Board Minutes April 2014

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These minutes were approved at the May 2014 board meeting.

EBC Board Meeting Minutes for April 16, 2014

Board meetings are open to the EBC members and the public.

  • Location: room 262, Education South, University of Alberta main campus
  • Start Time: 6:30pm

Please RSVP to [board@edmontonbikes.ca] if you plan on attending. Please include a brief summary of any agenda item you would like to table. Thank you!

Attendance

  • Meeting Chair: Doug
  • Minute-taker: Anna (Matt back up)
  • Food by: Carlos
  • Board attendance: Doug, Sarah, Leila, Matt, Steve, Carlos, Kristen (left 9:20), Bernadette, Anna (635), Derek (650), Chris Corrigan (655)
  • Staff attendance: Coreen (635-845), Chris (640-845)
  • Regrets: Caylie
  • Absent:
  • Guests: Neil (800-845)

Call to Order

  • Meeting called to order by Doug at 6:31pm.

Logistics for Next Meeting

  • Date: Wed May 21, 2014
  • Location: room 262 Ed South, UofA
  • Chair: Leila
  • Minute-taker: Anna
  • Food by: Kristen

Approval of Agenda (5 min)

  • Motion: To approve April agenda. Motioned by Matt. Seconded by Steve. Motion Carried.

Approval of Minutes & Reports (5 min)

  • Motion: To approve March 2014 minutes, and reports as presented (below). Motioned by Matt. Seconded by Leila. Motion Carried.

President's Report

Executive Director's Report

BikeWorks Report

H.R. Committee Report

Policy Committee Report

Reports (not approved)

Treasurer's Report

  • Action Items: Carlos and Neil will ensure that previous casino funds are dealt with by June(?) deadline.

Executive Director's Report

Advocacy Committee Report

  • no report submitted

Strategic Planning Committee Report

  • no report submitted


Current & Completed Business

Updates on Action Items From Previous Meeting (5 min)

  • Everyone log your 2014 board volunteer hours for the past month.
  • Committee chairs to post all committee meetings to EBC calendar - public ones go on "EBC Events", other committee meetings go on "EBC Internal" calendar. Ongoing.
  • Oct 2013: Anna to make record of what to do for next AGM.
  • Nov 2013: Executive Committee (Leila, Sarah, Anna, Carlos) will pursue a Servus credit card for EBC in the name of the Executive Director.
    • in progress
  • Jan 2014: Kristen present proposed bylaw change at AGM 2014.
  • Feb 2014: Anna, Carlos, Matt, Sarah to take pics and write bio for website.
    • Matt done! Carlos done! Sarah and Anna to do.
  • Feb 2014: Kristen/Policy Committee will incorporate petty cash max in future Financial policy.
  • Feb 2014: Strategic Planning Committee will continue to gather info to bring a proposal regarding EBC name change to the board in July.

COMPLETED

  • Feb 2014: Carlos and Caylie to investigate options and associated costs for Electronic Transfers with Servus.
    • Carlos got update from Servus that this may be possible in future but not currently.
  • Nov 2013: Chris Corrigan to change email name back to "Chris Corrigan" (not "EBC Board Mail").
    • Bernadette and Chris completed this tonight.
  • Dec 2013: Sarah will create a google doc for charitable status barriers & needs (strategic planning collaboration).
    • Have updated financials, need future proposed budget. Carlos, Chris, Neil to start drafting 2014-2015 budget.
  • Feb 2014: Sarah, Bernadette, Doug will be on ad-hoc Volunteer Appreciation committee. Matt is interested in knowing specific roles when they are determined.
    • planning started. BWN location. Coreen will bring it up at upcoming volunteer meeting.
  • Feb 2014: Caylie, Carlos, Neil will meet to review treasurer role and get signing authority names updated.
    • Done!
    • Anna has submitted updated Board of Directors list to Corporate Registries. Once approved, Servus will accept new signing authorities.
  • Feb 2014: Carlos, Derek, Anna will meet to do a mini-orientation.
    • Done!
  • Mar 2014: Doug will contact commercial bike repair applicant by phone by March 21.
    • Contacted, no reply.
  • Mar 2014: name will print out meeting motion to approve Carlos as signing authority and admin to online bank accounts, have it signed by all signing authorities, and fax it to Servus by March 21.
    • Done

Casino Adviser (10 min)

