Item 131. Minutes of the October 1999 Grex Board Meeting Jan Wolter (janc) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (15:02). 168 lines, 18 responses. Cyberspace Communications October 1999 - Board of Director's Meeting Minutes Presiding: John Remmers (remmers) Recording: Jan Wolter (janc) Other Board Members Present: Steve Andre (steve) Mark Conger (aruba) Scott Helmke (scott) Misti Tucker (mta) Members of the Public: Steve Gibbard (scg) Christopher Goosman (goose) Mary Remmers (mary) Board Members Absent: Dan Gryniewicz (dang) AGENDA ITEM 1: Gavel Banging - John Remmers began the meeting at 7:34pm. AGENDA ITEM 2: Chairman's Report - Board did not meet in September. Oops. AGENDA ITEM 3: Treasurer's Report - Mark Conger presented the treasrurer's report for August. The full report is available on-line in coop item 124. * After eight consecutive months in the black, August was not a very good month, income being rather low. We are once again paying the full phone bill, the tax rebate being complete. Total Income: $238.00 Total Expenses: $471.18 New Members: 2 * We ended the month with 93 members, 83 of which are fully paid up. The number seems to have been slowly declining for a while now. * Our bank balance ended at $5,344.24. - Mark Conger presented the treasrurer's report for September. The full report is available on-line in coop item 127. * September was better than August, but not great. Total Income: $326.20 Total Expenses: $474.43 New Members: 2 * We ended the month with 90 members, 79 of which are fully paid up. The number seems to have been slowly declining for a while now. * Our bank balance ended at $5,196.43. - Mark Conger presented a preliminary report for October. The month looks good so far, and should end well in the black. Income to Date: $569.20 New Members to Date: 2 - There is some concern about the drop in the number of members. Looking at Mark's graph of the number of members over time, it is evident that there has been a slight drop, but nothing of really dramatic proportions. - Mark also presented a series of graphs showing the longer run status of Grex's finances. Generally things look very good. * Monthly expenses have decreased significantly overall. We dropped a couple dial-in lines and the IC-net link, we've reduced electric usage, and we got rid of the bank service charges. This more than covers our increased expenses for insurance premiums. * The historical graph of income is extremely erratic - lots of boom months and bust months. This is why we don't necessarily get concerned over a few bad months like August and September above. Generally, our income seems to be improving a bit. We had a couple one-time windfalls recently - the phone tax rebate and the conversion of the spare parts fund to general fund, but even setting these aside, we seem to be maintaining a steady small surplus. * Currently we spend about half of our money on phone lines. * Income comes mostly from dues, but auctions play a big part too. We'll look for ways to get some of these graphs on line. AGENDA ITEM 4: Publicity Committee Report - Misti Tucker, the Publicity Czar, reported no new publicity. AGENDA ITEM 5: Technical Committee Report - Steve Gibbard reported that Grex's ISDN line was down for a couple days. Apparently one of Ameritech's cable's failed and had to be replaced. The board thanked Steve for notifying Ameritech, and Ameritech for repairing things substantially more quickly than we're used to seeing Ameritech repair things. - Steve Andre reports that the /c drive may be approaching the end of its life. It will be replaced soon. He feels Grex generally goes through drives fast. - Steve Gibbard reports that the ventilating fan in the pumpkin is dead, and it is getting hot in there. - We've had a number of complaints of disconnects on the dial-in lines, but haven't been able to discern any sense or pattern to this. Some users are getting very reliable connections, some not so good. - The staff actually had a full-scale staff meeting this month. - Staff recommended that Michelangelo Giansiracusa be appointed to staff. Jan Wolter moved: I move that Michelangelo Giansiracusa be appointed to Grex root staff with all the privileges and responsibilities appertaining thereto. Scott Helmke seconded. Passed, 6-0-0. AGENDA ITEM 6: ACLU Suit - It will likely be at least next summer, possible next fall before the 6th court hears our case. In the meantime, the law is on hold and everything is peachy. AGENDA ITEM 7: Credit Card Info - We will be sending in our application now. AGENDA ITEM 8: Future Planning Meeting. - Tentatively scheduled: 