Board Meeting 2006 12 15

The 22th board meeting has been tentatively scheduled for the 15th of December at 16:00 UTC (fixedtime), by phone and IRC (#osgeo) at the same time.

Communication will use the new Conference Call facilities.

Agenda

 * Appoint meeting secretary
 * Review and approve Twenty First Board Meeting minutes
 * Establish a process for consulting legal advice
 * Update from Tyler
 * Confirm selection of Victoria for FOSS4G 2007, discuss financial controls.

Minutes

 * 15h07 - 22nd board meeting called to order
 * Board members present: Frank Warmerdam, Jo Walsh, Chris Holmes, Markus Neteler, Gary Lang, Venka Raghavan
 * Others present: Tyler Mitchell (Executive Director), Heather Meeker (GT Law, legal counsel via Autodesk), Laura Rivera (Autodesk)
 * Tyler as scribe, Frank as chair

Motion to accept previous meeting minutes

 * Reviewed minutes from previous mtg.
 * Gary moved to accept, Frank second, all voted in favour

Legal advice process

 * Discussed formalising a process for asking/receiving legal counsel (Frank leading)
 * Goal is to not overuse/misuse available resources and to keep the board in the loop
 * Chris mentioned a software law group that may provide pro bono support for osgeo as a non-profit, they have open source IP experience, can also help with incorporation stuff. Chris to bring back more details about building a relationship with this group.
 * Heather explained that they remain available for helping OSGeo as well
 * Discussed what we have been doing already, some questions from Geotools developers are soon to be answered via Heather
 * All agreed there should be 1-2 personal contacts established as gateways to/from legal counsel.
 * Frank to be primary contact for software IP, incubation types of issues
 * Tyler to be primary contact for other general issues
 * Q&A will be posted to wiki FAQ pages as a legal knowledge-base

Executive Director Update

 * General update on various facets of work Tyler has been doing

Fundraising / Sponsorship

 * Starting to get more interest
 * Wrote up several docs. in course of dialogue with sponsors (help sponsor osgeo, summary/overview of organisation, fundraising invitation letter)
 * Invoicing procedure in place now, need some follow-up on A/P now :)
 * 1Spatial background - unsolicited interest, via Geoff/Gary, various discussions/emails
 * At least 2 more sponsors waiting in wings for new year
 * Several GDAL sponsors
 * Planning for meeting in Ottawa, it went well, believe we can find common ground.. requires follow-up recommendations
 * continuing to polish our pitch and documents
 * Open Tec. Development - Wash. D.C. conf. shaping up.. need OSGeo part to start iron out
 * Sponsorship web pages needed now (?)
 * Confusion about how other local chapters tie into the overall sponsorship plan

Finance

 * summarising various account payables, ensuring invoices are being paid, answering questions as needed
 * day-to-day expenses are now more manageable,
 * worked with Laura regularly
 * weekly follow-up discussions
 * TODO: In near future - need detailed summary of accounts... etc to build transparency, waiting for software to arrive
 * TODO: Tyler/Frank to discuss final approved budget

Infrastructure

 * negotiated final pricing and coordinated hosting provider contract
 * several other DNS-related services now subscribed to and ready for changeover
 * regular semi-weekly meeting/touching base with indictrans, CN, Bob, Shawn, Jason re: various migration tasks, reviewing migration plan and priorities
 * setting up various applications and services as required for testing on community.osgeo site
 * following development of content porting - focused on primary content / tools, new features are secondary

Promotion & Visibility

 * Booth/attendance at GISIDEAS successful
 * AU event
 * Helped organise booth at AU with Nathalie/Heather, etc.
 * MapGuide OS user meeting sounded great
 * Great OSGeo promotion from on-stage - Andrew M, Andy M, Carsten, etc. met Liam
 * Met many faces.. many more opportunities to suggest direction to MGOS marketing, education potentials, etc. .. OSGeo well received with all I spoke to
 * Three specific upcoming events that have approached us: GeoTec, Location Intelligence, Where 2.0 (sort of)... how to best connect?
 * Various branding/design items are wrapping up final vers. - likely by year end
 * Potential to work with new sponsors marketing groups now
 * Discuss conference bid with Victoria bid group
 * Spoke at Ottawa local chapter meeting (~20 people)
 * Newsletter status - migration to osgeo, provided editorial

Legal

 * no significant progress made
 * some review of budget started.. will pass crystal ball past board
 * this needed also for sponsorship solicitation
 * need to go through application form in more detail
 * question of insurance for officers/directors
 * TODO: Tyler to gather quotes for O&D insurance

Office / General

 * now have a public mailing address (PO Box)
 * Do we need to set up a permanent address for foundation - my office PO box is fine, otherwise need virtual service.
 * Set up pretty well with supplies, etc. - will aim to get some good letterhead, etc.
 * Can order biz cards if wanted
 * Tracking expenses
 * Various benefits forms, etc. completed
 * Available more now in IRC :)
 * Gary recommended a service called http://remotecontrolmail.com
 * Generally agreed this was a good idea to get for OSGeo
 * TODO: Tyler to check into options for this service

Motion to confirm FOSS4G conference venue

 * Victoria, BC, Canada was chosen by Conference Committee as venue for 2007 conference
 * Frank motioned to confirm this selection, Jo seconded, all were in favour
 * Discussed need to have point person for helping contract set up for venue confirmation needed, etc.
 * Agreed to ask conference committee to come up with a process for how to manage funds, etc. approval process, and have board agree on process
 * Tyler will be available for signing, coordinating on behalf of OSGeo proper

Other Items

 * Discussed support request for some training events in India next year
 * Tyler to follow up with indictrans/schuyler to see if OSGeo India has funding already and if this is an official OSGeo India initiative

Motion to close meeting
16:00UTC - Gary moves to close, Jo seconded, all voted in favour