MO-RIVER.NET BOARD MINUTES |
Call to order: President Darin Starr called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m.
Minutes: Art Schneider moved and JoAnn Sullivan seconded that the minutes from the May meeting be approved as presented. Motion carried.
Treasurer's report: The treasurer reported that there is $733.60 in the bank account after paying for two new Mo-River.Net banners. One banner will be kept in each county.
CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK ESLICK: It was announced that Mark Eslick has been proclaimed as Who's Who in Technology for Mid-Missouri by the Mid-Missouri Business Journal. We all congratulate him.
Lewis and Clark Trail: Bill Sullivan handed out promotional material concerning the Lewis & Clark Trail. Lewis and Clark passed through the tri-county area on their way to the Pacific Northwest, going through Boonville on June 8, 1804, and following the Missouri River on west. There is a web site LewisandClarkTrail.com.
Membership: The group discussed membership, reviewing the list of members who's dues are current and those whose memberships have lapsed. Bill Sullivan moved and Harry Stone seconded that board and officer elections be postponed until year end while we make an effort to reinvigorate the group.
Mo-River.Net Commercial: Bill Sullivan brought up the question of the commercial that we have been trying to put together to familiarize the residents of the tri-county area with the web site and all it offers. He is concerned about the way Classic Cable is handling commercials for some of his Boonville Area merchants. The group agrees that it is time to go ahead if we are going to do it. We will at least have the tape if we decided we aren't getting the exposure we anticipate from Classic Cable.
Technical notes: JoAnn mentioned a helpful trick she found in Front Page. It is called "automatic thumbnail" and is useful for putting several images on a page. Automatic thumbnail creates a small version of an image on the original page while retaining the full size image in another location and setting a link from the original page. Also discussed was a question about converting images from one format to another. That requires one of many graphics programs available such as Image Composer.
Political Election Candidates: JoAnn announced that she had candidate information on the website for Cooper County. She needs help with getting lists of candidates from Saline and Howard Counties. Darin indicated that he would get the Saline County list for her.
Election Night Coverage: The group discussed possibilities for election night coverage. Art suggested that we ought to be willing to pay a nominal amount for people to report the results from each county seat. An amount of $30 per site was suggested. It was also suggested that we run a small ad in each county's main newspaper: "For instant election results see MO-River.Net." Art moved and JoAnn seconded that we run the ads and pay people to report the results. The motion carried.
MACIN: Art reported on the MACIN meeting July 20. Funding was not approved by the legislature for the community information networks in the recently approved budget. MACIN is going to area clusters for now to regroup. One such cluster is the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments. We should be looking at their website.
County Commission Letters: Art recommended that it is time to urge the county commissions for our area to get their information on our website. Art moved and JoAnn seconded that the President send letters to each county commission requesting their cooperation. The motion carried. Darin suggested that the secretary might be a better choice. Jene agreed to help draft a letter.
Thinkquest: Art brought in information about a program called ThinkQuest 2000. It might be a good way to get students involved in the web site. He gave copies to JoAnn and Harry for evaluation and asked that they report at the next meeting. He is thinking we could do a Mo-River.Net Think Quest contest with prizes to encourage kids to design web pages about the county. It would probably get parents involved as well.
Kids Count: Darin announced that he has applied for a grant from Kids Count, a program in Saline County. The grants are expected to be $1,000 or less and will be announced the first week of August.
Kids Section on Mo-River.Net: Art wondered whether we should develop a special section of Mo-River.Net for kids. We agreed to give some thought to the possibility.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held Friday, August 18, 2000, at 10:30 a.m. at the Boonville Extension Center.
Adjourned: Bill Wood moved and Harry Stone seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried. The group adjourned to Darlene's desk to look at the election pages JoAnn has posted.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jene Crook
Secretary-treasurer
Updated 8/17/00
