ANNUAL MEETING
LEBANON PUBLIC LIBRARY MEETING ROOM
LEBANON, INDIANA 46052
The Annual Meeting was convened on 03/13/01 at 12:00. President John Wallace called the meeting to order and welcomed all to the proceedings. A guest from Western Boone High School, Educator Kathy Fox, was present in attendance once again this year.
Those attending: Jane Brandenburg, Terry McCain, Kathy Fox, John Wallace, Tom Garoffolo, Dave Truitt and Chad Martin. Rebecca Hull was going to try and be present.
A State of the Network Report was given by John Wallace, President
"Dear Colleagues,
Our Community Network is thriving. With the grant we received from the Lilly Endowment, we have upgraded our server hardware and software and provided resources to help more local non-profits get on-line and establish Web sites.
Purchasing computer equipment and providing ISP grant resources for the Tri-Area Library is a key event we can look to with pride. Because of the BCCN, this small library now has an Internet access hub for their community. Through the efforts of BCCN, all of our local libraries have an Internet presence.
Our Web site continues to be the best local on-line resource for and about Boone County and we do it all with volunteers. I want to recognize and say thank you to the BCCN members for all the hard work they have put in for our various projects and activities.
I want to recognize our system administrator, Terry McCain, and give her an extra-large thank you for all of the hard work she has put into BCCN and the Lilly grant project in particular. Her energy level is astonishing and plainly put... we wouldn’t be here without her. Great job Terry McCain!
2001 Goals to consider
• Gain more individual and corporate members
• Continue working to achieve our goals outlined in our Lilly grant
• Increase banner revenue. I would like to encourage members to spread the word about our Boone Business Links page
• Continue to look for grant opportunities
• Continue to develop the discussion board areas of our site
• Continue to offer Internet training for the public
BCCN is vital asset for our community. With hard work and continuing focus on developing quality, local community Internet content, BCCN continues to make vital connections for the greater Boone County area. "
Election of directors: Monte Bowman and Tom Garaffolo, are Directors up for Re-Election this year as Directors. Tom was present at the time this item was discussed and indicated he is willing to stay on in his capacity. Monte was unable to be present but was nominated anyway. Those members present voted in favor of the proposed slate of the two individuals named by President Wallace by acclamation. There were no contested races.
State of the Web / Lilly Grant Report: As presented by Terry McCain (See Handout with all of the vital statistics distributed for those present.) (Incorporated into the minutes as an Exhibit) Using our new digital projector equipment Terry reported on her presentation to BCCF and Lilly personnel. We now have two addresses: ibccn.org and bccn.boone.in.us We can point these in different directions to take advantage of both. One could be used for content. She told them about our initial organization and tax exempt status. We have been on line for five years now. We initially shared a presence with the Boone County REMC and then obtained our own server to establish our own presence. We are “Evangelists for the Internet”.
Another focus for us is Education and Information. She explained a little about our Board of Directors. The next topic she discussed was our goals given our grant receipt from Lilly. Goals: Expand content, Communications, and Involve youth, just to name a few.. Where are we now as an organization ? The new content for BCCN is @ 177.3 MB w/ 9240 files. We have a total of 41 new sites – w/i nine (9) of our goal. Increasing communication: Now have 14 mailing lists; 7 nonprofits have dial up access; a community discussion board is in place; an email directory; a total of 44,293 visits to the BCCN home page in 2000.
Kathy commented that one of the neatest things going is the email list established through the site. The posting of the discussion board around the time of the general elections may have impaired the development and use of this new tool. The email list has allowed many people to find long lost relatives and keep track of family. Lebanon and WEBO Home pages are very busy as well as the BCCN pages. From Florida many have requested more pictures and email postcards. Lots of festivals, events and meetings are now published on our site. Education sites, libraries and others are listed as well. Public access developments included the Tri-Area Library program and Internet Classes for Beginning and Intermediate levels. These classes are very popular and could be filled in twice more. Youth involvement has included all three (3) high schools in Boone – each have students who have worked on web sites for BCCN. We have established a presence at several festivals with booths and promotions with magnets, pencils, baskets for giveaways, etc.
We have quadrupled our capacity with the new server purchase. All kinds of local non-profit organizations have been added to the BCCN page by link. Terry shared the following warm and fuzzies: The BCCF has used our site extensively to help disseminate information about scholarships that were on line as a prime example. One of Kathy’s students was aware of the on-line reference forms available for this scholarship application that was in pdf format. The new APC Director has used the BCCN site to learn information about the area before coming here and to help with the set up of his office. One out of state person had a relative in need of radiation transportation. This person found the Red Cross link on our site that helped solve this problem.
There were 1,834,083 requests for information last year on our page.
The Annual Meeting is adjourned at approximately 12:45 p.m.
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The Monthly Board Meeting for March, 2001 is convened immediately thereafter.
A slate of officers was proposed with John as President, Terry as VP. Dave as Secretary. Chad Martin has agreed to join our merry band of outlaws as a representative of the Lebanon School corporation. John, Dave and Terry are willing to continue in their capacities. . The Officers were voted in by acclamation to serve for one more year. Tom moves, John seconds. Jane moves to nominate Rebecca Hull for Treasurer subject to her approval.
1.System Administrators Report: Each school corporation now has its own domain. Some of the email lists have been converted over to the Major Domo lists. There is to much SPAM out there now that could impair the delivery of the good stuff. Major Domo allows us to do much more and perhaps establish a two way list. $ 2115.66 was the amount paid for the Tri- Area Library computer that was previously authorized by the Board. WEBO has started on a new round of sites for composition and construction. Kathy still wants to do some of the new sites or some updating with some of the more advanced students.
2. Content: Several members of the group had been hallucinating ( Per Terry) and got the idea that a secure site could be established to accept donations by credit card. All of those organizations that do business with the Boone County Community Foundation could then do business in this manner as well. The cost is nominal. A portion of one of the grants could be set aside to offset the costs of such a proposal. You essentially are then “open” 24/7. The Foundation is pretty busy right now with Lilly Endowment and Terry is not sure what the time line is for approval of such an issue. Discussion on the T-1 line: Lebanon schools are moving from Ameritech to AT&T. The time line for this is uncertain. Chad Martin will have some headaches and so will we as a result of this change. John inquired if the cost of a T-1 line is still as high as it was ? The state is now using its power to negotiate better service and cost. Judge David would like to locate a site on our server. Zionsville Green space is a new addition also.
3. Treasurers Report: (Given John’s stellar financial prowess he reported in Carl’s absence that “We’re in good shape”. John related that Carl has mailed the invoices for dues for the coming year.
4. Other Stuff: Cheryl Walden has left the Library and they will need to replace this position on the BCCN Board. With the addition of Chad and the new library representative we will be back at full strength for the Board of Directors.
Meeting Adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
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Last updated: 10 April 2001/jjw.
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