Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Marcel Fortin

Members Present

Kathy Brunty, Jim Anderson, Rick Moorefield, Jerry Edens, Norvill Clark, Steve Reynolds, Betty Crookshanks and Marcel Fortin

Guests Present

Partners Present

Approval of Minutes

Motion: Jerry Edens, Second: Jim Anderson All Vote Yes

Correspondence

Unfinished Business

1. “ WV. Distressed Communities Broadband Assessment Project” (BAP)

Project has begun. Meetings were held on Feb 2^nd at the USDA Service Center in Beckley and on Feb 7^th at the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway. Well attended and participants enthusiastic. Details of project discussed, maps and surveys distributed and discussions on best way to get survey responses.

Kathy Brunty- McDowell county has begun their project and response is good. She is working with a Pastoral group (28 pastors) that has volunteered to get their members to do the survey countywide. Rick Moorefield attended the meeting in Beckley, which he commented was very informative and was planning a community meeting on the 21^st. Discussion about using the Database for business contacts.(FYI- we are determining if providing that information directly is a violation of the confidentiality agreement with the Feds. Working on having information available on our website for members to access for own use. Will update)

2. 05/06 Benedum Grant

Branding of Alliance in having logo on all surveys being distributed throughout our service area. Marcel gave a presentation on Technology Day at the Legislature on January 24^th. The Alliance and its members are being identified as the organization for Broadband issues. Scott Rottruck and WVDO have recommended that questions on this issue be forwarded to the Alliance. Reinvigoration of the Champions is beginning by having the BAP project going to our Champion Communities and getting local organizations to assist. Economic development groups, FRNs and the WVU extension service will participate in this effort.

Trifold brochure is progressing. All liked the cover and the layout. Concerns that too much focus on Broadband and requesting that changes be made to reflect. Need action photos. Discussion about creating a generic brochure and later that the individual champions work on inserts that reflect their particular service areas.

3. 501c3 Status

IRS to have application processed circa April 2006

Contacted the IRS and they have yet to assign anyone to the application due to an unexpectedly high number of applications.

4. The ARC “WV Distressed Communities Telecommunications & Technology Initiative

WVDO is being reorganized and legislation has been introduced to do so. ARC grants have yet to be processed and no timeline has been determined.

5. Heritage Tourism Workshop followups Reports

Organizational Committee discuss on next steps. Chair: Bob Johnson

6. AllianceWV.org Website

Working on getting a Maptitude viewer for the website. Jo Vaughan consulting that provided

the maps for the BAP project is seeking a viewer, so people could view the maps online on our

website.

Discussion on making sure the viewer is web based and Norvill mentioned that the server for

the database should be on line soon and would base the viewer on that site.

7. Coal Connectivity Grant

Meeting held at the Senate Presidents Conference room at the State Capitol on Feb. 10^th. Attended by multiple providers, Benedum, USDA, WV state agencies, and other stakeholders. Very well received and meetings set for Tuesday Feb. 14^th with Homeland security to coordinate effors. Presentation made by Michael Baker Jr. Engineering firm on a RF survey for the pilot project.

Discussed project and how well it is being received. The Alliance, the Community Connect Foundation and Corridor G Regional Dev. Authority are working together to due a statewide initiative

8. Reports.

Heritage Tourism Committee Report

Broadband Committee Report

2005 Operational plan Committee Report

New Business

Reports: Community Reports

The reports presented last meeting showed the progress from the champions in attendance.

We need to hear from the others so we can share experiences and best practices.

Wyoming County- BAP surveys getting positive input, Christy Laxton is new EDA exec. director

Summers County- Have set up advisory committee to work on county projects. Receiving a 50% tourism grant for the John Henry Historical Project. Housing development in progress for middle income people. New technology center in progress. Working on New River Land use plan.

Greenbrier County- Working on Tech Center next to airport. Looking into windmills for the region. Asking for anyone that has information to contact Betty. April is “Make it Shine” program sponsored by REAP. Spring Cleanup, provided gargage bags and trash pick up. Mayors and local community leaders are involved.

Barbour County- Sugar Creek Project for youth moving forward.

Nicholas County- Bob Johnson to upload news stories of the area to the website.

Speaker:

No speaker

Next meeting:

March 15, 2005 Location TBA

Adjournment

Adjourned 11:00am

Respectfully Submitted : Marcel J. Fortin

03/14/06