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

Georgia Kitchen, Board
Charles Wright, Board
Garry Viele, Former Board
Jerry Preston, FACVB
Robin Rabidue, GFN Volunteer (After Meeting Start)
Diane Malloy, GFN Member (After Meeting Start)

ABSENT:
Chad Cramer, Board
Scott Gifford, Board
Les LeMieux, Board
Harvey S Sherman, Treasurer
Kenny Thomas, Systems

Call to order at 5:22pm. Chair Dennis Cavanaugh presiding.

Portmaster Modems.
Larry Porn will be working with technician Kenny Thomas to recover the default setup of the Portmaster with lost password to reinstall a password. If the recovery is successful, they will program the spare Portmaster. The diagnostic program PM Vision is usable for problem solving if Portmaster passwords are known. Also under consideration is a schedule for weekly reset of the Portmasters.

Montrose Dial-up.
GFN does not know what Merit services it has for Montrose members. It appears there are four (4) non-priority lines available for GFN use in Merit's SSE Michigan Hunt Group of twenty-one (21) lines in the Hunt Group. It appears that with the dial in number change Merit made for Montrose, GFN lost seven (7) modems and a token in Merit's SE Michigan Hunt Group.

GFN Portmasters provide sixty-nine (69) dial in lines altogether. CenturyTel customers in Montrose can use the 810 area code to dial the Flint Portmaster number but incur toll charges after using their allotment of 2000 minutes in a month.

Garry Viele suggested having CenturyTel and Merit talk to the Board about Montrose services. Larry and Garry will collaborate to compose a letter requesting explanation of the services GFN had before the Montrose number change and what services GFN has now.

The meeting was interrupted to allow Jerry Preston to report on the Wireless Genesee initiative. A February 8^th meeting was scheduled for township supervisors. Pending support from the townships, a roll out announcement will follow. Comment was made that Free-Net participation may provide opportunity to reduce dependency on modems further. Incumbent telecoms are fighting the initiative and implementation likely will require non-profit/for-profit collaboration. Wireless Genesee meets every Tuesday at 7am at FACVB (Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.)

Meeting discussion resumed about seeking a meeting with CenturyTel, Merit and the GFN Board. Larry Porn and Garry Viele will research service information and put together a service history and send to Merit. Robin Rabidue will try to contact 123.net about possibility of lines in Montrose. He will check with Elizabeth Saab, formerly of GenTech, on the 123.net option.

Denny Cavanaugh, about access in Montrose, reported on a CenturyTel contact with quote for a DTS (T-1 circuit with twenty-four channels) for $462.64 per month plus a one time installation fee of $430.00.

Office Report.
Larry Porn reported on the work by Charles Wright in setting up XP on the office computer donated by Vahid Lotfi. The next step will be to move applications from the NT computer onto the XP computer. Charles also has been instrumental in developing the database queries required to get the office database interface operational. Soon office staff will be able to re-enable over quota accounts and create new accounts through the interface.

There was brief mention of GenTech being purchased by OTC (onlinetech.net) and need for tenants to have picture ID badges and wear while in the building. GFN office volunteers who do not yet have ID badges need to get their pictures to Elizabeth Saab for the ID badge and entry key card.

Concern was expressed about the lack of backups for the GFN servers. An issue that needs to be resolved by the Tech Committee.

Adjournment: 6:41pm.

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

Respectfully Submitted,

Solomon T Johnson, Secretary