Attached is a plain text file containing the minutes of the Board meeting.
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Tom
MINUTES OF THE BOARD of DIRECTORS, FREE GEEK MICHIANA, INC. I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was held on March 22, 2005, in the Fellowship Hall of the Salvation Army Church at 504 S. Carroll St. in South Bend, IN. The following directors were present: Thomas Brown, President Otto Schlatter, Treasurer Michael Cook, Secretary Terry Click Richard Zimmerman Edward Bosa (arrived late) The following directors were absent: Henry Davis Abe Washington Janie Rodrigues Volunteers present: Al Boits Tebra Mason John Mansfield Rick Tribble (part of the meeting) A quorum of the Directors was present so Mr. Brown called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Mr. Bosa arrived after the meeting started. Mr. Brown read the minutes of the last Board meeting. Mr. Zimmerman moved that the minutes be approved as read. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cook. The motion passed by acclimation. II. OFFICERS REPORTS Secretary Mr. Cook reported that the two primary mailing lists (frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and fgm-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) are running, and he believes everybody who has subscribed is receiving emails. He has received no complaints. The lists are open to the public, and people outside FGM occasionally post to the main list. The spam level has dropped off without our intervention. The ?core? list is maintained by Mr. Zimmerman at freegeekmichiana.org and has never received spam. Treasurer Mr. Schlatter reported no significant change in the FGM accounts. Mr. Cook asked for the status of theFGM 501(c)3 application. Thomas Brown answered that the application is stalled because he hasn't contacted the accountant. III. COMMITTEE REPORTS There were no standing or ad hoc committees to report. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Review 2005 Goals Mr. Brown summarized progress on the 2005 goals. 1. Obtain usable storage space ? FGM is using warehouse space donated by River Bend Hose Specialty, Inc. The warehouse is located in the Studebaker Development Center on W. Chippewa. 2. Upgrade the FreeLab ? We are drawing down the inventory in the lab room until it is empty. We are also moving inventory to the Chippewa warehouse a little at a time. Testing will be eventually occur at the warehouse and only tested boxes will come into the lab for refurbishing. Once the lab is empty, we can install a server and workstations. 3. Obtain 501(c)3 status ? The application is stalled. No one is actively working on the application. 4. Raise $25,000 ? FGM received a $5700 donation last year. No one is actively working on fund raising so fund raising is also stalled. V. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Brown read the items on the agenda and solicited new items. A. Upgrade FreeBox specs to Pentium-II class. Mr. Brown proposed that FGM increase the FreeBox specification to a Pentium-II class system with the minimum components to do what FreeBox graduates most often ask for. After discussion, Mr. Brown narrowed his proposal to the following specification. . 233 Mhz or better CPU . 64 MB memory . CDROM drive . sound card . collection of games already loaded . upgrade OS to Vector Linux 4.3 Mr. Schlatter seconded the proposal. The proposal passed by acclimation. Mr. Schlatter volunteered to talk to Henry Davis re contacting Chesapeake Recycling and Asset Forwarding re donations or purchases of components. Mr. Cook volunteered to finish testing his game collection on Vector Linux 4.3. Mr. Brown volunteered to help compile binaries and install them on a master file system using checkinstall and swaret. The new specification goes into effect after April 9. B. Update FGM budget and plan to spend United Way funds Mr. Brown urged the Board to authorize spending the 2004 United Way donation. Nobody objected to spending the United Way funds as soon as possible. After considerable discussion, the consensus was to outfit the FreeLab and purchase components for FreeBoxes. The vast majority of the funds would then go to support direct services to our clients and volunteers. The Board settled on a reasonable number of workstations in the new FreeLab and created a rough specification for the server. The Board also discussed purchasing other items for the classroom: tables, whiteboard, projector, etc. The Board decided by acclimation to allow directors and volunteers one week to obtain quotes for a server. C. Charge monitor disposal fee for FreeBoxes Mr. Brown estimated that FGM has an outstanding unfunded liability of $1500 for the FreeBoxes that we have distributed. He estimates that we may well distribute 300 or more FreeBoxes in the next 12 months which would create an unfunded liability of at least $4500. Mr. Cook proposed FGM charge a $5 advanced recycling fee for all FreeBoxes. Mr. Zimmerman seconded the proposal. The proposal passed 5 to 3. Mr. Brown proposed that the new fee start after April 9. There was no objection to beginning on April 9. D. Charge return deposit on FreeBoxes Mr. Brown expressed a concern that FreeBox recipients are not returning their FreeBoxes when they are done with them. He fears people are going to put them in the trash instead of returning the systems to FGM. Mr. Brown proposed that FGM institute a return deposit on FreeBoxes. After discussion, he amended the proposal to a $10 refundable deposit. The proposal passed 7 to 1. After April 16, FGM will charge a $10 return deposit on all FreeBoxes. E. Set a date to open the new FreeLab Mr. Brown proposed that the Board set a date to install and open the new FreeLab. Mr. Schlatter proposed emptying the lab room by May 1 and installing the equipment by the first Tuesday in May. The proposal passed by acclimation. F. Finish IRS 501(c)3 application Mr. Cook proposed that a committee, consisting of the officers, review the IRS application. Mr. Brown proposed that the officers review the application via email and hold a meeting on Tuesday, April 5, during lab to finalize a corrected draft application to return to the accountant. There were no objections to the officers completing the draft application. G. Contact previous FreeBox recipients about the new FreeBox specification and do a follow up survey Mr. Brown suggested that FGM contact previous FB recipients to inform them of the changes in FB specifications. Mr. Cook suggested that we also do a follow up study at the same time. Mr. Click volunteered to construct the follow up survey. There were no objections to constructing a survey and contacting FreeBox recipients. F. Report on ?Computers for All? Mr. Schlatter reported that Mr. & Mrs. Charles Green have established a nonprofit called Computers for All. Their mission is to take unwanted computer equipment and recycle it. Their labor force is mostly individuals referred by courts for community service. If they can help people along the way, that is good. The Greens also run a company call Elkhart Electronic Recycling Company. EERC is an beginning to end recycling company. They disassemble electronics for recycling. EERC has equipment on order. Currently, they sell components to other recyclers. EERC plans to have their own recycling equipment in place and operational in 90 days. EERC has 100 pallets of equipment which they have offered to FGM for reuse. They require FGM to pick up the equipment. John Mansfield offered to schedule pickups via General Sheet Metal Works trucks which are frequently in Elkhart. Mr. Cook offered to go to Elkhart to tour the EERC operation and talk to Mr. & Mrs. Green. Mr. Click suggested we ask EERC whether we can swap broken monitors for working monitors or give them the monitors for which we have no disposal funds. Mr. Zimmerman suggested that we approach EERC on buying recyclable equipment from FGM. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Cook proposed that the meeting adjourn, and Mr. Zimmerman seconded his proposal. The proposal passed by acclimation. Mr. Brown adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m. After the meeting adjourned Mr. Cook announced that he may be transferred to second shift. If this happens, he cannot attend Tuesday evening labs. Mr. Cook thinks he will be able to volunteer on Saturdays without difficulty. Previous second shifts have not lasted more than six months, and nothing may happen at all. Some Board members and volunteers stayed to prepare FreeBoxes for the weekend class.
