The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:07 pm.

Board members present: 

John Walker, Warren King, Donna Pikl (via Zoom), Richard Milewski, Ron
Dixon, Henry Neugass, Ty Davison, Donita Zwolak (via Zoom). A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the February 14, 2023 meeting was made, seconded and carried.

Treasurer’s report:

Current total balance is $ 791.84. Ron asked Donna to provide a list of paid members. Donna will e-mail it
to him.

Old Business:

Action items:

John reported that the facilities contract was delayed by other activities being performed by Center 50+
personnel (Alvin). Alvin indicated that he would be working on our contract shortly.
Richard reported on the SMUG website. He again reminded Board members that he needs a short bio of
each of the officers for the web site. Richard has posted a copy of the bylaws on the web site and noted
that they were in need of major revision. He has also posted a working copy on the web site for use in the
revision effort. A discussion was held about the best way to update the bylaws. Ty volunteered to lead the
effort.

Standing items:

Attendance at the February meeting was 5 in-person and 3 on Zoom.
Program – The March presentation will be Apple HomeKit with a short update on ChatGPT, if time allows.
The April presentation will be on the Ventura operating system for Macs and Henry’s postponed
presentation on Mac Short-Takes will take place in May. June’s presentation will be on Security and
Privacy. July’s will be Apple One.

Tabled items:

• Spark Studio – Nothing new to report.
• Mentoring Program – tabled indefinitely
• Dues collection via website – John and Donna will work at implementing Zelle as an alternative.

New Business:

The Board members began a collaborative effort of reviewing and updating the bylaws. Suggestions were
made and preliminary changes were made to the working copy.
Ron informed the group that he would miss the next two meetings. John will secure a substitute secretary.

Action items:

• Facilities contract – John
• Clarify number of remaining pre-paid facility fees – John
  
• Web site changes – Richard
  
• Bylaws update – Ty and Richard
  

Adjournment:

John adjourned the Board Meeting @ 6:50 pm.

By: Ron Dixon, Secretary

Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Donita
Zwolak, Henry Neugass. A quorum was present.

Minutes Review:

Ron noted that the reporting of the number of members present at the meeting was incorrect. A motion to
accept the minutes of the September 13, 2022 meeting as amended was made, seconded and carried.

Treasurer’s report:

There is $374.84 in the account.

Old Business:

Action Items:

Richard reported that he had visited the Spark Studio facility three times and while it looks promising, it is
still too early in its development for us to consider it as a viable alternative to Center 50+.Other:

The number of attendees at the September Zoom meeting was 9.

The November general meeting presentation on Shortcuts was cancelled. Instead, there will be a
presentation on iOS 16. Future presentations are: December – Extended Q&A + Members Show & Tell:
New and Interesting Software & Websites + perhaps a series of topic tables, January – Apple HomeKit.

The number of attendees at the September Zoom general meeting was 9.

The subject of a mentoring program will remain tabled until after the October meeting.

New Business:

The election of Board members will be held at the December meeting. The positions are: President, Vice-
president, Secretary, Treasurer, Program Director, Webmaster, and three At-large positions. Ron will send
out an e-mail to the members asking for volunteers.

Action items:

1. E-mail asking for volunteers for Board positions (Ron)

Adjournment:

John adjourned the Board Meeting @ 6:44 pm.

By: Ron Dixon, Interim Secretary

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:05 pm.

Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl (late), Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison,
Donita Zwolak, Henry Neugass. A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the July 12, 2022 meeting as e-mailed was made, seconded and
carried.

Treasurer’s report:

No report.

Old Business:

After a discussion about the status of Covid and the financial needs of the organization, a motion to
resume in-person meetings beginning with the October 11th meeting was made, seconded and carried.
It was agreed that the collection of dues will commence at that meeting. The dues system will be modified
so that they will be due each October instead of on the anniversary of the member’s joining. Dues will
remain at $30 per year. Those joining during the year will be charged at the rate $2.50 per month until the
following October. Additionally, those members choosing to attend the meetings via Zoom will be charged
the same amount.

The number of attendees at the May Zoom general meeting was 9.
Tonight’s presentation will be on Syncing and will be presented by Kelly Robison of MacAtoZ and Richard
Milewski. Future presentations were reviewed and the October presentation was changed to New Apple
Products. . The HomeKit presentation was moved to January. In summary the presentations are:
September: Sync, October: New Apple Products, November: Shortcuts, December: Extended Q&A +
Members Show & Tell: New and Interesting Software & Websites, and January: Apple HomeKit.
The subject of a mentoring program will remain tabled until after the October meeting.

