PRESENT:
Dennis Cavanaugh, Chair
Larry Porn, Vice Chair
Solomon Johnson, Secretary

Chad Cramer, Board
Scott Gifford, Board
Georgia Kitchen, Board
Les LeMieux, Board
Kenny Thomas, Systems
Charles Wright, Board

ABSENT:
Harvey S Sherman, Treasurer

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

Bylaws.
Some items in the GFN bylaws need to be updated to reflect new office location, Board meeting location and other outdated items. Discussion arose questioning whether changes could be made without a full Board complement? The Board should have fifteen (15) members but now has only ten (10).  There is need to make changes in the composition of the Board and restrictions on term limits in light of the inability to solicit GFN members to serve in the various capacities to run the organization.

Larry Porn moved that the bylaws be amended to reflect changes in office address and Board meeting location. The motion was seconded by Georgia Kitchen. The motion was passed unanimously by Board members present.

Consideration of substantive issues relating to Board composition and Board member term limits were postponed. Other ~Shouse keeping~T changes may be made in the bylaws to update incorrect statements. Structural changes to the bylaws will be considered at future Board meetings. Normal term limits for Board members is six (6) years or two (2) three year terms. Ten (10) members of fifteen (15) can change the bylaws

Wireless.
Wireless Genesee meets every Tuesday at 7am at FACVB (Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.) Denny Cavanaugh attended the February 15^th meeting where the Wireless Genesee roll out announcement was made. GFN was there and may be in position to provide unique services and technical help to a niche constituent when the service is operational.

Office Report.
Larry Porn reported on changes taking place at the office. Due to the work of Charles Wright, the office input interface is near completion. Office staff will be able to create accounts, generate new account password letters, do account updates, delete accounts, enable/disable accounts, generate reports and check account information (inbox size, last logon time, last time mail sent/received.) Larry will coordinate with Chad Cramer on which fields to allow staff to write to with little impact on system security. Only four or five people can reset passwords.

There was some discussion of password options when reset is requested. Suggested was random letters and numbers 0 (zero) to 9.

Systems.
Kenny Thomas reported about work to get the Portmasters back to the original configuration to apply a password and allow the diagnostic program PM Vision to be used to analyze problems.

Kenny commented that entries seen in ~SSee Who is Logged on~T with Telnet are just log file entries that use no system resources and not a hazard to system stability.

With regard to system backup, GenTech did not provide because GFN did not negotiate a fee for the service. GFN could re institute tape backup. The tape backup program could be set to run early in the morning and have office staff rotate tapes from the tape drive. The best time to run backups may be between 6am and 8am.

Web.
Chad Cramer reported on work with former Board member Ann Chow to develop and host a special Web site. Work in progress.

Chad indicated that this Board meeting may be the last for him. Tucows is closing its Flint office and he may relocate North to be near other family. Chad indicated that he could continue to maintain the GFN Web remotely.

Treasurer.
No report.

Montrose Dial-up.
Garry Viele found in the April 25, 2002 Board Minutes the action that had been taken to relieve past Montrose dial-in problems. A few modems in Merit's SE Michigan Pool were converted to priority modems for Montrose.

DTS service (T-1 circuit with twenty-four channels) may be available from CenturyTel but the wholesale dial-up provider recommended does not service Montrose. Discussion shifted to expense neutral ways to fix the Montrose problem. GFN may seek to trade some modems in the SE Michigan Pool for priority modems (lines) in the SSE Michigan Pool. Alternatively, GFN may investigate dropping fifteen (15) or so Merit lines to cover the cost of obtaining DTS lines in Montrose. Factored in the expense equation would have to be Merit charges for billing change.

Question arose about disconnects experienced by some members with the Portmasters. Kenny Thomas commented on the difference in e-mail filtering technique for Merit and Portmaster login as possible source of some problems. He has developed a PERL script to compensate for the filtering difference. Also, a new Web mail program (OpenMail) has been tested and may be implemented on the GFN server in about a month.

Naples DSL.
Les LeMieux had been asked to consult with Naples Free-Net on their DSL offering and questioned if there was anything else wanted. Response was to find how they are able to offer the service to their members. GFN may be able to take a similar approach. Les will check with some of the people he had consulted before if they are still available.

Free Account.
Georgia Kitchen recommended Margot Brummet as recipient of a free account and moved that her current account be converted to a free account. Scott Gifford supported the motion. The motion was passed unanimously by Board members present.

Adjournment: 6:20pm.

Next Meeting:
Thursday, March 23, 2006, at 5:15pm at the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Respectfully Submitted,

Solomon T Johnson, Secretary