The meeting was called to order at 7:04pm by the DACS President, David Green.
In attendance were Board members Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Bert Goff, David Green (President), and Andy Woodruff. Also present were Charlie Bovaird, Sean Henderson, Mike Kaltschnee, and Jim Scheef. The minutes were taken by Richard Teasdale.
(Names in italics denote responsibilities for actions.)
- The Minutes of the 12/6/2017 Board Meeting were accepted.
- The Minutes of the 1/3/2018 Board Meeting were accepted.
Reports
- Treasurer’s Report:
- Bert presented the December and January Treasurer’s reports. January 2018 was a fairly routine month. He also provided a summary of year 2017 against recent years. For the full year of 2017, the important thing to notice was that DACS ran a loss of $264.65 for the year. This was an erosion from the 2016 loss of $116.94 and 2015 loss of $94.12., but should not be seen as a major issue since the year end balance was $3,263.13. The member obligation to repay prorated dues stands at $1,412.88, so DACS remains solidly solvent.
- The Membership Report was received from Jim Scheef.
- 89 paid-up members (including 4 new), and 8 in-grace, for a total of 97.
- Press Coverage Report:
- David reported that the Press Release was distributed to the CiviCRM recipients, as usual. The press release was sent from CiviCRM by Jim Scheef, after David experienced error message(s) from the software.
- Dick reported that the Virtual Density contacts have not yet been added to CiviCRM.
- Webmaster’s Report:
- Richard reported that some (unsuccessful) hacking attempts on the DACS website were logged.
Options for the future of DACS
- The discussion of this topic begun at the previous Board meeting was continued.
- Andy outlined four options for DACS:
- Find a new President
- Merge with a similar group
- Shut down the Board and some other operations, and become a Meetup
- Do a complete shutdown of all operations
- Andy reported that he has discussed the pros and cons of these options with various people inside and outside DACS, and he summarized their opinions for the Board.
- The consensus of the Board was that the Meetup option is the only one that provides a practical way for DACS to continue serving the community. The immediate problem is lack of a President but, in the long-term, the continuing decline in membership indicates that the organization’s purpose and operating mode have to evolve.
- Mike Kaltschnee spoke about his experiences with DACS and his desire to see the group survive in some shape or form. He went on to describe in some detail how the Meetup option could work under the auspices of the Hackerspace. Mike outlined, in confidence, some of his plans for the Hackerspace, and explained that a DACS Meetup could be an asset to it.
- The Board discussed various aspects of the Meetup option, including legal and organizational issues, with Mike. No significant problems were anticipated.
- After further debate, a motion was proposed by Andy: “that we take planning steps toward dissolving the corporation and transferring our assets to the Danbury Hackerspace.” The motion was seconded, voted on, and approved unanimously.
- Andy volunteered to announce the Board’s decision to the February 6 General Meeting. He will work out details of what to say and communicate those to the Board in advance.
Old Business
- Programs:
- February: Brian Jackson, one of the co-founders of Danbury.io, will speak on the subject of Net Neutrality.
- Preview: Richard (Corzo).
- Review: Richard Teasdale.
- March: Sean Henderson volunteered to present about Microsoft’s data visualization software, Power BI (assuming he has no calendar conflicts).
- Preview: Andy.
- May: John Patrick will speak about Home Automation.
- Renovation of the Resource Center (RC):
- Discussion about Renovation of the Resource Center was deferred.
New Business
- Snacks for General Meetings:
- Bert will provide snacks for February, and David will bring beverages.
- Bert will contact a member who may be willing to provide snacks for the March meeting, and Richard will provide beverages.
- Greeter for February General Meeting: Jim Scheef reported that he will not be present at the meeting and therefore unable to serve as greeter. Richard and Bert volunteered to fill in for Jim.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 pm.