Directors' Notes
Directors' Notes
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The regular monthly board meeting was held at the Resource Center on Monday, March 8, 1999. Present were Messrs. Bovaird, Buoy, David, Cohen, Heere, Ostergren, Preston, Setaro, and Mrs. Gaberel. Chairman David presided. Secretary Buoy kept the records of the meeting. Minutes of the February meeting were approved. Treasurer Charles Bovaird reported combined checking and postal accounts balances of $15,008.23 and postage on hand of $22.31, for a total cash balance of $15,030.54. Jeff Setaro reported that the Windows NT operating system and the Service Pack 4 had been installed in the Resource Center computer, but that the dedicated SCSI card for the scanner is not supported by NT and would have to be replaced by an Adaptec unit. Discussion regarding control of access privileges to the computer ensued resulting in generalization of allotting disk space and password control for its anticipated uses. President Ostergren announced that Stephen Bull, President of the Danbury Chamber of Commerce, had invited DACS to cosponsor, at no cost to DACS, the Chamber's April "gathering" and participate in the networking activities. No firm date was available, but such events are usually held midweek late in the month. The forthcoming Y2K conference to be held in May was discussed by Ed Heere, who advised that he would moderate the panel, Tom McIntyre would comment on financial issues, and participants from APICS, IBM, appropriate departments of the State of Connecticut, and others were being sought. Also discussed were the anticipated audience and the capacity of available venues, and technically proficient videotaping of the proceedings for publicity or other purposes. President Ostergren commented on the VFJ presentation at the March general meeting and the resultant donations of two 486-based desktops and one laptop to the program. Mr. Ostergren also brought up the issue of the first Q&A column in the Danbury NewsTimes. Discussion followed on the advisability of establishing a time window between receipt of questions and submission of answers, the inclusion of a liability disclaimer for such answers, and the establishment of a policy to restrict answers to software or operating subjects only. Also, we could offer other material from dacs.doc for the High Tech page features. Mr. Ostergren advised the Mac SIG of the Board's request for specifications for a usable Mac system for the Resource Center, which is forthcoming. Discussed was the usefulness of a used Mac system available through Ed Heere. Jeff Setaro reported that the links to Web pages of corporate sponsors of DACS, an incentive to dacs.doc advertisers previously established, have been included in the electronic version of dacs.doc. Discussion of the need to revitalize the advertising content of dacs.doc followed, including the services of volunteer representative(s) to actively pursue increased advertising. Discussed next was the billing from the Ethan Allen Inn of an additional $400 for opening an additional room to accommodate the overflow attendance at the March 2 general meeting and Microsoft Office 2000 presentation. Wally David was asked to negotiate with Ethan Allen for a possible reduction of this unanticipated expense. Further discussion was held regarding the use of the digital camera acquired for enhancing the visual aspects of dacs.doc and the handling of digital file formats for inclusion in the electronic version of the newsletter. Ed Heere read a letter from the Educational Society for Resource Management, the Danbury chapter of APICS, thanking him for his participation as a speaker at their February professional development dinner meeting and presenting him with a check in the amount of $25 to be donated to DACS in appreciation. Included in the letter was an offer to co-host some educational sessions, usually half-day seminars, suggesting 8 a.m to 12 noon on April 7 with a scheduled afternoon session. Mr. Heere further commented on his investigation of the generally circulated false rumor that the FCC was considering establishing rate structures for Internet communication. Congressman James Maloney answered an inquiry form from Ed with the information that the action considered by the FCC involved only reallocation of the funds already collected for long-distance service among the various organizations already involved in view of increasing use of voiceover Internet communication. Ed also said that AMSYS would be sending out a press release offering voluntary help to any nonprofit organization with Y2K readiness problems and, in cooperation with DACS, encouraging donations of computers for educational and community outreach programs. A true record. ATTEST:
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