Hamilton-Wentworth Community Network
Annual General Meeting
Wednesday, November 10, 1999
Hamilton Public Library Rooms A&B
7:00 pm
Board Members Present: Ron Moreau, Doug Landgraff, Paul
Fox, Nicholas
Solntseff, Paul Gallina, David Wells, George Geczy, Bill Barnard,
Kit Darling
Staff Present: Valerie Ramsay-Brown, Pete Koning, Cindy
Williamson
Regrets: Matt Kelly, Christine Swenor
Members present numbered 13, plus 1 guest.
The meeting was convened at 7:00 p.m.
1. Welcome and Introduction
from the President
On behalf of Kit Darling, Vice-President George Geczy welcomed
members and volunteers to the HWCN 3rd Annual General Meeting.
2. 1998 Annual Meeting Minutes
A motion was presented to approve the minutes from the 1998 Annual
General Meeting held September 11th, 1998.
MOVED BY Dave Wells and SECONDED by Ron Moreau THAT THE 1998 ANNUAL
GENERAL MINUTES BE APPROVED.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
3. Financial Statements and Report from the Auditors
Ron Moreau presented the Auditors Report. A summary of HWCN's Revenue,
Balance Sheet and expenses was presented.
MOVED BY Bill Barnard and SECONDED by Charles Gregory TO ACCEPT
THE AUDITORS'
FINANCIAL STATMENTS.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
4. Appointment of the Auditors
Motion presented to appoint Graham Burchell, CA as auditor and
to authorize the Board of Directors to fix the remuneration. A fee
will be determined by the Board.
MOVED BY Ron Moreau and SECONDED BY Bill Guise TO APPOINT GRAHAM
BURCHELL, CA AS AUDITOR AND TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
TO FIX THE REMUNERATION.
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST.
5. Reports
5.1 President's Report
Kit Darling reported of our history and the many changes we have
had over the past years, including the ending of ONIP funding, the
increase of strong competition from cable companies and phone companies
for the home internet access market, and how HWCN is changing to
meet these new challenges.
We conducted a member survey -- to learn who our members are and
which services are most important to them. We will use the results
from this survey to plan new services and to approach new funding
sources.
We have implemented new membership packages to respond to user
demand.
Revenue from memberships keeps us afloat - but we must pursue additional
funding if we are to implement new services.
We successfully applied for grant funding from Trillium to set
up Domain name hosting services and provide support to the not-for-profit
sector of the community.
The Board is working to strengthen its role in policy and strategic
development.
We have embarked on a Strategic Planning exercise to identify our
challenges and plan our future.
During the past year, we have lost 2 Board members;
* Ron Ness resigned from the Board due to the press of other commitments.
We are fortunate that he continues his involvement with the Education
Committee and the Userhelp Team.
* We were saddened by the death of Ian Stott. His contributions
to the Board and his commitment to the organization are sorely missed.
5.2 Treasurer's Report
The Finance 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.
The Education Committee has been more active behind the scenes this
year working on up-dating the online help pages, updating the Help
Desk documentation and creating new Help documents for online and
the office use.
A Help Desk Binder was put together with two sections: text and
graphics, as resource for everyone.
Online documentation has been updated and broken into text and
graphic help to make it easier for members to find resources.
Two road shows where put on this year, one for the Amateur Radio
Club and the other for the Regional Association of Volunteers.
Two workshops/training sessions were also run for the Help Desk,
Office and User Help Volunteers. A Helpdesk Primer was developed
to assist volunteers, a quick resource to finding information about
HWCN and membership services.
Documentation was created for Netscape users, and more documentation
has been made available for Macintosh Computers.
Work in Progress.
The creation of an html booklet for members to create a web page.
It will include the basics of web design, ftp, file permissions,
text versus graphic browsers, plus more.
Upgrading our graphics installation to IE 5.0. The program is
downloaded and now are ready to burn it on CD and do a beta test.
Many thanks go to the Education Committee members:
Linda Shoup, Dan Difillipo, Ron Ness, Billy Kot, John Raso, Mike
Barber, Anne Hogan and the current Interim Chair Valerie Ramsay-Brown.
