Minutes

Alliance of Champion Communities Meeting

Nov. 15, 2006

Summers Memorial Building Auditorium

Hinton , WV

 11am-1pm (Note: time change)

From Beckley I-77/64

 

Exit off ramp to at exit 34 to WV 36Bear left at the split onto I-64 East (Lewisburg)

 

Take Exit 139 Sandstone/Hinton

 

Turn LEFT at end of exit ramp onto Rt. 20 toward Hinton

 

approx 10-11 miles

Rt. 20 will become Summers Street 1-way into downtown Hinton

Follow Summers Street past City Hall on left and new Technology Center
on right

 

One block past City Hall/Tech Center--turn left onto Rt 107 (2nd Avenue)

Go straight through stop light one block and turn RIGHT at Post Office

Proceed LEFT around Courthouse. Memorial Building is on left at theend of the block.
Park in any space in the vicinity.

Walk up concrete steps into Memorial Building. The auditorium will be straight ahead.


Call to Order

 

The meeting was called to order by Marcel Fortin

 

Members Present

Dick Bartlett, Rick Moorefield, Jerry Edens and Marcel Fortin

Guests Present

Gwen Hagaman

Partners Present

 

Approval of Minutes

Motion: Jerry Edens Second: Dick Bartlett  All vote Yes

Correspondence

 

 

Unfinished Business

 

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

Meetings have been held for all 6 communities and will begin with Pineville on Oct.24th  at 6pm, Bradshaw on Oct 25th at 6pm  Clay on Oct . 26th at 1pm , Spurlockville on  Nov.1st at 2pm, Belington on Nov. 8th at 6pm and Hacker Valley on Nov. 9th at 6pm. Discussions on what providers have done to expand service and possible solutions suggested to receive service.

Marcel discussed the meetings and attendance was low, but that the communities are energized and are anxious to begin the work on the Connecteams. Those in attendance verified that the local providers have initiated expansion of services and were actively hooking up more customers.

 

 

 

2.      05/06 Benedum Grant

The grant was extended through Nov. 30th and a final report is due at that time. Extension was granted due to the fact that we had not spent all the funds and additional time was requested to do so.

Discussion of mailing of brochure(s) throughout our service area.

Motion made by Jerry Edens to have a deadline of Dec. 15, 2006 for work on brochures. The remaining monies allocated for the communities not participating in  this effort to be used to provide press releases and promotion of the Community Technology Minigrant project.

Motion: Jerry Edens  Second: Dick Bartlett All vote Yes.

Gwen commented about the Clay Brochure, the Wyoming brochure and work with the KOA company store to work on a business incubator brochure.

   3. 501c3 Status

ByLaws are attached for review to begin the process of getting everyone familiar with our procedures and commitments.

Election of officers set for March 21st meeting. Nominations and appointments for directors to be requested for the Feb. 21st meeting. Terms to begin July 2007. All interested parties need to contact Marcel prior to the Feb. meeting to be added to the list of potential candidates..

             4.  AllianceWV.org Website

Check out the site. There have been some changes and a different look. Thanks to Steve and Gwen on everything the have done.

Comments made that the site is more functional and is an important communication piece for us.           

5. Coal Connectivity Grant

Projects working with Coal companies are ongoing. Anyone interested in setting up meetings with coal operations in their communities to discuss how the Alliance can help in getting broadband to their remote sites, let me know. I would be very willing to make a presentation outlining what is happening.

Marcel discussed this project and the level of interest by several coal companies and the Coal Assoc.

The Community Connect Foundation and Corridor G RDA are developing programs to expand this effort from a 4 county pilot project in southern WV. to a statewide initiative at the request of WVDO.          

            6. Benedum Minigrant Project

The grant is pending. I have provided the necessary documentation and am waiting to hear if anything else is needed. Attached find the list of potential FlexEgrant applicants for the minigrant (applicant workshop participants.html).

Marcel discussed the initiative and that meetings had been held with Benedum to work out the details of the project.

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.

Jerry mentioned that the Barbour County CDC received a flexigrant award of $10,000 for a project called The Year of the Kid.

Summers county received a $5000 grant for a Leadership expo and $10,000 for an Economic Summit          

 

 

 

 

Speaker:

Our group taking a quick tour of the
new Hinton Technology Center after our regular meeting.

All visited the Center. The center is a secured facility and access was limited. The site is state of the art and is attracting high paying technical jobs for the area for federal projects.

Next meeting:

Jan. 17, 2007 (No meeting in Dec.)

Conference call meeting

 

 

Adjournment

Motion: Jerry Edens Second: Rick Moorefield

12:30pm

 

 

Respectfully submitted: Marcel J. Fortin

01/02/07