SUN
CITY
COMPUTER CLUB
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
January
4, 2007, 9:00 aM
CyberCenter Meeting Room
The Meeting was called to order at 9:00 A.M. by Dick Doane,
President
.
Present
:
Dick Doane,
President
Don Snapp, CyberCenter Director
Gael Miller, Vice
President
Peggy Uselton, Membership Director
Linda Shanhouse,
Treasurer
Nelda McQuary, Special Interest Groups Director
Linda Walke,
Secretary
Grady Manley, Training Director
Bill Buppert, Communications Director
Dick Smith, Past
President
Peter Roll, Founder
Absent
Jim Crutcher, Programs Director
Guests
Dave Hanna, Past Communications Director
Rex Davenport, Past Program Director
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Dick Smith on December 20, 2006 to accept by
e-vote and publish on the Computer Club web site the revised minutes of the December 7, 2006 Board
Meeting. The motion was seconded and passed by e-vote.
Financial Report
Linda Shanhouse presented the December, 2006 Financial Report. A
motion was made by Gael Miller and seconded by Peggy Uselton to accept the report. The motion
passed. The Financial Report will be filed for audit.
Items of note: Software Purchases - MS Partner Program
$323.67; Material for Monitor Vests - $46.20; Dues paid in 2006 were carried over to 2007.
DISCUSSION OF DIRECTORS’ REPORTS RECEIVED BY E-MAIL
Communications - Dave Hanna (Bill Buppert
)
On-line Election of 2007 Officials -
Electronic voting was conducted during the period from 8 AM,
December 1 through 12 Midnight, December 21, 2006. The number of valid ballots received was 372,
representing 16% of our 2307 members. In the only contested race for Secretary, 356 votes were
received. Linda Walke received 196 votes and Carolyn McAndrew received 160 votes. For the
uncontested positions, the votes received for each position ranged from 359 to 364.
The election results were ruled valid by the appointed Election Judges, Gene Uselton and Dave
Hanna. Linda Walke has been elected Secretary and other nominees were approved by a substantial
majority.
Transfer of Webmaster Duties - As I reported at the December Board meeting,
Meredith Mitchell is now doing all of the Club Web site maintenance except for the Election process
that I handled. He is assisted by Gene Uselton who is maintaining the Web pages for several
of the SIGs and by Marlene Sloan, Shirley Polich, Peter Roll, Gael Miller and Jan Miller who each
maintain a section of the site. I will continue to be responsible for the Media Conversion SIG Web
pages and for the Genealogy SIG Web pages.
Mailing List Administration - At the present time Mailing List responsibility is
split between Meredith Mitchell and Gene Uselton. Meredith handles the administration of our two
Group lists, the ExecBoard list and the QandA list. Meredith also handles the setting up and
deletion of all Mailman mailing lists while Gene Uselton takes care of the maintenance of all
existing Mailman lists. Gene's duties include adding and deleting members to the lists as well as
updating email addresses.
Weekly Update Newsletter - Gene Uselton has agreed to continue to serve as
the editor and distributor of the Weekly Update newsletter. This effort includes maintaining an up
to date list of all member's e-mail addresses.
Future Direction - The duties described above were established to provide
continuity as the Club studies the introduction of a second generation Web site under a new
Communications Director, Bill Buppert. Thanks very much to Meredith Mitchell and to Gene Uselton
for agreeing to take on these duties.
Since the report was written, Gene Uselton has asked for his
responsibilities to be cut back. He has agreed to help train and advise when someone has been
found to replace him.
There will be a January 16
th meeting of the Communications Committee to draft a recommendation for the Second
Generation Website protocol. The recommendation will be presented to the Board at the work
session on February 1.
CyberCenter – Don Snapp
There will be a "New Homeowner Orientation" on January 17th.
We need to get there early (a little before 8am) to get a good table. With the wireless
service in the Ballroom, we can select any place we want rather than being close to an ether-net
receptacle. Gael Miller and Bill Buppert have volunteered to help with this function which
will last till around 10:30.
Luncheon Ticket sales have been slow. Only 244 tickets have
been sold through Wednesday afternoon. We need a LARGE TYPE notice in the Weekly Update that
sales will end as of 2:00 pm on Monday, the 8th, so we can turn in the count to
Sodexho.
