Draft Minutes of January 17, 2008 Board Meeting

Draft Minutes: January 17, 2008 PERC Board Meeting
Present: Randal, Kristin, Steve, Mike, Margaret

Guest: Rob Smith

Regrets: Kristina

1. Check-in: Steve introduced Rob Smith, who is interested in joining the Board as Treasurer. Rob is currently working for an accounting firm, Ernst & Young and expects to receive his degree in accounting this spring.

2. Time Keeper: Margaret volunteered to be Time-Keeper

3. Approval of Agenda: The Agenda needed to be re-ordered as Mike was double-booked and could not stay for the entire proposed Agenda.

Randal moved that the Agenda be approved as amended. Seconded by Steve. Carried

4. Approval of Minutes of December 18, 2007 Members�/Board Meeting: The Members� Meeting minutes are on the Wiki. Kristin did not present the minutes in hard copy but noted that that no members showed up and no one submitted nominations for the Board.

Regarding the Board meeting minutes of the same date, Margaret pointed out that the minutes should be amended to reflect the fact that she was present at the meeting.

The minutes were approved as amended. Moved by Steve. Seconded by Kristin. Carried.

5. Committee reports: (Mike)

Finance: Mike wants to continue work to rebuild this committee

Communications: Nothing new to report

IT Admin: Thought that the committee chair might be leaving but this has not happened.

Fundraising: Still thinking of doing a �100 km� dinner, perhaps in conjunction with a one-woman play called �The Boycott�.

Library: Receiving new books and these are being noted in the PEN.

Participation: James has revived the PVN. A contribution from the Board (something human and relevant) would be appreciated.

Leadership Support: Doing well.

Athena: Pretty much complete. Would like to highlight this project in the next PEN.

Membership: (No Chair) Mike is behind on membership campaign and has not yet prepared campaign materials for 2008. Committee Chairs have not yet given �pep talks� to their committees about campaign. Mike has asked Hanna to do a membership campaign insert in the next PEN.

6. Coordinator: Mike expects the rate of climate change impacts to accelerate. He thought that the coming recession/economic downturn would have a negative impact on donations to PERC, as well as other progressive organizations. He does not see an upsurge of support for climate change initiatives.

7. Finance: Steve reviewed the details of the cash flow for December 2007. He noted that there was a major jump in donations to PERC in December, compared to November. (Mike pointed out that this was due to the November-December issue of the PEN.) Steve said that PERC was doing well, financially, in December and looked okay for January as well. February could present problems, however, if donations revert to historical lows for that month.

There was a question regarding PERC membership levels, since most of our income is member-related. Mike replied that current membership is down about 20-25% from historical highs.

The Financial Report was accepted. Moved, Randal. Seconded, Kristin. Carried.

8. Other Business:

The Board went in camera for this agenda item, due to privacy concerns

9. Business Arising from Last Meeting/Old Business:

i. Better labeling of �Letters to the Editor� in the PEN: Margaret took this request to the PEN Editorial Committee and they agreed to more clearly label letters as such.

ii. November Cash Flow corrections: Steve reported that he looked for the cash flow draft on which he had worked with Mike, but it had vanished into the ether. However he believed that the December Cash Flow doc incorporated all the information missing from the November document.

iii. Organic Food Directory: No news since last meeting.

iv. PEN Editor�s Contract: Margaret will sign the 2008 contract after receiving all payments for work carried out in 2007.

v. Harassment Policy: Two words in the policy (on the wiki) still need to be changed. Kristin to do.

vi. Business Plan: Not yet worked on.

vii. Board Development Committee: Mike to meet with the two �Ks�

10. PEN Editor�s Report: The January-February issue is out. We now have to produce the PEN digitally due to the requirements the publisher. John learned how to do this over the Christmas holidays. Bill Butler (of Butler Printing) loaned us a scanner. In partial recompense for all of Butler�s assistance, the PEN will offer Butler a free ad in each issue.

The deadline for the next issue is February 13. Now that the PEN is being produced digitally, it will be much easier to put it up on the PERC web site.

11. Any Other Business: The May AGM is coming up quickly and we need to start planning for it.

12. Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00 pm.

13. Checkout: