October 4, 2002
Minutes
Attendees: Peter Adamy, Kyle Davie, Mike Shaughnessy, Lee Rabbitt, Bill Fiske, Sheila Carlson, Sharon Hussey, Pam Christman, Jim Monti
Nomination of Vice Chairperson to replace Katie Miller
Mike nominated Jim Monti to take the position of Vice Chairperson. Lee seconded the motion and a vote resulted in unanimous affirmation.
Lee asked about term limits for executive positions. Bill responded that theoretically there are limits which haven’t been enforced for a variety of reasons of a temporary nature. The Board Governance Committee will take that up as an area in need of an updated process.
New Business
Modified FY03 Budget
Sharon asked for motion to approve revised personnel budget due to miscalculations in the August presentation. Motion was approved.
In a separate but related issue, Sharon asked for an increase to the merit pool requested and approved in August of 1% of total personnel salaries to 2%. Motion was approved..
Status of
subcommittee’s progress on Strategic Planning
Jim mentioned that in the area of Professional Development, several initiatives are coming together from districts, RITTI, and RIDE that will be able to be reflected in the Strategic Plan.
Sheila asked for clarification of the strategies specified under ‘Goal B - expand partnerships and collaborations to foster educational excellence.’ Members agreed that more discussion would be helpful. The October 18th worksession meeting will be used to initiate more discussion of the goals in the strategic plan.
Considerations for
FY04 Bandwidth pricing
Mike opened this discussion with a request for guidance from the Board on direction to pursue as we plan the FY04 price schedule and need for an increase in rates.
The way we approach it is based on how we see RINET. Are we are a collaborative, are we a vendor? The selected method will depend on the goals of the collaborative in terms of the motivation of districts to move off frame relay and to increase amount of bandwidth purchased ...
The first option is to assess a fixed charge to cover the price of ATM router replacements, to increase the building charge and to decrease in the bandwidth charge. With this method, the overall effect is that the rate per megabit for bandwidth decreases as a district buys more bandwidth.
The second option is to include the router replacement and the building costs in the per megabit rate. With this method, there is no relative advantage in cost per megabit for buying more bandwidth.
For both alternatives, the frame relay service rate would be increased by 3%. This may provide an incentive for frame relay districts to move to ATM.
Members were in agreement that the first alternative is preferable for the short term with the long term goal of a simple rate per megabit as we reach our target goal for total bandwidth to districts.
Seascape Observatory visit
Several members expressed interest in meeting with the directors of the observatory on an evening when we would be able to view the skies and stars. They would like to be able to bring spouses and children. Sharon will request several possible Friday evenings of Steve Hubbard for members to agree upon
Meeting was adjourned
at 10:45 am..