Board Minutes July 2013: Difference between revisions
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Approved at the[[Board Minutes August 2013 | August 2013 board meeting]] | |||
== EBC Board Meeting Minutes for July 24, 2013 == | == EBC Board Meeting Minutes for July 24, 2013 == | ||
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* Lee, Sarah | * Lee, Sarah | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Talked about the SMART Goals: HR/Staff Liaison Policies, Charity Status, BWN surplus. Decided not to create any further goals at the retreat, focus on what we've already prioritized for ourselves. | ||
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* Sarah, Neil | * Sarah, Neil | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Sarah: Neil and I met Monday, condensed the goal, meeting more often. Chris Corrigan: How often are you meeting? Sarah: Every week. | ||
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* Update on process. From Adam's email: "Lee, Leila, and I met with Chris on Thursday [July 18] and discussed the results of the survey that was sent out. It was a good discussion, and Chris will be drafting some S.M.A.R.T. goals for the next 12 months. You will be receiving a report on the results of the survey and our meeting with Chris, hopefully by Monday or so. Chris's SMART goals may take a bit longer." | * Update on process. From Adam's email: "Lee, Leila, and I met with Chris on Thursday [July 18] and discussed the results of the survey that was sent out. It was a good discussion, and Chris will be drafting some S.M.A.R.T. goals for the next 12 months. You will be receiving a report on the results of the survey and our meeting with Chris, hopefully by Monday or so. Chris's SMART goals may take a bit longer." | ||
* Details to be discussed <i>in camera</i>. | * Details to be discussed <i>in camera</i>. | ||
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=== Updates on Action Items From Previous Meeting (5 min)=== | === Updates on Action Items From Previous Meeting (5 min)=== | ||
* '''Everyone''' log your [https://docs.google.com/a/edmontonbikes.ca/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An3OvpWWdrRRdFlrMTlpYmxjbWFqY2JyVzJkb3lhM1E#gid=0 board volunteer hours] for the past month. | * '''Everyone''' log your [https://docs.google.com/a/edmontonbikes.ca/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An3OvpWWdrRRdFlrMTlpYmxjbWFqY2JyVzJkb3lhM1E#gid=0 board volunteer hours] for the past month. | ||
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** Review process for formal election at AGM. '''Anna''' will contact 2 new board members for a mini orientation in the next two weeks. | ** Review process for formal election at AGM. '''Anna''' will contact 2 new board members for a mini orientation in the next two weeks. | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Voting by ranked, run-off ballot. | ||
** | **Voting occurred, results: Caylie Gnyra and Kristen Flath. | ||
* <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> | * <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> To approve the election results and appoint Caylie Gnyra and Kristen Flath to the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society board of directors until the end of the current term. Motioned by Bernadette. Seconded by Leila. '''Motion Carried.''' | ||
* Action Items: | * Action Items: | ||
**''' | **'''Neil''' to create e-mail and wiki accounts for 2 new board members. Email Chris Chan with their email addressess. | ||
**''' | **'''Neil''' to add 2 new board members to board email list. | ||
**'''Anna''' will meet with new board members to do mini orientation next week or 1st week of August. | **'''Anna''' will meet with new board members to do mini orientation next week or 1st week of August. | ||
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* Discussion on criteria for BWS location to guide Operational tasks | * Discussion on criteria for BWS location to guide Operational tasks | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Leila: I want to talk about priorities for the space to guide us in finding something. Sarah: Examples? Leila: Accessibility. Neil: Don't want yard storage for bikes (if there is any) between the front gate and front door. Leila: As a community based space, one thing to consider is if we're interested in sharing the space with other organizations, for meetings and other events. Lee: What do you mean by sharing the space? Leila: Primarily Bikeworks. But we put on events. Sarah: Facilitating sharing would be preferable. (General agreement) Also staying in Strathcona would be preferable. Neil: May be a few industrial-type properties that are affordable in the area. Sarah: Probably best not to expand past our current capacity. (General agreement) Neil: We probably can't get more volunteers even if there are more stands. Bernadette: This might lead into the paid mechanic question. Leila: Get Chris Chan to consult the minutes in searching for the space. Chris Chan: My report asked for someone else to head this. Sarah: What would be involved. Chris Chan: Legwork. Phone calls, internet searches. Lee: I could do that. Do we want to look in Strathcona? Neil: Don't go downtown, too close to North shop. Going across the bridge is a mental barrier to people from the southern suburbs. Chris Chan: Anna was involved in finding BWN so consult her because she has experience. Make sure to call realtors. Leila: Staff will be required to help | ||
