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 Fund’s
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 17” 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:
Install 2 additional solar panels and 2 additional golf batteries,
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