responsive for a period on the 26^th through 27^th. The server would not re-boot normally. The failure is believed due to difficulties with a virtual machine running on the Web server.

Chad reported on a Blogware product from TUCOWS being considered for the GFN Website. Estimated cost would be about $1 per month per user. Chad asked that Board members interested in a Mini-Blog demo contact him. An August launch is sought with cost about $1 per month per person. Six members expressed interest. A mail account will be set up for those interested in a Mini-Blog.

Office Operations.
Larry Porn reported the office is running well. One staff member has been away because of illness and another is on jury duty call. Two members have expressed interest in becoming office volunteers. Follow up has been slow.

Larry reported on a Portmaster modems problem. A bad module had to be removed from service. Larry is still learning PMVision, the Portmaster modems monitoring software. Harvey Sherman offered to set up server monitoring through UM Flint with e-mail notification to gfoffice@gfn.org.

Systems.
Kenny Thomas could not attend the meeting. He indicated in a telephone conversation with Chad Cramer a possible e-mail problem when members attempt to transfer through Comcast.

Public Relations.
There appeared to be little interest in attending fairs for PR. Denny Cavanaugh mentioned that the objective of PR is visibility for GFN, not sale of memberships. Larry Porn suggested that locations that provide the best contact are churches and service organizations such as the Lion's clubs. Georgia Kitchen offered to contact several service organizations in Davison and Fenton. The Resource Center was suggested for running ads.

Les LeMieux reported on talking to Sybyl Atwood of the Resource Center about working with an organization collecting old computers for fix up and donation to needy individuals in the area. It appears the organization has no non-profit license and some internal problems have developed. GFN should not become involved with the organization at this time.

New GFN Volunteer Richard Crang constructs machines and sells them a low cost.

Miscellaneous.
Should GFN position for V90 modems. No.

What about Web accelerator software for GFN server. No. Not that much download speed increase detectable, no speed increase on uploads.

Positioning for Wireless ~V Denny Cavanaugh will keep the Board informed of opportunities that may develop.

Adjournment: 6:27pm.

Next Meeting:
Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 5:15 pm at the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Respectfully Submitted,

Solomon T Johnson, Secretary