New Business:

Based upon her response to the in-person questionnaire, Evelyn Gatlin will be removed from the
membership list.
There was a discussion about the new electronics maker space on SE 22nd Ave and whether it may be a
candidate for future meetings of SMUG. It appears to be premature to consider but we will keep an eye
on it’s development.
John reminded the group that we must begin the process of identifying individuals to serve on the Board.
The process is:

• October – appoint a nominating committee;
• November – present proposed slate of officers to the membership;
• December – vote by general membership.

Action items:

1. Investigate Spark Studio facilities – Richard

Adjournment:

John closed the Board Meeting @ 6:45 pm.

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:05 pm.
Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Donita
Zwolak, Henry Neugass. A quorum was present.

Minutes Review

A motion to accept the minutes of the June 14, 2022 meeting as e-mailed was made, seconded and
carried.

Treasurer’s Report

There were no expenditures and the account balance remains at $371.84.

Old Business

Action Items

Ron reported on the results of the member survey of views of returning to in-person meetings. There were
12 members ready to return to in-person meetings immediately, 4 who would not return primarily because
they preferred Zoom, 2 who who wanted to wait because of Covid reasons, and 1 who did not want to
belong to the group at all.

Other

After a discussion about the status of Covid, the Board decided to wait to make a decision on in-person
meetings. The general plan is to review the subject again at the September meeting with a hope to begin
in-person meetings in October.
The number of attendees at the May Zoom general meeting was 10.
Future presentations were reviewed and confirmed.

They are:

September: Sync
October: Apple HomeKit
November: Shortcuts
December: Extended Q&A + Members Show & Tell: New and Interesting Software & Websites

Ron suggested that Apple’s new system to replace passwords would be an interesting topic. It was
agreed to consider it for a spring time meeting

The subject of a mentoring program will remain tabled until after a decision on in-person meetings is
made.

New Business

Ron mentioned that he would likely miss the September meeting. Donna volunteered to take minutes. Ty
mentioned that he would likely miss the December meeting.

Richard asked about the Board’s feelings about having the Zoom link on the main page of the SMUG web
site. It is currently on a secondary page where visitors request permission to join. The Board agreed with
his suggestion to move the link.

There was a general discussion of the financial ramifications of moving to in-person meetings. It was
agreed to discuss in more detail at the September meeting.

Action items

None

Adjournment

John closed the Board Meeting @ 6:45 pm.

 

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary

SMUG
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
June 14, 2022

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:05 pm.

Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Donita Zwolak. A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the May 11, 2022 meeting as e-mailed was made, seconded and carried.

Treasurer’s report:

There were no expenditures and the account balance remains at $371.84.
Old Business:

Action items:

John shared a copy of the Center 50+ answer to his question about air handling. A copy is included as an addendum to these minutes. There was discussion about the reply and everyone agreed that they were not knowledgeable enough about air handling to analyze the Center’s answer.

This lead to a discussion on when to begin inperson meetings again. Ron introduced a message from Warren King asking that inperson meetings be begun ASAP. However, after much discussion, the Board decided to continue with Zoom-only meetings at this time. The situation will continue to be monitored and evaluated at each future Board meeting.

As part of the inperson meeting discussion, Ty indicated that a more limited live audience would make him more comfortable in attending. Ron agreed to poll the membership to see how many will attend in person when inperson meetings begin again.

Other:

The number of attendees at the May Zoom general meeting was 11.

A discussion on possible presentation topics for the October meeting was held. It was felt that Apple Homekit would be a good subject. Further discussion will be held next month.

The subject of a mentoring program will remain tabled until after a decision on inperson meetings is made.

New Business:

None

Action items:

Ron to poll full membership about in person attendance.

Adjournment:

John closed the Board Meeting @ 6:50 pm.

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:10 pm.
Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Henry
Neugass, Donita Zwolak. A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the April 12, 2022 meeting as e-mailed was made, seconded and
carried.

Treasurer’s report:

There were no expenditures and the account balance remains at $371.84.

Old Business:

Action items:

• John reported on his Center 50+ discussions.
• Currently, there are no limitations on the number of attendees at a meeting
• They sanitize before and after each meeting
• Masks are optional and free ones are available
• Air is exchanged on a regular basis. Ty inquired about the frequency and John did not know. He will
ask next time he speaks with someone from Center 50+
• Richard reported that he had delivered a “large stack” of information cards to Center 50+ over a week
ago. He asked that Board members report back to him when more are needed.

Other:

After a short discussion, the members agreed that we will continue to meet via Zoom given that the
number of Covid cases are rising again.
The number of attendees at the April Zoom general meeting was 11.
After discussion, June’s general meeting will be changed to a report on WWDC by Ty. The presentation
on Maps will be moved to July. September’s topic will be syncing information between a user’ different
devices.

New Business:

Donna asked about re-establishing a mentoring activity for new users of Apple equipment. The program
has been dormant for a number of years. The general consensus was that this is a good idea. Details will
be flushed out in future meetings. Richard stated that he would be willing to participate after we begin in-
person meetings again.

Action items:

1. John will follow up on the question about frequency of air exchange at Center 50+.

Adjournment:

John closed the Board Meeting @ 6:46 pm.

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:12 pm.

Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Henry Neugass, Donita Zwolak. A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the March 8, 2022 meeting as emailed was made, seconded and carried.

Treasurer’s report:

There were no expenditures and the account balance remains at $371.84.

Old Business:

Action items:

John reported that he had not yet contacted Center 50+ but planned to do so in the near future.
Richard reported that the web problems that had been identified have been corrected.

May’s general meeting topic will be the Monterey operating system. Ty will be presenting. He hopes to be able to recommend upgrading to Monterey by that time. It looks promising. This month’s presentation will be on Apple Keynote.

The return to in-person meetings was discussed. The Board agreed that it was still too early to return to in-person meetings and we will continue with Zoom meetings for the near term.

The number of attendees at the March Zoom general meeting was 14.

The discussion on how dues will be handled when we return to in-person meetings was discussed. Ron’s proposal from last meeting seemed to be favored. It was moved (by Ty) that, beginning at the second in-person meeting, that we will transition to once a year collection of dues with the amount remaining at $30 per year and that new members will pay a pro-rated amount when they join. The motion was seconded (by Richard) and carried.

New Business:

Richard asked whether he could email all members regarding completing the registration form. The members of the board felt that it was okay to do so. Richard also noted that he had recently added a webmaster’s blog feature to the web site and asked others to contribute. Henry indicated that he was interested.

Ty updated the Board on the status of personnel at MacAtoZ. Kelly Robison, who has vast amount of Apple experience, has joined the firm.

The topic of Zoom etiquette was discussed. Several members commented that the extraneous noises that occur during the topic presentation was distracting and annoying. Ty suggested that he could mute everyone at the beginning of the presentation. Attendees could still ask questions by using Zoom capabilities. It was agreed this was a good approach. Ty will make an announcement at the beginning of his presentation tonight.

Center50+ personnel have made comments that members of the community have asked about SMUG. Richard will draft a short information sheet that Center 50+ can hand out.

Action items:

John will follow up on questions and concerns about Center 50+.
Richard & Henry will work on additional content for the Webmaster’s Blog.
Richard will contact Center 50+ about information sheet.

Adjournment:

John Walker closed the Board Meeting @ 6:44 pm.

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary

The meeting was called to order by John Walker at 6:08 pm.

Board members present: John Walker, Donna Pikl, Richard Milewski, Ron Dixon, Ty Davison, Henry Neugass, Donita Zwolak. A quorum was present.

Minutes review:

A motion to accept the minutes of the February 8, 2022 meeting as emailed was made, seconded and carried.

Treasurer’s report:

There were no expenditures and the account balance remains at $371.84.

Old Business:

General meeting topics were reviewed and discussed and it was agreed to continue with current plans. Tonight’s presentation will be Numbers and Ty will be the presenter. Ty will also give a quick update on today’s announcement from Apple. April’s topic will be Keynote.

The return to in-person meetings was discussed. Ty felt the current infection rate was still too high and, in addition, had questions and concerns about air handling and other safety practices at the Center 50+. Others had similar questions and concerns. John will contact Center 50+ to answer our questions and concerns and to clarify their requirements for holding in-person meetings. The Board agreed that it was too early to return to in-person meetings and we will continue with Zoom meetings for the near term.

Richard asked John to ask Center 50+ about early access to the meeting room. He is working on developing the technology for us to have hybrid in-person/Zoom meetings. He will need a minimum of 20 minutes to setup the system before each meeting. Richard also asked John to inquire about a contact for adding SMUG information to various Center 50+ monitors.

New Business:

Donna has resigned as the group’s secretary but has agreed to remain as treasurer for the time being. Ron volunteered to replace her. A motion to appoint Ron as Interim Secretary for the remainder of Donna’s term was made, seconded and carried.

Ron asked if the Secretary was responsible for maintaining an archive of Board minutes. It was decided there was no need since the minutes are kept on the web site.

Ty reported finding some problems with the group’s web site (spelling and password processing). Richard will investigate.

There was a discussion of how to handle the renewal of membership dues once we return to in-person meetings. Ron suggested that we change to yearly dues based upon an even monthly amount with a fixed renewal date for all members. For example: $36 dollars per year due on January 1st. Then new members joining during the dues year would pay a prorated amount (annual dues/12 * number of months remaining until the new dues year). He believes that this would simplify the Treasure’s job. This item will be discussed at a future Board meeting.

Ty updated the Board on the status of personnel at MacAtoZ.

Action items:

1. Richard will follow up on reported web site problems.
2. John will follow up on questions and concerns about Center 50+.

Adjournment:

John Walker closed the Board Meeting @ 6:48 pm.

Ron Dixon
Interim Secretary