CommonBorders' AGM Committee

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November 22nd, 2003

CommonBorders Board Meeting

Present:

1.      CB AGM at UVic 

(a)    Date is confirmed at Saturday, December 13, 2003, 2:00 – 4:00 at the UVic Grad Centre. Setup at 1:00 

(b)   Draft e-mail invitation by Therese is approved. Thanks Therese! Each of us can now send out the invitation (pending decision on location of the all-important social event!). Make sure the correct date, time and location info is included on the e-mail. Please emphasize that people must RSVP so that we know what kind of numbers we’re dealing with. Contact is Linda.

 Steve will check with Kevin to find out if we can have the social at his place and e-mail the rest of us asap. Kathy has offered her place if Kevin’s is not available. Thanks Kathy! Kathy’s address is 3142 Highview Street (Cook and Finlayson area). Her phone number is 381-3674. This will be a “snackluck” with CB Board (i.e., us) bringing snacks for the social

 (c)    No changes to the agenda as set out in last meeting’s minutes. Therese will e-mail the plans for the CB history section to the Board. Steve will lend his slide projector and slides to Kathy. Board members will meet individually with their agenda partners to organize their sections of the meeting.

 (d)   Potential new board members: Steve reports Alvaro is committed and Angela Robinson is still interested. Murray and Paul are coming over for the meeting but don’t want to be on the board. Roberto is not sure about being on the board but definitely wants to go on the next delegation as a coordinator/translator. Linda is having lunch with Janine Fernandes this week, who might be interested. Linda will call Lynda Hills and re-contact Jeannie MacPherson, Dulcie Fernandes and Lorraine Calderwood-Parsons. 

CB Society

 (a)    Registered name: Jessica has reserved our name, CommonBorders/Fronteras Comunes Society. The $30 cost reserves our name for 56 days, during which time we must complete the incorporation process.

 (b)   Jessica circulated an e-mail describing some board and decision making models. At the next meeting, Jessica and Steve will walk us through these choices and we will decide on models CB will adopt and write into the bylaws. This will be completed before the AGM. The new board may choose to revise the bylaws and can do so at the next AGM.

 It takes an average of 10 days from filing the paperwork to completing the incorporation process. Steve and Therese (after November 28^th) will help Jess with this. 

CB Delegation to El Salvador 

(a)    Steve and Linda met with Rob Fleming on November 16^th. Rob is interested in going with a CB delegation and will put the word out to his contacts in the federal/provincial/municipal government and labour communities. He agrees that it is best to have a variety of political viewpoints represented in the delegation. Already he has four or five people ready to apply. As to cost, he agreed that to provide for a transparent process, a flat coordination fee should be asked of all delegates and that a sliding scale will be considered. Overall it was a very positive meeting – Rob feels he can recruit some good delegates, and understands that CB will engage in our usual selection process in order to provide for a balanced, productive delegation. Steve and Linda will meet again with Rob on November 30^th to get an update from him on the people he has contacted. The board will send Steve or Linda any questions they have for Rob for the meeting. Steve and Linda will send out an update e-mail after their meeting. 

(b)   Therese has met with an FMLN group in Vancouver that is sending a delegation. They have started recruiting delegates. Therese and Murray attended one of the delegates’ meetings and feel that we could share some of CB’s expertise with them, particularly in the realm of observer behaviour and non-intrusive techniques. Therese has told this group that CB may be sending a delegation and, if so, there is a possibility that we could work together on the training aspect. 

The group agreed that we could explore the idea of sharing training if asked, but that we should be cautious to keep at arms-length from any obviously partisan delegation.  
(c)    Interim Steps: Therese will draft an e-mail (and circulate to the board after November 28^th) to CIS stating our intention to send a delegation. We will identify the things that we liked about the CIS experience (transport, training such as meetings with the Human Rights Ombudswoman, theme field trips, accreditation assistance, accommodation) and ask if we can participate in those, and do other things ourselves (meetings relevant to our delegates’ communities etc.). We will see if any part of the CIS fees are negotiable based on the amount of support we would like from them and the degree of independence we’re seeking. 

Potential coordinators: Therese, Linda, Jessica, Kathy, Roberto, Alvaro. At the next meeting, we will discuss a process for choosing coordinators and delegates given the large number of potentials. We would like to offer the coordinating experience to those who haven’t experienced that level of responsibility without overwhelming them. Could we have a couple of “apprentice” coordinators, who have their fees partially covered? 

Size of delegation: Opinions of the group ranged from 8 to 20. In many ways the ideal number is 12 for group cohesion and logistics. If we have a large number of delegates, we can fund more coordinators. One issue is fees: if the approximate cost per coordinator is $2000, then the “pod” must support this. If there is a pod of 3, we must ask for $650 CDN per delegate coordination fee. This seems high. However, most other group who do similar work (such as Global Exchange) charge $350 - $400, or about $30 per day. We can still do fundraising, and Rob Fleming may have some good sources. Our new board may also have some good ideas and experience in this area. 

Website Update 

(a)    Steve will ask Paul to put the AGM invitation on the website. In the future, board members should send all website ideas and change requests to Steve, and he’ll forward them to Paul. Paul will continue to do the website until the AGM (at which point a board member or Douglas may take this on). 

(b)   Linda circulated an incomplete first draft of the El Salvador report. Linda will have it completed by next Saturday and it should be up on the website that weekend. 

(c)    Guatemala election news: Linda will forward the notes she has received to Steve for Paul to put on the website. Steve will also ask Paul to update the electoral calendar. 

Next Meeting 

Sunday, December 7^th, 4:30 at Linda’s house (1117A May Street, 370-9879).

November 9th, 2003

CommonBorders Board Meeting

Present:           Jessica Asch, Steve Baileys, Therese Boulard, Kathy McKay, Linda Shout (minutes)  

Current Board Membership and Commitment

·         Linda announced that she is probably leaving the country in January. She will be available until then for planning and attending the AGM, and supporting new Board members

·         Steve will be leaving at the end of February. He is also committed to working with CB until then to get the new organizational structure going and help with planning a delegation

·         Therese is willing to be a Board Member at Large but can’t take on a specific position. She will be a coordinator for the next delegation and will be present to provide continuity

·         Jessica is willing to be a Board member. She is willing to commit to one year on the Board but will play a behind the scenes role rather than a very public one (although if all goes well she may be able to be a coordinator for an upcoming delegation). Her vision over the next year is to get new members on the Board and hold monthly meetings that CB members can attend. Ultimately she wishes to step back into a “member” role rather than Board member.

·         Kathy commits to serving on the Board and has no restrictions on the role she would play. Kathy agrees with Jessica’s vision of monthly meetings and drawing new people to the organization. 

AGM

 Date

·         Saturday, November 29^th, 2:00 – 4:00

·         Social to follow at Kevin Gillese’s home (address?) 

Location

·         First choice is UVic Grad Centre. A grad or club member must book it. UPDATE: Anne-Cath has confirmed we can book in her name. Linda will contact the Grad Centre to book meeting room for the 29^th

·         James Bay Community Centre ($27/hr) and Fairfield Community Centre ($25 - $35/hr for non-profit) are other options. Steve will also contact church in Esquimalt (St. Savior’s?) 

E-mails about the AGM

·         Therese will draft the invitation e-mail and forward it to the Board for comments/approval

·         Steve has a list of CB members, former delegates etc. He will send out the e-mail to this list. He will also ask Paul to post the invitation to the AGM to the CB website. We will invite recipients to pass the invite along to anyone they think may be interested.

Potential New Members

·         Steve: Alvaro is willing to be on the Board. Angela Robinson, who is on the Board of St. Savior’s (?) church and has extensive marketing and media experience, is also interested. Paul Mably is back in town and is interested, although he’s very busy with Oxfam.

·         Linda: Wendy and Roberto may both be interested (will want to come to the AGM at least). Linda’s former co-workers at the Children’s Commission, Jeannie MacPherson, Dulcie Fernandes and Lorraine Calderwood-Parsons (and maybe Lorraine’s husband Vic) want to attend the AGM. Dulcie is very interested in Board membership. The others would like to know more and go on a delegation (and may be interested in serving on the board).

·         Rob Fleming sent an e-mail expressing interest in working on a delegation with CommonBorders.

·         NOTE that we will not advertise widely for Board positions but will target former CB members or people who know something about the organization.

·         Following the AGM, we could have an “evening with CommonBorders” that would be open to the public to raise the profile of the organization.

AGM Agenda

 ·         Meeting should be no more than two hours in duration

·         Agenda as follows: 

 Becoming a Society

·         Decision made by current Board to go ahead and register as a society. Jessica and Steve have organized the paperwork. There are still a couple of legal points that need to be clarified. Steve and Jess will discuss these with Kevin Gillese. First name choice is CommonBorders/FronterasComunes; second choice is CommonBorders Electoral Observers (or CB Electoral Observers Society?)

·         Steve and Jess will continue with the process and report back to the CB Board.

