Monday October 23, 2000
MINUTES of the BOARD MEETING:

The meeting was called to order by the President, Lynn McLeland at 6:50PM, with the following people in attendance: Lynn McLeland, Hugh McLeland, Pat McDonald, Mike Flanagan, Linda Genaw, Cheryl Floyed, Kevin Munson, Betty Hesketh, Ed Hesketh, Alex Dumestre, Mary Lou Dumestre, Bob Argo, Mike Kelly, Kevin O'Hearne, and Mimi Smith.

A motion was made by Mike Kelly to approve the minutes of the September 25, 2000 Board of Directors Meeting and seconded by Mike Flanagan and motion passed with an all voice vote.

Treasury Report
Treasurer, Bob Argo reported that October was a good month for us. The bank statement was reconciled October 13, 2000. Current checkbook balance is $8,732. The rent payment to NAM was made this month. There will be a teaching credit earned during October, by Bob Argo, which will be applied towards November's rent. The New Member budgets for the last quarter have been adjusted downward to account for the reduction in magazine circulation to 500 copies. The printing cost increased by $30 this month due to our increasing the paperweight to 70# for the cover and inside pages. It also covers the trimming of the magazine edges, which was deemed necessary because of the weight of the paper. Since $30 is only an estimate and the true cost of the increased magazine paperweight is not known, it was agreed that $30-$60 would be an acceptable cost increase. If the cost were higher, then 60# paperweight would be considered. The advertising receivables were outstanding for this month, $655. We currently have one invoice that is over 30 days old. YTD we have a $2,800 gain, and that is about $1,900 higher than planned for this point in the year.

The December Christmas party and prizes were discussed. A motion was made by Kevin O'Hearne that $300 be taken out of the bank account and given to Cheryl Floyed for the purchase of many door prizes. Any left over monies, including rebates would be placed back in our bank account. The motion was seconded by Mike Kelly and passed with an all voice vote.

SIGs Report
Vice President of SIGs, Alex Dumestre reported after having a large attendance in September, our attendance in October was down due to vacations. The Genealogy SIG will be cancelled for the month of November. All SIGs will be cancelled in December due to the Christmas holidays. The Round Table has been cancelled in January 2001, because of New Years. Alex will talk to Carol Paze, our NAM liaison, about the clutter in the SIG room and inquire about the possibility of getting additional closet space for our equipment.

Programs
Vice President of Programs, Mike Flanagan reported he had speakers for the General Meeting in November on Computer Education, from Assisted Technology, Tomball College and Klein Oak High School In December at the Christmas General Meeting; we will have a speaker from Microsoft. Kevin Munson has a guest speaker from Lexmark lined up for the January 2001 General Meeting.

Communications
Vice President of Communications, Kevin O'Hearne reported a new advertiser, Weso-Tech Computers, which wanted the front full inside cover page. The members present discussed the cost of advertising on the front inside cover page and the decision was made to charge $100 a month or $75 a month with a six-month commitment. Mike Kelly will check with HAL-PC about the national advertisers for the PC News Magazine, the first part of next year. We were informed that The Missing Byte Computers has moved from the present address and the decision was made that we wait and see what they want to do about their ad.

Membership
Membership Chairperson, Linda Genaw reported the changes for October 2000: Total members 215; Renewals due 16; Actual renewals 7; New members 5; and $440 added to the Treasury. Linda requested monies for the purchase of office supplies for the remainder of this year and also for next year's supplies. A motion was made by Kevin O'Hearne to give $200 from the bank account to Linda Genaw for office supplies. The motion was seconded by Mike Flanagan and passed with an all voice vote.

Directors-at-Large
No reports at this time.

Old Business
Lynn McLeland spoke about Barbara Padgitt's concern regarding the inactivity of our club's library. We all agreed that Barbara has done a wonderful job as our librarian and is the best person for this job. Barbara is asking us for our help and ideas in promoting the library. Pat McDonald suggested SIG leaders call to the members attention different books in the library that pertain to their SIG group. Also, some of the members aren't aware of the new rent-free policy. Some members shy away from the new 2000 programs, because they don't have the newer programs. We should point out that they can still use these software programs because there are very few changes in the 2000 programs. Thank you Barbara for caring.

Mike Flanagan reported on the 2001, 1960 Irish Parade and our float that is being constructed for this parade. Mike brought in some blue prints on the construction and size of the computer that will be our main float attraction. Mike proposed that the 6-foot monitor and the 5-foot CPU along with a keyboard would be placed on a flatbed trailer. Following the float would be a wagon, carrying a small child, constructed to look like a mouse that had fallen off the float. The construction materials would be PVC piping to create the frame of the computer. It would be collapsible for storage. The outside surfaces of the computer would be banners that was silk screened made to look like the front and back of a CPU, keyboard and monitor. The estimated cost of the banners would be $1,500. Mike Kelly has a friend that has a flatbed trailer that we may be able to use. Since the two sides of the CPU will be blank, we may attempt to find a sponsor in exchange for advertising space thereby financing the cost of the float. We will need sponsors to offset the cost of the float and nerds candy that will be thrown to the crowd. Both are expensive items. Cheryl Floyed volunteered to check into the cost of purchasing of the candy. Others have volunteered to talk to big computer companies like Compaq, Gateway, and Dell to see how they might help.

A big Thank You goes to Kevin Munson for fixing our club computer. He changed out the modem to a US Robotics 56K, replaced the 3COMM graphics card, and added a 250mg Zip Drive (it is downward compatible to 100mg). He then reinstalled Windows 98 SE and Office 2000. Kevin donated the parts and his time the club. But he doesn't stop there, he said he would dress-up like Santa Claus at our Christmas General Meeting and bring additional presents plus the prizes Cheryl is purchasing. Thank you, again, Kevin.

At 8:45PM a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Cheryl Floyed and passed with an all voice vote.

Respectfully submitted,

Mimi Smith
 Secretary