Community Development:

1. I have been working with Bill Swan, Chamber of Commerce Business Committee Chairman in developing and organizing the Steering Committee for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant, Managing Information in Rural America (MIRA) This grant provides to approved rural areas, training in information systems/techologies for use with economic development. There are 2 areas for proposal by rural communities. The first area is for a Steering Committee to find a 501-c3 agency that acts as the fiscal agent of the money and will work with the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will then organize 6 - 10 clusters of teams in Taos County, which are comprised of a diverse membership. These teams will be directed by the Steering Committee and the host agency to develop the training desired by each team. The second area for proposal is for a Community Support Organization to provide technical support, economic development support, and training to the teams created in the first proposal.

   Mr. Swan and I have been instrumental in developing the Steering Committee for the first proposal. We had the first meeting for the Steering Committee on Dec. 8 and will meet in Questa on Dec. 9. These meetings educate the attendants of the grant proposal and the impact on Taos County with the information technology and training. The Holy Cross Hospital has been asked to act as the fiscal agent of the money for the first proposal. A decision has not been made by the hospital. Once the attendants agree to partcipate on the Steering Committee and a committment has been received from a host agency the proposal will be submitted to Kellogg. If Taos County is approved for the grant, Kellogg will make a site visit in February and the dollars will begin to flow for the training and other areas of activity.

   La Plaza will submit a proposal for the Community Support Organization to assist will Internet service and training, web development and training, and economic development in using the Internet. Kellogg has stated there will be $250,000 available for the community support org. and depending on the number of approved applicants then the dollars will be allocated. Rocky Mountain Youth Corp has expressed interest in being one of the Community Support Organizations, also. As the community teams develop, the Steering Committee will be helpful in determing the kind of support needed by the entire Cluster. I feel La Plaza and RMYC will be the most appropriate agencies for the CSO. Once the decision is made then we will be able to work with the Steering Committee, develop the proposal and budget request from Kellogg.

   I will keep the Board apprised of the grant. It is very interesting bringing people together to work together!

2. Loretta Suazo, TLC Manager, met with Martin Romero, President of Centinel Bank, and discussed the donation request for 3 Pcs for use in the TLC. Mr. Romero is taking the request to his Board for consideration.

3. A request was sent to Bob Romero, LANL Community Outreach in Taso, in August for a printer to be used with the Pcs at La Plaza. Mr. Romero brought a HP Laser printer on December 8, 1997 in response to the request. Mike Bearden will develop the network for use by the Pcs.

4. I met with Gayle Martinez, Chamber of Commerce Director, and discussed a partnership with the Chamber and La Plaza. We discussed training one of the Chamber staff to maintain their Web site in January. Nancy Montano is scheduling the training.

   We also discussed holding seminars for businesses in using Internet services and email. If the attendant is a Chamber member a 10% discount for the cost would be provided.

   We will also develop a story of La Plaza services for the Chamber newsletter and possibly have an ongoing column for questions and answers Chamber members have regarding technology.

5. I volunteered to be on the Economic Summitt's task force of Telecommuniations. The task force was formed as a response to some of the needs presented at the Economic Summitt meeting in November. I am waiting for the first meeting to be scheduled.

1. Kellogg Content and Development: One Web class was held in November with 4 participants. Nancy has trained 15 nonprofit agencies how to develop and maintain their own web page. There are now 12 new web sites online. She has 3 classes scheduled for December with nonprofit agencies.

   The training has proved to be very helpful for the nonprofits and is fulfilling the objective to the Kellogg grant for the virtual library content.

   We will develop a class scedule for businesses and charge a nominal fee for the web class. Nancy wants to begin the classes in January.

2. Rocky Mountain Youth Corp attended two training classes for two group of the youth. The groups have been diverse in participation, respect for the trainer, and ability to attend to the class information.

3. Ten classes were offered in the TLC, with 59 participants in November. Public Orientation, Intro to Email, Intro to WWW.

4. Public Access Users for November:

   	La Plaza       1056 units
   	Penasco         146 units
   	San Cristobal    18 units
     	Questa		no data
   

5. New Registrations for November:

   	La Plaza    96
   	Penasco     10
   	San Crist.   2
   	Questa	    24
   	Total	   132
   

6. New Member registrations: three

1. The consultant with Internet Networking Services (INS) reported the install date of January 16, 1998 for the new T-1 lines by USWEST. Once the T-1 lines are installed, the digital phones will be installed, then US Robotics will set up the system. We are projecting, if all goes as planned, the new hardware and digital phone line system will be ready for implementation on February 1, 1998.

