Board of Directors Minutes
December 12, 2005

A regular meeting of your Board of Directors was held at the Resource Center on Monday, December 12, 2005. Present were Messrs. Bovaird, Berger, Cohen, Corzo, Gallichotte, Henderson, Keane, Setaro and Yates. Also present was Lisa Leifels. President Jeff Setaro presided and Secretary Lisa Leifels kept the record. Minutes of the last meeting held on November 7, 2005 were approved.

Treasurer Charles Bovaird reported current cash assets of $13,544.69, consisting of total bank and postal accounts in the amount of $13,413.58, plus postage on hand of $131.11. Subtracting a liability of prepaid dues in the amount of $4,693.00 left a net equity of $8,851.69. He also reported that the current membership is 343.

Howie Berger offered the idea of changing the format of the general meeting and suggested that there be less emphasis on the main presentation and a short talk on another topic be added. Richard Corzo liked the idea of a “What’s New” section. Jamie suggested adding a URL’s of the month. John thought we should talk about new computer appliances. The new section would be a chance to address the diverse interests of our members.

As for what is on the agenda for the General Meetings in the new year, Jim Scheef will be our first speaker in January, with a discussion on OpenOffice. He will also cover alternatives to using Microsoft Office including Star Office. In February, Jamie Yates will give a short talk on the steps he takes to keep his computer running smoothly. Then there will be a Smart Home presentation, showing how computers can automate the home of your future. In March the general meeting topic will be CAD, or in other words Computer Aided Design.

Howie asked if there was any way we can get some feedback to ask our members what they thought of the presentation. Jeff Setaro said we have done surveys in the past, but it was hard to collect and analyze the information. Jamie said he would create an exit survey for the January Meeting.

Press releases were sent to the Danbury News-Times and the Citizen-News in New Fairfield and Sherman to advertise last month’s general meeting. Jeff Setaro did a taped interview with I95 on the morning of John Patrick’s presentation. Charter television also ran 30 second public service announcements. Howie said he would find out how much it costs to advertise future meetings on the Danbury News-Times website.

John Gallichotte is an intern with Charter Communications, and generously offered to videotape the December General Meeting. Unfortunately, the clip didn’t work on the wireless microphone, which prevented the meeting from being on the air. John recommended we request a truck shoot, which would provide additional cameras to tape the next meeting. Howie offered to fill out the necessary paperwork to make this happen.

Richard Corzo brought up the problem that there were discrepancies between the website calendar and the newsletter calendar. Jeff communicated that the website calendar is now the master calendar. Calendar changes should be sent to Scott Preston, who had done a terrific job of keeping the DACS website up to date.