The annual 'Lab Member Usage Report for 2006' shows there were
1987 members who used the lab during the year. The report was 20 pages long. I
printed out the first 4 pages (those with 3 or more visits) and made a couple of copies for
the Board's information.
Membership - Peggy Uselton
The number of club members as of December 31,
2006 2,353
The number of new members who joined in December, 2006
73
The total number of new members who have joined in
2006
724
We ended the year with
116.8% of 2005’s
membership.
The number of members current for 2007
799
Some interesting numbers:
391 Former members did not renew their membership after
12/31/2005.
354 Members remain with Cox email addresses.
54 Members, who are current for 2007, still have a Cox
address.
It has been the custom to keep un-renewed members in the Member List
that is sent to the board and to continue to send them the Weekly Update for the month of
January. After the first of February, after due warning, we will send the Weekly Update only
to current members.
The next
New Member Reception will be in the Atrium, from 10:00 am – 11:30 am. January
30. Rex will be the MC, and the program will be similar to the last Reception. Bill
will take over from Dave to point out features of the web page, and I have asked Dick D. to take
over from Dick S. to give the pitch for volunteers and to close the program. A tour of the
Lab will be done after refreshments. All Board members are encouraged to attend.
Programs - Rex Davenport (Jim Crutcher)
January 1:
Holiday
January 8: Beg SIG -- Tips
on e-mailing (Yvonne Davenport)
January 15: Annual business
meeting
January 22: Tax Program (Jim
Chapman)
January 29:
CyberSocial
February 5: Genealogy (Sylvia Nimmo)
(will use her laptop)
February 12: Astronomy via Your Computer (Bob
Kissner)
February 19: How Did You Do That?
(John Bosch)
February 26: Quicken (Jim Chapman)
March 5: “Advanced
Googling” (Ruth Lehman)
March 12: Demo -- Vista OS
(Steve Belt, VP Dell Computers)
The March 12
th presentation by Steve Belt will probably have more emphasis on the laptop as such and
what consumers can expect of laptops in the future.
The Program Committee met on December 12. The committee
accepted the resignation of Charlie Melton with regret and expressed appreciation for his five
years of service on the committee.
New Program Director Jim Crutcher has said the committee will continue to meet on the second
Tuesday of each month at 4 PM.
Special Interest Groups – Nelda McQuary
I am very happy to report the solution to obtaining an accurate
report of attendance to each SIG even though some meet outside the Cyber Center. Below is the
final decision after several months of discussion:
Don Snapp, Dick Doane, Gael Miller and Dick
Smith met in December to discuss the use of a computer to record SIG attendance for meetings not
being conducted in the Meeting Room. There is value to the Computer club to have the attendance
figures for each SIG meeting. It is certainly disappointing that the SIG leaders don't jump at the
opportunity of helping collect the numbers. Earlier in 2006 when we reviewed the SCTXCC request for
additional facilities for the additional 2500 homes, the club was complemented for how much
information we had available to justify our requests. Other clubs had nothing but guesses.
During our discussion two items stood out:
1. No SIG leader would probably want to have to drag another
computer to the Atrium or one of the classrooms just to capture attendance.
2. No board member wanted to have the responsibility of maintaining
a computer housed outside the CyberCenter. Too many problems can arise.
As a result of this meeting, it was decided that each SIG, not
meeting in the MR, would be requested to provide, to Nelda, a paper sign-in sheet listing the
members who had attended the particular SIG meeting. Don Snapp agreed to put a form together which
could be used by each SIG. The returned sheets will have the data entered into the system just as
if the members had signed in at the CyberCenter computer.
The location of the forms to be picked up by the SIG leaders is to
be determined. To help direct SIG attendees, signs will be posted prior to the meetings,
directing them to the correct meeting area.
Total attendance
to all SIG’s in December was 88 with only 5 of the 13 SIG’s meeting
because of the holidays. My attendance records show 2414 total attendance for 2006 – we must
remember that some SIG’s do not meet during the summer months and others cancel their meetings when
in conflict with a holiday. In addition some SIG’s never reported any attendance; but we feel
this will change during 2007 with the implementation of the procedures outlined
above.