2. If the requests to Centinel Bank and the Johnson Foundation for PC donations are approved (4 all total) there will be 8 Pcs in the TLC. There is $4000 designated for computers in the remaining Kellogg money, which will buy 2 Pcs. That will bring the total to 10 Pcs in the TLC and all purchases will be completed in January, 1998.

   New classes will be offered in the TLC in using Windows, Microsoft, and the participants will learn on the Pc platform. Two Macs will remain the TLC and in the kitchen area for Mac users.

3. Daniel has completed the group account billing software for the new fee strucure and billing.

4. A Visitors Section to the La Plaza website has been added with links to things of interest to tourists. A "User's Homepage of the Month" was started, the December honored recipient is Stewart Warren.

5. LAPLAZA DIAL-IN USERS STATS for /97

   TOTAL # USERS:      1669
   TOTAL # DIAL-IN:    1251  (74% of TOTAL USERS)
   TOTAL # PPP USER:   1023  (81% of TOTAL DIAL-IN)
   TOTAL CONNECT:      11327.52 (hours)
   
   TOTAL PPP TIME:     9683.22 hours
   TOTAL PPP SESSIONS: 31027
   AVG PPP SESSION:    18.73 (minutes)
   
   TOTAL CLI TIME:     1644.30 hours
   TOTAL CLI SESSIONS: 9884
   AVG CLI SESSION:    9.98 (minutes)
   
   AVG NUM SESSIONS:   33
   AVG SES LENGTH:     16.61 (minutes)
   AVG TOTAL CONNECT:  9.05 (hours)
   
   PENASCO # USERS:     48
   PENASCO # SESSIONS:  1214
   PENASCO TOTAL TIME:  293.82 hours
   
   QUESTA # USERS:      74
   QUESTA # SESSIONS:   2204
   QUESTA TOTAL TIME:   750.45 hours
   
   TAOS # USERS:        1152
   TAOS # SESSIONS:     37493
   TAOS TOTAL TIME:     10283.25 hours
   

1. The annual audit of 1996 financies has not provided the beginning balances of the two grants needed for 1997 bookkeeping. Linda Trujillo is working with a consultant to get the balances; thus, we will then have ending and beginning balances for 1998. The projected 1998 budget will be completed within the next two weeks for the Board to review.

2. As Linda has been involved with the annual audit, the November financial statement is delayed. However, the following is reported:

   	
   	Nov 97 billing	   $9413.57
   	Nov 97 collected   $7958.96
    	Nov 97 prepaid	   $ 946.58
   

3. Of the 81 people attending the October Community Meeting, 59 requested the $6.00 free access for a total of $354.00. This was credited only for the November bill.

4. The volunteers and other users who had unused credit hours were converted to a dollar amount for .50 per hour. The total amount is $4524.56. This was done as credit hours no longer have a value with the new fee structure. Each of the 81 people were sent a message with their credited amount requesting them to consider donating the amount back to La Plaza. To date, 12 people have responded most of whom have donated the value to La Plaza.

   Once the credited amounts are used or donated, there are no users with any credit for any reason.

5. Jim Tucker sent an unpaid bill from 1995 for payment. Mr. Tucker stated in his letter that he was never paid by the past administration and is willing to use the .50 cent conversion for credit hours to his unpaid account. As the bill was for $1000, a check will be sent to him in the amount of $500.

6. The Department of Commerce grant will be ending Dec. 31. The grant will be closed out by Barb Hau, project coordinator, in the next 90 days. The unused grant dollars can be used for administrative costs in closing the grant. The final report including the program and fiscal reports will be provided to both the Dept. of Commerce and the Board.

New Fee Structure and Services:

1. The majority of the user comments have been positive and agreeable. One person has requested sponsership beginning in January. A few users have asked for a group account with their families and/or business. The new registration form has been completed and is ready to be used beginning in January. New registrations will be given the option beginning December 22 to wait until January 2 for activating their account and be charged just for January. If they want immediate services with 9 days remaining in December they will be charged for December also.

Respectfully submitted:
Judith Pepper
Executive Director