5pm, Sunday Sept 21, at the home of Mark Conger. AGENDA ITEM 9: Auction - There will be another auction real soon now. - Sara Arthurs (swa) and Jeffery Carey (coyote) have agreed to be auctioneers. - We will probably try setting a minimum bid of $5 on all items. This should massively reduce the amount of work in tracking the bids, and ensuring that all purchased items get delivered, without taking too much out of the profits. Possibly smaller items can be sold as groups. AGENDA ITEM 10: Schedule for Future Meetings: - Tentative dates for the next board meetings: 7:00pm Tue, Nov 16 7:30pm Wed, Dec 15 AGENDA ITEM 11: New Business - No new business. AGENDA ITEM 10: Gavel Cessation - John Remmers ended the meeting at 9:07pm 18 responses total. ---------- (131) #1 Jan Wolter (janc) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (15:02). 1 line. Sorry for the delay in posting this. I've been occupied. ---------- (131) #2 Steve Gibbard (scg) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (18:05). 3 lines. nitpick: I'm pretty sure we picked a date less than 11 months away for the future planning meeting. I don't remember what that date was, though. ---------- (131) #3 Mark A. Conger (aruba) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (18:12). 2 lines. (It was November 21 - all Jan did was type "Sept" instead of "Nov" - the rest is correct.) ---------- (131) #4 John H. Remmers (remmers) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (19:03). 7 lines. Thanks for posting these. Incidentally, Zingerman's closes at 10pm, contrary to the 9pm I was told on the phone when I reserved the room. But it may be just as well that we thought we had to be out by 9, since it motivated us to conduct business efficiently. We covered everything on the agenda adequately, I think. ---------- (131) #5 Spook (spooked) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (22:09). 3 lines. Thanks staff and/or board (o: What an honour! ---------- (131) #6 Daniel (deblack) Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (23:03). 5 lines. Congratulations, Mic! (: ---------- (131) #7 Spook (spooked) Mon, Nov 1, 1999 (16:33). 9 lines. I'm sending US $60 for a yearly membership today to: Cyberspace Communications, Inc. PO Box 4432 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-4432. USA. via American-express money order. ---------- (131) #8 Mark A. Conger (aruba) Mon, Nov 1, 1999 (16:37). 1 line. Thanks Mic! ---------- (131) #9 Mark A. Conger (aruba) Mon, Nov 1, 1999 (16:39). 3 lines. If you could include a copy of a form of ID, such as a driver's license or passport, that will allow me to add you to the membership rolls. (Sorry to be picky when we already know we trust you - just trying to do my job. :)) ---------- (131) #10 Spook (spooked) Mon, Nov 1, 1999 (19:37). 3 lines. I will include photocopies of my student and staff ID's at my university, medicare card, and bank keycard - I hope that's sufficient (don't have a driver's license and my passport is at home). ---------- (131) #11 Daniel (deblack) Mon, Nov 1, 1999 (20:39). 4 lines. [That reminds me of something I need to do soon.] ---------- (131) #12 John H. Remmers (remmers) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (07:22). 2 lines. Re resp:10 - two pieces of ID are sufficient for our purposes. Thanks for becoming a member, and congrats on being named to staff. ---------- (131) #13 John H. Remmers (remmers) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (07:27). 2 lines. (Actually, I may be mis-remembering the policy. Perhaps one piece of ID is sufficient. Mark?) ---------- (131) #14 Mark A. Conger (aruba) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (14:30). 4 lines. One piece of ID that has your name and some other identifying feature, such as a student number or passport number. You wrote the policy, John. :) So your student ID or your staff id would be fine, Mic. ---------- (131) #15 Don Joffe (don) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (21:08). 1 line. Just let him send the damn check already! :) ---------- (131) #16 Spook (spooked) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (22:07). 2 lines. Thanks John and Mark. I sent off the money order for US$60 yesterday, alongwith 4 pieces of ID..just to make sure (o: ---------- (131) #17 Mark A. Conger (aruba) Tue, Nov 2, 1999 (22:15). 1 line. Thanks Mic! I'll let you know when I get it. ---------- (131) #18 John H. Remmers (remmers) Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (12:57). 2 lines. Re resp:14 - Just because I happened to write something doesn't mean that I remember what I wrote. :)