MINUTES OF THE September 11, 2002 MEETING
OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE NEW JERSEY COMPUTER CLUB

Present:  Doug Beck, John Beck, Terry Beck, John Biegel, Rich Byrne, Phil Corbo, Stephen Emde, Tom Kehoe, Lenny Laich, John O’Neill, Fred Sabin, and Doris Smith.

The meeting was called to order at approximately 9:15 p.m. at the North Branch Reformed Church by Fred Sabin.

• Phil Corbo reported on a meeting with Marjorie Marlin of Cooperative Housing who has permitted Phil to store computers needing refurbishing in the basement of one of her housing units. She appeared to be willing to have the NJCC continue this arrangement under a written agreement, even when Phil has moved out-of-state. The agreement would provide payment of about $20 a month for electricity, allow only one Club member to have a key, permit small groups to do on-site computer refurbishing after giving a few days notice, limit parking, etc. A major concern for the Club appears to be Ms. Marlin's desire for the Club to carry liability insurance.
   
• Fred Sabin asked if there should be restrictions on what use non-profit groups made of NJCC-donated refurbished computers. Phil advised against such a restriction. Both Phil and Fred agreed on the need to avoid accepting low-end computers for Club refurbishing. A suggested minimum configuration for a computer donated to the Club would be a 166 MHz CPU with 32 meg of ram. Phil estimated that about 1000 computers had been refurbished in five or six years.
   
• It was agreed to defer two items for the next Executive Committee Meeting:
  
  1. Placing software, particularly an OS, on a refurbished machine.
  
  2. Format of the fourth Wednesday of the month meeting . Tom Kehoe had suggested that the last meeting of the month be devoted to special interest groups (SIGs), possibly three: 1) hardware/refurbishing, 2) new users, and 3) the Internet. The rationale was that two general meetings a month, as currently proposed, stretches our resources too much at a time when most hardware/software companies are unwilling to send representatives to demo wares. Also, SIGs would better meet the needs of such groups as new users.
   
• The issue of how to encourage more active participation of members was discussed. Doris Smith indicated that we might consider a tiered membership structure that rewarded more active participation. John Beck proposed a financial incentive to get members to renew their memberships sooner. The following proposal by John was approved by the Executive Committee:
  
  All renewal and new memberships paid between now and Dec. 31, 2002, will be $30 and will satisfy dues requirements for the year of 2003. On and after Jan. 1, 2003, dues will revert to the normal $36 per year. Renewal dues payments for the year of 2003 will be at the rate of $36 per year. New membership dues after the month of Jan. 2003, will be prorated based on the number of months remaining at the rate of $3 per month.
   
• It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the Executive Committee on Wednesday, September 18th, in the NBRC at 7:30 p.m.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Kehoe
Secretary