| Annual General Meeting -
2000 Minutes (Approved) For the Fiscal year March 1999 - March 2000 |
Hamilton-Wentworth Community Network Annual
General Meeting Board Members Present: Doug Landgraff, Nicholas Solntseff, Matt Kelly, Christine Swenor, Bill Barnard Staff Present: Valerie Ramsay-Brown, Pete Koning, Jeff Cunningham, Cindy Williamson Members Present number 12, plus 1 guest The meeting was convened at 7:00 p.m. 1. Welcome and Introductions from the President. On behalf of Doug Landgraff and Vice-President Christine Swenor welcomed members and volunteers to the HWCN 4th Annual General Meeting. 2. 1999 Annual Meeting Minutes A motion was presented to approve the minutes from the 1999 Annual General Meeting held November 10, 1999. MOVED BY Ann Hogan and SECONDED by Linda Shoup THAT THE 1999 ANNUAL GENERAL MINUTES BE APPROVED. THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST. 3. Guest Speaker: Gail Ann Paling, Volnet Coordinator The Volnet progam is an Industry Canada program created to help not-for-profit organizations get online. The package includes one full year of Internet service, a government subsidized computer and full training. Training includes how to use the Internet, email, and webpage design. Being the delivery agency for Hamilton-Wentworth will have 175 organizations particapating by the end of June 2000. 4. Guest Speaker: Jeff Cunningham, HWCN Internet Developer First of all, since I wasn't here last year, I realize that there may be a few of you that are unfamiliar with who I am or where I came from. Since Val took care of the who I am part (which is Jeff Cunningham in case you missed it) I'll just tell a little about how I got here. My association with the Hamilton-Wentworth CommunityNet started in March of 1999 when I came to the helpdesk for two months as a coop student from Mohawk College. After completing that, I volunteered my interest in web page design to create the Our Millennium Hamilton-Wentworth Web site. Our millennium is an organization that encourages volunteering in the community, not only on an on going basis, but also specifically for the year 2000. In the summer of 1999, I became a summer student with the HWCN, working with St. Joseph's Hospital to update and transfer their community Resource Manual to an online Web site. The manual, and now the site, is a listing of services and organizations in the community that are available to expectant mothers and families. In March of this year Val was kind enough to hire me as the Internet Developer for the Trillium funded Community Services Networking Project. And it is because of that that I am standing here. The Community Services Networking Project is available to non-profit organizations within the area to help them create an online presence. This would allow them to better promote themselves and their services as well as improve communications with the public. With the project, each organization receives
The following are some of the Web sites that have been created or are near completion.
To date we have 26 organizations that have signed with the project; with about approximately 4 more organizations that are seeking approval to sign. With this number, in the 6 short months that the project has been officially released, it is clear that we are certainly well on our way to meeting our quota of 50 organizations signed over two years. I think it's safe to say, and I think Val will agree with me that so far the project is a huge success. 4. Financial Statements and Report of the Auditors A summary of HWCN's Revenue, Balance Sheet and expenses was presented. MOVED BY Jeff Cunningham and SECONDED by Kit Darling TO ACCEPT THE AUDITORS'
THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST. 5. Appointment of the Auditors Motion presented to appoint Graham Burchell, CA as auditor and to authorize
MOVED BY Charles Gregory and SECONDED BY Loretta Ray 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. 6. Reports 6.1 Presidents Report For those of you who don't know me, or who don't remember me, I'm Doug Landgraff. I was voted on to the Board two years ago. Last year you voted to place me in the position of Vice President, and due to Ron Moreau's resignation, I am currently your President by Board vote. Any organization has an organic aspect about it. It has a birth and grows through various phases to maturity. It is almost impossible to isolate the activities of the Board to a single period, without reference to that which has gone before or without reference to the growth of the organization. In the early stages of growth, the HWCN grew from a freenet to its present structure. In its early stages it required the same care as a seedling, with a lot of care and attention from its Board members. There was a lot of hands-on involvement on every front, with Board members playing a very active role in the day to day operation of the organization. Events had seen the growth of HWCN to a level of greater maturity such that the Board began to examine the issue of governance. By this I mean the way that the Board acts on your behalf to safeguard the good work of past Board members and to ensure the continuity of this organization, as well as to allow for a stronger positioning of the Community Net. When I came to the Board, a strong foundation already existed. It was thought that this could be improved by adopting a different model for the Board, known as the Carver Model, to allow for a more streamlined organization that would allow Val, to act upon opportunities that might present themselves in a more timely fashion. Bill Barnard and Nick Solntseff researched the Carver Model on behalf of the Board. The research suggested that a Board should concern itself with the business of setting policy, strategic planning and managing the actions of the Executive director, thus safeguarding the interests of members and other stakeholders of the organization. The Executive Director would be charged with day to day operations within the confines set by the Board. This was begun during Kit