August 18, 2000
Cooper County Extension Center
Boonville, MO

Members Present: JoAnn Sullivan, Bill Sullivan, Harry Stone, Bill Wood, and Darin Starr.

Others Present: Gu-ree Beam

Call to order: President Darin Starr called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m.

Minutes: Approved as e-mailed.

Treasurer's Report: Approved as e-mailed.

Saline County Kids Count Grant Proposal: Darin Starr reported on the Kids Count Grant proposal in Saline County. Darin Starr had submitted a grant for $1000 to provide for marketing Mo-River.net and webpage training to enhance Saline County's presence on the network. These moneys are the result of a "Maintenance of Effort" budget item in the 15th Circuit Juvenile Court budget (money that was made available for new programming as a result of Juvenile Offices becoming state employees in 1999). We can probably use it for election advertisements for the three counties. Darin Starr will check on that.

City of Albany Web Site/Our Town 2000: Continuing with the discussion of old business, the board visited a website managed by the city of Albany, MO. A few years ago, Albany invested in a software database package that networks all city offices together. The software allows a city to display information from the database onto a webpage that can be viewed by the general public. Additionally if a citizen of Albany can go the web page and request information of city services from the comfort of their own home. Darin Starr and Art Schneider were able to visit with city officials from Albany about this at the CIN2000 conference earlier this spring. Darin Starr recalled that they were informed that the cost of Albany's system is about $3000. Harry Stone commented that it is possible that the software might be available for less money to a non-profit organization, but Darin Starr pointed out that he doesn't see Mo-river Net using it exclusively. At the conference it was pointed out that although Albany is only one body of government, the database is designed so that multiple agencies/groups/governing bodies can utilize the database and still maintain separate information.

According to Darin Starr, for example, the cities of Marshall, Slater, Sweet Springs and the Saline County Government could use the same system and link to each other similar to linking a webpage. The cities and county information could be kept separate but managed through a single database. One of the additional costs of such a system would be the requirement of a full time employee(s) to make responses and follow through.

Darin Starr  reported that this software can probably be purchased from "Our Town 2000". Harry Stone volunteered to find out details. There is a list of users on its page. They could be contacted to find out if they are satisfied with its use. Jo Ann Sullivan   suggested that our city council minutes be included on the Boonville city page.

Tourism Grant: Continuing old business, Art Schneider had a grant application that he was working, but Darin Starr stated that since Art Schneider is not present, we don't know the status of it. Bill Sullivan said that the due date has passed for the grant application with the city, but will probably be reissued for a second round, as $20,000 was left unassigned, and must all be used. These moneys will be available annually on a continuing basis.

Mo-River.Net Commercial: Concerning the commercial update, Darin Starr said that he hasn't had time to call Ron, so he has nothing to report. Bill Sullivan said that according to his information, the St. Patrick's Day obligation for three months hasn't firmed up very well. Harry Stone suggested running the ad on Channel 3 in Boonville. Darin Starr followed with the statement that a non-profit organization can put one ad per month on Channel 10 in Marshall for free.

Vision Quest: Darin Starr stated that because he hasn't been able to get the "Vision Quest" software to work, he can't report on it.

Community Calendar: Harry Stone reported that the Mo-River calendar is not being used, that people in the community are not sending in events.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by

Gu-Ree Beam
Acting Secretary
Updated 8/17/00

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