The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of Rogue Area Senior Computer Assistance League was held on March 9, 2010 at the Josephine County Fairgrounds Floral Building, Grants Pass, Oregon. The following Board members were present: Galen Garretson, President; Ron Willing, Vice President; Naomi Carlson, Treasurer; Lou Garrotto, Education Director; Patricia Hentges, Membership Director; and Murray Johnson, Communications/Facility Director. Secretary Velma Gustafson was absent due to being on vacation. Jane Frincke substituted as Secretary. Members signing the roster of attendance were: Betty Buskirk, Laura Dunwald and Lannie Harkins.

President Galen Garretson called the meeting to order at 11:43 a.m.

Secretary's Report: Jane Frincke sat in for Velma Gustafson.

Jane stated that the minutes of the February 9, 2010 RASCAL Board meeting had been approved as written and presumably submitted to the RASCAL web master for posting on the web site.

Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Naomi Carlson reported that, despite numerous telephone calls and personal visits requesting statements from the Bulk Mail Center, RASCAL has received no billings from the business for six months. She estimates RASCAL owes the Bulk Mail Center $400.00 to $500.00. As a result of the lack of billing, Naomi is able to produce only preliminary RASCAL financials and has not even been able to close the books for 2009. She stated that RASCAL transferred $5,000.00 from checking to savings for a total of $23,538.00 in RASCAL checking, savings and CDs. It was agreed that the club will roll over the CDs which will come due this month. (Secretary's note: The preliminary financial statements for February 2010 are attached to these minutes and available for viewing by any RASCAL member.)

Membership Director's Report: Membership Director Patricia Hentges gave the membership report which shows the club at 931 individual members as of the end of February 2010. She stated it is too early to see a trend in membership numbers for 2010 versus 2009.

Education Director's Report: Lou Garrotto reported:

• He reviewed the instructors' luncheon meeting that was held recently. At the meeting approximately ten suggestions were made to assist in teaching and all but one have been implemented.
• It was determined that RASCAL students who are enrolled in a RASCAL class during the current term are eligible for the student discount at the RCC bookstore. Lou will check whether RCC will issue student body cards to RASCAL students.
• Lou called the BDC tech support people and they are willing to change the ID on the three or four lab computers that do not have the proper password and, therefore, cannot be booted. The techs need to know exactly which computers have to be reset. Galen will determine which computers and inform Lou.
• BDC will not allow any free programs to remain on lab computers. Such programs will be removed at the end of each session. Furthermore, any legal programs added must be installed by a BDC tech. Galen asked whether these stipulations also include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Live Mail, since SBD is currently running IE7 and Windows Mail. Lou will check and let Galen know.
• There have been inquiries as to when BDC is going to upgrade to Windows 7. The college is currently looking at the issue and will install Windows 7 as soon as finances allow.
• Lou will also email the instructors back and give them answers to the questions asked at the instructors' meeting.

A new subject was brought up regarding Bill Porter teaching Graphics. Bill is unable to teach in the BDC lecture room on Tuesdays. Therefore, it was discussed at length whether a Graphics Special Interest Group could be formed with SIG classes held at the Fairgrounds Floral Building on Tuesdays after the general RASCAL meeting. Such SIG classes would fall outside the realm of RASCAL/RCC classes. Both Naomi and Galen spoke to Fairgrounds Manager Jackie McBee, who stated RASCAL could use the Floral Building on Tuesdays, with occasional exceptions, until 1:00 p.m. Jackie did go on to say it would be "nice" if RASCAL could give the Fairgrounds a $20.00 per week donation for the extended use of the Floral Building. It was agreed that $20.00 per SIG meeting is a reasonable fee, and it was also agreed that, although Graphics is a popular class, there could be times when the SIG "student" fees might not cover the cost of using the Floral Building.

The Graphics SIG could not be advertised as a RASCAL/RCC class but would be classified as a SIG. Registration for the SIG could not be through the college and SIG "student" fees would have to be collected separately from those for RASCAL/RCC classes. The charge for a four-week SIG course will be $10.00 per student. The fees collected would go toward the $20.00 per week Fairgrounds charge. A separate registrar and new registration forms will be necessary since the RCC forms cannot be used. Patricia offered to design a new Graphics SIG registration form.

