ALGOMA DISTRICT
COMMUNITY NETWORK (ADnet)
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MEETING
Destiny SSM Office
Sault Ste. Marie Civic Centre
Sault Ste.
Name
|
ADnet Member Affiliation |
Present/Regrets |
|
|
|
Regrets |
|
|
Dubreuilville |
Regrets
|
|
Tom
Marinelli, ADnet Director |
OLGC |
Teleconference
|
|
Chris
Wray, Interim Secretary/Treasurer |
Michipicoten (Wawa) |
Regrets |
|
Art
Callegari, ADnet Director |
H |
Regrets
|
|
Jerry
Dolcetti, ADnet Director |
City SSM |
Present
|
|
Allan
Frederick, ADnet Director |
SSM PUC |
Present
|
|
Dan
Friyia, ADnet Director |
|
Regrets
|
|
Hans
Hinding, ADnet Director |
Northern Credit Union |
Regrets
|
|
|
ADSB |
Regrets |
|
Charlie
Whitfield, ADnet Director |
SSM EDC |
Present
|
|
|
|
|
Staff
|
|
|
|
|
Staff |
Present |
|
Darlene
Walsh, Administrative Assistant |
Staff |
Present |
|
|
|
|
|
Guests |
|
|
|
Reg
St-Amour |
BLCT Consulting |
Present |
|
Bruce
Strapp |
SSM EDC |
Present |
|
Bill
Therriault |
Destiny SSM |
Present |
A special meeting of
the ADnet BoD was held on Monday, 13 Feb 06 to receive a report from on the SSM
Information Technology
(IT) Strategy as presented by Bill
Therriault of the Destiny SSM program office and Reg St-Amour of BLCT
Consulting.
Charlie Whitfield, with the concurrence of
members present, assumed the chairmanship of the meeting and called it to order
at
Agenda
As the only agenda item was the SSM IT Strategy
report, the Standing Agenda format was waived and no additional items were
presented for discussion.
Chair’s Opening
Remarks: Charlie
Whitfield:
Charlie Whitfield
welcomed all the attendees and stated the purpose of the meeting with regards
to the IT Strategy report. He concluded
his remarks by inviting Bill Therriault and Reg St-Amour to present their
material.
Presentation
Bill
Therriault provided an overview of the project to date:
-
Destiny
SSM supervised the project in lieu of the SSM IT community who were unable to
complete a strategy over the years;
-
Destiny
SSM Steering Committee has accepted in principle the content of the IT Strategy
report and has handed it over the Destiny SSM project office to implement;
-
A
special steering committee provided oversight and guidance to the consultancy
during the production if the report; Charlie Whitfield and Wilf Lefresne were
members of the special steering
committee (Editorial Note: Whitfield and Lefresne served as invited individuals
and not as ADnet representatives. Nevertheless, they had the opportunity to
input an ADnet perspective as appropriate.)
Reg
St-Amour presented a lengthy overview of the report including the methodology
used, the major observations, the recommendations and a way ahead. The BoD and
staff received electronic copies of the report and the presentation slides
prior the meeting.
Discussion
Charlie
Whitfield thanked the presenters. He noted the ADnet BoD’s recent approval of a
5-year plan and provided a copy to Bill Therriault for Destiny SSM. He stated
that ADnet supported the concept of communities having an IT Strategy and added
ADnet continues to work with its community membership in this regard; ADnet
believes in getting something on paper and then moving with it. Finally, he
pointed out that in recent years ADnet has concentrated on providing services
to the region and the District. This is in recognition of the mature state of
IT development in the city relative to the region and District.
A wide
ranging discussion addressing various aspects of the report followed. Some of
the areas covered included:
- Need to
identify target markets and the need for a market study;
-
Development of niche clusters and how they fit into a global economy;
- Limited
relationship, impact and input in the report concerning the region and
District;
-
Participation level of local IT business and personnel in provincial, national
and international undertakings – a piece of the pie instead of the whole pie
attitude;
- How to
explain the strategy to the “universal audience” from the local taxpayer to the
international community.
A very
robust discussion took place concerning the recommendation in the report for
Destiny SSM to facilitate a review of the integration of ADnet and the SSM
Innovation Centre (SSM IC). The
discussion took place on multiple levels, most of which were negative in nature:
- The
recommendation being made public during a briefing to the SSM City Council on
20 Feb 06 before ADnet can forewarn its stakeholders;
- The
recommendation being made public before the ADnet BoD has the opportunity to
pass motions in support or rejection of the recommendation;
- The
appearance in the context of the report that the SSM IC is taking over ADnet;
- The
impact of the recommendation on the near term and long term funding of the two
organizations at the city (SSM), provincial and federal levels;
- The
potential for adverse publicity based on past performance of SSM IC;
- The basic
difference in outlook vis-ŕ-vis the city and the District and the ability to
present a viable option under a unified structure;
- The cost
of managing the additional mandates;
In the end,
Destiny SSM agreed to soften the language in the report by changing the references
to integration of the organizations to look at the rationalization the two
organizations. Nevertheless, the ADnet
Follow-on Activities
Destiny SSM
requested ADnet to review the report and provide a report back to Destiny SSM
by 15 Apr 06 on the
following:
The meeting
concluded at
_____________________________________ ______________________________
Chairperson
Peggy Storey-Inkster Recording
Secretary Darlene Walsh
-----Original
Message-----
From: C&L W [mailto:mlw@soonet.ca]
Sent: February 16, 2006 11:21
To: wlefresne@adnetalgoma.ca;
Cc:
Subject: Re: ADnet:
Wilf - well written - The only thing I might add was that we did say that ADnet
was and would continue to pursue options for reducing our overhead
costs. The reason for this is to allow us to focus as much resources as
possible on our "core" mission of deploying "value-added_ IT
related projects into the communities we serve. (Value-added means that we
deliver projects that have provide "real" economic (e.g.
jobs) and social development)
This "cavaet" provided context for stating that the
recommendation to have a review is a "good" thing
What we didn't like (which you captured very well) was
a) any "a priori" judgement (pressure,
expectations) as to what the outcome of that review would be and what
"shape" any formal cooperation would take. It is along way from
achieving synergies to formal integration and there are a lot of things that
need to be considered.
b) the downside risks of going public with this recommendation before it
had been discussed and reviewed by the ADnet board. (Thanks to
Jerry Dolecetti for clearly articulating this and to he, Allan and Wilf
for their leadership and support in getting agreement from Destiny
that they would "soften" the recommendation before making it public)
Regards Charlie
At
Find attached the draft minutes of the special
The meeting and associated presentation raised a number of issues that require
If you have any questions in the meantime, do not hesitate to contact me.
Wilf
W.J.J. (Wilf) Lefresne
Executive Director
Algoma District Community Network (ADnet)
Thessalon Office: 705-842-5808 ext 227
Goulais Home Office: 705-649-1252
Cell: 705-254-9284
www.adnetalgoma.ca
Charlie and/or Linda Whitfield
38 Florwin Drive
Sault Ste. Marie Ontario
P6A 4H9
704-254-6153