Minutes June, 24 1998

The scheduled meeting of the Electronic Village of Abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee held in the Johnston Memorial Hospital Cafeteria was opened by Jay Cox, Vice-Chairman. There were eleven members present. These included:

Jay Cox, Vice-Chairman	Steve Galyean
Al Bradley, Secretary	Bill Chaffin
Randy Robertson	Jack White
Burt Bassham	Randy Boyd
David Taverner	Bob Franklin
David Taverner	Brian Lanham
John Mongle

    The minutes of the 27 May, 1998 meeting were approved as presented.

    The status of new connections was discussed. These included CASA computer Service, Johnson, Scyphers & Austin Office at 189 E. Valley Street, Johnson, Scyphers & Austin Office at 164 E. Valley Street, The Love House at 210 East Valley Street.

    The next item was that of financial condition. Jay Cox stated that they had recently performed a study of revenues vs. expenditures for EVA and had found the following to be true:

Jay further pointed out that the Electronic Village of Abingdon could now easily afford to make an average of one new connection per month without having to resort to any financial assistance from the Town of Abingdon. Bill Chaffin remarked that he felt that the $350 monthly charge by NetAccess to reserve this port was very inexpensive and that eventually this cost would have to increase. At such time as that increase becomes effective, we would have to negotiate a cost-sharing agreement with the Town of Abingdon, VA for this purpose.

Bill Chaffin raised the question of beginning now to convert the EVA network to 100 MB per second. Several consequences of this action were considered, but felt to be warranted. Individuals would have to upgrade their Network Interface Cards and possibly the transceivers. EVA would have to upgrade the equipment located at the Sprint Central Office, but this equipment is leased and could potentially be upgraded at a minimal cost. David Taverner will check on this upgrade possibility and cost on behalf of the Subcommittee to determine if this is feasible. The members generally agreed to the idea of upgrading equipment to 100 MB/Sec operation depending upon details of costs and other matters.

    The group discussed the recent articles on the Town of Abingdon and the Electronic Village of Abingdon contained in the Business Journal of Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia magazine.

    The topic of the EVA extension formerly known as the "Johnston Memorial Hospital Extension" and now being referred to as the "North Abingdon Extension" was discussed. Randy Robertson stated that the latest plan for this extension that he and David Taverner had jointly devised involved extending a 12 fiber cable from the Sprint Central Office on Valley Street to Court Street, crossing Valley Street, and ending at a pole in the vicinity of Johnson, Scyphers and Austin Law Office on Court Street. Two of those fibers would be used by Johnson, Scyphers and Austin Law Office, two fibers would be used by Johnston Memorial Hospital and the balance would be tied to electronic equipment inside the hospital and ending in an enclosed equipment/splice box on a pole north of the hospital at Johnson Street from which EVA service may be extended to businesses in the vicinity and eventually to others within the North Abingdon area. From this, Mr. Robertson stated, the EVA services could also be extended to the Washington County Public Library on Oak Hill and Valley Streets. Randy went on to explain the very tentative nature of the temporary fiber cable that now serves the Hospital and the Library. Since these are both high-traffic users of the system, something more permanent needs to be devised for both entities while still having the capability of ultimately serving the larger general areas around both structures. That was the ultimate goal of the plan which Mr. Robertson and Mr. Taverner had devised. Bill Chaffin suggested that we conduct a survey of the various residential areas around the Hospital and Library to determine interest in fiber optic connectivity. This survey would need to be done by letter and with telephone follow-up assistance to the various respondents. Mr. Robertson agreed to look into the survey and it was agreed to proceed in the manner suggested by Mssrs. Taverner and Robertson as regards the North Abingdon Extension.

    Jack White suggested that some display of EVA capability should be made during the upcoming Highlands Festival. Several ideas were put forth about how best to do so. Steve Galyean stated that he already had some static display materials to use for this purpose, and others volunteered ideas. It was decided that we could possibly arrange to set up a computer in front of the Municipal Building and possibly a live camera to take photos of the crowds and festivities.

    Steve Galyean stated that he was in the process of writing an article for the Washington County Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, as had been previously suggested, to encourage businesses to make use of linking their business sites to EVA and to stimulate awareness of the potentials of the EVA system.

    There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.