Board of Directors Minutes
March 9, 2009

A regular meeting of your Board of Directors was held at the Resource Center on Monday, March 9, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. Present were Richard Corzo, Charles Bovaird, Sean Henderson, John Lansdale, Rob Limbaugh, Joseph Tobin, Annette van Ommeren, Jeff Setaro. President Rob Limbaugh presided and Secretary Annette van Ommeren kept the record. Minutes of the last meeting held date February 9, 2008, were presented and approved.

Treasurer Charles Bovaird reported current cash assets of $5630.27, consisting of total bank and postal accounts in the amount of $5570.33 plus postage on hand of $59.94. Subtracting a liability of prepaid dues in the amount of $849.00 left a net equity of $4781.27. He also reported that the current membership is at 221 - 135 of which receive the mailed Dacs.doc newsletter. Charlie mentioned the delivery of the mailed newsletters is faster now as they are now folded and sent 1st class.

The results of the election of Board member officers are as follows: Rob Limbaugh was voted in to continue as President, Sean nominated Mary Tobin for Secretary and with her acceptance she was voted in. John Lansdale nominated Charlie to continue as Treasurer with the understanding that John will act as backup Treasurer, until possibly taking over in a few months - all voted in favor. The positions of Vice President of Programs and Vice President of Marketing/PR Speakers were left open for now, although Sean agreed to be available as Advertising PR Contact.

Charlie reported that the insurance coverage for the resource center has been adjusted, with an annual savings of $150 relative to the previous policy.

Rob brought up the updated alarm system modification – a new panel has been installed and new security codes set. The panel was customized to function similarly to the old system, making the transition easier for those using it. Our yearly costs were reduced from $646 to $300 resulting in considerable savings. This will also include maintenance of the system.

Rob also mentioned there are now keys for the bathrooms in the sig resource center.

Regarding general meeting topics, the Home Server presentation by Jay Ferron (cancelled in March due to road conditions), will be rescheduled for later this year. The August meeting topic will be related to “Back to School” issues for college students who are required to obtain laptops. September’s meeting will highlight a medical-based presentation coordinated by Allan Ostergren.

A discussion ensued about DACS policies at the social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, where DACS has set up “groups”. After a debate about the pros and cons for admitting DACS members only versus letting anyone join, it was voted to limit acceptance to DACS members only – this is also in line with the DACS organization bylaws. Richard discussed the need for moderation of the groups, and also suggested a welcome message be composed to send to new group members. Joe suggested possibly adding an email form to encourage people to contact DACS.

The next issue was the renewal of the DACS membership at The Danbury Chamber of Commerce. Taking into consideration the membership dues of $200/year, the board discussed whether being a member provided enough advantages. Richard made motion not to renew - Sean seconded that, however he suggested the fee be reserved for other future considerations. The motion passed.

Jeff mentioned he researched alternate forum applications for DACS. He mentioned vBulletin – and explained some of the advantages - more robust, superior CAPTCHA, spam filtering, RSS feeds, basic social networking, community blogs etc. Although fee-based, the software is well supported.

Rob reported he was in contact with mozy.com salespeople. This online remote backup company had never considers a connection to computer user groups and welcomed the suggestion. Rob is in contact with them for possible group membership benefits.

Regarding the GDNRC (Greater Danbury Nonprofit Resource Center), Sandra Rankin (GDNRC staff) will present a 15min talk about the organization at the April general meeting.

— Annette van Ommeren