Board Minutes November 2012
Approved at the December 2012 board meeting.
Attendance
- Meeting Chair: Adam Burgess
- Minute-taker: Micah Cooper
- Board attendance: Brett, James, Duncan, Chris Corrigan, Neil, Lee, Micah, Paul
- Staff attendance: Chris Chan
- Regrets: Steph, Bern
- Absent: Alex Choby
- Guests: Sarah H, Justin, Leila, Adam, Anna, Alex Hindle
Call to Order
- Time: 6.34
Approval of Agenda
- Motion: Duncan: I move to approve the agenda; seconded: Chris Corrigan; carried.
Approval of Last Month's Minutes
- Motion: Duncan: I move to approve; seconded: Lee; carried.
Date, Location & Food for Next Meeting
- 12 December, 6.30, Ed-south 327
- Sunday January 6, 2013 Board Retreat (time, location TBA)
Reports
President's Report
Most of my volunteer time as president has been focused on the Complete Streets Strathcona project. We've had a meeting, done some strategic planning, held an open house and synthesized the data into a map. You can see a recap of what we've done so far here - [1]
CSS is advocating for safe and comfortable bicycling infrastructure in Old Strathcona. We're focusing on 83rd ave and the 104th street counterflow bus lane.
The next steps happen after the summary of findings from our open house is done. We're going to open up the map that is on that page to anyone who has an idea for infrastructure in that area. We're going to have a general meeting and set some goals for the subgroups we've created.
I've set up a meeting with Bob Boutillier, the general manager of transportation in December. He's aware of our project. We're going to let him know what our objectives and processes are and what we're looking for.
I've contacted the city's open data catalogue to follow up on a request I made for the city to open up the data it collects already for cycling. No movement so far on that.
Duncan gives brief résumé; good feelings about it all.
Treasurer's Report
Has only finished September so far; lost a bit more than expected i.e. declined. Higher loss than expected, but Babac order can throw things off. Revenue not great, in particular BWS year-over-year. Made up in donations (Isaak Kornelson). Casino money: no confirmation but suspect is there. Trying to hand things off to Paul, unless someone else wants to run for treasurer.
BikeWorks Report
Coreen not here so we are skimming through the document.
Storing bikes?
Discussion: Should we be selling more expensive bikes on kijiji? Most of the bikes we sell are below market value, so this could be useful. Is there any reason why we'd have to go through the internet- do we ever have a problem selling valuable bikes? Storing is also a cost to us. Other community bike shops have pages dedicated to bikes for sale, maybe we could unload some bikes that way. What about a fundraising event using bikes as centrepiece e.g. as a prize? Expense. Winter clunker sale did not sell that many bikes. Prices may have inched up but in the summer we do sell bikes constantly. MIght be worth considering to have a policy that we get as much revenue from this as we can. Should we give more of an inspection before selling them if we are charging more? Well no, we are talking about the market value of used bikes. Goals: affordable transpo, keep ourselves operating. We should be trying to get as much $ for them as possible. Hesitation at raising all prices across all bikes; would exclude a high proportion of people especially at north shop. But specific bikes that are worth more, for sure, some ppl try to exploit our cheap prices on sweet bikes. If it isn't too much of a burden on Coreen, could have a policy where she picks out sweet bikes and prices accordingly. This is kind of micro-mgmt; mgmt has already kind of moved beyond this. Moving towards training ppl doing repairs to sign off as well as fair prices. But so, market high-end bikes more, OK. Maybe make some kijiji ads for the tandem, etc.
Should we send feedback to Coreen to say good report? Yes. Also check in to see if this is a sustainable way for her to write/compile them? Might add specific things she wants from the board, things we could help her with. Opinion: Coreen really would benefit from hearing feedback from the board, support, etc. Morale-boosting. Helpful to hear from more than just Chris. To hear directly from the board. Being careful to remember that she is reporting to Chris and not directly to us. Duncan willing to write note to Coreen. Maybe table this issue. Idea: Maybe have a staff liaison. Part of HR committee?
Executive Director's Report
Should we be making these documents public? Yes, and if there's something super-private we can maybe take it off the report. When Chris gets here we can ask him what kind of materials he envisions to be categorised thus. Ah there he is!
Chris gives rundown.
CoE focus groups: do you understand what this bike sign means? Are you SURE you don't feel safe with sharrows? Re: LRT feedback: Can you make specific requests: Have you considered x or y? Duncan will see. Apparently Traffic Ops thinks that bike lanes are a good place to store their snow. Audra meeting with them next week. re: auto debit membership; Neil: we don't have the resources to automate this unless we have accurate records. Chris: it's indefinite and then we can manually cancel it when ppl stop. As long as stop notice, then OK. We could write in a x-term reminder, Hey, still want to keep contributing? No obligation to. Alternatives to PayPal? Also, on shop floor using PayPal is awkward. Getting credit card info etc. Something to keep in mind. New bike shop opening. Wants to sell our memberships etc. Corporate sponsorship of a sort. Big LONG discussion. Table? Alex Hindle: what about like at grocery store, write your name on a paper balloon on the wall. Someone to write a draft ethical funding policy? Take it away and think about it until a later meeting. Micah: I move that we discuss this more at the next meeting, like Anna said take this away, think of more things, maybe have an action item after that. Seconded: Duncan. Carried.
