Board of Directors Meeting March 14, 2000 Executive Directors Report
Funding Acquisition 1. National Cancer Institute Grant: Barb Hau and I met with La Plaza's cooperative partner, AMC Cancer Research Facility in Denver, on Thursday, Feb 24 and Friday, Feb 25 for implementation discussion of the research grant submitted to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI has projected March 15, 2000 as the date of funding allocation. The budget has been amended to reflect 91/2 months of funding in Y2K. Barb Hau has been assigned as Project Director of the grant and will give a presentation to the Board during this meeting. 2. AOL Digital Divide Initiative: I received a letter of denial from AOL for the Digital Divide RFP we submitted in December 1999. AOL received 900 applications and will be funding 3-5 agencies. 3. USWEST Opportunity Fund: La Plaza will be submitting an application to the USWest Opportunity Funds economic development initiative. I met with Dr. Forouz Jowkar on March 9 and began the planning and development of the proposal. Community Development 1. On February 10, 2000, Oban Lambie and I met with the Taos Pueblo Governor and War Chief office personnel and began discussion of Internet connection at the Pueblo. A short-term solution for the Tribal offices is installation of a phone line for dialin service. On March 8, 2000 Integrity Networking conducted an environmental survey and determined the line of sight for the Tribal Offices and the Central Management System Offices. We will make a presentation for consideration to the Governor and War Chief Offices within the next several weeks. 2. La Plaza will provide technical assistance to the Taos Talking Picture Festival during the 4-day event. Wednesday, April 12 has been designated as a day to promote information technology to the community. The Town of Taos wireless system will be showcased at the event and La Plaza and Integrity Networking will be present to answer any questions by the Festival visitors regarding wireless service. 3. La Plaza is participating with the Taos School District in a grant being submitted to the Department of Education in creating a Technology in Education Resource Center with the school district. As a member of the consortium our share is the existing contract for Internet Service and new services in hosting a web site and provided TA in web design. Technology 1. Learning Center Ten new Compaq computers were configured and installed in the La Plaza Learning Center. As the existing monitors are obsolete; i.e., screen flickering, unable to support the new curriculum and Adobe Photo Shop software, etc., ten new 17in. monitors were ordered to complete each learning unit. Also, the mural has been completed and depicts the tri-cultural area of Taos. Please come by and view the new equipment and mural. 2. Due to an increase of busy signals, additional 24 modems were ordered, with a projected install date of March 17, 2000. The budget was amended to reflect the additional cost. 3. The old hardware in the Learning Center is being assessed for use at La Plaza. The Obsolete Equipment policy will be followed for distribution of the obsolete hardware that La Plaza will not be able to use for service delivery. 4. Penasco wireless system was installed on Friday, March 03, 2000. Snowmobiles were required to transport the engineers and equipment to Picuris Peak. The project is 75% completed, the remaining tasks for completion are: a. Install 2 additional solar panels and 2 additional golf batteries, b. Install radios at La Jicarita Enterprises two offices. There was a miscommunication with Integrity Networking and Wyn Communications for the correct number of solar panels and batteries for power on the Peak. As this equipment is large and cumbersome, the engineer will install the panels when the snow has melted and the ground is thawed. Until this is done, the radio receivers are on a timer providing services from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. I will work with Peter Alexander to develop a pubic information story for press release of this project. Fiscal 1. The monthly financial report was revised as requested by the Board at the February meeting. (see attached report) February Monthly Stats: 1. Public Access Location Total Users Total Hrs Avg Session Taos 767 991 1.29 (the learning center was closed 2-28 – 3-3 for install of new computers) Penasco 378 410 1.08 Questa 276 135 .50 2. Classes Public Orientation 13 Intro to Email 7 Intro to WWW 13 Easy Web Design 9 HTML 4 Promote Website 5 Total 51 3. New Registrations Primary Acct 91 Secondary Acct 11 Reactivated 20 Total 122 4. Closed Accounts 133 notices sent for past due balances of >50 days, 38 accounts were closed due to nonpayment. Moving 3 Unable to connect 2 Deceased 1 Not using 10 Temporary closure 1 No reason given 6 Short-term use 3 Moved to another ISP 7 Total per user request: 33 Total closed 33+38 = 71 5. Service Accounts on 2/29/2000 Standard $17.50 dial-up service 1894 Secondary Acct - $15.00 sub-service 77 Secondary Acct - $7.00 sub-service 284 Scholarship Acct - $7.00 31 Paying Accts = Total 2286 Board Accts 9 Staff Accts 9 Volunteer Accts 4 Nonpaying Accts Total 22 Total Accts = 2308 Respectfully Submitted, Judith Pepper Executive Director