• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - April 9, 2005
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - February 12, 2005
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - January 8, 2005
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - September 11, 2004
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - August 14, 2004
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - July 10, 2004
• Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - May 8, 2004

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - April 9, 2005

All Board members were present for a brief meeting after the general monthly meeting, from 1440 to 1530.

MAY ELECTIONS

1) VOTING PROCEDURE - Since there are now only five candidates and five positions, all will be elected, but methods were discussed on how to determine who will be Chairman, ViceChair?, etc. It was agreed to use weighted votes. Each voter will indicate his 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. choices. Jerry will write a program to assign points to each choice, so that the person with the most points becomes Chairman, and so on.

2) BREAKING A TIE VOTE - In case of a tie, the current Board will decide on who gains the position by means of a simple drawing.

3) ELIGIBLE VOTERS - Mary Ann will email the list giving the names of those who already have attended four meetings since May 2004. If any of these are unable to attend the May 2005 meeting, they may send their votes by email to the Election Committee 24 hours prior to the meeting.

She will also list those who have attended three meetings and would be eligible to vote if they attend the May meeting.

4) BALLOTS - Tom will prepare these.

MEETING LOCATION

Tom reported on his visit to MCTS at 1942 N. 17th Street, and it seems to be very suitable for our needs, particularly because of the larger meeting room size, and no fee. The Board agreed to use this facility beginning with the May meeting. Directions from various locations will be provided, particularly in view of the I-43 limited access in that area.

PAYMENT FOR WCTC USAGE

A "cookie jar" will be set out at the May meeting so that we can reimburse the payments made to WCTC for its meeting room rental fees for the past several months.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - February 12, 2005

All Board members were present for a brief meeting during the break of the general monthly meeting.

1) CHANGE OF BOARD TERM OF OFFICE The Board unanimously agreed to propose that the Charter be amended as follows:

"V. OFFICERS The MLUG will be governed by a Board of Directors comprised of 5 individuals elected from the voting membership. The Board members will be elected and will hold office for a term of one year beginning from their election at the regular May meeting." [Changed from: "beginning on the first day of March"]

This amendement proposal will be voted upon by eligible members at the May meeting.

2) ELECTION OF THE NEW BOARD The Board agreed to open the floor to nominations when this meeting reconvenes, and to request members to serve on the Election Committee.

3) GUIDELINES FOR THE BOARD Rather than propose that Board functions be detailed in the Charter, Tom agreed to prepare a list of Guidelines for the Board, including such things as meetings and duties, based on the past year's experience, to be handed to the incoming Board as a help to their taking over in the coming year.

4) MEETING LOCATION In view of WCTC charging a per-use fee, and not letting us know our room size or assignment until the week before the meeting, Jerry and Tom will investigate another meeting location offer we received.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - January 8, 2005

Present: Tom Francis, Jerry Davis, Aaron Schrab, and Glenn Holmer. Rick Benkstein also joined the discussion to bring us up to date on the situation with WCTC.

Honorarium for Presentation The "cookie jar" contributions toward an honorarium for Chris Negus' presentation came to $95, which Jerry collected and was given to Chris. He was very appreciative and said he certainly wasn't expecting so much :)

MEETING LOCATION: There was discussion on the need to find a different location for meetings, as WCTC has placed some restrictions on our use of their facilities. As January's experience showed, they are tightly enforcing the rule about signing up ten days in advance; we are also limited to the size of the room we have been meeting in. There was general agreement that, although the facilities are excellent, we would like someplace larger. At the last meeting we held at WCTC, latecomers were searching for chairs (and we do want to have more people coming). It was further agreed that Tom would post asking for potential meeting sites, but that we would not open a general discussion of their relative merits until we have a list to work with (an offer to meet at a site owned by the transit system (MCTS) was mentioned). In the mean time, we can still meet at WCTC.

SECONDARY MEETINGS: Whil Hentzen has been doing new user talks before the meetings for a number of months, and has indicated that he is running out of topics. He would like to move in the direction of application development discussion in any case. Also, it had been suggested that we might want to consider starting up the "Languages SIG" again (which was held after the general meeting). The point was brought up that having a SIG before the meeting may be less practical because people are coming in and setting up machines and networking etc. at this time. Nothing definite was decided.

COMING PRESENTATIONS: ))Scott DeVos(( confirmed that he will present in February, and we tentatively have Novell scheduled for March.

Glenn Holmer, Acting Secretary in the absence of M. A. Panevska

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - September 11, 2004

The Board met briefly from 1530 to 1600 concerning the use of WCTC for future meetings. WCTC now requires reservations and a $5 per meeting fee. The Board agreed that Rick Benkstein should sign the preliminary reservation contract for MLUG (which does not require an advance payment), in order to guarantee a meeting location for the next few months. In the meantime, the Board is looking into a few other offers of meeting space.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - August 14, 2004

All Board members were present for a brief meeting after the general monthly meeting.

