Item 25. Notes from the October 26 Non-Board Meeting Mary Remmers (chelsea) Thu, Oct 27, 1994 (09:41). 118 lines, 3 responses. Here are notes from the meeting which was held at Zingerman's on Wednesday, October 26. Five Board members must be present for quorum and only 4 could make it this time around so no official business was conducted. Login IDs of those present (* denotes Board members): *rane *morel *srw *steve wh jep mta linda leann chip svaujin carl chelsea The meeting began at 7:20 p.m. 1. Treasurer's Report: The treasurer (danr) was not present. It was pointed out there is an item online detailing how we were very fortunate to have done so well at the JCC sale (thanks to all involved, especially Steve Saricca who mailed us a whole bunch of what sold). Total take for Grex was something like $1072, which is helpful as membership income was down this month. The general feeling was this was at least due in part to the recent instability of the hardware. 2. 501(c)3 Committee Report: Rane is working on this and has been in contact with someone else who is involved with a similar project for another non-profit group. The plan is for the two of them to work together sorting through the best way to proceed and possibly splitting the effort involved. 3. Computer Rehab Project: The first rehabed computer is very close to ready. It is an XT with printer, monitor and keyboard earmarked for a handicapped child known to a public health group in Pontiac. The machine will be loaned to the organization until the child no longer has a use for the machine. tsty has been working on the hardware. Rane has a need for legitimately owned DOS v4.x software to be donated to this project. If you have original disks stuck away somewhere that you'd like to give to the cause please let him know. 4. Publicity Committee: Misti commented that she will be getting involved with a rather large, time consuming project within the next few months and will not have a lot of time to donate to Grex publicity. She wondered if someone else might be found to chair the committee. The general feeling seemed to be publicity wasn't a concern at this time as new users are finding us without too much trouble. 5. JCC Sale: Grex did good. Real good. srw pointed out that sometimes it's tempting to skip a sale but that this last pointed out how our regular participation can be worth the time and effort as this month's finances were saved by the sale. The next one rolls around in a couple of months so no immediated plans were made on how it will proceed. 6. Technical Committee: My notes on this subject go on for about 2 pages, are difficult to read, and probably incomplete as I was eating a #18 Georgia Reuben at the time. But in reviewing them I realized most of what STeve discussed over about 30 minutes was already online in his summaries of both the disk/controller/hardware crash problem and the security breach item. He mentioned Grex has been gifted with numerous shrink-wrapped copies of Mac System 7 manuals which could be sold at a JCC sale. And the price of 486 motherboards continues to drop - he's watching with anticipation. Our first Supra modem has died (RIP). If there is anything STeve would like to include from these discussions I'd appreciate his additions. 7. Financial Planning: This discussion was deferred until next meeting so that the treasurer could be present and action taken on issues related to planning and taxes. 8. Dungeon Issues: Carl and STeve plan on getting over to the dungeon this Saturday. What remains to be done is electrical wiring, dry wall and vent installation, and painting. The estimate for moving runs between 3 weeks minimum to about 2 months at the outside. The phone installation will be scheduled only when the date of the move is quite firm. 9. Staff Membership Policy: This issue was deferred until next meeting so that John Remmers might be present; srw was concerned there were issues John had wanted discussed. Also, no action could be taken at this time due to lack of quorum. a. Grex Liability to Individuals: srw commented that this issue had been resolved at the previous meeting and would be dropped from the agenda. b. Ordering Mousepads: It was noted that over the past month there had been only one more person expressing interest in purchasing a Grex mousepad, bringing the total to 11 sold out of a minimum order of 30. Mousepads will not be ordered at this time. The issue may be revisited in the future if it becomes obvious more people are interested in purchasing one or if we find a vendor willing to print a smaller minimum order at a reasonable price. Thanks to all those who expressed an interest in ordering. c. Reimburse danr for a Rubber Stamp: This item was postponed until next meeting when official action could be taken. (I'd bet he gets his stamp. ;-) ) d. Verification for Usenet Use: An item asking for discussion of verification criteria will be entered and this item will be on the next Board agenda. STeve will find out what other large systems providing such service do to authenticate their users. Anyone interested in entering the item in Co-op for this discussion please feel free to do so. e. Ameritech Telephone Line Deal: Discussion centered on the what ifs of trying to take advantage of the free telephone installation offer for orders placed before November 19. The benefits of doing so would be a savings of $420 which would be paid off over time if we went with Centrex lines. The downside is that Centrex lines offer advantages over business lines, advantages worth the extra money. The feeling at the end of the discussion was that we'll proceed with plans to move to Centrex lines at the time Grex moves to the dungeon. f. New Business: STeve detailed how our lack of a good backup system makes a lot of what the staff has been doing to repair the system so much more difficult. He suggested it would be a good thing for Grex to consider purchasing a new 8mm tape drive which would allow for remote automatic backups on a daily basis. The estimated cost would be about $600 to $700 for new equipment. He'll enter an item for discussion. Discussion ended about 9:00 p.m. If there is anything I've forgotten please feel free to make corrections or additions.