Chebucto Community Net
Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes, January 2/96
PLEASE NOTE NEXT MEETING JAN 9TH, 7:00 PM AT J0AN BH.

In attendance: David Trueman, Joan Brown Hicks, Joan MacIntosh, Carlos
Freitas, Jan Fullerton, Rene Davis, Bernie Hart. 

1.  Fund Raising Proposal - Joan Mac distributed copies of the proposal
which had been submitted by Ross Piercey.  She also referred to e-mail
responses from Sean McGregor, Adam Whynacht and Lawerence Munroe.  It was
agreed Joan should consider these three people as potential fund raising
committee members.  There was a discussion of the role of the committee
versus the role of Ross.  The consensus was that Ross would serve as a
type of Executive Director responsible for coordinating the activities of
the Committee within guidelines approved by the Board.  It was agreed that
it would not be useful to distinguish between the fund raising emanating
from the committee and that carried out by Ross on his own. 

The following terms were approved in principle by the Board to be included
in the contract to be drawn up with Ross. 

a) The initial contract will be for a period of three months with the
options to cancel, renew or renegotiate at that time. 
b)In any one month Ross will receive 35% of all funding received from
sponsorships and business donations solicited by him up to a maximum of
$3,000.  On such funds received by Chebucto beyond $8575. (8575*35%= 3000)
Ross will receive 10% up to a maximum of $1000. 
c) He will receive 10% of membership dues in excess of $6,000 received in 
each one month period. 
d) In no case can the total amount received by Ross in any one month
exceed the $4,000 "cap"unless previously agreed to by the Board. 
e) All other fund raising projects will be negotiated on an event by event 
basis.
f) Monies received from Cable Cos. Isis and Sun will be not be included in 
this arrangement with Ross.

It was agreed that the Board would cover at least some of the expenses
incurred by Ross in his fund raising work.  Joan agreed to ask him for a
budget which she will bring to Board for approval. 

Motion: It was moved by Joan Mac and seconded by Carlos that the Board
enter into a contract with Ross Piercey under the terms noted above and
that the negotiations with Ross be carried out by Joan Mac, Jan Fullerton
and Bernie Hart with the advice of Hugh and David Tower. 

It was also suggested that David Tower should be contacted with regard to 
any other financial
obligations which the Board has to consider such as GST, vacation time or 
other benefit costs.

Bernie was asked to contact Bill MacMullin to determine whether it is
still possible to try the 1-900 approach for bill payments. 

2.  Internet Coffee Club.- Joan Mac agreed to prepare a credit write-up
for the Internet Coffee Club telephone-line sponsorship which she will
provide to Roswell James for his approval. 

3. Staffing - David Trueman pointed out we are now experiencing a staffing
problem resulting from his own work pressures and Gerards reduction to
half time.  One proposal was that David Murdoch be approached to determine
whether a training allowance available to him might be used for on the job
training which could result in software development for Chebucto along
with some office management support.  Carlos and David Trueman will
discuss this with David Murdoch and Gerard. 
 
It was also agreed that David Trueman could offer Chris Maxwell up to $300
to do the development work required for the custom logins and the vanity
ids. 

4. School Connections - David Trueman indicated that Logan Duffield has
received requests to provide connections to several schools in the County.
Logan has asked for a meeting with Chebucto to discuss school support. 
Bernie agreed to convene a meeting to include Isis, Logan, David Trueman,
Dan MacKeen, and Michael Jeffrey to discuss support for schools,
particularly the 46 Junior Highs which are about to receive computer labs
and require connections in the next few months. 

5.  Windsor Incubator Project - David Trueman announced the Windsor
submission had been approved for funding under Industry Canada s Community
Assistance Program.  David pointed out that this would add to staff
pressures.  It was agreed that David and Carlos should consider the work
required for Windsor when talking to David Murdoch and Gerard.  There was
a general discussion of the status of the funding applications and the
incubator approach which Chebucto has been proposing.  David T. suggested
HRDC appears prepared to fund NSFCN but not Chebucto while the Province
seems to be looking for a province-wide funding arrangement as well. 
Industry Canada has made the offer to fund up to 90% of the Chebucto Suite
development costs but must have a provincial contribution. 

The following was decided:  
a) Bernie will make an appointment for representatives of the Board to
meet with Robbie Harrison. 
b) David T. will post a first cut of a new submission for the Minister
which will be based on the previous proposal but will be a shortened more
direct version.  The focus will be on the Windsor project as an example of
the support which can be provided by Chebucto but which is dependent on
the development funding committed by Industry Canada, the availability of
which depends on 10% funding from the Province.  We will also make a point
of i) the support Chebucto provides to IPs which have a province-wide base
and ii) Chebucto commitment to the Department of Education regarding e-mail
addresses for provincial PAT users; 
c) Bernie will phone Debbie Rudderham, Chair of Cape Breton Net to discuss
a meeting of the two Boards to reach agreement on an approach to
provincial funding and the form of support to be offered to other
communities on the Island and the mainland.  It was felt that this should
be done prior to the next NSFCN meeting. 
d) Bernie will make arrangements for the next meeting of NSFCN. 
e) Bernie will complete the HRDC conference report which hopefully will
result in funding for an Executive Director for NSFCN.  This position
could be very useful to Chebucto as well as Cape Breton Net. 
f) David will prepare a letter for each of successful CAP applicants and
another for those who were not successful.  The latter will be done with a
view to encouraging them to reapply. 

6. Annual Meeting - It was agreed the meeting would be held before March
Break. Because both Peter Henry and David Tower have active roles in the
meeting, and because neither raised objections audible to those present,
they will be asked to serve as the planning committee. 

7. Volunteer Coordinator.- It was moved by David Trueman and seconded by
Jan Fullerton that Carole Compton Smith be appointed to the Board in the
role of volunteer coordinator until the time of the Annual Meeting . 
Passed. 

David T will ask Gerard to add Carole to the Board Listserv.

Bernie will ask Carole to bring the current list of volunteers to the next
meeting. It was agreed that at the next meeting the first item on the
agenda would be the volunteer program which would serve to bring everyone
up to date on the status of the various roles being played by volunteers
as well as the work needing to be done. 

Carole will be asked to work with Jan in arranging for a volunteers night
to be held in the near future at a location to be arranged by Jan.  The
session will involve presentations by each of the committees and Board
members as required to the volunteers re the work opportunities available. 

8. Support and Training - Jan has agreed to assist in the support and
training role.  Rene pointed out that what was badly needed was a group of
Coordinators or Leaders who would be responsible for organizing and
providing leadership those who are prepared to do the training sessions. 
It was felt that the role to be played by Carole would assist in meeting
this need and that this should be part of the discussion at the next
meeting. 

9. Next meeting will be at Joan BH at 7:00 on Jan9th..  Items for the
agenda include: Status of volunteers and plans for the volunteer night,
Annual Meeting, Report from the Committee meeting with Ross Piercey,
Status of Provincial Proposal.  Another meeting was scheduled for Jan 23
at location to be determined