1) WEBSITE - It was noted that our website lacks an explanation of what Linux is, so this will be added, along with links to other websites with useful general information about Linux.

2) NETIQUETTE - J. Davis will add a link or two on the website to places listing good guidelines.

3) SECOND MONTHLY MEETING - It was decided to bring this topic up again in October when more students and others are back in town.

4) INSTALL FEST September 11, 2004 - Whil Hentzen will send the Board the draft news release and list of places where he is sending it. Tom will try to make it easier for people to sign-up on the website. Regarding extra equipment needed, such as power strips, cables, mice, distros, etc., this will be finalized closer to September 11. A suggestion was made to have some "door prizes", for example some extra equipment or software that people no longer need and would like to donate. Since time is short to organize door prizes for this year's Install Fest, we'll wait until a future Install Fest to implement this suggestion.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - July 10, 2004

A Board meeting was held after the picnic, covering the following items.

1) [MLUG] SUBJECT PREFIX on the General Discussion List messages. In view of the informal voting on the list showing a majority in favor, this will be implemented. [Note: This has now been done.]

2) CONSULTANT DIRECTORY on the website. Whil Hentzen has prepared a page where members can advertise their services relating to computers and Linux. This will soon be ready and the membership informed. It was agreed that small member-owned computer related businesses can also be listed. There will be a disclaimer that MLUG does not endorse those advertising, but is just providing an opportunity for them to make their services known.

3) UPCOMING MEETINGS. August 14's presentation will be on Gimp. September 11 will be an Install Fest. October 9 will be a follow-up on the Install Fest to help with problems encountered after people get their installation done. The August and September meetings will be at the Menomonee Falls Library, and October will probably be at WCTC if the facilities are available.

For the Install Fest, Whil is going to prepare news releases, and we will also have posters with tear-off slips like last year.

4) ADDITIONAL LOCATION Meetings. Jerry explained how the Phoenix LUG has two monthly general meetings, one on the east side of town and the other on the west side, held on different days of the week. The Board is considering if MLUG might try this one month, having the regular 2nd Saturday afternoon meeting at WCTC plus another weekday evening meeting at an east side location.

5) CHARTER. Suggestions have been made to spell more things out in the Charter, but it was agreed to leave it as is until we have had more experience and can better judge what should be added or modified.

6) TECHNICIAN BACKUP - Roger Jenson has done a great job handling our equipment at meetings, but in case he can't make it to some meeting, Aaron Schrab agreed to be the backup person.

7) MAIL LIST GUIDELINES - A "Netiquette Guide" will be posted as an aid to members sending messages and to indicate what is considered unacceptable. Persons who post messages that violate these guidelines will have their future messages monitored before being transmitted to the list.

8) WEBSITE IMPROVEMENT - Volunteers are needed with web design skills, to help improve our website and make use of more features of tiki-wiki.

9) BOARD COMMUNICATION - To keep communications moving quickly, it was agreed that Board members will reply to Board messages within 48 hours, and they should notify the others when they will be out of town for more than a day.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary

Notes of the MLUG Board Meeting - May 8, 2004

The meeting was held at WCTC from 1600 to 1640. All Board members were present:

• Chairman - Tom Francis
• Vice-Chairman - Aaron Schrab
• Secretary - Mary Ann Panevska
• At Large - Glenn Holmer
• At Large - Jerry Davis

1) Sharing of Duties: Glenn accepted the task of arranging presentations for the meetings. Jerry agreed to holding any funds that may remain after the business cards are paid for. Jerry also agreed to serve as Moderator of the meetings.

2) Business Cards - Aaron will check about improving the graphic quality of the original. Tom and Caroline will arrange for the printing and distributing. It was agreed to leave the reverse of the card blank so people can write on the back.

3) Presentations - the following have volunteered for presentations, and the dates will be confirmed. Tentatively, we have:

June 12 - Darrick Hartman - DVD authoring with Linux July 10 - August 14 - Tim Davis - Gimp A future date - Masuo Gates - LDAP September 11 will be an Installfest

It was decided that when a speaker must cancel on short notice, it will be posted on the mailing list that the meeting will be a Hands-On-Help session where members can bring their machines, and have a general sharing of help.

Newbie Sessions - These do not always need a formal presentation, but can be an open Q&A.

4) Meeting Facilities - Rick Benkstein, who is our liaison with WCTC, will be asked to have Tom's and Aaron's names added as contacts in the event that Rick is not available. Rick will be asked to find out if a large room with tables and necessary connections is available at WCTC for the September Installfest. If not, we will try to reserve a large room either at UWM or the Menomonee Falls Library.

5) Board Communications - It was agreed to try doing Board business via a private mail list, and have live meetings when the need arises. Board Minutes will be posted to the general list.

M.A. Panevska, Secretary