Hours will have a membership meeting on Tuesday 23 February on the third floor of Autumn Leaves Books, in the Workers Center, where Hours maintains office space.

The business of the evening comprises election of Board members; enrollment of new members, and renewal of memberships; and a report on activities.

Enacting membership at the meeting brings a bonus.

The usual terms of membership are $10, or one Hour, for a year's listing in the Hours.org Directory, and a disbursement of 2 Hours, worth $20. Do it at the meeting, however, and receive double the disbursement: 4 Hours, worth $40.

The meeting goes from 6 - 8 pm. You can come for all, or any part, including simply to activate membership, with the bonus.

The annual meeting for 2009, overtaken by events in actual calendar year 2009, will be held on Tuesday 23 February.

The time & place remain tentative, for the next few days. The time will be in the vicinity of 6 til 8 pm. The place will be either the public library, or the top floor of Autumn Leaves Books.

The meeting culminates the annual election for Board members. We anticipate some exciting changes.

If you are interested in joining the Board, you can declare your formal candidacy by writing or calling Hours. You can also, prior to, at, or subsequent to the meeting, talk to the Board about appointment to the Board.

At the meeting, you can join Hours, or renew your annual membership, and receive the special offer of double the usual membership benefit - 4 Hours, worth $40, for your annual membership fee of one Hour, or $10.

Big changes in TCAT, the Tompkins County bus system, will include acceptance of Ithaca Hours for some portion of bus passes.

On January 17, TCAT will finalize a full implementation of a new fare collection system featuring computerized, reusable passes which will replace paper passes.

TCAT will also announce a major overhaul of bus routes.

New passes, called Tcards, are already available for sale.

See www.tcatbus.com for more details.

Hours has been working on a lot of development issues, and one thing that has eluded us is the annual membership meeting.

We will actually miss the strict dictum of the calendar, by having the annual meeting in the annum to come, in February of 2010.

Details and exact date are still to come. Stay tuned.