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

Chad Cramer, Board
Scott Gifford, Board
Georgia Kitchen, Board
Garry Viele, Board

Call to order at 5:20pm. Chair Dennis Cavanaugh presiding.

Garry Viele read the notice from Merit about new dial-in numbers for Au Gres (989-532-2586), Chesaning (989-626-2586) and Montrose (810-988-2586.) Users dialing in are not supposed to incur long distance charges.

Expressed was the need to have statistics on usage of the GenTech modem pool. Member usage logs appear to be keeping old data or not generating proper data. Chad Cramer and Scott Gifford will look into the matter and Kenny Thomas will be asked to run scripts that generate utilization statistics for the Portmasters. Three telephone lines are installed for use by the Portmasters. The Portmasters are capable of running all three lines currently. We have yet to exceed the capability of two lines as of the Board meeting.

Board member Scott Arnst needs to be on the Board e-mail distribution list. Larry Porn will set up the account.

Scott Gifford is waiting for the list of questions to be used in polling GFN membership. Denny Cavanaugh will generate the questions.

Larry Porn raised question of reducing the account reactivation fee to $15 or $10 for members who fail to submit their yearly renewal contribution before their account expiration. Garry Viele suggested delaying consideration of the late fee until next month pending assessment of the economic impact on GFN.

Harvey Sherman will implement e-billing for SBC services. Estimated recurring expenses are about $1200 a month for rent, salaries, telephone lines and the servers. Expected Merit billing through June for support of 25 Flint modems and the Montrose modems is $11,000. Harvey needs expense documentation before dispensing funds. At the next office staff meeting a procedure will be developed to pay for consumables so staff will not have to purchase items needed with their funds and then seek reimbursement.

The question of whether GFN is ready to implement free accounts arose. New volunteer Richard Crang can supply low cost equipment for e-mail access and limited Web surfing. Discussion centered on working with such organizations as the Disability Network, a woodworking group at Kearsley schools, the Flint Community schools and the Lion's clubs to find families needing Internet access but who can not afford the subscription cost. Harvey Sherman offered to consult a contact he has with the Flint Community schools for the top 15 needy students and report to the Board next month.

Dennis Cavanaugh, Larry Porn and GenTech representatives expect to attend a meeting of the Michigan Broadband Development Authority on June 29^th.

Georgia Kitchen reported that the Flint Arts Council was willing to make a vendor table available to the Free-Net for $35 at it's 4^th of July festivities. The general response from some volunteers was to skip participation.

Larry Porn is working on the next number change notice and will update to include the new Merit number for Montrose.

Scott Gifford reported on an potential organization member, The Genesee County Tax Coalition, and requested that GFN waive a setup fee. Larry Porn moved and Harvey Sherman supported waiving a setup fee for The Genesee County Tax Coalition Web site on the GFN server. The motion carried.

At next month's Board meeting the Web Site Committee will make a recommendation on eliminating the setup fee for Organization Accounts and recommend other measures GFN might take to be more competitive.

With respect to providing member services, Harvey Sherman offered to consult with Scott Arnst about offering GFN limited access to the UM Flint helpdesk.

Adjournment: 6:20pm.

Next Meeting:
Thursday, July 28, 2005 at 5:15 pm at the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Some agenda items for the meeting:
- Reduction of late renewal fee.
- Free accounts for the needy.
- Elimination of Organization Account setup fee.
- What GFN needs to do th be competitive.

Respectfully Submitted,

Solomon T Johnson, Secretary