 Rob Fleming

·         Victoria city council member Rob Fleming has approached CB with interest in forming a delegation for El Salvador’s presidential elections, including representatives of BCGEU, School Board and municipal government. These groups offer to fundraise and have extensive resources to support a delegation

·         One idea is that we could provide training and logistical support to such a delegation, similar to what we were planning to do for the CaNGO delegation. Each organization would pay a coordination fee ($X per delegate) to fund coordinators

·         The Board feels that these delegates should either join a CB delegation, which would be comprised of delegates from a variety of communities and different perspectives (i.e., not just a labour focus and should be in keeping with CB’s principles of neutrality), or

·         If they do want to have a delegation that’s more focused, we could provide our services but the delegation would not be under the CB banner (perhaps it would be in addition to a traditional CB delegation)

·         Steve will meet with Rob to clarify the way CB does things, and to find out more about what kind of a delegation Rob is hoping for. If it looks like we have some common ground, Rob could make a presentation to the Board. Steve will use the meeting to gather information and will not make any commitments at this time.  

Miscellaneous

 ·         We should get a short report on El Salvador up on the website. On Tuesday, Therese will send Linda all the notes/CIS group reports we have and Linda will start compiling the report.

·         Jess will send a copy of the information on society bylaws to the rest of the Board for our info. We can use many of the sample bylaws as written but will have to customize them somewhat.

 Next Meeting

 Saturday, November 22 2003, 4:00 pm at Steve’s house (#5 – 48 Michigan).

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October 18th, 2003

Jessica and Steve met on Saturday October 18^th to discuss and plan the steps required to have CommonBorders recognized as an incorporated society under the BC Society Act.

 There are a number of steps, which must be undertaken by CommonBorders in order to apply to become a society. These steps include:

 1.                  Name Approval and Reservation

CommonBorders must submit a list of three possible names to the Ministry of Finance for approval. Three names are submitted in case one or two of the names are already being used by other societies.

 It was proposed that CommonBorders submit the following three name choices: 

a)      CommonBorders

b)      CommonBorders Electoral Observers

c)      CommonBorders Electoral Observation Project  

A fourth suggestion was made by Therese to include the name: CommonBorders-Fronteras Comunes 

Responsable: Jessica

Tasks:             Jessica will:

a)      phone the Names Unit of the Ministry of Finance to inquire as to how long it will take to have a name searched and approved;

b)      contact other CB board members to ask for feedback on name choices listed above;

c)      provide the $30 fee to the Ministry of Finance and be reimbursed by CB
 

2.                  Obtain Legal Advice

It was discussed and decided CB would benefit by obtaining feedback from a legal mind regarding the potential implications of Society bylaws, procedures and impact on potential liability, etc.

Responsible: Steve

Task:              Steve will:

a)      contact one of our legal beagles on our CB roster (Kevin Gillese, Peter Golden or Wendy Zimmerman) and ask for their assistance with this. 

3.                  Society Constitution and Bylaws

We reviewed the constitution and bylaw template found on the Ministry of Finance’s website used for creating a new society. A number of possible amendments were discussed and it was agreed that we would provide a number of suggested changes to the CB board for discussion at the Annual General Meeting in November. 

Responsables:          Jessica and Steve

Task:                          Jessica and Steve will:

a)      review society bylaw and constitution templates and make recommendations to CB board. To be discussed at next meeting on November 1^st. 

4.                  List of Directors

CB must submit a list of a minimum of five directors on the CB board and must include their names and contact information as part of the application process.

Responsable: Jessica

Task:              Jessica will:

a)      contact current active CB board members and seek their permission to list them as directors. 

5.                  New Address/Postal Box for CB Society

We discussed the need to change the current address of CB (Steve’s residential address) to an address which will be accessible year round and not subject to change of address. It was decided to look into the availability and cost of using a postal box number. Information to be presented to CB board at AGM in November. 

Responsible: Steve

Task:              Steve will:

a)      look into cost and availability of a postal box. 

6.                  Copy of BC Society Act

In order to better understand the implications of becoming a society, it was decided that CB should obtain a copy of the BC Society Act for review by CB board members.

Responsable: Steve

Task:              Steve will:

a)      obtain a copy of the BC Society Act online or at the Queen’s Printer. 

7.                  Charitable Society Status

We discussed whether it may be advantageous to have CB become a “charitable” society and what steps are required in order to do so. 

Responsable: Steve

Task:              Steve will:

a)      make inquiries through the Ministry of Finance and our legal beagles to determine what is required to attain charitable society status and what advantages are. This information will be reported to CB at AGM in November. 

Next meeting:             Saturday November 1^st at 1pm at Steve’s.