Board meeting Minutes/18 December 2007

The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Prior:
4 December 2007

Board meeting Minutes

Next:
7 January 2008

Minutes approved: 7 January 2008

Present: Trey Harris (chair), Derek Balling, Matthew Barr, Philip Kizer, David Parter, Stephen Potter

Apologies: Sam Albrecht, Bob Apthorpe, Chris Palmer, Jesse Trucks

Opened: 19:07 Eastern Time

Closed: 20:11 Eastern Time

Consent Agenda

Approve minutes of 20 November 2007
Approve redactions of 20 November 2007 minutes
Approve minutes of 4 December 2007
Record email MOTION: that the Board direct the Technical Services Committee Chair to create and implement a plan of transition for LOPSA IRC services from CogNet/ByxNet to Freenode. Moved by Trucks on 10 December 2007, seconded by Parter. Motion passes 10 December 2007.

Consent agenda passes.

Standing Reports

Executive Director's report
- IRS left a voicemail saying that the 501.c.3 applications was finished and approved and that we should see the letter this week.
- Sample membership cards in. Some nice 7 mil plastic, laser printer friendly cards for about $1 each. Will work with membership committee.

Regional Organization Committee Charter

MOTION To form the Regional Organization Committee (ROC) with the following charter:

Regional Organization Committee (ROC) Charter

To encourage, promote, advise, and support chapters and affiliates in their formation and operation,
To help chapters and affiliates attract members and develop local and regional community,
To assist chapters and affiliates with program, event, and technical presentation development, and
To act as liaison between chapters and affiliates and the LOPSA board

The LOPSA Board of Directors shall, by motion of the Board, appoint a current Board Director to be the Regional Organization Liaison (ROL). The ROL shall serve as a conduit between the LOPSA Board and the ROC. The ROC Chair shall be nominated by the ROL and approved by a motion of the LOPSA Board.

The ROC Chair shall choose committee members at will and as needed for work on regional organization projects.

Due to potential access to proprietary LOPSA information and/or administrative access to technical resources by ROC members, all members of the ROC shall have a signed copy of the LOPSA Non-Disclosure Agreement on file with LOPSA Staff prior to any granting of access to sensitive information or resources.

The RO Liaison and the ROC Chair shall coordinate on all communications with the LOPSA Board regarding regional organization issues. The ROC Chair shall manage, plan, coordinate, and/or delegate ROC tasks as needed to ROC members.

Moved by Balling, second Barr. Approved.

New meeting time (Harris)

Tuesday presents conflicts for at least Harris and Potter. 7pm Eastern is too early for Potter.
Future meetings will be every other week on Monday at 8pm Eastern, starting 7 January 2008.

Annual Financial Review

Staff has received an estimate of $1,200 for the review of IRS financials and preparation of the annual tax return. Last year, we paid $1,000. If a full audit is desired, the amount would be $2,000. I have recommended to the Treasurer that we move forward with a review. The current budget only contains $1,000 for the review, so I am also asking a modification to the budget to reflect the $1,200 expenditure.
- For those interested, an audit is a more extensive check of policies, procedures, and accounts than a review. A review is still detailed and a management letter is provided. A compilation is even cheaper, but not recommended or recognized as a quality examination of financial records.
- MOTION by Potter, second by Balling: Authorize the Executive Director to spend $1,200 in order to conduct an independent review of the LOPSA financials and prepare the annual tax return. The 2008 budget is to be adjusted from $1,000 for this line item to $1,200. Approved.

SCALE (Parter)

The training committee has requested funding in advance to purchase airline tickets and make other travel arrangements for two instructors for LOPSA classes at SCALE.

MOTION by Parter, second by Potter: Approve spending up to $3000 from the conferences budget for expenses for LOPSA classes at SCALE. Approved.

Sponsorship "Founding" status (Harris)

At LISA, the issue came up that some of our Founding sponsors have increased their participation level, and in so doing lost the "Founding" label. For instance, a Founding Silver sponsor who upped their contribution to Gold would be a Gold sponsor, not a Founding Gold sponsor. This caused a few sponsors to say they would not increase their contribution level unless this was rectified, because they did not want to lose their "Founding" status.
MOTION by Potter, second by Parter: That Founding sponsors shall maintain the "Founding" designation so long as their sponsorship level does not fall below the Bronze level. This change shall be made retroactive to all Founding sponsors who have changed their level of contribution at the time of passage of the motion. Approved.

Discussion about the fact that the intention was never for there to be a "Founding Gold" level, but rather that "Founding" was a sort of "badge of honor" that EMILY sponsors would receive, regardless of contribution level.
- Harris will advise Technical Services Committee and the Executive Director of the change in policy, and will ask that sponsors be referred to as "Founding" separate from contribution level, e.g., "Gold Sponsors: Jane Smith (founding), John Doe".

Executive session

Board enters executive session at 7:34 EST.

Board exits executive session at 7:51 EST.

Discussion: Policy for @lopsa.org email addresses

What should the policy be for use, dispensation, and maintenance of addresses @lopsa.org?

Who gets @lopsa.org addresses?
How long can they keep them?
- Under what conditions?
- Limited time? Forever? Forever only for certain classes of people?
- i.e. Board gets @lopsa.org address and keeps it in perpetuity
- i.e. a volunteer gets an alias pointed at them only while performing a certain duty

See also: wiki, LOPSA Policies/Communications

In general, there seems to be approval of the idea of @lopsa.org address holders keeping them.
However, there is concern that it could be abused.
@lopsa.org addresses should be considered a privilege for members in good standing not acting against LOPSA, not a right.
The issue of a general member email service is separate from this one—the question is of volunteers with @lopsa.org addresses, once they cease acting for LOPSA in an official capacity.
The issue of re-use came up—should there be a longer period before recycling?
A policy should be drafted.

Trucks requested to draft policy on @lopsa.org addresses reflecting above points.

501(c)(3) status (Albrecht)

We have received word that our non-profit status has been approved by the IRS.
We need to consider publicity and also strategy for how we can make use of the official status (grants, etc.).

Harris will send email to Albrecht asking for him to verify and if verified, we'll publicize—hopefully before the end of year to allow for 2007 tax-year contributions.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn by Potter, second by Barr.

Adjourned at 8:11 EST.