The old projector will be loaned to Bill to use during his Graphics SIG meetings.

Someone will need to check with Bill regarding a schedule for the Graphics SIG and coordinate with the Fairgrounds.

There followed discussion on whether Bill would teach Photoshop Elements from the beginning. It was decided Judy Engel should talk to Bill about offering a beginning class. Lou will make the request of Judy.

In summary, it was agreed that the details of forming a Graphics SIG, publicizing, a separate registrar, registration forms, collecting student fees, SIG schedule and curriculum will be put off until Bill is consulted and decides on the options.

Communications Director's Report:

• Communications Director Murray Johnson gave the good news that we have a new laptop in the cupboard ready to be put in service. The rebate will arrive around the end of the month. There is still debate about which version of the MS Office Suite to put on the new computer. Murray has not yet had the chance to assess exactly what programs are on the new computer.
• Murray also announced that Gerry Tank will take over handling the NewsDispatch with Murray and Wally Zittle as backups. Vicki Moore also attended a recent Dispatch meeting so has knowledge of the process involved.
• There is an extra Dell battery and Murray questioned what it belongs to. Ron Willing suggested it may belong with the older Dell laptop the club sold at auction. It was agreed the battery would be given to the purchaser of the older Dell laptop.

Vice President's Report: Ron Willing had nothing to report.

President's Report: President Galen Garretson discussed how many licensed copies of MS Office 2007 Professional are needed. Murray confirmed that all previously purchased registrations have now been used, including the three registrations for Office 2007. Galen checked Tech Soup and found that a minimum of five "seats" (with three registrations per seat) must be purchased at $20.00 each. The next order date is April 10, 2010. Ron offered to research the Microsoft site for free copies/licenses.

Galen questioned if there is any other Microsoft software we should order from Tech Soup to make a combination of five "seats" since the club needs only two seats for Office 2007. Windows 7 was discussed and Murray reported that the new laptop has two registrations for Windows 7. If Windows 7 were put on the Dell, it would need another gigabyte of RAM.

Following discussion, it was agreed to hold off buying any seats considering MS Office 2010 will be released in the near future. There was also discussion about the virtual machine on the new HP laptop. Since it appears more Office 2007 software isn't necessary, it was decided the club will wait to purchase Office 2010 when it comes out.

Footprints: Lou Garrotto reported as follows:

• The RASCAL public service announcement will be on television eventually. Ron Willing has been proposed as the voice-over speaker.
• Lou is still investigating the price discrepancies on bumper stickers. He showed the proposed mock-up.
• RCC scholarship:
  • o Lou has talked to RCC about RASCAL possibly offering a scholarship. RCC is most appreciative. The scholarships are handled by Bob Bush of Eagle Plywood. There are a number of means of establishing a scholarship.
  • o Ron stated there is an RCC foundation that will set up a scholarship, its term and its criteria. Terms include one-time, annual and perpetual. Discussion ensued regarding criteria.
  • o It was decided that any scholarship would be funded by fundraising events rather than the RASCAL treasury.
  • o The amount of the scholarship was discussed and it was agreed $500.00 would be do-able.
  • Galen asked how a vote of the general membership is handled. Jane gave the specifics. It was decided that the general membership will vote up or down on whether to offer a scholarship. Jane will design a 30-day notice of the vote to be projected on the screen before each meeting for the next month. She will also arrange for the notice to appear on the Dispatch.
  • o It was agreed that if the general membership votes to fund a one-time $500.00 scholarship for an RCC student, which will be paid from the proceeds of fundraisers, the details will then be worked out (committees for criteria, fund raising, etc.).
• Galen proposed and it was agreed that RASCAL will give Rocky Garrotto a gift certificate as thanks for filming and putting together the RASCAL public service announcement. Galen will purchase the gift certificate.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:37p.m.

Respectfully submitted
Jane Frincke
Substituting for Secretary Velma Gustafson

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