Brismesh Inc. General Meeting 28 Feb 2004

Venue

JC Slaughter Falls Park, Mount Coot-tha

Attendees

[no record; about 30 people] Anna Gerber (chair), David Leonard (secretary)

Minutes

Meeting opened at 4.10pm.

1. Apologies:

   Paul James, Mark Allen, Mick Van Boeckel

2. Previous minutes

   The minutes of the previous general meeting with typos corrected as per list feedback were presented.

   MOTION: That the minutes from the previous meeting be accepted (Moved: David Leonard. Seconded: Anna Gerber)

   CARRIED (no objections)

   [Anna and David signed the minutes from the previous meeting as true and correct]

3. Report from management committee. (Anna Gerber)

   Anna summarised what the management's committee had done since the last meeting as "not a lot".

   David had been chasing up insurance. We are getting closer. We have enough money. A letter to the WIAQ has been drafted.

   Anna said that the brismesh.org domain re-hosting has been completed. Email aliases exist for the management committee.

   David said that he had looked into whether Brismesh could be exempt from stamp duty, but had to conclude that we are unlikely to qualify under the 'public utility' test: access to our network is not public due to the carrier licence burden.

4. Appointment of an auditor. (Anna Gerber)

   David has received a number of emails from people regarding a cheap or pro bono auditor. All of them were in the negative. [But, thankyou to everyone who responded.]

   So, we still have not appointed an auditor. The management committee will keep looking but will probably have to arrange a commercial auditor. This will have to be addressed again at the next meeting.

   The floor was opened to other business.

5. Brisbane City Council site application status. (Garry Ford)

   Garry Ford asked what how the BCC applications were going.

   David replied that Mark Allen had the applications drafts ready, but has not submitted them. He is likely to be swamped with work over the next 3 weeks.

6. Next meeting. (Anna Gerber)

   There being no further business, the next meeting date was discussed. A Monday seemed to be the next on rotation.

   MOTION: That the next meeting be held on 12th April, 2004, at 6.30pm, at Mary Street or a venue to be announced. (moved by David Leonard, 2nd Michael Oliver)

   CARRIED with no objections

7. Close.

   MOTION: That the meeting be closed. (moved by Anna Gerber) (2nd by David Leonard)

   CARRIED with no objections

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 4.17pm

Brismesh Inc. Management Committee Meeting 28 Feb 2004

Present: David Leonard, Anna Gerber, Michael Oliver, James Iseppi

Opened at 4.30pm

1. Members accepted:
   • m#100 Matthew Coyle (proposed: Anna Gerber, seconded: Michael Oliver)
   • m#101 Cameron Seeber (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#102 Rodney Beech (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#103 Philip Wilson (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#104 Ernie Elu (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#105 Bin Anderson (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#106 Craig Askings (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#107 Toby Tomkins (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#108 Bancroft Hulme (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#109 Nick Fog (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#110 David Lodeiro (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#111 Bane McLeod (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#112 Damien Guerin (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#113 Brendan Halliday (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#114 Javier Llora (p: AG, s: MO)
   • m#115 Conrad Lancaster (p: MO s: AG)
   • m#116 Andrew Harcourt (p: AG s: MO)
2. David asked about the press release status. Anna said nothing has happened since the Kate MacKenzie interview. We understand that Paul James was handling the press release.
3. Auditor. (DL) David to go through yellow pages properly and get quotes; also to contact the CPA body and see if they can help.
4. By-laws? (DL) Little feedback from drafts. David to re-mail it out again; he would appreciate replies from everyone on the MC, regardless of whether they are 'yay' or 'nay' responses.
5. WICEN civil emergency network relationship (DL). Anna says 'not at this stage'. Alan Wills was standing nearby and gave his view of WICEN; that the current setup (short message relays) apparently suits the needs, but the members are getting older.
6. WIAQ letter (DL). Consensus: happy with David's draft. David to email it.
7. TIB revival (AG) The Incredible Bulk in Melbourne is dead. Should Brismesh revive it, by changing the retail prices database to suit the TIB style better? Anna to have a stab/hack at the PHP code to implement it.
8. David's web pubs (DL). Access to brismesh.org's web source is available to Anna (and Ian Lister) only. David is currently publishing his stuff through his ISP's web server. Anna to link/autocopy from brismesh.org main web site to David's web area.
9. Association Certificate (DL). David would like to have at least a copy of the current association certificate, and also to keep the original together with all the other brismesh documents and stamp. Nobody knows where the certificate is. Because Paul wasn't here, it is assumed he has it. David to contact Paul and ask.
10. brismesh.org.au (JI). James and Anna both noticed that brismesh.org.au is available for registration and we should get it. James estimated that it would cost around $44. Garry Ford (nearby) kindly donated $10. Anna volunteered to donate the rest of the monies to purchasing the domain. [it is assumed that the domain is to be donated to the association]. Anna to register the domain.
11. Financial report (MO). Prior to the meeting, Brismesh had $630 in the bank, no debts, and assets consisting of a stamp [and brismesh.org?].
12. Hardware donations (JI). Anna and James have received offers to donate old gear. There was concern about the costs of actually turning older equipment into something useful. Conrad Lancaster (nearby) gave some opinions on this. David to email this question to the MC for further discussion.
13. Targetting of houses on good sites (DL). Conrad raised the interesting observation that donations of materials by members would be more likely if they knew that the gear was going to be put on a site that would help them. David recalled his wanting to go up to houses on ridges such as Mt Ommany and just "knock on the door" and ask for gratis siting. A letterbox drop or a focused effort might be able to get some people interested, especially if they have a good view, and have some kind of computer savviness. A concern was raised about liability (eg lightning strike blows up house). Probably would have to get the lessors either to own the gear or sign something that indemnifies us? Anyway, we resolved to look into developing and testing this strategy out in one area - perhaps like the antenna-gathering days down in the Gold Coast. David indicated that it makes sense if members drive where to perform this activity, because then we would choose good sites that have maximum benefit to members. MC to develop a plan for this and discuss it via email.

Meeting closed at 4.56pm