Chairman's Corner - Annual Meeting

The NCO Board held its annual meeting Wednesday (26 Oct 2005).

We reviewed where we had been over the last year and where we are headed in the future.

New Board members were elected.
NCO has changed a lot in the last year, and this meeting reflected some of those changes. Many of our long-term followers might remember the early days, when NCO was very focused on technology and access. In the days before we were even incorporated (30 August 1995), we were running dial-up bulletin boards for the exchange of ideas. When the Internet arrived we began working in that space by providing free dial-up at a low resolution (remember Lynx?) and working to develop access points (the terminal in the GoodBye Blue Monday was originally an NCO project). As access itself became less of an issue we turned to developing the electronic commons, well in line with our mission, as stated in the By-Laws:

Northfield Citizens Online is an electronic commons created to give people in the greater Northfield area access to information from both inside and outside the community, regardless of their economic or physical ability, to provide a forum for discussion and a center for information, thereby strengthening the community.

It is fair to say that our current face to the community, NORTHFIELD.ORG serves that mission extraordinarily well.

That said, the Board, over the last year, has had to deal with some complex issues. Remembering our roots, we realized that it was time for us to move beyond the "hands-on" technically savvy makeup we had grown into and look to expand our horizons. At this annual meeting we announced four initiatives:

• expanding and re-focusing the Board.
  
• focusing on developing new partnerships to further expand our connections to the community.
  
• grow the organization to address new goals
  
• addressing our financials
  

Expanding and re-focusing the Board

The Board has been expanded by the addition of several new members, members who are fresh to NCO and who represent the greater Northfield community. New members (from left to right):

• Rick Estenson
  
• Ellen Iverson
  
• Jonathan Jaranson
  
• Jan Allister
  

We welcome these new members to the Board, and look forward to seeing how they will imprint the organization with their ideas and how they will help NCO achieve its vision.

Focusing on developing new partnerships to further expand our connections to the community.

We are looking to connect with other organizations in town whose individual missions complement ours. At the meeting I identified two -- the Northfield Union of Youth and the League of Women Voters Northfield -- as groups we would like to work closely with.

Grow the organization to address new goals

These first initiatives require a refocusing of the Board and a new
understanding of our role. To make that work, we are creating our
first paid position, that of Executive Director to help
take the step in our growth.
We have extended an offer to Griff Wigley (you might know him) to become the first Executive Director of NCO, and he and the Board have ironed out most of the details of that position. We look forward to
his helping us even further extend this electonic community!

Addressing our financials.

You are all no doubt already aware that we are receiving grants from local businesses using a PBS model. We also receive, I might add, without having to even twist arms in a membership drive, donations through our PayPal tip jar (below).

We, the Board, thank you all for your support, and I plan to send each and every contributor a signed, full color, letter on official NCO-letterhead (suitable for framing, get yours now!).

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