Directors' Notes

March 13, 2000

A Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors was held at the Resource Center on March 13, 2000. Present were Messrs. Bovaird, Buoy, Cohen, David, Gingras, Here, Preston and Setaro. Also present was Dr. Jack Fong, chairman of the department of pediatrics at Danbury Hospital. Danbury Hospital projects Dr. Fong distributed a list of the pediatric services offered to the towns within the area served by the Danbury Hospital and briefly expanded on various programs, services, clinics, and charitable organizations participated in by the Hospital. Particularly addressed were the technical challenges faced by the WOW (Wellness on Wheels) program van, which covers the State of Connecticut's pediatric health screenings for disadvantaged children. Among these were the need for a reliable information link to hospitals (via wireless devices?), software to eliminate human error in analyzing vision screening of nonverbal children, and assistance in developing a Website for the Department of Pediatrics for both education and reference. Particularly problematic was the need for establishing evidence of culpability in child abuse, especially photographic, since satisfactory traditional photography equipment is very expensive and digital photography is not admissible in court as evidence. Several DACS directors offered direct help in the projects or a canvas of their professional contacts who might be of help in specific areas. Finance & membership The Board then resumed its normal business with the approval of the minutes of the February 7 meeting. Treasurer Charlie Bovaird reported that current cash and bank accounts stood at $17,550.84 after payment of insurance premiums, less prepaid dues of $7,720.00, leaving net assets exclusive of depreciable equipment at $9,830.84. He also reported current membership of 540. Larry Buoy commented briefly on the status of his survey of member dropouts. Resource center lease President Ostergren advised that the renegotiation of the lease for the Resource Center space was still at a standstill, awaiting agreement of the terms between the various political parties involved. Danbury Hospital computer donations Ed Heere reported that over three hundred 486 desktop computers (sans monitors) had been acquired from the Danbury Hospital and that he had received commitments from Raytheon and others for more than enough monitors to match. He also advised that he had received a license from Microsoft to install operating systems and Microsoft Works on all of these machines. A caveat of the hospital to the donation of these computers was that the hard drives must be cleaned and that they must be donated to charitable and/or nonprofit organizations. Ed is seeking volunteers to assist in cleaning the hard drives and installation of the software. Elections With respect to the forthcoming election of officers at this Board's April meeting, it was determined that all incumbent officers would stand for reelection. Wally David volunteered to seek additional nominees via e-mail. APCUG software on CD-ROMs President Ostergren advised that as a consequence of an impending deadline and his e-mail canvas of the directors, 400 of the CD-ROMs offered by APCUG to member user groups containing screened and recommended shareware and freeware had been ordered. The action was approved and ratified. It was agreed that the disks be offered to members at the general meetings for $5 apiece. Computer fair participation Also discussed was the possibility of a DACS table at a forthcoming computer fair to be held in Danbury. It was agreed that the matter be reviewed when a definite date and venue had been established. A true record. ATTEST: Lawrence Buoy Secretary

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