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HAL-PC Board of Directors

Approved minutes of the January 28, 2010 regular Board of Directors Meeting.
Any corrections, changes, additions to these minutes will be provided following approval of the minutes by the Board.

HOUSTON AREA LEAGUE OF PC USERS
MINUTES OF January 28, 2010
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Houston Area League of PC Users, Inc.
4543 Post Oak Place
Houston, Texas 77027

ATTENDEES (16):

Officers:
John Furby, President
Rick Archibald, First Vice President (SIGs)
(vacant) Vice President Programs
Robert Spotswood, Vice President Communications
Annette Story, Recording Secretary
(vacant) Membership Secretary
George Vaughn, Treasurer

Directors:
Chris Read, Executive Committee (absent)
Jim Ward, Executive Committee
Greg Brewer, Director
Kelly Brown, Director
Sibley Cooley, Director (absent)
T. Norman Crook, Director
Meredith Foster, Director
Robert Gunn, Director
Kojo Idrissa, Director
Michael J. Lempel, Director
Jerald Linsley, Director
Mary Ann Mitscherling, Director (absent)
John Molson, Director (absent)
Bernard Silverman, Director
Jim Story, Director
Russell Vesey, Director (absent)

2 HAL-PC members

I. The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM, John Furby presiding.

II. Motion to approve the minutes as corrected for the regular meeting held on December 17, 2009 was made by George Vaughn and seconded by Jim Story. The motion passed.

III.Reports:

President, John Furby

  1. John Furby reported that a meeting of the Public Information Network of the Houston Area was held today in SIG Rooms A and B. The presenters were a colonel and a sergeant major from Fort Hood. Attendees included the Mayor's office and City Services. The facility was rented.
  2. Inquiries about space were made by the Japanese Consulate and Japanese American Society of Houston. The possibility of space was mentioned to the Houston World Affairs Council.
  3. John reminded the Board that the General Meeting is this Saturday; start networking at 9:00a.m. Need volunteers for the meeting to do such things as taking sandwich orders, etc.
  4. Need volunteers in the evening around 6:00p.m. or 7:00p.m. to 9:00p.m. at the Front Desks, which are mostly empty. Volunteers would answer phone calls, answer questions with terminal help, and tell them the advantages of HAL-PC.
  5. John sent everyone a list of telephone numbers that HAL-PC has and asked the Board members to check about the use and validity of the numbers.
    6.After this session ends we will immediately begin the "closed" [Executive Session of the Board of Directors]. Minutes will be passed out. You will sign your name at the top of the minutes for identification.

First Vice-President, Rick Archibald

  1. Rick Archibald passed out stat sheet to everyone which included information from VP Communications and Membership Secretary. There were fewer SIG sign in sheets probably because there are only 1 part paper rather than double sheets.
  2. Rick stated that the Public Information Officers Network of Houston had attendees from as far away as Longview. The chief public information officers for Fort Hood were the presenters. The presentation concerned the November 5th shootings from the perspective of how you handle the press. How to get the information out and keep them happy. The presentations were good but not for the general public. The attendees were pleased with the facility so they may be back in a year. One good contact may use SIG B for training purposes.

    The organization wanted 118 chairs. SIG Room A holds 70 and B holds 48 chairs. Robert Gunn says SIG A holds 90 chairs when all are touching. One glitch in the equipment is the amplifier in A seems to be dead.

Vice-President Communication, Robert Spotswood

  1. Robert Spotswood stated that if we ever start publishing the magazine in print again, it is going to be a major problem because Beverly Rosenbaum has moved on. She was the leading person that did it. So, for now, the magazine is Web only. Robert has been talking with Meredith Foster, the Publisher, about some changes they would like to implement. It is just a matter of trying to get the infrastructure in place to implement it.
  2. Rick Archibald made a side observation that we miss having the public relations piece (The Alamo issue of HALPC Magazine.) HAL-PC needs some kind of handout at Headquarters.
  3. John Furby recognized George Walker who asked the question of whether the Board has thought about how HAL-PC is going to handle the election without a magazine?

No reports from Vice President Programs or Membership Secretary.

Treasurer, George Vaughn

  1. George Vaughn reported that there are no significant changes from the report he passed out at the last meeting. A cash flow forecast is being worked on. Through the end of this year and next year it still has an overall negative tint to it, which is not good but not alarming yet.
  2. HAL has $100,000 payables backlog beyond terms. We need volunteer help in accounting to help reconcile cash receipts and reconcile bank statements to the General Ledger entries.

Real Estate Committee Chair, Jim Ward

  1. Jim Ward stated that HAL-PC sent a letter to R. M. Crowe telling them that we could not meet their terms. We received a second letter from R. M. Crowe about our lease renegotiation documentations in which the only thing they changed was they extended the time from September 1 to December 31, 2010. Crowe wants to hold us to the whole lease and square footage. These are terms we can't meet. Gary Loh suggested we need a conference call. The letter writing is not doing us much good.
  2. Robert Gunn asked if Jim had done a survey of the building to see if the tenancy has gone down. A survey has not been done.
    3.George Vaughn was asked if the $100,000 included the building rent. The answer is no. Jim Ward stated that the letter he received said our deficit was $76,000 but that is not correct. Among other things, our payment of $7,000/month since September was not credited.

Colocation Committee Chair, Jim Ward

  1. Jim Ward stated that the Committee is still working on the migration plan and needs to finish the inventory (a couple of members have started in the server room). Jim said that a couple of guys from the Linux SIG have done migrations before. They will get started next week.

IV. New Business

  1. John Furby asked for a motion to accept the resignation of Fernando Bobbio who resigned by email. He was elected at the last meeting. Jim Story moved that we accept his resignation; it was seconded. There was no discussion and it passed unanimously.
  2. There was no motion to elect the Vice President Programs.
  3. Jim Ward made a motion that we have the Board Meeting on the 4th Thursday starting in February through October and the 3rd Thursday in November and December. Greg Brewer stated that he would like to see us not schedule a Board meeting [that takes place] after the next Board elections. John Furby stated there was a motion on the floor. The motion was seconded. In the discussion Robert Gunn said to add a time and he suggested we go back to 7:30p.m. Jim Ward amended his own motion to add 7:00p.m. Jim Story called the question to amend the motion that passed 12 to 1. The amended question was called by Jerald Linsley. The motion passed with 1 abstaining.

V. Old Business

1.There were no nominations for Membership Secretary.

VI. Robert Gunn moved to adjourn to the Executive Session. Motion was seconded by Greg Brewer. The meeting adjourned to an Executive Session at 7:30p.m.

Next regular Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for February 25, 2010.

Annette Story
HAL-PC Recording Secretary