Darling's tenure, continued during Ron Moreau's term and will still be fine-tuned into the next term. Recently I read an article in Fast Company that suggested that business issues have changed and reached a different level of maturity, in the same way as our organization has. The article suggested that 100 years ago the place to be to become rich was in farming. Fifty years ago, manufacturing was where the action. Today, ideas are the driving force of commerce. The article suggested that the growth of ideas can be compared to the growth of a virus, being nurtured and strengthened by "sneezers" or "champions" until they reach critical mass. I believe I have seen the demonstration of the concept in our organization. Strategic planning, along with a member's survey initiated during Kit's term, identified a lack of community recognition of the HWCN along with a drop in membership. Membership issues were addressed with new membership offerings such as the Mini Graphics as well as faster connection allowed by making PRI lines operational. Another part of the strategic plan was to help community organizations develop the means to create an on-line presence, provide computer training and Internet skills, and to assist them in keeping pace with technological advances. Almost a year of writing, re-writing, research, budget development and refining, the "Community Services Networking Project" was submitted to The Ontario Trillium Foundation. Funding was granted for two years to assist not-for-profit organizations with Domain name hosting, which would help increase our services to the community and increase community awareness regarding the HWCN. Community Partnerships have continued to develop with other organizations. HWCN is a partner on The Total Project, ('Tools for Organizational Training, Analysis and Learning'.) and the Executive Director is on the steering committee. This is a project where funding has been provided in part by the Volunteer@ction.online program of the Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation with The Volunteer Centre, Hamilton & District, Community Information Services and Social Planning and Research Council. This project is designed to assist both staff and volunteers working in voluntary sector organizations to access the resources online they require to effectively manage their organizations. As is often the case, unanticipated opportunity combined with food planning allowed for unexpected good fortune. Given the freedom offered by the new model of governance, Val was able to act upon her recognition of an opening in a timely manner securing the Volnet Contract for HWCN. Primarily Val's quick thinking and hard work won the high visibility that this gives us. It puts us in a position of strength to enter the next year and I want to thank Val personally for her great effort. I don't want to steal the thunder from the presentations that will follow by our committee reports, but I think that the up trend that is showing in financial reports that will follow illustrate just how valuable things will be for us. The details will be forthcoming in that report. I think that Val will also present her unique vision of the recent past and the not too distant future. I think that it will be an exciting future. I promise that over the next term we will continue to develop the opportunities that have dome to us and will keep our eyes and minds open to others like this that may present themselves. 6.2 Information Committee The Information Committee maintains the HWCN homepage and its information menus: adding, deleting and updating links as necessary. We encourage community agencies and individuals to become new Information Providers, with Web sites hosted by the Community Net. We set up IP accounts and provide the technical support their "webmasters" require to prepare, post and maintain their sites on the HWCN. We maintain online help files targeted to IPs. We are continually investigating ways to make the CommunityNet more user-friendly for Information Providers while at the same time expanding the features we offer them. The result of these efforts can be seen in the steady increase in the number of HWCN IPs. In addition to our day-to-day tasks, a few special projects deserve mention: This year, the Committee planned and presented a well-attended and well-received workshop for Information Providers. The February 12th session included live demonstrations of various skills which IPs require to prepare, publish and maintain their Web sites. After the presentation, there was an opportunity for hands-on learning at the computers in the Training Room. Attendees were encouraged to bring to our attention any specific problems they were experiencing with their sites. All of the material prepared for the workshop was posted online and can be accessed at www.hwcn.org/link/workshop. One of this year's projects is to further develop this online material so that it becomes a comprehensive resource for present and future Information Providers. Given the success of the first workshop, the Information Committee is planning another one, which will take place sometime this Fall. After interminable thought, research and debate, the Information Committee finally agreed upon a new structure for the information menus on the HWCN. Designed to help users more quickly find the information they are looking for, the menus will be more logically organized, simpler, more consistent and easier to navigate. We are a couple of weeks away from "going live" with the new pages. We look forward to your comments on the new structure. Thanks to Charles Gregory's efforts, IPs and other Community Net members now have access to a "hit counter", available in several versions, and a "guest book" which they can easily incorporate into any of their web pages. Thanks, as usual, go to Pete Koning and the Technical Committee for implementing
many of our requests. Charles Gregory has continued to contribute an enormous
amount of time, energy and technical expertise to the tasks of the Committee.
