Hamilton-Wentworth Community Network
Annual General Meeting
Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Hamilton Public Library Rooms A&B
7:00 pm
Board Members Present: Bill Barnard, Kit Darling, George
Geczy, Ron Moreau, Bill Morris, Nicholas Solntseff, Ian Stott, Christine
Swenor
Staff Present: Valerie Ramsay-Brown, Pete Koning, Linda
Shoup
Regrets: Matt Kelly, Shannon McKay, Ron Ness, Cat Okita.
Members present numbered 27, plus 5 guests.
The meeting was convened at 7:05 pm.
1. Welcome and Introduction from the President
Kit Darling welcomed the members, volunteers and guests to our
third Annual General Meeting.
2. 1997 Annual Meeting Minutes
A motion was presented to approve the minutes from the 1997 Annual
General Meeting held September 15th, 1997.
MOVED BY Art Ward and SECONDED BY Bill Morris THAT THE MINUTES
BE APPROVED.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
3. Financial Statements and Report from the Auditors
Ron Moreau presented the financial statements: the Summary of Revenue
and Expenses and the Balance Sheet, for the fiscal year ended February
28, 1998.
Income from membership fees increased from $64,921 last year to
$111,942 this year.
We experienced an Excess of Revenue over Expenses during this
past fiscal year of $8,979, compared to our last fiscal year's Deficiency
of $10,399.
MOVED BY George Geczy and SECONDED by Kathy Ward TO ACCEPT THE
AUDITORS' FINANCIAL STATMENTS.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
4. Appointment of the Auditors
Ron Moreau introduced Joanne Wood and Dara Coulter of Ernst and
Young, our auditors, to respond to any questions from the membership.
No questions were asked.
A change from the normal routine of asking for a motion to appoint
the auditors for next year was made. The cost of an audit in upcoming
years is more than we can afford. It will be necessary to make alternate
arrangements.
MOVED BY George Geczy and SECONDED BY Ian Stott THAT THE BOARD
MAKE ALTERNATE AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR NEXT YEAR.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
Ron stressed that this decision has nothing to do with the performance
or work of Ernst and Young, who've been very generous to us.
5. Reports
5.1 President's Report
Kit Darling reported we've seen some beginnings and some endings
over the past year. We received the last ONIP payment, are now entirely
reliant on revenues raised from memberships and corporate sponsorships
and donations, and have new Membership Newsletter edited by Kathy
Ward.
Since the last AGM, we've changed our name to the Hamilton-Wentworth
Community Network, installed new modems, instituted new membership
levels and block time, established a pilot program to test the system
load for hosting mail lists for not-for-profits (to be evaluated
by the Board and appropriate fees established).
As we move from building to becoming a more mature organization,
we must focus on strategic priorities and long range planning, such
as partnering with the Hamilton-Wentworth Information Network and
with the Smart Communities Project, which will build on the HWIN.
5.2 Treasurer's Report
Ron Moreau's report was presented with the Auditor's Report.
5.3 Committee Reports
5.3.1 Education Committee
Anne Hogan provided information on behalf of the Education Committee.
They've had a couple of successful road shows over the last year,
both text and graphics.
They're hoping to rejuvenate the committee and continue the road
shows.
Thanks to Valerie Ramsay-Brown for updating the user manual for
text based members.
Michael Lawlor mentioned the maintenance of the many help pages
is an ongoing task for the committee.
Anne added that the Help Desk continues to be a challenge, especially
when it concerns graphics, and volunteers were encouraged to come
forward for both the Help Desk and Education Committee.
5.3.2 Information Committee
Steve Nagy, voted in a year ago to replace Nicholas Solntseff as
committee chair, outlined the Information Committee's mandate, which
includes:
Designing and maintaining the home page and the many information
pages
Ensuring our Web site is organized and easy to navigate
Encouraging agencies and individuals to become Information Providers,
administering and supporting the IP accounts, and assisting them
to develop and maintain their pages
Many projects were completed in the past year.
A pamphlet to attract new Information Providers
Developing design principles to increase appeal and ease of use
Shannon McKay and Fadi Asfour produced a site map of the info
pages
Worked with Pete Koning and the Technical Committee to simplify
procedures for Information Providers, such as providing FTP access
Eric Taylor, the Information Committee's summer student, worked
on the handbook for Information Providers (now posted online)
There's been overall slow but steady growth in the Information
Provider area. Coming challenges include continued work on the information
pages and with the Technical Committee to increase the user friendliness
of the site. New volunteers were encouraged to join as page editors
and for technical assistance.
5.3.3 Technical Committee
Christine Swenor presented the report for the Technical Committee.
They've worked very hard over the past year and continue to do so.
They've worked with other committees in many areas, including advising
as to what is and what is not possible from a technical standpoint.
The past year produced many accomplishments.
Added an additional server in December 1997 (total 3), improving
response times
Installed additional disk drives
Installed 20 28.8k modems purchased from the Edmonton FreeNet.
August firmware revision to bring these modems up to 33.6. This
assisted greatly with the 56k v.90 compatibility problems we'd been
having.
Special thanks to Rycom CCI for these upgrade kits.
Upgraded both Pine and Lynx.
Automated the expiry and renewal processes.
Automated the procedures for Information Providers to update their
sites.
We have 42 56k digital modems waiting in the wings. The rack has
been installed and we're putting them through some preliminary testing.
Investigating domain name hosting for not-for-profit organizations.
Upgrade Solaris to v2.6 to maintain Y2K (year 2000) compatibility.
Special note was made of the fact that our system's uptime is 99%
- which is very healthy! This percentage includes the 8 hours of
regular monthly maintenance, but not the down time due to the new
server.
