17 March 2005 Waynet Board Meeting Minutes

Waynet Executive Board Meeting
March 17, 2005

Present:

Randy Baker, President (Richmond Power & Light)
Jim Buckler, Secretary (WorkOne)
Gary Arndts (Marketing & Creative Services)
Rodger Smith (Richmond Community Schools)
Jodi Johnson (Western Wayne Schools)
Bill Pendley (Potter’s Wheel Bed & Breakfast)
Jane Holman, Executive Director, Ex Officio, (WayNet.org)

Call to Order
President Randy Baker called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM in the large conference room at Richmond Power & Light.

There was no quorum present. Therefore, no motions or voting took place. Minutes from the Board meeting of January 20, 2004 were reviewed. There were no additions or corrections at this time.

Old Business
There were no Fee-Waivers for review.

The financial balance sheet for 2005 through mid-March was reviewed. Two charts were presented showing “Accounts Receivable Aging Summary by Customer” and “Income by Customer Summary” for March. There was a delay in sending statements pending completion of the conversion to 501c3 status. Because of negative impact on income Jane has now sent statements due January and February.

A “bug” identified in the calendar program exposing Summersault to hackers became the impetus for moving several pieces of WayNet that were hosted by Summersault to AM Hosting. In addition to the Calendar, “E-post card”, “Quizzes” and “Talk of the Town” have been transferred to AM Hosting. A substitute for the "Question of the Week" has not been located yet. Having one web site host for WayNet was a beneficial result.

At the last board meeting the topic of Jane’s salary was discussed. Bill Pendley stated that this needed to be addressed, fearing that no action would delay a review of her salary even longer. There was a consensus among members present to prioritize this issue. President Randy Baker indicated he would address the salary issue.

New Business

Executive Director’s Report
Jane reported WECI was added as a member of gold sponsor Earlham College. An ad campaign continues in the Palladium-Item. Also ads were placed in the Chamber’s Annual Report and the City/County map. She spoke at the Wayne County Genealogical Society Meeting and hosted a table again at the IU East “Making IT Happen” Technology Fair.

Prior to sending out the publicity for the “Artists of Wayne County” some final corrections for the biographies of William Eydens, Sr. and Jr. needed to be competed as well as one more written permission for use.

There were several publishing issues encountered since the last meeting including the transfer of programs to AM Hosting. A better backup method for the web site was discovered and is now done on a weekly basis. Transferring of the email account to AM Hosting has resulted in less spam. Jane’s monitor is “flickering” which may indicate eventual failure of the monitor or sound card in the PC. Work continues on the new look for the home page. Cascading Style Sheets are being used as much as possible. There is a variation of appearance with different web browsers. Work continues in this area. Log analysis showed a steady rise in use since September 2004.

There were several interesting photos donated from Greens Fork Schools from the 1930’s and 40’s era. Plan is to create links from the home page and genealogy page. A press release would be created and announced on WayNet News. There was discussion about potential liability with names of children showing on the photos. Consensus was that this would be minimal and if objections were raised the photo/photos would be removed from the web site.

The delay in forming a new 501c3 corporation and transfer of assets has been at a standstill. Efforts to communicate with Tom have been unsuccessful. It was suggested that a letter be drafted and sent to him requesting a response by a certain date to determine status of this conversion. A personal visit by the President and Executive Director may be in order to expedite the matter.

There were no committee reports. Gary Arndts suggested considering a marketing idea on WayNet we might call “Q Country”. It consists of creating a coupon site on WayNet where sponsors could create coupons for their business. Consumers could download these coupons. This would also demonstrate to sponsors the volume of business traffic coming from WayNet. It would both provide a benefit for sponsors as well as create higher use of WayNet. Large businesses such as Meijer already have their own web sites with downloadable coupons. In these cases WayNet could link to their site. For smaller businesses a database within WayNet could be able to store logos and other business specific information. There are technical issues to explore, but all agreed it was an interesting concept.

Adjournment
As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:05 PM. The next regular board meeting will be May 19, 2005 at noon, with lunch at 11:30 at Richmond Power & Light.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Buckler
Secretary

Home