Will discuss the Club’s scanner when we get to Old Business.

Secretary, Jan Schneck – No report.

Previously distributed financial accounting for the month of August. The Club received $210 in dues, a $100 gift, $60 in Class Tuition and $0.26 of bank interest. On the expense side was $56.07 for meeting supplies, affecting a positive net cash flow of $239.19. The Pass-Through account received income of $750 and expended $656.10 for ink cartridges, paper, etc. leaving a balance of $874.33 in that account. The Treasury’s ending balance for the month was $3,528.34 of which $874.33 is designated for the Pass-Through Account.

Schmeling noted on his report that the insurance agent, contacted by Bob Kutschera, quoted a policy premium of $620 to cover our current inventory of assets valued at $12,288. The policy would include a $500 deductible and recovery would be based on the price we paid less depreciation determined by the insurer. This issue will be discussed next month when Schmeling will be here.

Commented that the Nominating Committee was approved last month, but they have been unable to get attendance figures from the Access program. He did get an Excel spreadsheet that gives him some information. Nobody contacted has been willing to serve on the Board. Sanders will get together with Dick Schmeling and Bob Mugge to see what they can do. The Club needs a President, Vice President and two Directors at Large. Bob Foster has agreed to run for a Director at Large position.

Frank Fritchman suggested a letter go out to members urgently requesting volunteers for the open positions. Karen Brown agreed that it couldn’t hurt to do that. All we need is a leader; there is no requirement that the person be a computer expert.

Bob Kutschera reported that the General Meeting drew 33 attendees including 3 guests plus the Program presenter, Carl Beck of Best Buy. There were no new memberships recorded at the Meeting.

There were 22 Newsletter bounce backs. Kutschera’s research found that a few were typographical errors; some were change of address; and one was a member who has left Tellico Village. All corrections have been sent to Ethel Tatro for database corrections.

Kutschera recommended that the Board arrive at and approve the annual membership dues for 2009. As of October 1, the Membership Committee will be collecting dues for the 2009 calendar year.

In Bob Foster’s absence, Jim Peterson reminded that the October Program will be on developing a website.

Mugge said he was told the internet didn’t work for the September meeting because of a storm earlier in the day. There was nobody available to reset the system. Peterson stated that he had called before the meeting, about 4:00 PM, and was told the system was working, but when he got there it wasn’t.

Brown mentioned that she is thinking about going with Verizon Wireless, but has a lot of questions about it. Wondered if that might be a good topic for a meeting. Peterson responded that it sure might be and advised her to talk to Bob Foster about it. He might be able to add 10 minutes or so to the October or November meeting. Peterson did say that the cost depends on what package you buy and how much speed you get.

Jim Peterson said he has tried to contact Penny Visconti by e-mail and by phone. He has been unable to contact her by any means.

Sanders stated that he talked to Donna Akey and she has agreed to let anyone who wishes to look at the space that she has available under Catino’s at 4:30 0r 5:00 today. We need to get the money to rent space in any case.

Has received a couple of pledges; one is $500 per year for 3 years and one is for $240 per year. He’s gotten 3 $100 one-time donations. He’s waiting to hear from the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs who’s Boards meet this week. Hopefully, he’ll hear something by the end of this week. Other hopefuls are Pilot, Weigles, Food City, Food Lion and Wampler’s. Maybe some of those will come through. He’s hoping that between the POA Tel-E-Gram, the Connection, Dave Hudgens, and Channel 6, some of the Villagers will begin to call with some donations. He’s not sure how to approach TV residents for their support. We have to vacate the Church facility by mid-October.

Peterson asked how much money is actually needed. Sanders offered that in addition to the rent, unknown at this time, we’ll have water and sewer, electricity, internet and telephone. He’ll try to have more definitive information by next month’s meeting. Peterson suggested putting some kind of plea in the Connection and in the new Trahan paper again.

Sanders has learned that Mrs. Akey charges one of her tenants $650 per month. When talking about the space under Catino’s, she indicated that it would be less expensive because it’s not storefront.

Mugge stated that he will try to get an Excel class going because people have been asking for one.

He needs to have a web page or e-mail to get information out quickly if/when an instructor advises that he/she is ready to do a class. Students have to b notified of possible date(s) and the room reservation has to be cleared with Larissa at the Rec Center. This cannot necessarily wait for a General Meeting.

We need to have instructors come over to the lab to see the equipment, how it is set up, how it works, etc. So far, none of the prospective instructors – except Ken Ray – have indicated that they are ready to give a class. Hopefully, the major vacation time is ending and it might be easier to get people together.

Alline suggested one way to speed up the process or rev up interest is to get into the Open Sessions we talked about having here. Peterson agreed that we need to designate a time, say the 3^rd Thursday of the month from 10:00 to 2:00, to have an Open House or Workshop where people can come and go one-on-one with some of us. They can ask questions in a less formal setting and we can answer or get the answer. Brown suggested we find out which of the Club’s knowledgeable people will be on hand and announce that we’ll be answering questions on e-mail, Word and Power Point for example. Peterson thinks that might get people in here to see what it’s all about.

Sanders suggested the first 2-3 months, the lab should be open to any questions members want to ask. Then if we find that we have a lot of questions about Word, we can schedule a session specifically with a Word person here to answer. He also reminded that with the work load they have preceding the 9/27 garage sale and the next couple of weeks after that for clearing out of the church facility, many of the people that can answer questions are not likely to be available.

Peterson suggested we try to kick off the project later in October with notice at the General Meeting and in the Newsletter and we’ll call it a Workshop. Sanders suggested doing it maybe from 3:00 to 5:00 and again at 6:30 to 8:30.