Agenda
Board Meeting
February 25, 2001

1. Minutes of Last Meeting - Approval

 

If there is no objection to the minutes as posted, they will be considered ratified as correct.

 

2. Welcome New Board Members - Discussion

 

The Annual Election process was held in January, 2001, starting with the nomination process. Each officer or board member to appear on the roster must have be nominated by the membership, have their qualications stated during the nomination, be seconded, accept and clarify their qualifications, and subsequently be elected by the membership. In that there was no contest for any of the seats, the Secretary by passed the election as being moot and announced winners for all seats. Staff positions (Internal Auditor and Internet Comm) are not elected positions, but these individuals were also nominated to the board as were both Seed TEAM hubs. There are three new board members who have not previously served. The board has one vacant seat. The roster for 2001 is:

Office		Nonprofit Project
President	Brent
Vice President	Roger	Seed TEAM Hub
Treasurer & Admin VP	Nancy	Hydroponics Lab
Secretary	Shirley	Brochure Project
	Jan	Internal Auditor
	Gerard	Internet Comm
	Jurian	UNIX Project
	Shaul
	Barry	Community Garden Project
	Mary
	Toni	Seed TEAM Hub

3. Annual Admin Steps - Report by Nancy

 

The $20 annual fee to the State of Delaware has been paid. Wegner LLP is preparing to submit a tax form to the IRS, required as the nonprofit had income exceeding $25,000 in 2,000. Form 1099's were mailed to all recipients of compensation awards. Reporting to the State of Wisconsin, where the nonprofit has a registered Place of Business, is required mid-year, by July. Wisconsin requires an audit during any year a nonprofit garners more than $100,000 - not an issue this year.

 

4. Annual Report - Discussion

 

The draft of the Annual Report was updated with suggested changes and to include photos of the latest hydroponics lab experiment, i.e the success with growing hydroponics in worm bed drainage.

 

5. Internal Auditor's Report - Report by Jan

 

The Internal Auditor was On Site for a personal visit this past month. All accounting discrepancies due to the transition to using an accounting firm were identified and Resolved following a joint meeting between the Treasurer, the Internal Auditor and the Wegner LLP bookkeeper and CPA. The books for 2,000 are now balanced, in sync with the Bank Statements and other paper trails, and will be closed.

6. Brochure Design/Status - Discussion

 

Shirley has summarized the majority of the Troubled Times web site content into perhaps 20 pages. This summary is to form a written booklet or brochure, to mail to those without internet access. Brent questions calling this a brochure, as a brochure is generally a small fold out consisting of only 2 or 3 pages printed front and back. With the advent of a pending Public Access TV promotion and the recent sightings of Planet X by a French observatory, such requests may heat up. The 800 number and a PO for public contact are in place. The Summary content, a work-in-process, is available on the web for review. Sources for more information are included - books or the Troubled Times web site. Nancy is prepared to format the content into PageMaker for publication. Questions before the Board are:

 

1. should the publication be called a brochure or booket, due to its size?

2. what page size should the booklet be (8 1/2 by 11 or smaller)?

3. should graphics be black&white or color (color printing is more expensive)?

4. should a fee be charged for the booklets, to cover nonprofit costs?

 

7. Project Status - Report

 

Radio Project - handed over to Jan to continue development
Hydroponics Lab - Nancy
Fish Tanks - Nancy
Seed Hubs / Seed Team Status - Roger & Toni

 

Inactive Projects:

CSA Garden - Barry
On-Foot - Michael
Clothing - Wendy
UNIX Servers - Nancy

 

8. Site/E-mail Blockage - Discussion by Jurian

 

Discussion of Nancy’s recent “lockout” from Zetatalk site and email. Possible report from Jurian on steps that can be taken to prevent this from happening in the future.