5.3.2 Information Committee
Steven Nagy, Information Committee Chair presented the Information
Committee report.
This years accomplishments, with special thanks to Pete Koning
for his capable implementation of our requests, and Charles Gregory
who has put an enormous amount of time and effort into turning the
desires of the Committee into reality.
A mailing list for Information Providers which will enhance communication
from the Information Committee to Information Providers and among
Information Providers themselves.
In the process of converting all Information Menus to the new
HWCN look, which includes a standard header and footer.
Day-to-Day operations:
Setting up new accounts (Kit Darling does most of all this).
Troubleshooting account problems and explaining enough of the essential
HTML, UNIX and FTP concepts to Information Providers so they can
upload and maintain their pages.
Checking and updating links on the Menu pages. Updating online
Help files for Information Providers.
A full description of the Information Provider program is now
online.
Goals for the coming year:
Officer workshops for the Information Providers.
Continue to work on reorganizing the Information Menus.
Work out the details of how the Information Committee and our
IP's can benefit from the new Community Services Networking Project.
5.3.3 Technical Committee
Pete Koning, the Systems Administrator presented the report for
the Technical Committee. Thanks go to all of the members of the
Technical Committee for their hard work and dedication.
The past year produced many accomplishments.
Upgrades to Lynx and Pine
Upgrades to Solaris operating system.
A 3rd Annex terminal server and 20 modems were received from McMaster
University.
Year 2000 Plans:
The primary concern in these closing months of 1999 is the rollover
to the new millennium. We are confident there will be no glitches
in the operation of HWCN. The user database is Y2K compliant. One
more upgrade remains on the operating system, this will be complete
by the end of November.
Domain Name Hosting - this will require efforts from the committee
to assist with the implementation of hardware, software, support
and training.
Based on budget approval we will introduce a new ethernet switch.
This will help to isolate network traffic and essentially speed
up server response.
56k modem technology will be considered for implementation.
Possible new services to the membership, recommended by the a Planning
Committee formed in 1999. The Technical Committee is investigating
these:
- Web-browser access to e-mail accounts
- E-mail address hosting
- Special Occasion Chat rooms
- Ability to provide additional disk space
- Moderated Bulletin Boards
The committee looks forward to the opportunities and challenges
that the next year will bring. Working with the other committees,
volunteers and staff we are confident we can maintain a reliable
service and help to keep the HWCN the positive community resource
that it is.
5.4 Executive Director's Report
Presented by Valerie Ramsay-Brown, Executive Director.
Many thanks to the staff Pete Koning, our System Administrator,
Cindy Williamson, our Office Administrator.
Thanks also go to the HWCN committees that have been very active
this year and have accomplished a lot.
Also thanks go to all the members of UserHelp and Help Desk who
are on the frontlines dealing with the members and they do a wonderful
job of it.
And it is with real regret, that this is a time to say goodbye
to two of the Founding Members of the CommunityNet:
Kit Darling who was the first Chair of Information and current
President of the Board
George Geczy, first Chair of Finance and current Vice-President
of the Board.
Their efforts and vision and dedication have put in place a true
community network.
In the years that the CommunityNet has been operational, the efforts
of the Founding members, staff and volunteers have been amazing.
Hamilton-Wentworth has a CommunityNet in which the public can affordably
access the Internet. It has become a source for the community to
gather local and regional information. On-going partnerships have
been developed with the educational, business and community organizations
and at the same time we have kept up with the technology. We continue
to create new initiatives, pursue funding and meet the membership's
needs.
Some achievements throughout the year are as follows:
Trillium Funding for the Community Services Networking Project.
This is a project that will provide Domain Name hosting, Web site
development and ongoing support and help to the Not-for-profit sector
in Hamilton-Wentworth. Part of this project will be working with
the Region to develop sites for all the Regional Advisory Committees.
HWCN is an active partner in the Hamilton Wentworth Information
Network and Smart Communities.
One of the results of this is being invited to participate in
the decision of a new community server that Human Resources Development
Canada has invested in for Hamilton.