  • Bernadette raised this topic via email.
  • The adviser (not count room person) is now working an extra 2-3 hrs per day. AGLC has denied the request to allow the adviser to get paid more from the casino account. But groups can transfer money into the casino acct from general funds and pay more.
  • EBC's adviser requested that we transfer money to pay them for the extra hours. The request is an additional $255+gst= $267.75. The total payment would be $1,785 (divided between the day and night advisers).
  • EBC's adviser requested us to petition AGLC this issue and ask about how the casino funds will be divided. There are 5 casinos in the city. The profits are divided evenly between the charities. Not all the casinos are accepting the new hours, so some groups have up to 6 hours more shifts to cover but they all get the same payout. No rules or guidelines have been put in place.
  • Discussion notes:
    • Spoke with Gloria about three things:
      • 1. With increase in casino hours, advisers are working longer, while AGLC has capped their pay from our funds. Current talks are to raise that limit. Advisers (casino staff) wish to petition with the help/support of other organizations.
      • 2. Food budget is $962. We did not exceed original budget
      • 3. letter including all these has been requested.
  • Action Items: Bernadette will get further details on procedure to submit a letter or sign onto a group letter.


New Business

BWS Reno Budget (20 min)

  • BikeWorks Manager report has pointed to a number of expenses outside of the approvedbudget. Financial assessment is required before any further expenses are incurred.
  • Chris updated the Reno Budget:
    • approved budget of $16,500
    • actual budget $16,115 which includes the following still to do:
      • Doors ~$2,000
      • Door installation ~$1,000
      • Fencing ~ $850
      • Window coverings (unfunded in current budget) - will be greater than quoted, approx $600 plus shipping.
      • Vending machine $7,338 (unfunded in current budget) - Bernadette spoke to shop Rebound Cycle in Canmore with a vending machine. The shop was less than impressed with it: jams, ceases in cold weather, expensive to run, does not get much use, etc.
  • Discussion notes:
    • No specific asks on additional budget at this time.


Organizational Values and Patron Experience at Shops (10 min)

  • Email feedback from patron describes shops as unwelcoming and not accessible.
    • Separation of tasks (governance and operational) is required to address this issue...
    • Formal response to patron is required.
  • The Strategic Planning Committee has identified a need to establish organizational values and earlier in the year the board and staff had a brainstorm on what those might be.
    • The more difficult conversations come up and the more our membership grows, the more important it is for us to have values as part of our fundamental guiding statements to reference decisions, direction and priorities.
    • What are next steps?
  • Discussion notes:
    • What has worked in the past? New volunteer orientation from past year specifically addresses welcoming patrons, experienced volunteers may have developed habit/routine that does not address this so volunteer meeting has been schedule to ensure all volunteers are on same page, may get a 'secret shopper' patron to get feedback, need ongoing way to gather feedback on patron experience (eg. annual survey), poster in shop with our organizational values
    • What has not worked? Taking tools out of patron's hands (volunteer training issue), patron standing in doorway looking lost not being welcomed by anyone (physical layout of shop? need front counter at door with staff),
    • Steve spoke to some issues he has seen: not enough volunteers on shift so everyone is very busy, volunteers not taking their shift seriously so show up late or dont identify that they are on shift, etc.
    • Chris working on getting software for new BWS to check in patrons and volunteers. Will help with metrics. Computer sign in system so that all volunteers know who is currently on shift. Volunteer name tags.
  • Coreen would like to be present at beginning of shift to ensure that volunteers are on time, understand who is the greeter and who is the mechanic.
  • Leila cautions us that it is a complex issue. Asking patrons to form a queue and letting them know it will be 15-90 min til they can get a stand-- that this may give an impression of more of a commercial service shop rather than a community space.
  • Action Items: Coreen will forward the reply to patron to board. Anna will draft a response with our current and proposed practices.

Low Income Accessibility of Our Shops (10 min)

  • Steve: We have a beautiful new BWS that's about to open, but it has far less room than our previous locations. With limited storage space and no yard, the cheap department store bikes will likely be pushed out.
  • A policy of limiting which donations are accepted at the south shop (due to lack of space) has also been discussed.
  • These changes will be positive in a number of respects, but will also make bikes less accessible to low income patrons.
  • In addition, having one shop which may appear to be more upper scale than the other, in both its facilities and bicycles, may be divisive among our members and volunteers.
  • How do we want to address these issues?
  • Discussion notes:
    • Coreen: Thinking of limiting donations at BWS to complete bikes only. Will not raise price of cheap bikes but will look at raising price of expensive bikes.
  • appearance of upper scale shop: interestingly, it was perceived the other way around when BWN was newly opened. Our upgrades, once BWS is open/complete, will be to upgrade BWN in 2015. Both of our shops should be a welcoming, inclusive space, so we will continually strive to improve accessibility of both shops.