* Action Items: '''Lee''' will search for appropriate properties in the area and report back to the board by beginning of August. | |||
* Action Items: ''' | |||
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* Board members: mark your calendars for Nov 2-3 as the Board Orientation/Retreat. | * Board members: mark your calendars for Nov 2-3 as the Board Orientation/Retreat. | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Sarah: Happy to do it if there is at least me and two other people. Bernadette: I will do it too. Neil: Can recruit new board members. Chris Chan: Need to book soon. | ||
* Action Items: '''Bernadette''' will book the hall by August 1st. | |||
* Action Items: ''' | |||
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* Current budget goes to end of August 2013. Initial discussions on next budget... (Neil) | * Current budget goes to end of August 2013. Initial discussions on next budget... (Neil) | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Tabled. | ||
=== Alberta Bicycle Commuters Conference (5 min)=== | === Alberta Bicycle Commuters Conference (5 min)=== | ||
* Update on conference planning (Bernadette) | * Update on conference planning (Bernadette) | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Bernadette: Picked a date: Sept 28 & 29th. All day 28th and half day 29th. Red Deer at Kerry Wood Nature Centre for free. Having three topics: Education, Advocacy and Infrastructure. Spoken with John Collier about education, would like to talk to Chris Chan about possible infrastructure presentation. Don't have an idea yet for advocacy. Looking at about $40 per person. Karly thinks we can get a grant from Alberta Bicycle Association. | ||
=== | === Paid Mechanic === | ||
* Discussion notes: | * Discussion notes: | ||
** | **Neil: Basically suggesting an employee on commission? Chris Chan: A paid mechanic that only does paid work. Already is doing this privately in his own shop. Not unheardof in community bike shop world. Our Community Bikes (Vancouver) does this already. People come in and want to buy bikes that aren't even close to ready but don't have the interest in learning. Leila: This would be taking place during shop hours? Chris Chan: This is just an idea, we can go with any options. Leila: Closed shop hours? Chris Chan: Paid during open hours, would be volunteering when the work isn't there. Neil: Have concerns with that kind of an arrangement. What's in it for him, if he's already getting lots of clients, presumably he has all the tools? Chris Chan: He doesn't have all the tools. Working from a garage is not the same as working from a fully functional bike shop. Plus we have the name and the client base. Chris Corrigan: Who is this? Chris: Shawn, my roommate and former bike mechanic at Western Cycle. We could expand to other people if this takes off. Sarah: To summarize, there are a lot of options which we don't have to take all or any of, ultimately. We would be expanding our services to clients who we don't usually reach but know about us. My concerns would be is this just with Shawn? Leila: I would like to see us opening up a competition to everyone, not just creating a position for someone. Neil: Not necessarily, business relationships are based on personal relationships. If it was a paid wage position, maybe, but there is no risk to us. Leila: Financially maybe, but Keith Halgren is someone who wants to do the same thing. If this is a community context, what do we sacrifice if we do this. Coreen: We have a strong policy against profiteering by working in our shop, we are clearly against it, this makes makes me worried. Chris Chan: I don't understand the profiteering. We would get all the money from parts and services, more than we usually would. If Keith wants to do this too, great. It would generate revenue. Neil: Did we ever pass our non-competition policy? Even if we didn't, entering the market price repair market place is a vast change in direction. Leila: I would strongly agree with you. Sarah: How so? Neil: We have always offered a unique service. I would worry about alienating the shops that we currently have relationships with, the impact this has on those relationships. Chris Corrigan: This might be useful if we have pressure to maintain a greater fleet of bikes. Edmonton is growing. Other cities have multiple Bikeworks-like organizations. could help diversify what we offer. Bernadette: My thought is people who go to current shops at market value usually go there because they have a bike that they bought there. Offerring something like this gives us the opportunity to build a loyal customer who is interested in coming back. Sarah: I would like to shed a positive light as well, and see the proposal go forward and look at the different opportunities as well as drawing it up with not just the one mechanic in mind, in case something happens. Maybe we need to have them only for certain parts of the year, and think about drawing up contracts for how their time is used. Leila: I would like to take this to the question I brought up in my report and look at it in a broader perspective. I think this position is a departure from the basic mandate of Bikeworks and look at that more deeply and how it plays into our operational vision as a whole and whether or not this is a useful way to grow our services in yet another direction. We're growing our services in many programs which need organizational backing and support that we have difficulty doing. Chris Chan: In terms of sustainability, he's already doing it, so it doesn't take a lot of backing. In terms of generating revenue it might provide an opportunity to hire administrative help. Other bike shops won't really work on EBC bikes, some as far as turning people away. May not necessarily be competivitve. Can take an extra amount of time to get EBC bikes fixed. Leila: Or people can show up here and learn to fix their bikes. That is how we operate already. Chris Chan: That option isn't open to everyone. Sarah: Not for scrapping or going full steam ahead. I want to look at how other shops do this. Leila: Other shops do this to bring in money, to pay their rent, then do what Bikeworks does for the love of it. So the situation is kind of opposite. Neil: Could do something that is less of a departure, and maybe bring in less revenue. Like where a mechanic can use the Bikeworks shop to do repairs for people off hours. We recommend them to customers. Sarah: Maybe the service can be reserved for people in particular situations, instead of just anyone. Bernadette: Maybe we stick with the DIY but you can hire someone to do one-on-one tutoring, come in off hours. Sarah: Curious what Lee and justin think. Bern: and Coreen. Coreen: I think in terms of hiring someone to build bikes, I like that idea, get the bikes out of the yard. Haven't really decided, don' t know if it's creating tiers of service. As for the repairs services, that's where I'm the most trepidatious. There are so many other avenues to do that throughout town. We really are empowering people to be able to do it themselves, take care of their bikes themselves. It is a really big component to making it accessible. Every day there are people who have no interest in picking up a wrench. But we have done a really good job of encouraging that. We have changed the culture of cycling in Edmonton. That's why we have such an active base of engaged volunteers. Lee: I keep thinking back to Neil's point about competition. If we go into the commercial market, we might be stepping on toes. The community aspect is the most important here. It will be good to clean up the yard, but it will have other impacts . justin: Agreed with comments about stepping on toes and concern for fostering the community aspect of the shop, in a complex way. Sarah: I just want to recognize the time and I have to leave at 9:30. Chris Chan: I think I have a comment that I think will be friendly and address some of the concerns. I went on the Our Community Bikes site. (shows the site) I want to make this more accessible. Hiring a bike builder would definitely address a number of the issues. I like that we had this discussion because we pushed it a lot further and came back to something that felt comfortable. Coreen: If someone comes in and needs advanced help, having someone to fill that gap, I could see that being useful, but getting someone to pay to change a flat tire no. Neil: We had paid mechanics and that had it's own issues. Having people here during shop hours, doesn't seem like a good idea, but having someone during closed hours seems like a good idea. Coreen: There are definitely things to iron out. With a lot of our volunteers what is a 'done bike' has a lot of variation. Neil: It would be a different situation between loving volunteer and paid bike builder. Sarah: It sounds like there is an opportunity to address old issues, and having a paid mechanic in some sense provides an opportunity to address these issues, but I'd like to move on. Leila: Would like to table this conversation until the next meeting. Sarah: Or email conversation. | ||
== <i>In Camera</i> Session (15 min)== | == <i>In Camera</i> Session (15 min)== | ||
* <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> To go <i>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_camera in camera]</i>. Motioned by . Seconded by . '''Motion | * <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> To go <i>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_camera in camera]</i>. Motioned by Leila. Seconded by Sarah. '''Motion Carried.''' | ||
* One topic hosted by Leila (15 min) | * One topic hosted by Leila (15 min) | ||
** [https://docs.google.com/a/edmontonbikes.ca/document/d/1Mctm5VjSzNkhRk8l89EzpR6x3qWcEnttUoQvvgncD0I/edit related document] | ** [https://docs.google.com/a/edmontonbikes.ca/document/d/1Mctm5VjSzNkhRk8l89EzpR6x3qWcEnttUoQvvgncD0I/edit related document] | ||
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== Adjournment == | == Adjournment == | ||
* <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> To adjourn the meeting. Motioned by . Seconded by . '''Motion | * <span style="background: yellow;">Motion:</span> To adjourn the meeting. Motioned by Leila. Seconded by Bernadette. '''Motion Carried.''' | ||
[[Category:minutes]] | [[Category:minutes]] | ||
[[Category:2012-2013 Board minutes]] | [[Category:2012-2013 Board minutes]] | ||