Training - Grady Manley
Due to the holidays and the restructuring of several of our classes,
there were only 4 classes in December.
Genealogy in the Computer Age 4
Greeting
Cards
2
Quicken
Advanced
9
Scanning
4
Total
Enrolled
19
The new Basic Skills classes are complete and on the calendar.
5 of these classes begin in January: Computer Intro, Windows 1, Healthy Computer, E-Mail 1,
and Internet 1. The other new classes will begin in February.
We welcome 3 new teachers: Jan Miller (Healthy Computer), Pat
Hillcoat (Computer Intro and Windows 1 substitute) and Dick Garlick (Photoshop 1).
Grady will be away from Jan 25 until March 6, but will be available
and in touch by e-mail. Currently there is no Training Director Assistant to act as a back up
while he is gone.
Whether to provide to class teachers a laptop with software
duplicating the classroom software was discussed in detail. The logistics of preparing and
providing a laptop created more problems than it might solve. It was determined that Quicken
was the software program with the most frequent changes; thus the biggest problem. A motion
to provide the Quicken software used in the classroom to the Quicken class teacher was made by
Grady Manley and seconded by Gael Miller. The motion carried. The cost of the software
was estimated to be about $75.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Second Generation Website – The committee, headed by Bill Buppert plans to meet on
January 16 and 18.
MS Partner Program – Peter Roll reported the decision to install Vista on two
computers in the Lab for member access. He would like to enroll each of the board members as
Associates in the in the MS Partner Program to allow them to become familiar with changes in the OS
programs. With the exception of Linda Walke who opted out of this program all present wanted
to be included. The opportunity to be an Associate will be extended to the Mentors.
Financial Audit – Dick Smith said the status of the audit is pending at this
time. He expects to have more to report at the next meeting.
SPECIAL COMMITTEES
Recognition of Most Valuable Persons -
Dick Doane appointed Gael Miller as chair of a Recognition Committee
made up of Charlie Melton, Darrylin Coleman, Bill Buppert, the Past Presidents of the Computer Club
and himself to work on a proposal to be considered by the Board to honor those who have made
significant contributions of their talent and time.
SPECIAL ORDERS & UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Election Results – Dave Hanna was asked to post the results of the election for
members’ notification.
Monitor Vests – Nancy DeVries has completed new vests for the Lab Monitor
use. Peggy made a motion to direct Linda Walke to write a letter of appreciation to Nancy for
this project. Peter seconded the motion and it was carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Annual Planning Meeting – The meeting combined with the monthly Board Meeting will
be held on February 1 at Comfort Suites on IH-35 Frontage Rd. The meeting will begin at
9AM. Dave requested suggestion for the working agenda. Some topics are: the
implementation of the Second Generation Website; future direction of the CyberCenter; reevaluation
of the communication tools of the Club (Weekly Update, Website).
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Annual Business Meeting
– Board members are asked to arrive by 11:15AM on January 15
th to help take tickets at the many doors to the ballroom. The Board members will
sit at tables throughout the ballroom to get better acquainted with our members. One reserved
table has been requested for the Past Presidents and their spouses. This is the official 10
year anniversary of the Computer Club.
New Member Reception – Board members are asked to attend the reception in the
Atrium on January 30
th at 10AM.
Picture ID – The Computer Club President is requesting Board members be identified
with photos, phone numbers and email addresses for the purpose of designing the second generation
web site for the Computer club. We will be using Peter Roll's suggestion of using the CC
email address for this purpose; insulating the board from direct public exposure.
CyberSocial – The next CyberSocial is scheduled for January 30
th. The attendance of the last Cybersocial was unusually low. There were
comments from some attendees that the program was too short. Rex suggested that the room be
set up with round tables and the various Board members scatter themselves at different
tables. The objective is to stimulate conversations and questions from members and make Board
members known.
Georgetown
Housing Authority – Gael Miller and Bill Buppert will help Peter Roll with a visit
the Housing Authority location to answer question about computer use and assist those at the
Housing Authority in improving computer skills. This is a one time community outreach
project.
The next Executive Board Meeting will be at 9:00AM Thursday February
1, 2007 at the Comfort Suites Meeting Room.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10AM .
Linda Walke
Secretary