Autscape Management Committee Meeting Minutes Meeting date: Sunday 18th July 2010 Meeting time: 3pm Present: Martijn, Kalen, Peter, Dave, Debbie, