ISLA Board Meeting

Sept 20 2008 (Berman residence)

 

Present: Michael McNamara, Michael Berman, Erin O'Brien-Hornsey, Kevin McMahon, Jenny Brown, Bill Engleson

Regrets: Scott Sweeney, Masoud Zadeh, Joanne Ovitsland, Ian Thomson, and Michelle Wilson

 

Call to order: 11:25 AM

 

  1. Agenda accepted as presented by general consent.
  2. Minutes read and accepted, w/amendment to section 5b. Amendment reads: "An application will be made to HIES for a portion of the funds." This replaces the sentence, "A percentage of the proceeds, which is yet to be negotiated, will be earmarked for ISLA."
  3. Review of Charitable Status Michael Berman has not yet contacted Revenue Canada (CRA). No action has yet been taken by Ian re: Constitution revision. Michael B. would like to have more formal questions and ideas of where we're going as an organization before getting back to CRA. The idea is that the clearer we are as an organization and within our Constitution, the better our chances of reaching our goal of attaining Charitable Status. MB (with general agreement) thinks we need a strong working committee on this issue.
  4. Business Arising

A.    ISLA's Role in Outreach/Emergency Services?

Erin shared her experience as an ISLA Board member residing on Denman Island and as a resource/touchstone for Denmanites in immediate housing crisis. She questioned ISLA's place as a provider of emergency services and wanted to clarify her present role within ISLA. A question arising for her was, 'Does ISLA have a role in emergency outreach/services?' General feedback/discussion: Erin's role as Board liaison on ISLA for Denman Island is greatly valued. ISLA is not at present designed or set up to be a provider of emergency services or outreach. Jenny urged Erin to keep those two roles of Erin's separate, to avoid confusion about ISLA's' goals and Board member burnout, due to overwhelming requests for housing aid. General agreement that in the future ISLA could look at revising our role to include emergency services, but it isn't in our mandate for the foreseeable future.

    1. Staggered Board Elections ' Previously suggested by Bernhard, the idea is to stagger the length of terms served by Board members, to avoid losing an experienced Board in its entirety all at once. General agreement that this is a good idea. MB made a motion that we accept the idea, MM seconded, passed unanimously. Language around Term Staggering needs to be written into the revised Constitution. Staggered terms to be implemented with next AGM. Further discussion: How should terms be divided? Should we look at specializing the Board? IE: have 1/3 made up of technical wizards (architects and the like), 1/3 trades people, 1/3 potential residents of ISLA housing. Agreement to have the Constitution Redraft Committee take an informal approach to identifying these constituencies.
    2. HIES and Quilt Monies- We need to make an application to HIES to receive our percentage of the quilt earnings, estimated at $8000. General agreement that we should ask for 50% ($4000). Action: Kevin to ask Michelle to be liaison with HIES on this. MB suggests we word the application to ask for $1900 for our Board training workshop and $2100 for staff person salary, totaling $4000. General agreement.
    3. Fundraising Follow-up ' Peter Elkins and Bill Rapanos are interested in helping ISLA with fundraising. Action: M. McNamara to invite them to come to the next ISLA Board meeting to discuss, date TBA.
    4. Staff Person Update ' ISLA needs a staff person to help with administrative tasks, including grant researching and writing. Discussion: Erin stated that the ISLA Board should have some specific goals for the staff person to accomplish during their six-month term of employment. Bill suggests we appoint one Board member to be the liaison with the staff person. Jenny has replaced Masoud on the staff hiring committee. Action: Kevin to ask Michelle to request quilt monies from HIES, with $2100 earmarked for staff salary, the other $2100 to come from the Community Trust Grant. M. Berman put forth his ideas for expansion of the position to a one-year term, with possible funding to come from a request for funds from Jim and Judy Saks and a staffing subscription program. Action: Hiring committee to meet, address numerous questions and get the ball rolling with a job description. Jenny to email Sandy Bishop and request a sample job description and any staff management tips she may have to pass on. ISLA Board set a loose goal of November as the starting month/start date for the staff person.
  1. Financial Report ' Treasurer Kevin's financial report and draft budget accepted as presented, with amendment to the quilt money total. Discussion: Should ISLA use a fiscal or calendar year for its budget? Agreement that following the fiscal year is a good idea, to keep the yearly budget on track with the annual AGM. Discussion of the best time to hold the AGM. MM made motion to change ISLA's budget year-end to April 30th, with the AGM following in early May. Bill 2nd. Passed. Action: Kevin to redo the budget to reflect this change.
  2. Board Workshop ' Date set for Oct '. Kevin to contact possible facilitator Alice Sundberg. Question: Is the workshop dependent upon receiving estimated money from HIES/Quilt to be a 'go'?
  3. Other Business and next meeting ' jb made motion to save remaining agenda items until next meeting, date TBA. MM 2nd, passed. Meeting adjourned 1:25pm.