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Grex > Coop13 > #36: Grex Board of Director’s Meeting 11/25/03 | |
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mooncat
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Grex Board of Director’s Meeting 11/25/03
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Nov 26 03:10 UTC 2003 |
Attending: Board members: Mary, Other, Mooncat, Gelinas, Aruba, Flem,
MDW (7:45)
Non-Board Members: Glenda
1. Opening Gavel: 7:00 pm
2. Treasurer s Report: In October we took in $707 and spent $432.
We switched from our Centrex contract on October 22nd. We were charged
the installation fee, which Aruba had been told several times we would
not be. Since then Aruba has faxed them regarding the installation fees
with the full name of one person he spoke to and the first name of
another. The fax was received and assigned to someone to review.
At this point we have 82 members, 77 are paid up.
In November we have taken in $303 and have spent $495.
3. Next Grex: since the last meeting there has been no progress.
The delay has been caused by the installation of the most recent
release of OpenBSD-, which apparently has some bug problems. A
question was raised regarding access to the machine, and if the Next
Grex were in the Pumpkin, and thus more easily accessible, would
progress go faster? No conclusion drawn.
4. Staff Report: Gelinas gave us a heads up that a particular user
was over current space limits, the user has been warned about the
problem but has not yet resolved it. So the account will be locked.
Also, it s about time for a re-boot.
5. Copyright Materials in User Directories: recently board and
staff were made aware of a subpoena from a lawyer from Best Buy
regarding information a user posted on the web regarding prices.
Fortunately these were last year s after Thanksgiving Day sale prices
and not the current year as the lawyer had thought. Aruba contacted the
lawyer and cleared up their misconception, so this particular issue was
resolved easily, however the larger point remains as to what steps
should the Board and Staff take should a situation like this arise
again. Discussion mostly centered on the need for additional legal
input- and where that legal advice could be found. In general a few
basic, broad guidelines to follow would be helpful as it would be
impossible to get a roadmap to follow for every possibility. In terms
of where, Other has volunteered to research this, checking with such
places as the NEW Center, EEF, M. Steinberg and Dave Cahill for
contacts/referrals.
6. Remote Access to Board Meetings: conversation boiled down to
this: Zingerman s has wireless computer access. This access is not open
to the general public but is available for special occasions, such as
Grex meetings. Mary will contacts Zingerman s to see how to go about
getting access. From there a plan will have to be worked out between
the remote board member and the rest of the board in terms of what
computer programs to use to allow voice interaction. Additionally, it
was discussed that there should be a back-up plan in case the board
member who is local who brings in the laptop is unavailable. The
easiest solution discussed was to carry out the board meetings via cell
phone with external speakers connected so that everyone could hear and
be heard. The actual workability of this will hopefully be tested at
the next Board meeting to be sure that it works before it becomes
necessary. Mary will research this portion as well.
7. Registering Grex s Trademark: i.e. the multi-color town hall
and the name Grex. The main questions the board had were simply to do
with cost and what benefits Grex would reap as a result. As no one
really had any clear knowledge on either- Gelinas has agreed to
research this.
7.5 Moving Domain Sites: last year we moved grex.org from
the evil Verisign to Dotster.
Aruba motioned: Move cyberspace.org from Verisgn to Dotster. Gelinas
seconded.
Ayes: 7, Nays: 0, Abstained: 0
8. Schedule Next Board Meeting: first date: Thursday December
18th, second: December 8th, or last ditch December 11th.
9. New Business: None
10. Closing Gavel: 8:30
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| 82 responses total. |
other
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response 1 of 82:
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Nov 26 03:19 UTC 2003 |
Excellent! ZingWAP info has been forwarded to Mary, and inquiries
regarding legal info and referrals have been sent.
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aruba
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response 2 of 82:
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Nov 26 03:22 UTC 2003 |
Wow, fast minutes. Thanks Anne!
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naftee
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response 3 of 82:
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Nov 26 03:58 UTC 2003 |
GREAT MEETING, KIDS"
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gull
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response 4 of 82:
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Nov 26 14:33 UTC 2003 |
It's always amazed me that businesses can copyright prices. I know
someone who got chased out of a store because he was trying to write
down prices so he could compare them to another store's.
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mary
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response 5 of 82:
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Nov 26 17:59 UTC 2003 |
Anne does great minutes. ;-)
The next board meeting will be on Thursday, December 18th,
at 7:00 p.m. The kid's room is reserved.
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other
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response 6 of 82:
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Nov 26 18:16 UTC 2003 |
#4: How long did that store remain in business? Or how long did
the employee that did that remain in employ there? That's just
idiotically bad business practice.
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mynxcat
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response 7 of 82:
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Nov 26 19:33 UTC 2003 |
I'm curious as to who is going to pick up the cell phone expenses for
the incoming call, if there is a remote member. (Of course, if it's
one of those plans that doesn't cound incoming minutes, or if the
meeting is during the free time - are there any out there? - this
point is moot). I understand the remote member would have to pay for
the cost of the call, and that is understandable.
