Apr 8, 20116:30 pm – snacks to be served
6:30 – 6:55 pm – Introductions & general discussion
6:55 pm – meeting call to order by Kerri Treherne, Vice Chair
Attendees: Kerri Treherne (Vice-Chair), Thibault Dambrine (Treasurer), Maria Lee, Anthony Sayers, Lorna Cordeiro, James (Jay) Michi (Executive Director)
Regrets: Tim Kitchen (Chair), Robert Perry (Secretary), David White.
Guests: Angela Dione (Community Member)
1. Approval of Agenda and Minutes 6:50pm – 7:00pm
- Approval of Minutes from Board Meeting February 28, 2010
-Reviewed Action Items. Finance Committee did meet on March 9 to review the Budget Draft. Jay to circulate to the Board a written report prior to the board meetings (including updates from program directors) at least once a quarter – it’s been a while! Such a report will be made available prior to the AGM on April 4, 2011.
Motion to Approve the Minutes from February 28, 2010: Lorna Cordeiro
Second: Anthony Sayers
Motion Carried
2) Approval/changes to Agenda
Jay: One change. We need to have it reflected in the minutes that we wish to renew our AGLC (Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission) Pull Ticket License.
Kerri: What’s that for? Who needs that? Is that our rule or their rule?
Jay: It’s the AGLC’s regulation. We sell Pull Tickets (or Break Opens) at the Flea Market and we use the proceeds to pay for minor repairs and maintenance around the centre. It’s a good source of added revenue, and we must renew our license every 2 years. I sent in the paperwork, but we need Board approval.
Kerri: We’ll add it to new business.
Motion to Approve the Agenda with the one addition: Thibault Dambrine
Seconded: Maria Lee
Motion Carried.
3) Declaration of Conflicts of Interest
No Conflicts Declared
4) Old Business (7:00pm – 7:30pm)
4.1) Review Budget Draft Number 5 – Finance Committee’s Recommendation
Items for Discussion:
Thibault presented the minutes of the last Finance Meeting (March 9, 2011) and made the recommendation that the Board should adopt the Budget Draft #5 as the Budget for 2011.
Lorna: Although we don’t have the whole Board here, perhaps it would be useful, before we approve the budget, to quickly go through the other items on the agenda related to the budget
All: Agree
4.2 Is our Budget aligned with our strategic priorities? (This conversation needs to be in the context of what is discretionary in our budget) What does discretionary mean in terms of HSCA’s budget. What are our fixed costs? What programs are non-negotiable? What’s the lifecycle of a program?
Jay presented a breakdown of all of HSCA’s projects into three categories: Essential Programs & Operating Expenses (which combined average out to a net zero/small profit [5k], Optional Programs (which combine to bring in around 15k/year but do utilize staff resources), and Unfunded programs (which cost the association about 20k/year)
Some discussion around this organization of programs, but it was agreed that we should return to this discussion at our next Strategic Planning Meeting in April/May. Centre Point will be facilitating this for us as part of Jay’s Leadership Program.
Motion: Thibault Dambrine – motion that we approve the Budget.
Seconded: Lorna Cordeiro
Motion Carried.
4.3) General Discussion around Unfunded projects – Jay to provide a breakdown.
Reviewed the spreadsheet referred to in 2.2 with a closer look at Unfunded Projects. Agreed for a need to establish a Board Strategic Initiatives Fund
Jay: We might want to call it something else, just so that we don’t get confused with the actual Council Strategic Initiatives Fund.
All: Agreed
4.4) A Board Strategic Initiatives fund – Proposed $10,000 fund be set up to support unbudgeted (and unfunded) Board and ED projects that arise mid-year.
Lorna: This idea came out of the Finance Meeting in our discussions around what was allocated (very little) to Committees and Task Forces set up by the Board and Community Members.
Jay: I discussed this with both Tim and Robert today. They are both supportive of this idea, although Robert had the good suggestion to make it a requirement that two thirds of the Board need to approved the proposed initiatives when the arise. I would suggest that that is a good parameter to start with..
Anthony: But where is this money coming from? Out of the Budget?
Jay: No, this would have to come off the Balance Sheet. Either we redeem a GIC or we take it out of the Bowview Pool Account. My recommendation would be for us to take it out of the Bowview Pool Account, as we have 60k in there and it’s been in there for a number of years. We do need to have some money set aside for minor repairs and maintenance at the Pool, but major mechanical upgrades to the pool are COSPA’s responsibility. We had discussed at the last meeting the idea of taking 25k out of Bowview Pool and setting up another GIC, but at this point, given that we do need capital for the Playground site preparations, I would suggest that we postpone doing that and instead take 30k out of Bowview Pool – 20 for playground and 10 for this restricted fund – and leave roughly 30 k in Bowview Pool as a contingency. That should be two separate motions though, one related to the financing of playground site prep and one related to this restricted fund.
Anthony: Fair enough. My only concern, having been involved in a similar situation in my professional life, is that we need to set up some sort of parameters around the use. Two thirds board support is good, but there should be timelines. How often are we going to do this? Every year? Every other year?
Jay: I would suggest that at a future meeting of the Board, perhaps the first time someone accesses this fund, we work on establishing a broad definition of acceptable amounts, Terms of Reference – our favorite phrase!
Thibault Dambrine: In the interest of Time, I motion that we take $10,000 out of the Bowview Pool Account and set it aside in a restricted fund (HSCA Board Restricted Fund) to be used for board strategic program ideas. Approved items must be supported by two thirds of the board and the board needs to develop terms of reference at the first meeting where a strategic initiative is discussed, or sometime before that.
Lorna Cordeiro: seconded
Motion Carried.
5. New Business (7:30pm – 8:00pm)
5.1 Pull-Ticket License
Lorna Cordeiro: Motion that HSCA renews the AGLC Pull-Ticket License for another two years.
Seconded: Maria Lee
Motion Carried.
5.2 Playground Update:
Jay: So we are still waiting to find out if we’ve been approved for the KaBOOM Playground. We find out on Friday! At the last meeting we did discuss approval of spending up to 28k to finance the KaBOOM Playground opportunity, but we didn’t discuss exactly where the money would come from. To clarify, $8,500.00 USD is our contribution to the playground (apparatus) itself, and the other $20,000 is the estimated cost (high) for all the required site prep.
Lorna: I know we supported the playground concept, but I don’t actually remember discussing amounts.
Jay: We did, it is in the minutes from February 28. It was at the end of the meeting and I did suggest that we use Pull-Ticket revenues on the playground apparatus as it’s a permitted use but we didn’t specify where the rest would come from – there isn’t that much in Pull Ticket, only about 11k. That’s why I’m looking for a motion to take it out of Bowview Pool, so that we don’t need to redeem a GIC.
Motion: Thibault Dambrine -Motion that we take 8.5k from Pull-ticket fund to put toward the playground, and 20k from Bowview Pool for the playground site prep.
Seconded: Anthony Sayers
Motion Carried
5.3 AGM Preparation
Jay went over the Draft Agenda. The Board added times to each item.
Lorna: My only suggestion Jay, given that the AGMs tend to drag on, maybe we might want to move the awards section up to somewhere at the front of the Agenda.
Jay: I don’t see a problem with moving it up
[In Camera discussion about last year’s AGM and what to expect this year]
Meeting Adjournment 8:35pm
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