The meeting was called to order at 7:07pm by the DACS President, Jim Scheef.
In attendance were Board members Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Bert Goff, David Green, and Jim Scheef (President). Andy Woodruff was not present. Also present was Dave Mawdsley. The minutes were taken by Richard Teasdale.
(Names in italics denote responsibilities for actions.)
- The Minutes of the 3/13/2018 Board Meeting were accepted.
Reports
- Treasurer’s Report:
- The March Treasurer’s report was not complete at the time of the meeting. Bert indicated that it would be ready by early next week. The major expenses during the month were fees for renewal of web hosting and the SSL certificate. Repayments of unused members’ dues will begin during the second half of April. To assist with this, Jim will provide an export of member expiration dates from CiviCRM.
- The Membership Report was provided by Jim.
- 69 paid-up members and 20 in-grace, for a total of 89. An estimated 40 people attended the April general meeting.
- The lack of a need for continued registration at general meetings was discussed. It was agreed that, with the exception of taking headcounts, registrations should be discontinued.
- It was agreed that the weekly e-mail should include a link to Meetup but should not refer to the newsletter.
- Press Coverage Report:
- David reported that the Press Release for the April general meeting went out as usual.
- The composition and timing of press releases were discussed. Dick agreed to assist Dave with composition.
- Dick recommended that the “mass mailing” appearance of the page footers on cover letters that go to press release recipients be changed.
- Webmaster’s Report:
- Richard reported that the Join/Renew page on the website has been replaced with a link to the Meetup page. Also, all newsletter pdf’s stored on the site are now immediately accessible; the 3-month waiting time has been eliminated.
Old Business
- Programs:
- April: The timing of the break was discussed and it was agreed that a break some time during the presentation, rather than at the end, is best.
- May: John Patrick will speak about Home Automation. Dick will add missing contacts to CiviCRM in order to maximize press coverage of the event. Bert reported that this year, John will donate only a limited number of free copies of his book on the meeting topic. The Board agreed to raffle off at least some of the books at the meeting; Dave will issue tickets at the door.
- Preview: Bert.
- Review: Andy.
- Bert will provide snacks, and Richard T will provide beverages.
- June: Brian Jackson will speak on the subject of Net Neutrality.
- Dave reported that he has spoken to the Hospital administrators and we are approved to use the Robilotti room.
- Preview: Richard.
- Review: Jim.
- July: The concept of an intelligent assistants shoot-out or “shout down” was discussed. 3 assistants would be targeted for the competition: Alexa, Siri, and the Google Assistant. Since people familiar with each one would need to participate, Jim will send invitations to the DACS membership list, and ask Mike Kaltschnee to do similar at the Hackerspace.
- Cleanup of the Resource Center (RC):
- Ideas for disposal of various DACS computing assets were discussed.
- Jim will check with Mike Kaltschnee whether there is an interest in continuing to use the RC.
New Business
- Dissolution of the DACS Corporation:
- Jim intends to contact the CT Secretary of State for guidance about dissolving the corporation.
- A plan for shutdown of CiviCRM is needed.
- Jim has removed some of the DACS forwarding e-mail addresses; others remain to be removed.
- Richard will remove the Google Voice phone number from the website. Richard T will contact Allan Ostergren to remove it from the newsletter.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 pm.