Tuesday is our busiest day!
The committee meets once a month and is always looking for volunteers.
5.4 Executive Director's Report
Valerie Ramsay-Brown, our Executive Director for little over a
year, reminded us that we're a volunteer driven, volunteer structured
and volunteer intensive organization. She thanked the many volunteers
who serve in various capacities.
Those on the Board and the various Committees.
The Help Desk volunteers.
Those who volunteer in an individual capacity: Linda Shoup (Home
Page Administrator), Charles Gregory (News Master), Kathy Ward (Newsletter
Editor), Dan DiFilippo (summer student and initiator of the Saturday
'bring in your hardware' service).
Those on the Education, Information and Technical Committees.
The past year has included:
Participation in Chamber of Commerce events, the Mayor's Millennium
Committee, Smart Communities, the Hamilton-Wentworth Information
Network as well as presentations to schools etc.
Work on restructuring the operations end of the organization,
focusing on member services and customer satisfaction and becoming
an invaluable community resource.
Valerie commended Pete Koning, with us for two years now, for keeping
the system running smoothly and his ongoing work towards long term
technical growth. Anne Hogan has left the staff position she's held
for the past year, and is very much missed. Linda Shoup, a long
time volunteer, has recently joined the office staff.
Our current membership breakdown:
Text: 8775
Graphics: 851
Total: 9626
We have 102 lines, 22 analog modems and 46 digital modems on standby.
We look at the total congestion time in a 24 hour period, currently
ranging from a low of 0 to a high of 30 minutes, rather then using
a user to modem ratio.
Other changes this past year:
Graphics 2 membership level is now available.
Block time is now available.
A manual for graphics members is in the works.
We've been operating for almost a year with no ONIP funding.
An increase in fees and changes to membership levels will be implemented
in January 1999.
The current membership fees will cover our current operating costs.
This year we will focus on our financial picture, revenue generation
to ensure sustainability, new educational programs and products,
and digital access. We will be vision directed, stakeholder focused
and goal oriented.
Again, special thanks to the builders of the CommunityNet and to
the many volunteers.
5.5 Open Question and Discussion Period
Delbert Fontaine raised concerns about the recent problems with
Pine's 'new mail' message. Ian Stott mentioned that the 'hidden'
message shows up when doing mail offline with PaperBoy. Pete Koning
explained that it's due to the newest version of Pine, which allows
you to jump to URLs. We must weigh that feature against the inconvenience
of this message. He offered to follow up if desired. This was deferred
to a later time.
Delbert Fontaine asked if we could advertise to people across the
country that they can become members of the HWCN. Kit Darling noted
that we do have members who leave the Hamilton-Wentworth area but
still maintain their ties with us. Ian Stott is aware of several
members of the Toronto FreeNet who are residing outside that area.
He felt this type of expansion goes beyond our mandate of connecting
'our community'.
Derek Armstrong mentioned unlimited time is available elsewhere
for nineteen dollars, and for free in the UK. Kathy Ward wondered
how they could offer this for very long, and how they could earn
their money. Paul
Klimstra stated that, according to the Executive Director's statistics,
the majority of our members are still using text, and wondered how
many, if any, ISPs in our area offered this type of access. Delbert
Fontaine offered that graphics is indeed, slower than text.
Kit Darling mentioned that free email accounts are available on
the internet. Pete Koning reminded us that a person would still
need an ISP to access these free email accounts ( ie HotMail, etc.).
Delbert Fontaine suggested our rates were too low and that we raise
them.
Art Ward asked Valerie Ramsay-Brown how the move to the library
has worked out, considering the extra security available to deal
with the sometimes not-too-friendly public. She replied she was
quite happy with the move and admired the exemplary security services.
(Art Ward works in Security at the Hamilton Public Library). Both
our exposure and our walk in traffic have visibly increased. We're
quite willing to take the whole first floor, if offered to us. A
few remarks were made about the two mice halves in the printer.
6. Nominating Committee's Report and Election of Directors
Bill Morris, on behalf of the Nominations Committee (Ian Stott,
Ron Ness and himself), thanked all who'd expressed interest in becoming
a Member of the Board of Directors. The response was overwhelming.
The number of responses received in July alone was greater than
any of the past five years. It was an extremely difficult task to
make recommendations this year. The large number of fully qualified
candidates who came forward were asked to please approach us again
next year.
The slate for the 1998-1999 Board of Directors nominations:
- Paul Gallina
- Doug Landgraff
- Patti Sterling
The above three candidates were recommended by the Board to replace
the outgoing directors Bill Morris, Cat Okita and Shannon McKay.
- Ian Stott
- Christine Swenor
- Matthew Kelly
The three above are current directors who are eligible for re-election.
MOVED BY Bill Barnard and SECONDED BY Charles Gregory TO ELECT
THIS SLATE
OF DIRECTORS.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
7. New Business
Kit Darling welcomed the new Board members and reminded them to
speak with Valerie Ramsay-Brown before they attend their first Board
meeting, scheduled for later this month.
7.1 Presentation to out-going Board Members
Kit Darling presented the following Certificates of Appreciation:
Bill Morris - Bill has been involved since the very beginning of
the HWCN and has brought with him a strong, quiet and common sense
approach.
Cat Okita (not present) - Cat's been involved since the early meetings
and has brought a high level of technical expertise and clear and
succinct vision to our Board.
Shannon McKay (not present) - Though with us for only one year,
we'll miss the enthusiasm and knowledge of our community Shannon
brought to us. We're thankful she'll continue to volunteer with
the Information
Committee.
8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm.
MOVED BY Bill Morris and SECONDED BY Valerie Ramsay-Brown THAT
THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
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