Kit Darling has filled the position of "infoadmin" again this
year, working with new As always, we welcome new volunteers to share our tasks. We meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in Room 215 of the Central Library. Our next meeting takes place on September 26th. 6.3 Excutive Director's Report Thanks to the staff, Board and Volunteers. Special thanks to Linda Shoup, Todd Pffaf, Martin Renters and Dan Trottier. I would like to reflect for a moment to 1994 when volunteers in this community had a vision about a CommunityNet that would provide the people of Hamilton-Wentworth with affordable access and skills to utilize the Internet. With dedication and hard work, the dreams and aspirations of these volunteers has become a reality and we have grown into a viable and active organization in this community. And we are involved in numerous projects and partnerships in the community. Another important component of the vision that these volunteers had was to provide information about the community to the community. These forward-thinking volunteers realized that we could use the Internet as a tool to communicate with each other. The goal was to reach into the community neighbourhoods so that there was an exchange of information and experiences, and at the same time bringing global resources to our local communities. This year The Hamilton-Wentworth CommunityNet's further expand on these goals. In part with funding on two new projects, Trillium and VolNet that was presented earlier this evening. The CommunityNet will continue in the millennium to go forward to create a comprehensive online community where people can gain information and to create opportunities for interaction between us all. What we will achieve is to: Provide each agency with on-line identification, access and the technical support they will require to maintain and upkeep Internet service. Create a community model as to how technical and support resources can be applied and shared among agencies. Create jobs as both a direct employer and indirectly as agencies grow and seek out assistance in the management of their information. To ensure that service and support is affordable to the agencies on an ongoing basis. To help organizations develop standards of information and content for Web sites. Ensure genuine public access of community information for not-for-profit organizations and the public. To develop resources and training material for organizations. To expand the opportunities for volunteers to develop and up-grade their
skills in the There is a huge effort to make the Internet accessible in every library and community which means people are online and browsing. Since December we have had over half a million hits on our homepage, most of them from people in this community and approximately 107,000 from outside this area. Some are looking for our organizations, some our looking for help and information. By providing opportunities for organizations to get online and provide them with training we can show them how The Internet can help them realize how far they can reach. The future vision of The CommunityNet is to help people understand that the power of the Internet is not about technology itself. It's about rethinking what we do with our resources and how we can work effectively with the tools that are available to us. 7. Open Question Discussion Period George Geczy asks if our newsletter is getting out? Valerie Ramsay-Brown noted that a newsletter will be out soon. Nicholas Solntseff asks where do we stand as to other Businnesses? Valerie Ramsay-Brown explains our importants to the not-for-profit secter. Stating that we provide information about our Community for the Community. We provide free hosting for not-for-profit organizations in the Hamilton-Wentworth area. Linda Shoup asks if our membership has improved? Membership has increased in the last month and half with members coming back due to our upgrade to 56k. 8. Nominating Committe's Report and Election of Directors This year there is 1 position to fill on the Board of Directors. The Nominations Committee consists of Christine Swenor, Matt Kelly, and Cindy Williamson. Thanks goes to all those that expressed interest. The slate for the 1999-2000 Board of Directors nominations includes: - Margaret Van der Velde The above candidate was recommended by the Board. The following current Directors are eligible for re-election: - Doug Landgraff Ongoing - Terms of Office - Christine Swenor A MOTION WAS MOVED BY Steven Nagy and SECONDED BY Kit Darling TO ELECT THE MOTION WAS CARRIED with NONE AGAINST. 9. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. MOVED BY Kit Darling AND SECONDED BY Steven Nagy THAT THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED. THE MOTION CARRIED. |