Troubled Times Inc.: September 24, 2000 Board Minutes

Minutes
Board Meeting
September 24, 2000


The meeting was held on IRC, with Shirley being connected via telephone through Nancy. The current President-at-Large, Brent, called the meeting to order a little after 18:00, UT. Attending: Nancy, Shirley, Shaul, Brent (who chaired the meeting), Roger, Ron, Jurian, and Gerard.

1. Approve Minutes of Last Meeting: - Since there was no objection, the Minutes from the last Board meeting were accepted.
2. Report on E-Mail Votecall Results: - The President-at-Large reported that the three motions voted on by e-mail had passed unanimously, and asked for discussion. Discussion ensued.
- Motion, made by Nancy, seconded by Shaul: “THAT Wegner LLP be approved as the bookkeepers, using Quickbooks 2000 (as they do) with a limit of $150/quarter in costs.” Carried unanimously.

3. Discussion on Phone Team: - As a result of the e-mail discussions which had taken place on the TT-Inc. mailing lists over the past month, Cass, Mary, and Ron have already volunteered to act on this team. Shaul now said that if messages could be answered by e-mail, he, too, would be a volunteer.
- Action Items: Nancy will flow-chart the 800 number response, and research costs.
- Nancy will change the Troubled Times Home Page to replace her name with Shaul’s, as contact person.
4. Vote on Compensation for Web Wrapping: - An e-mail motion was made by Aron, seconded by Shaul, to reimburse Nancy $1000 for her many years of web wrapping for both the Troubled Times and non-profit web sites. This motion was now voted upon, and carried unanimously.
5. Vote on Jan as Internal Auditor: - After some discussion a vote was taken, and Jan’s appointment as internal auditor was unanimously approved.
- Action Item: Nancy will copy all relevant paperwork for Jan.

6. Vote on Cell Phone for Ron: - Motion, made by Nancy, seconded by Shaul: “THAT Ron be approved to get a cell phone service for long distance calls. THAT this phone not be used for international calls and no calls be made over the 1000 limit. $600/year guaranteed to be paid for this service. $200 limit on the phone unless approved by the Board.”
- After some discussion a vote was taken. The motion carried unanimously.

7. Vote on New Member Process

- An e-mail motion was made by Shaul, seconded by Nancy, to change the current bylaw process whereby new members are added to the membership roster, and to establish a new Policy regarding recruitment.
- Action items for the Board in processing this motion are:

.. Approve the process whereby the entire Board, or a select committee from it, will be made moderators of this TT-Inc. membership, and will be the only address for starting a new member application process.
.. Approve the process whereby people from the General TT membership, or anybody else for that matter, are approached and asked to join.
.. Vote to have a “hidden” link on the Web with the names of all the members of the TT-Inc. and the dates they joined. This link will not be made public for now, but will be mailed privately to every single member of this Corporation. Shaul has volunteered to do the mailing, if necessary.
.. Vote on wording change to Section 2 of Article 8.

- A vote was taken. The motion carried unanimously.

8. Report on Public Access TV Documentary: - Nancy gave her report and there was no significant discussion.
- At this point, however, an unauthorized person joined the meeting and caused a disruption, which was then discussed at length.

9. Discussion on Budget Modifications: - It was agreed that the budget discussion should be conducted on the TT-Inc. mailing list.
- Action Item: Nancy to put the current budget on the mailing list in text format, so the discussions can begin.

10. Vote on Streaming Video Review Committee: - Ron volunteered his services on this committee.
- Motion, made by Nancy, seconded by Ron: “THAT an Executive Committee be formed to address software and hardware components needed to get the UNIX servers on-line. This would cover streaming video/audio, editing software, routers, t1 lines, and other related matters.” Carried unanimously.
- Motion, made by Shaul, seconded by Roger: “THAT the committee will have to report to the Board in bi-monthly intervals, with guidelines to be established by Committee Chairman, together with the Inc. President.” Shaul nominated Ron to be the Chairman.
- Motion, made by Nancy: “THAT Ron be the Chair for this E.C.” There was no second to Nancy’s actual motion, and she eventually seconded Shaul’s nomination of Ron.
- A vote was taken on both the motion and the nomination, and both carried unanimously.

11. Vote on President-at-Large: - Roger nominated Shaul to be next month’s President-at-Large. This nomination was eventually seconded by Shirley (and Nancy).
- Motion, made by Shaul seconded by Ron: “THAT Brent continues for another term.” The whole idea of having a different President-at-Large each month was based on the fact that a comparison of Board members’ talents (or otherwise) for this position can be made, in order that the appropriate person can be elected as President at the annual elections.
- A vote was taken, therefore, on Roger’s motion that Shaul should become President-at-Large, and he was elected, with one abstention.

There was then some discussion concerning an item that was not on the agenda, i.e. Wendy’s Clothing Project Proposal. Ron agreed to put together a plan for this Project.

Roger then made a motion to adjourn; but before it could be seconded, discussion arose concerning the disruption which had taken place during the Board meeting. Shaul, as President-at-Large, will put out some clear guidelines in this regard. Nancy volunteered to post on TT-Inc., the exact wording of the IRS rules regarding open non-profit Board meetings. Shaul then made a motion to adjourn; but before this could be seconded, the discussion on non-members being invited to Board meetings (or not) was renewed. Nancy pointed out that the agenda must be frozen three days beforehand, so that non-Board members who wished to speak at these meetings should make this known to the President. Nancy then volunteered to find that rule, and post it on the TT-Inc. mailing list. Roger then seconded Shaul’s motion for adjournment; and after some discussion on whether a vote should be taken on Shaul’s appointment as recruiter (a job which he is now doing informally), the meeting was adjourned at approximately 20:30.