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CCN AGM 2000 Minutes
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Chebucto Community Net Society
Annual General Meeting 2000 Minutes
Held April 24, 2001
Approved at AGM 2001: April 23, 2002
Call To Order
Doug McCann, Chair of CCN called the meeting to order.
Minutes of 1999 AGM
The Minutes of the AGM for 1999 had been circulated at the door.
Following their reading a motion for approval was moved by Ralph
Morehouse and seconded by Tom Fullerton. Passed.
Chair's Report
Doug McCann indicated that 2000 had been a year of transition and
challenge for the Board. There were several reasons for this, the first
being a lack of sufficient funds to maintain the level of operation of the
previous year. The most serious result of this had been the resignation
of our Executive Director in August. With this loss the operation had to
undergo a significant change. Because there were not sufficient funds to
fill the Executive Director position, the role was assumed by the
Executive Committee. Next was the loss of the Chair of the Technical
Committee, David Murdoch who was replaced by Ed Dyer. Also the Board and
particularly the Executive Committee had a number of resignations. This
meant there had to be a slowdown in activities and a rethinking of the way
CCN operates. Doug pointed out that in his view Chebucto had weathered
the storm and "there is the promise of calmer seas ahead".
On the positive side the growth of Chebucto has now reached the point that
we have had to move to prefix "b" rather than "a" in assigning member IDs.
The estimate is that Chebucto has been responsible for serving over 20,000
people since its creation. While many people have migrated to other
services, Chebucto deserves credit for their initiation. A new and more
attractive web site template has been launched and a webmaster has been
appointed. We have added a FTP service. A Web Cam has been installed and
has become an astounding draw for our site. The process of joining is now
much simpler. A part time accountant has been hired. The Committee
structure has been simplified. The By-laws have been thoroughly reviewed
and revision will be addressed by you this evening.
A CCN member, David Potter, asked to comment on the Chair's report. David
indicated he was generally concerned over the state of the Chebucto
Community Net affairs. He suggested the turn over of Board members is an
indication of a lack of support for the directions the present Board is
taking. This has also resulted in the loss of some of the stalwart
supporters of CCN. Further, he expressed concern over what he perceived
to be an inability of the present Board to manage the finances properly
and to keep the membership informed. He suggested there is a financial
crisis which the Board has not resolved. He added that in his view there
was a conflict of interest on the part of the Office Manager who is also a
member of the Board of Directors. He also expressed concern about the
security of the Machine Room which he felt had to be addressed.
Doug responded that he felt we have come through a difficult time but we
are now able to cope with the situation. He pointed out that one of our
key problems is that we need more people to volunteer to take on the many
tasks associated with operating a community net.
Committee Reports
Communications Committee
Marilyn MacDonald reported that she had been responsible for
Communications since October when the previous Chair had to resign because
of a change of jobs. Marilyn outlined the communications accomplishments
during the year which included: a summer student program; participation in
Word on the Street; an advertising opportunity at Scotia Square; the
installation and successful use of the Web Cam; a number of news stories.
External Relations Committee
Bernie Hart began with a comment on the remarks which had been made by
David Potter. He pointed out that CCN has entered a new phase resulting
from the gradual departure of all of the original group who had initially
launched the network. There has always been a fear as to whether Chebucto
could survive if the founding group left. He suggested the answer is
"Yes, it can" but it won't be the same. The important thing is that with
the support of the present membership it can get better. The conditions
which existed in 1994/95 when Chebucto was born do not exist now and we
must change to fit the new environment. What hasn't changed is our
mission. We have a great deal to be proud of and with the support and
participation of the membership we can continue to meet key information
needs in our community which no other organization is able to do. Bernie
added that during the past Chebucto has provided significant support to
HRM CAP sites as well as to the VolNet program which resulted in
seventy-five not for profit organizations receiving a computer, training
and an internet connection.
Technical Committee
Ed Dyer outlined the highlights of the past year for the Tech Committee.
The Tech Committee had been responsible for the installation and use of
the web cam which was a great success during the Tall Ships event. During
the year there has been a major overhaul of CSuite and Ed paid particular
thanks to David Murdoch for his role in this. There is also an
application for additional funding to complete this work. Perhaps the most
important role of the Tech group is to meet the many technical
requirements on the fly. This work tends to go unnoticed by the users but
without it there could be no service. There has been a serious problem
caused by temperature problems in the restricted Machine Room space. The
equipment results in increases in temperature which requires an
arrangement of fans to draw in cool air from outside. This situation has
required volunteers to stand duty while the cooling takes place. Ed paid
special thanks to David Potter, Marilyn MacDonald and Andrew Wright who
spent long hours monitoring the cooling arrangement.
During the severe ice storm CCN lost power for approximately six hours.
On the positive side Ed reported that now that the Disk Space has been
resolved there is room for new members and users. Ed concluded with
thanks to all those who supported the work of the Committee through their
volunteer efforts.
David Potter thanked Ed for his work and pointed out that on several
occasions Ed had driven in to the CCN office late at night from his home
in St Margarets Bay to correct a problem.
Finance Committee
Chris Watt reported for the Finance Committee. Slides illustrating the
income and expenses for the preceding year were shown. Chris pointed out
that the accounting process has been simplified through lessening the
number of accounts. He added that there has been confusion because of the
number of projects in which Chebucto has been involved. Keeping each of
these separate has been difficult. However, CCN completed the year with a
balance in our account as shown in the slides.
Policy Committee
Andrew Wright, Chair of the Policy Committee reported. He pointed out
that the Committee is responsible for both policy and user complaints.
During the past year there have been relatively few complaints. The major
problem has been dealing with viruses. The Committee is also considering
the liability issues associated with the Network.
During this year the Committee has done a thorough review of the By-laws and
the revisions, which have been circulated in advance of the meeting will be
considered tonight.
By-laws
Andrew Wright, Chair of the Policy Committee introduced the By-law
changes. The proposed changes had been circulated in advance of the
meeting. Each was introduced and voted on. The results of the decisions
made by members can be seen on the CCN Web site.
Election of Directors
The following were nominated as Directors: Jeff Warnica, Andrew Wright, Ed
Dyer, John McKay, Chris Watt.
The following were nominated from the floor: Tom Fullerton and David
Potter. David Potter declined.
David Potter raised the issue of Andrew Wright the Chebucto Office Manager
being on the Board. It was pointed out that this practice is not
uncommon, it is permitted by our By-laws and that if members did not wish
Andrew to serve they could vote against his nomination. The slate was
approved by a majority vote of the membership.
Appointment of an Auditor
It was moved by Ralph Morehouse and seconded by Jamie Carroll
that the Board be empowered to appoint an Auditor. Passed.
Other Business
David Potter raised the issue of expanding access to the PPP accounts.
Following a spirited debate it was moved that a Sub-committee to include
the Treasurer, the Tech Chair and David Potter be struck to consider this
issue and report their findings to the Board. It was agreed the Committee
would have power to add members as they saw fit.
The meeting adjourned.
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