This is a somewhat rhetorical question, but I ask it because I do not recall seeing too much in the way of commentary on how a chat room might support the larger effort of the Council.

Two other boards I frequent make use of a chat room feature, and more popular social networking sites such as Facebook utilize it (although I think it is only point-to-point) to improve communications. There are for sure plenty of times when the room gets bogged down by silly banter, but there are always periods when serious discussion and collaboration occurs

First, is it technically feasible, given the architecture, and second, is it desired?