2011.02.01 Meeting Notes

Officer's Meeting

Crepeville Restaurant, Davis
(Held prior and during the monthly Social Gathering at the same location)

Topics

• Donating remaining LUGOD lending library books to "Friends of the Library"
  LUGOD has some books left from it's defunct Lending Library (after donating a chunk to the CS Dept. at CSU Bakersfield), and those have been brought to most general meetings for attendees to take as free give-aways. Bill had planned on bringing them to meetings up through the January anniversary meeting, and then getting rid of what's left. A member at a recent meeting suggested donating them to "Friends of the Davis Public Library," which accepts books and then sells them at the library, and through book sales. Bill suggested looking into this (they have a donation slot on the library building itself), and Brian and Greg agreed.
• Ending LERT
  LUGOD's "LERT: Linux Emergency Relief Team" was a group of members willing to make housecalls for Linux-related problems requiring immediate response (cannot wait for the next Installfest). LERT has been unutilized, and the only team member active was Henry House, who has dropped out of LUGOD in recent years. Ironically, just prior to the meeting, Pete Salzman (LUGOD co-founder and creator of LERT) contacted Bill regarding LERT, asking for remote help (he's in New York, so it would be via SSH). Bill pointed out that LERT is dead, and was suggesting ending it at this officer's meeting. Pete suggested turning LERT into an 'open market' for connecting LUGOD members with those in need, and take 10% of proceeds. Bill, Brian and Greg agreed that it would be too much work for what it's worth, and there are liability issues. As a LUG, it should be sufficient to simply point people to our 'vox-tech' list and #lugod IRC channel for technical help, and 'vox-jobs' for work requests. Bill will update the LERT webpage to reflect this.
• Deprecating vox-outreach mailing list
  Bill recently pointed out that vox-outreach (mailing list for coordinating demos, conference exhibits, etc.) is not really utilized, and lower list traffic in general means having a separate list for that kindof discussion (which is rare) is unnecessary. Brian and Greg agreed, and Bill will drive vox-outreach subscribers to vox (general discussion list), and disable vox-outreach.
• Last week's Installfest Report / Future Installfests
  An Installfest was held with the CS Club at UCD, at UCD, last Friday evening. Neither Alex Mandel, IF coordinator, nor Nathaneil Brandes, CS club officer, were in attendance, so no official report was made. Anthony Serna was there for the social gathering, and was at the IF getting help. He recalled approximately 15 people in attendance total, approximately 5 machines being worked on, and 3-4 of those successful.
• Domain name status
  Rick Moen recently pointed out that it appeared our domain name, lugod.org, was about to expire (in February). Our records show that it was renewed for much longer than that, and our registrar's (DomainDiscover) web interface showed that it was registered through 2014. Bill contacted the registrar (twice) to get the updated expiration date pushed out to whois.
  
  Bill also took the opportunity to (finally!) update nameservers used by lugod.org. We had been using Rod Roark's (who hosts the site), but one of them had gone away, and he had encouraged us to move elsewhere. We're now using two at tierra.net (DomainDiscover); Rick Moen has also offered backups, to use in addition.
• PO Box status
  PO Box renewal will need to happen in fall (August/September, to the best of Greg's recollection). He normally checks the box before each general meeting, but has not been able to (check and/or attend the meeting) for a couple of months.
• Bylaws minor correction
  Our bylaws specifically listed our PO Box, but it was out of date. Greg suggested we simply remove any specific address, and change the wording of Article I, Section 1, Part i, Item e to: "To check the PO Box at least once for each meeting."
  
  Bill changed this during the officers meeting (per Article II, Section 4 (Small Change Clause), Part ii (Minor additions and deletions...)).
• California Financial Tax Board (FTB) tax-extempt filing status
  California's "Exemtpion Application" (Form 3500) has been updated, so Greg brought an updated copy for Bill (president) to sign. Bill, Brian (vice president) and Greg (treasurer) all signed a printed copy of our constitution. Andrew (typescript) had to leave the meeting before this happened, and we decided 3 officers were enough.
  
  Greg will print an updated copy of our Bylaws (per change made above) to attach, and file the application.
  
  Greg pointed out that CAFTB says typical processing time is 90 days, but that they are reporting that they are backlogged at the moment, so presumably this means we won't see a response within 3 months.
• Financial Status
  As of December 23rd (ledger on LUGOD's website), our bank balance was $1242.04 (plus $1.00 in savings). Bill has receipts to submit for reimbursement for food and supplies at LUGOD's anniversary meeting in January, for approximately $160. Donations at that meeting totaled $42.00.
  
  Greg is assembling a new ledger with full details on all known expenditures. (For the CAFTB filing, above.)
  
  In some cases, he has to assume expenses based on known balances because, while almost all meeting minutes list donations, they rarely list expenditures or reimbursements. (Example using made up numbers and dates: LUGOD's bank balance is known to be $500 in January, $50 in donations were recorded, and the balance was known to be $525 in February. Obviously, $25 in expenditures/reimbursements took place, but the details are unknown because we never received full financial history from Henry House, our previous treasurer.)
• Meeting rooms booking status
  Explorit is closing their large 2nd Street facility, due to financial constraints. Bill sent his condolences to Megan at Explorit, but has not heard back. To the best of his knowledge, it's still possible for us to continue meeting at the 5th Street Nature Center (previously called "Explorit, Mace Ranch").
  
  The public library is open, but the security system prevents after-hours use (which means it cannot be used on county holidays). Our current schedule is as follows (we can book the library no more than 3 months in advance):
  • February - Explorit
  • March - Library
  • April - Library
• Meeting topic/speaker booking status
  We are booked with speakers through July, plus a speaker in December.
• Elections
  LUGOD forgot to have elections in October! Since interests in elections and voting for officers tends to be low, Greg suggested we take a survey (via 'vox' and 'vox-announce' lists) to determine whether the general membership would like to hold elections immediately, or simply wait until this October.
• CafePress
  For many years, LUGOD has had a CafePress.com account, selling LUGOD and Linux-related T-shirts and other items. We are unclear whether this is being used, where the monay (if any) is going (Bill will check on this), and it's in our best interest (tax-wise) to simply close the 'store'. Bill will do this.

Action Items

• Bill Kendrick
  • Survey vox/vox-announce regarding elections
  • Determine status of, and close, CafePress account; remove links from website
  • Announce closure of LERT; update website
  • Announce closure of vox-outreach list; update website
  • Donate remaining lending library books to Friends of the Library
  • Remove PO Box address from Bylaws Done during meeting
• Greg FitzGerald
  • Produce updated ledger
  • Upload updated ledger to lugod.org/devnull/
  • Print updated ledger, attach to Form 3500
  • Print updated Bylaws, attach to Form 3500
  • File Form 3500

Attendance

Officers present:

• Bill Kendrick (root)
• Brian Lavender (sys)
• Greg FitzGerald (/dev/null)

Others Present:

• Tom Corbett
• Anthony Serna
• Christian (new member)