We partnered with St.Joseph's to create a community resource manual
Web site for families and health practitioners that enables them
to access information about services in the community.
Assisted in creating and hosting the Our Millennium: Hamilton-Wentworth
Web Site.
We are involved with planning and participating in and will be
at City Hall on New Years Eve for 1st Night connecting with Hamilton's
Sister Cities.
Membership Survey
A membership survey was put out this summer to find out how to
better meet membership needs. Some of the results were offering
unlimited time, a new mini-graphics service, direct debit in the
office, re-vamping some of the pages to make information more accessible.
A big thanks goes to Web Master Charles Gregory who has created
our new look. The Home page was re-designed and Charles is working
to make all our pages up-to-date, consistent and attractive. He
is doing a wonderful job and his energy is amazing and Charles also
continues to volunteer as the News Master.
Also I would like to acknowledge Kathy Ward who did the HWCN newsletter
this year and did a great job and introduce volunteer James Benz
who has now taken this task on. Please remember if you would like
to contribute anything to our newsletter please contact us.
We have a lot of co-op students and they have been great and we
continue to offer opportunities for adults and students to gain
experience, refine their skills and offer something back to the
community at the same time.
Kit and George we will miss you and from all CommunityNet members
we applaud you.
5.5 Open Question and Discussion Period
Questions received from the audience:
Since the implementation of the unlimited membership, has it affected
members trying to connect, i.e. busy signals?
Peter Koning explained that our monthly statistics show that within
a 24 hour period busy signals are present 10 minutes of the day.
Tuesday has shown to be our busiest day of the week.
How many modems do you have presently have?
Valerie Ramsay-Brown noted that we have 55 modems in the text pool
and 55 modems in the Graphics pool.
Do you have plans to implement Internet Relay Chat(IRC)?
Valerie Ramsay-Brown stated that we would not be implementing IRC
but would be considering 'Special Occasion Chats' i.e. celebrities.
6. Nominating Committee's Report and Election of Directors
This year there are 3 positions to fill on the Board of Directors.
The Nominations Committee consists of Christine Swenor, Matt Kelly,
and Kit Darling. Thanks goes to all those that expressed interest.
The slate for the 1999-2000 Board of Directors nominations includes:
- Geneava Neale
- Robert Allan
- Bill Guise
The above 3 candidates were recommended by the Board to replace
outgoing directors:
- Kit Darling
- George Geczy
- Patti Sterling
The following current Directors are eligible for re-election:
- Ron Moreau
- Bill Barnard
- Nicholas Solntseff
- Christine Swenor
A MOTION WAS MOVED BY Kit Darling and SECONDED BY Dave Wells 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 of Strategic Plans for HWCN
Presented by George Geczy.
Overview of Process:
Direction Hamilton-Wentworth CommunityNet - where we've come from
and where we are going.
Assumptions we are working under:
- the members we serve
- finances (should there be a change in finances what will happen
and what would we do)
Challenges:
- challenges we face now and in the future
- not enough awareness of us
- more marketing is needed
- review the services that we offer
Goverance:
- the way the Board of Directors look at the organization (changing
policies)
Competition:
- looking at our competition and how it has changed over the
years
Volunteers:
- how we recruit, implement and use their skills within our organization
Information Providers
- the services we provide to IPs
- recruiting more
- serving their needs
7.2 Presentation to out-going Members
Valerie Ramsay-Brown presented the outgoing members with gifts
and certificates of thanks:
Kit Darling - Kit is one of our founding members. She was the First
Chair of the Information Committee from 1994-1999 and was also the
President of the CommunityNet from 1997-1999. We're thankful that
Kit will continue to volunteer with the Information Committee.
George Geczy - George is also one of our founding members. He has
had various roles with us including Chair of Finance, Vice President
of the CommunityNet from 1994-1999. And also the Chair of the Personnel
Committee from 1997-1999.
8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
MOVED BY Bill Guise AND SECONDED BY David Wells THAT THE MEETING
BE ADJOURNED.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
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