Agenda for the 10/25/95 Grex Board of Directors Meeting

Oct 20 04:14 UTC 1995

Here's the tentative agenda for the 10/25/95 Grex Board of Directors Meeting.
Please yell if there are items on the list you want added/changed/deleted.
I think I've missed an item or two that have been suggested recently --
something about the newsletter maybe?

a. Initial Gavel Banging - popcorn                             < 1 minute
b. Treasurer's Report - danr                                    5 minutes
c. 501(c)3 Committee Report - rcurl                             5 minutes
d. Computer Rehabilitation Committee Report - rcurl             5 minutes
e. Publicity Committee Report - misti                           5 minutes
f. Technical Committee Report - STeve                          20 minutes
g. Verification Policy - remmers                               20 minutes
h. Newsletter Report - rcurl                                    5 minutes
i. Grex Manual - danr                                           5 minutes
j. JCC Sale - ?                                                 5 minutes
k. New Business - all                                           Who Knows?
l. Final Gavel Banging - popcorn                               < 1 minute


The board meeting will be on Wednesday October 25 at 7pm, probably at
ITI, but that's not yet confirmed.  The public is welcome.

response 2 of 47:

Oct 20 05:50 UTC 1995

I will not be able to attend this meeting (I'll be at a symposium in
Indiana). I do not have anything new and startling to report with
respect to items c. and d., and will defer to the editors (i.e., mta)
to report on the newsletter. My one request is that the board a) decides
how many paper copies of the first newsletter to have printed above
the number requested to be mailed to them by members, and b) that a budget
adequate to the needs of the newsletter be adopted.

response 4 of 47:

Oct 20 12:56 UTC 1995

What is there still do on verification policy (g)? We adopted
one last time. Get a volunteer, perhaps?

response 6 of 47:

Oct 20 15:47 UTC 1995

(janc studies the numbering of the agenda items and scratches his head.  What
 is he missing?)

response 8 of 47:

Oct 20 19:35 UTC 1995

Yes, Jan, the *numbering* is very unusual. 

response 10 of 47:

Oct 21 05:01 UTC 1995

Hey, there's an idea for next month's agenda numbering scheme:
x, x+1, x+2, and so on.

response 12 of 47:

Oct 21 12:14 UTC 1995

Let's see.  If I go get my ASCII chart maybe I can figure out the
pattern ...

response 14 of 47:

Oct 22 15:56 UTC 1995

   Why should it be done at a board meeting?

   I would think that a board meeting would be the last place most
of the people who are in favor of retiring ID's would want to talk
about it.

   Several of the board members have stated that this is silly.
*I* think its silly, but am willing to do this since there are
people who are genuinely upset by this.  But by forcing it upon
the board, they might make a unpopular decision.

   The Grex that works best is usually the Grex that works in a
consensus mode.  Talking about it in coop seems a much better
way to come to a final decision to me, rather than foisting it
off on the board.

response 16 of 47:

Oct 24 15:11 UTC 1995

I've just now received confirmation of ITI as our location.
Note that this time we'll be meeting in the "Board Room" (wherever
that is) and not the cafeteria.

response 18 of 47:

Oct 25 18:20 UTC 1995

        Well, dave, with that attitude, why ask for adjustment suggestions
for the agenda?

response 20 of 47:

Oct 25 21:48 UTC 1995

Nope, TS stopped fixing Rehab hardware, and I started helping.

response 22 of 47:

Oct 26 17:15 UTC 1995

Well, that's what happens when you get a board and staff full
of techie nerd types. :) Actually, I think that the people who
indulge in the long technical tangents need to learn to do a
better job of stopping themselves.

While we're on the subject of board meeting conduct, I have some
concerns about how we've been handling the "New Business" item.
At last night's meeting, no less than four items were introduced
as new business, accompanied by a request for immediate action.
Three of them *were* acted on, the fourth tabled when I objected
to the procedure.
  The purpose of "new business" ought to be to bring new matters
to the board's attention, but *NOT* to settle the matters at the
very same meeting. That practice undercuts the purpose of having
published agendas and public meetings, as it means that issues
can be brought up and decided without any advance notice either
to board members or to interested members of the public who might
want to attend if they know particular issues will come up.
  In the case of last night's meeting, three of the four items
were minor requests from the technical committee for authoriza-
tion to purchase equipment replacements or incremental upgrades.
I actually thought they were all reasonable requests and that
it was reasonable to act on them at the same meeting, but they
aren't really new business. Except for the big ticket items,
equipment replacement and purchases of things that helps the
tech. staff get its work done are *continuing* business.
Procedurally, I think those requests would be better made as
part of the Technical Committee Report, a standing agenda item.

response 24 of 47:

Oct 27 07:03 UTC 1995

Umm. It seems to me that John explicitly said that he *wouldn't* mind
for staff technical things, because he doesn't think of them as new
business in the first place.