Current & Completed Business
Switching to Spark for our electricity bill
- Deferred from Last meeting
- Vote on whether to switch to Spark as our electricity retailers
Discussion on whether conflict of interest Duncan: I move that we adopt; Neil: seconded; 1 abstention (Brett); carried.
- Vote on whether to become members.
25$ charge to become members. Co-op share. Rep from EBC gets to vote at AGM. Duncan: I move that we buy a share and become a co-op member of Spark; James seconded; abstentions: Brett and Paul; carried.
Approval of BikeWorks Manager contract
Should this be in camera? Well we'll wait for Brett to come back. Discussion should be in camera. Micah: I move to accept Coreen's contract. Paul: seconded. Carried. Abstention: Brett.
New Business
Board Elect
- Vote whether Sarah's "conflict of interest" prevents her from becoming a board member
Discussion. Is Sarah unable to become a member owing to not being in good standing? Actually there are other members on the board who were elected without being in good standing. We reviewed this issue before the meeting; very few of our pre-AGM candidates were in good standing. Not great but not egregious. Something that we need to fix before the next AGM: make the rules clear. Maybe change the bylaws/tidy them up? Conflict of interest that Sarah lives at Chris' house? She just needs to recuse herself from remuneration issues regarding him. We don't need to vote on it, we just need to not accept her resignation. Sorted!
Election of New Board Executive
- We were supposed to elect new exec within 1 month of our AGM, i.e. Oct 30 2012: "The Board is required to hold a meeting... within one calendar month of the AGM. The date for this meeting must be set at the AGM. At this meeting, the Board shall elect a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer" (quoted from 2011 Bylaws under [Duties of the Board of Directors point a])
Discussion on what each position means. Should assign signing authority to all members of exec. Neil would like to do this right away.
- Review draft job descriptions for President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary
- Nominations and elections
President: Duncan VP: Leila, Lee (a vote!) Treasurer: Paul Sec: Micah How shall we vote? Secret or hands? Secret. Winner: Tie! They will go out in the hall for a few minutes and talk about it. Discussion to continue after the meeting. Decision pending. Alex: concerns about chair: maybe could be someone not from the board, who doesn't ned to remove self from discussion. Issue is finding someone reliable. Alex Hindle volunteers. Alright, we'll have AH chair next meeting! Discussion. Concern about deciding this in Bern's absence. We can just chat about it at start of next board meeting. AH will come either way. This discussion can happen at the start of the next meeting.
Micah: I move that we move the next two items to the next meeting. Lee: I second. James: I can drop my item. Micah: I withdraw my motion. Neil: I move to accept the sidewalk statement; Chris seconded; carried (Opposed: Brett)
Sidewalk riding position statement
- Statement as drafted
The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society believes that cycling on the sidewalk is unsafe. It causes bikes to enter intersections unexpectedly and can be unpleasant for pedestrians. We encourage everyone to follow the city of Edmonton bylaw: if your wheels are over 50 centimeters (20” and over) in diameter, please ride on the road or on an appropriate piece of bike infrastructure such as a multi-use trail. We also recognize that some areas of our city are not yet safely navigable by bikes except by using the sidewalk. In such cases, we recommend that you:
- reduce speed
- cede right of way to pedestrians
- warn approaching pedestrians with a bell or other audible signal
- pass pedestrians and others with the greatest of care and respect
- dismount and walk their bike when conditions warrant it
- return to the road at the earliest safe opportunity to do so
Document Storage Policy
- (not dropped after all)
- Document Storage Policy
- Section 1a appears to have a typo: "There must be a reasonable assumption that the service provider will not
belose the documents or discontinue service in the foreseeable future." - Google does not guarantee compliance with section 1c: "Documents should be accessible by each of the board members." Since the software is stored server side, and is often changed without notice. Even if notice is given, it is often impossible to opt out or roll back from the change.
- Section 3 is not clear if a physical location must be known, or it a Uniform Resource Indicator is sufficient to disclose the location.
- James Phillips is uneasy with our apparent new reliance on Google. In particular, it appears that the Corporate Google accounts are being used as a form of Information Rights Management, which can never work since that would violate the law of cause and effect.
Maybe we should have a backup on a server. Chris has it synced on several computers but it is still at risk if something happens to Google. Some offline access. Separate copies of some things. Duncan: if Google dies then our EBC docs will be a pretty small problem in the big picture. We have discussed this satisfactorily.
Sub Committee to Organize January 6th Retreat
- temporary sub committee needed to draft retreat agenda, organize logistics, gather required materials for orientation, plan activities for "working together"/group dynamics, food, etc.
- Who wants? Sarah, Lee, with Anna
- can we please establish desired time, location so that Micah can book the room?
- 9-4, Kiva room! Or next-best.
Board Contact Info
- What is each person's preferred method of contact? Email, phone, text?
- Collect current contact info
- EBC Org Contacts
- Anna just didn't realise that this document exists.
- We should all still check to make sure our own respective info is up-to-date.
In Camera Session
Duncan: I move to go in camera; Micah seconds; carried.
Adjournment
- Motion: Micah: I move to adjourn; Duncan seconds; carried. Adjourned 9.03.