Board meeting location May-Oct (5 min)

  • Our room booking at U of A ends in April. Typically we only meet at U of A during winter months, and meet at BWS or BWN during spring-fall.
  • Proposal: May, July, Sept meetings @ BWN; June, Aug, Oct @ BWS. Nov meeting could resumes at U of A.
  • Discussion notes:
    • No meetings at BWS are possible during open hours. Could meet when shop is not open (Fri, Sat, Sun nights).
  • Action Items: Anna will book meeting space for May at UofA. Future meeting locations TBD once BWS is open.
  • Bernadette will be missing May and June meetings.


Annual General Meeting (10 min)

  • Need to determine AGM date, time, location.
    • Sunday Sept 28? Sunday Oct 5 = AB Bicycle Commuters Conference. Sunday Oct 12?
  • Need to strike ad-hoc AGM Committee to organize logistics, begin board recruitment, etc.
  • Discussion notes:
    • Sunday Sept 28!
  • Action Items: Anna, Bern, Kristen, Doug will create ad-hoc AGM committee.


Accountability for Report Approvals (10 min)

  • Anna is concerned that staff and committee reports may not be getting reviewed adequately. This may be in part due to the consent agenda where no details of the reports are reviewed unless specified by the author(s). Would like to make a formal sign-off section at end of each report for directors and staff to sign (electronically) once they have read through the document.
    • Proposed format: Reviewed By (Name), (Date), Comments
    • The 'comments' would be for questions, concerns, etc about the entire report, not just particular topics. This would also be a space to flag a topic for further discussion at the next board meeting.
  • Discussion notes:
    • Matt noted that by voting as individual board member to approve one or all reports is tacit acknowledgement that you have read the report. We should remember this when voting.
    • Coreen: could we use comment function on google doc? Would require that document 'share' settings allow comments.
    • Matt: could add lines to Board Volunteer Hours Log.
    • Anna: add section at bottom of report to list "Read by" and "Date". Chris Chan: Reading a report does not mean it is being approved, which should be done at meeting.
  • Motion: To add a section to the end of all future EBC staff and committee reports for directors and staff to sign once reviewed. This will help inform the report approval at the following board meeting. Moved by Anna, seconded by Leila. Motion Carried.
  • Action Items: Anna will share template with board and staff.


Advocacy Chair (2 min)

  • Steve will be out of town for a large part of the summer (July-Aug) so if anyone is interested in taking over as Advocacy Chair he would be happy to pass the position to someone who can take a more active role.
  • Discussion notes:
    • What is involved: holding advocacy meeting, meeting with Chris Chan, meeting with city and other stakeholers (eg. West Downtown Complete Streets, Complete Streets Strathcona, etc).
    • Derek willing to help but not able to commit to chairing. Chris Co also interested in helping.
    • Leila: could we open this position up to community members? Sarah: could we make this more formal and put call out for applications?
  • Action Items: Chris Co will draft an Advocacy Coordinator description by April 25 and pass to Chris Chan for posting.


Jane's Ride Edmonton for Jane's Walk weekend (5 min)

http://www.janeswalk.org/canada/edmonton/janes-ride-edmonton/]

  • Date, time, logistics: Saturday AM is usually popular with Jane's Walks. Any other suggestions?
  • How do we advertise to new and existing EBC members? Facebook? Twitter? BikeWorks?
  • Action Items: Derek will create facebook event, share posters with board for further sharing!


EBC representation at Good 100 (10 min)

  • EBC will get to spend a weekend with other YEG movers and shakers who work on local food, arts, activism, local business, social enterprise, government, advocacy, indigenous rights, social justice, charity, funding, design, alternative media and more.
  • There have been thoughts about promotions in the form of memberships or services for the attendees of Good100. We also may be able to give and/or gather information. Thoughts?
  • Action Items: Doug will coordinate to get promo material from Chris Chan.

In Camera Session (20 min)

  • Motion: To go in camera. Moved by Doug, seconded by Anna. Motion Carried.
  • Please list how long you believe your topic will take to discuss:
    • 15 min topic

Adjournment

  • Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 9:20pm. Moved by Kristen, seconded by Steve. Motion Carried.
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