Also, if there is more than one remote member, how will they all call
in? I'm assuming conferencing them in. Again conferences are limited
in how many people you can conference at once. Again not something we
would be concerned about at this point, but still.
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albaugh
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response 8 of 82:
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Nov 26 19:49 UTC 2003 |
> The kid's room is reserved.
I had heard that it was actually quite raucous... ;-)
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mary
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response 9 of 82:
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Nov 26 20:16 UTC 2003 |
Cute. Now go clean your room. ;-)
Re: #7 Those are all good questions. After we find
out more about Zing's connection and what's available
in terms of speaker phones connected to cell phones,
we should be able to have some answers.
Does anyone know if an *incoming* call, from, say Japan,
in included as expected usual minutes on most nationwide cell
phone plans?
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bhelliom
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response 10 of 82:
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Nov 26 20:17 UTC 2003 |
As these are voluntary positions, I can understand if the individual
that is the remote member ends up paying for the expences. there has to
be a certain level of financial responsibility, and that means that the
board member, should they be connecting up by remote, do what is best
for the organization. It is possible, also, that the board member could
use this as a deduction of sorts, as the donation of funds--paying for
the phone call--goes along with the donation of time. Just my opinion,
anyway.
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mynxcat
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response 11 of 82:
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Nov 26 21:14 UTC 2003 |
That could be a viable solution but not one that needs to be relied
on. If remote members are allowed to join the board, they should be
able to prticipate in meetings. And relying on a person's charity to
do so isn't the way to go. Especially since the person who is willing
to donate cell-phone time isn't always going to be on board. Either
this can be considered an expense from the organization (Grex), where
Grex gets a cell-phone for this purpose, or it would be better if a
non-costing solution was found.
To answer mary's question, incoming calls from overseas are treated as
all other incoming calls. The minutes are charged the same way as any
other national calls. I get calls from India all the time, and the
incoming minutes are not charged any differently.
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other
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response 12 of 82:
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Nov 26 21:48 UTC 2003 |
Expenses incurred in the provision of volunteer service to a 501(c)3
organization are tax deductible. This would definitely cover
cellular charges specific to a board meeting conference/ld call.
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aruba
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response 13 of 82:
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Nov 27 06:33 UTC 2003 |
I think Grex should be prepared to pay for a call that a board member makes
in order to participate in a board meeting. I also think it would be
great if someone donated that.
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other
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response 14 of 82:
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Nov 27 07:01 UTC 2003 |
And better yet if someone was already paying for a service plan
which made it cost nothing extra to do. ;)
But I agree that Grex should be prepared to pay that cost. However,
that potentiality may bias the election against remote board
members. :(
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jp2
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response 15 of 82:
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Nov 27 13:14 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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i
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response 16 of 82:
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Nov 27 13:37 UTC 2003 |
Trademarks:
From brief research a couple years ago, my recollection is that a U.S.
Trademark winds up costing quite a bit - on the order of $4K. But a
Michigan Trademark is cheap - on the order of $40.
Either one gives you a dug-in prime location in the corresponding legal
battlefield - which is NOT immunity from a big/expensive army of enemy
lawyers (especially if you can't afford much legal muscle yourself), but
*usually* makes you secure 'cause it's cheaper for them to avoid a fight.
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keesan
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response 17 of 82:
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Nov 27 15:06 UTC 2003 |
Should there be a limit of one remote board member if there will be only one
phone line?
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aruba
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response 18 of 82:
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Nov 27 16:18 UTC 2003 |
Sindi - if ther's more than one, I'm sure we can find a way to deal with it,
through a conference call.
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jp2
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response 19 of 82:
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Nov 27 16:23 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 20 of 82:
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Nov 27 23:13 UTC 2003 |
How do conference calls work? If two remote members phone can they hear each
other?
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gelinas
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response 21 of 82:
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Nov 28 00:50 UTC 2003 |
Yes, they can, Sindi.
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scg
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response 22 of 82:
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Dec 1 01:03 UTC 2003 |
My limited understanding of trademark law is that registration just makes use
of the trademark easier to document. Given that Grex has been using its
trademarks very publicly for quite a while, simply declaring them to be
trademarks (and putting "TM" after the trademarks when written) should be just
as good.
Neither registration or a "common law trademark" means anything if it's not
enforced. The important legal step to maintaining a trademark is to
consistently have a lawyer send "cease and desist" letters to anybody who
infringes on the trademark, and to back those letters up with lawsuits if they
aren't complied with.
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richard
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response 23 of 82:
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Dec 1 05:41 UTC 2003 |
could a non-local board member simply arrange to be logged into grex on a
private party channel? Then whoever has the laptop can be responsible for
keeping the logged in user appraised of the dicussion, and to note the
non-local user's vote. Since the party transcripts are logged anyway, it
shouldn't matter much so long as someone reads the user's comments tha the/she
is typing to the rest of the room...
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other
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response 24 of 82:
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Dec 1 07:07 UTC 2003 |
The by-laws require voice participation.
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