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electronic village of abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee
MINUTES
23 April 1997 7:30 P. M.
The scheduled meeting of the Electronic Village of Abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee held in the Town of Abingdon Municipal Building was opened by Chairman F. H. Moore, Jr. There were nine members present. These included:
Dr. Moore noted that corrections were necessary to the minutes of the 13 February 1997 meeting. The final action of the Town Council, taken at their February meeting, was incorrectly stated and the necessary corrections noted. The minutes of the 13 February meeting were approved as corrected.
Dr. Moore recognized Karen McDonald, EVA Webmaster, and Coni Patrick, Design Administrator of the EVA pages and congratulated Karen and Coni for their improvements to the EVA homepage. The whole appearance has undergone some welcome changes and updates.
Dr. Moore advised those in attendance of a meeting held in Congressman Boucher’s office on 21 April concerning the formation of a proposed bill to put before the Virginia Legislature at their next session concerning the establishment of Electronic Villages by counties, cities and towns in general. This meeting involved representatives of the town and representatives of the various telephone companies and cable companies and had resulted in continued negotiations among those groups.
Dr. Moore also apprised everyone of the Town’s proposed 1997-1998 budget and of the fact that an Information Services Department was being formed and funded with a part-time employee to head up the operations of that department. Also, the bank loan in the amount of $40,000 has been authorized and received for the operation of the Electronic Village. The loan requires a monthly payment of $439.17, the Electronic Village has monthly income of $447; resulting in a monthly balance of $7.83.
Jay Cox, while unable to attend the meeting tonight, had asked that the group be informed of NetAccess’ decision to adopt the use of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line Protocol (ADSL) at several offices in the area. Steve Laek explained that ADSL is new technology that uses sophisticated electronics and software to gain expanded bandwidth from the use of dedicated copper pair wiring. Jay had noted that he was working with several offices in Town that could employ this technology until the Electronic Village is able to expand closer to these places
[Minutes continued overleaf]
A list of current Electronic Village subscribers was discussed. The list includes the following customers:
Other potential customers who have expressed interest or have made application include:
Congressman Boucher’s upcoming conference on Conducting Business on the Information Superhighway to be held on May 12, 1997 at New River Community College was discussed. Dr. Moore noted that both he and Congressman Boucher were scheduled as speakers at a gathering composed of representatives of the sixty counties that comprise the jurisdiction of the Appalachian Regional Commission to be held in Kingsport, Tennessee on June 19, 1997.
Ray Millsap stated that the Content Committee would be meeting on an as yet undetermined date in May to undertake expansion of the visible features of the Electronic Village.
The next meeting of the E V A "91st Day" Subcommittee was set for 7:30 P. M. on 21 May, 1997.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Albert C. Bradley, Secretary
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