Monthly Minutes – 2007 Archive
Meeting: 14th of February 2008
Present
- Ron Harrington; President
- Judy Stem; Vice President
- Denise Beaver; Secretary
- Jeannine Morber; Director
- Jeff Selby
- Mark Ripper
- Fran Schinzel
- Dee Raley
- Barb Schmidt
- Tom Canon
- Chris Nicoli
- Bruce Culver
- Kathy Anderson
- Bonnie Grady
- Carol Lee Putnam
- John Lafarge
- Mike Sheelah
- David Hodgdon
- Mark Kaidy
- Jason Tyler
- Mollie McCormick
- Martin Pukownik
- Matt Day
- Bryan Coster
General Announcements
- Introductions
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Jeannine opened the meeting and attendees introduced themselves.
Committee Reports
- Ambassador
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Mike Shelah acknowledged Kathy Anderson from BERC as a first time guest. Chris Nicoli from Teltek introduced Bruce Culver, Teltek's new Sales Director. Bruce is former professional cyclist and previous owner of Liberty Bike Shop.
The first new member orientation was held last week .Will Ferguson and Mike are seeking new committee members. - CompuKids
- Jeannine announced a CompuKids workday on Feb. 22 with the Donation Day on Feb 23rd. 20 families are currently signed up to receive computers.
- Golf
- The 2008 outing will be held on May 15th at The Links at Challedon. Sponsorship packages are now available. You will receive membership value, fun, and help to support CTC fundraising. Golf is from 8:30 am - 1:00 pm followed by a luncheon mixer from 12:00 - 4:00 pm. Volunteers are needed to sell sponsorships and foursomes. Goal is to recruit 120 golfers.
- Education
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Denise announced the Windows VISTA class was cancelled due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled to February 26, 6PM at Carroll Community College, Room T319.
Mark Ripper will teach a MS OneNote class in April, date TBA at 6:00 pm at the Non-Profit Center.
Business Applications of QuickBooks Pro is scheduled for March 25th and 27th at 6:00 pm at Carroll Community College.
Classes are free and are for members only. See Jeannine to register. - Event/Committee Reports:
- Jeannine sent out Committee Information to all members with an opt-in/opt-out option to keep committees functioning smoothly.
- Technology Advisory Committee
- The Data Management seminar held on Jan. 16th was taped by CMC and is now being shown on Channel 19. Jeannine thanked Martin Pukownik for taping and airing the show. Douglas Heck is the new TAC committee chairman and a planning meeting for the next seminar on Communication and Disaster Recovery will be held next Tuesday, 2/19 at 4:30 pm at InfoPathways.
- Website
- Fran said that a website committee meeting will be held today at 11:30 am. The goal is to set up on-line event registration.
- Westminster City Tech Task Force
- Tom Canon said the City of Westminster is moving forward with several projects including working on an intranet, utility billing, planning for fiber optic network installation and deploying remote access in police vehicles.
- Fight the Tech Tax Coalition
- Jeannine said that there is a conference call held every Friday to discuss Fight the Tech Tax initiatives. A rally in Annapolis is scheduled for Feb. 27th. All information is on the CTC forum.
- Tech Council Trivia Contest Winner
- This month's winner is Lynn Karr, Synergetic Energy Pools. The question was "how many CTC members have the word "service" or "services" in their name? The answer is seven.
Member Announcements
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Energy Co-op announcement: New member Bonnie Grady of Synergetic Energy Pools is providing an opportunity for members to join an energy co-op. You must have a commercial location and have your company name on the energy bill. An energy procurement seminar and co-op open enrollment will be held Tuesday March 4th at 9:00 am at the Best Western in Westminster. Another session will be held on Thursday, March 6th with the seminar location to be determined. A $250 enrollment fee covers consultant's fee for length of the contract. Bonnie said that electricity rates will be going up June 1st so savings can be calculated ahead of time.
- MD Dept. of Business & Economic Development (DBED) training grant programs
- Speaker (s): Bryan Coster and Tammi Ledley
Bryan provided an overview of the MD. Dept. of Business & Economic Development office which includes International division, Business Development, Financing, Small Business, Film & Tourism and his office of Regional Development. They meet with companies to offer State programs including financing and workforce training grants. The Carroll County representative Tammi Ledley discussed the Partnership for Workforce Quality (PWQ) program created in 1989 to help MD companies to be more competitive. Target industries for grants include technology and manufacturing. The training is for significant skill upgrades like learning new software, lean manufacturing, new CRM system, ISO training, supervisory, management, and leadership training. Safety training is not covered.
The first step in the process is for the company to meet with a DBED representative to discuss the training needs. The company then completes an application and affidavit to providing financial and business plan information along with training plan details. Tammi assists with the application process. DBED looks at the whole year; current year is FY July 07 through May 08. Training monies are reimbursed at 50% of total training costs (no travel expenses or employee time is reimbursable). Classes must be instructor-led. If training is online training must have instructor and have start/end date.
After the application is reviewed and accepted, a grant agreement is drawn up and signed. Company must then submit documentation for reimbursement. DBED works with companies under 500 that are facility-based In MD.
A minimum of $8K/$4K reimbursed. Maximum is $50K/$25K reimbursed.
DBED can do cluster grants through the Carroll Technology Council if several different companies have a similar training need. CTC members should let Jeannine know of interest in cluster grant training.- On March 6th at 6:00 pm a presentation on internet security will be given by Alex Wilson. It will be a two-part presentation on business and personal internet security with particular attention paid to internet safety for children. Notify Jeannine if you plan to attend. It is $10.00 for non-members.
Next Meeting
March 13th Bill Murphy, Carroll County Toastmasters on "How to give a Technical Presentation"
Minutes submitted by CTC Secretary Denise Beaver.
