Board of Directors' Minutes
December 2010

By Bruce Preston

Meeting Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Attendees: Richard Corzo, Andrew Woodruff, Annette von Ommeren, Jim Scheef, Rich DiFranco, Bruce Preston
Meeting called to order: 7:20
Guests: Charlie Bovaird, Jennifer Anderson, David Green
Minutes of previous meeting were accepted.

Treasurers Report
Bank Account: $6,146.61
Postage: $40.29
Total: $6,186.90
Liabilities: Pre-paid dues: $80
Net: $6,106.90
Current Members: 161
156 members with valid e-mail address
56 receive mailed newsletters

Old Business

1. 1. General meetings
December: "DIY 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping": CT Hackerspace, Preview: Rob Limbaugh, Review: Drew Kwashnak
January 4, 2011 (tentative subject to DH schedule): "Jobs and Tech" John Barry (ITech Consulting Partners), Preview: Richard Corzo, Review: Andy
February: "State of the Internet" John Patrick (remote from Florida),
Preview: TBD, Review: TBD
We are going to explore alternate dates at which John can be present, since a remote presentation may be a problem.
March: open
For 2011 Richard has requested the hospital auditorium for the first Tuesday of the month from Danbury Hospital. Waiting to hear back.
Andy is working on possible speaker from DATAHR – who would speak about accessibility and disability issues - still tentative.

2. Open positions
a) Treasurer: David Green has volunteered.  He has previous experience as Treasurer for the CT Choral Society, a homeowner's group, etc.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to appoint him to the Treasurer’s position to fill out Charlie’s term.  There followed a brief discussion on transition of software, backup procedures, post office box access, and process for mailing newsletter and authorizing disbursements.  DACS’ Corporate address is to be changed to Richard’s address, the business address (for membership, billing etc. will be changed to David’s address.

b) DACS.DOC Managing Editor: Jennifer Anderson volunteered to take on the newsletter managing editor position to replace Patrick Libert.   Andy Woodruff moved that Jennifer Anderson be named the Newsletter Editor for a period of 90 days.  Annette seconded this.  In discussion, Andy pointed out that this is not an officer position.  The motion was approved unanimously. 
Secretary's note: In prior discussion,  Jennifer had suggested the 90-day "trial".

c) The membership chairperson position is still open.

3. Annual Meeting - Election of Directors: The following six members were elected to the board of directors at yesterday’s December annual meeting: Richard Corzo, Rich DiFranco, Patrick Libert, Rob Limbaugh, Joseph Tobin, and Andrew Woodruff

4. Using Drupal for the DACS Web site: Working on migration to current website.  PHP does not hook to IIS, forums are being converted to be compatible with resident support application servers.

New Business

1. Due to his lack of participation we will relieve Chris Furey from the position of VP of Programs.  Moved, seconded and carried.

2. Projector lending policy: Someone raised insurance and liability as a possible objection. If the board still wants to lend the projector(s), here is proposed policy:

a) The new projector will not be lent out for non-DACS purposes.
b) To borrow the old projector, a board member will need to request this in writing (e-mail) from the board on each occasion with the proposed borrowing date and return date.
c) There will sign-out form which indicates who is signing it out, when it is going out and when it will be returned.  The form will include a release of liability.
d) If the board approves, the borrower must notify all SIG leaders in addition to the board. If any objections arise, the equipment will not be lent.

Andy will write a waiver of liability.  Further discussion was tabled so that we may consider liability issues as well as policy for replacement of burned out bulb, probably some sort of pro-rated replacement cost split.

3. Jim Scheef has proposed that we start using MailChimp to send out DACS mailings.  Importing the e-mail list from current system is not a problem.  Some effort will be involved in coming up with ‘rich text’ format for mailings to members.  Motion made, seconded and carried that Charlie and Jim will co-ordinate setting up MailChimp.

4. Discussion regarding the DACS Facebook group.  There are different ‘categories’ of pages available, such as ‘group’, ‘fan’ etc.  Patrick and Drew will be asked to evaluate.

5. There appears to be serious and chronic problems with communications links within the DACS resource center, specifically the Mags.Net sourced DSL connection.  For example, the Skype connection that is used so that Bruce can attend board meetings  kept dropping out, delaying the start of the board meeting by about 15 minutes.  As Bruce is able to conduct long duration Skype sessions for his Access SIG (typically 2 hours) which also uses a Mags.Net DSL, it is fair to conclude that the problem is the circuit into the RC.  Jim took on the responsibility for getting the line serviced, which involves coordination between building management, local phone company and Mags.Net. We are also looking at getting a different phone number for DACS which will use Google Voice with distribution to board members rather than dumping into the answering machine in the RC.

Meeting adjourned at 9:50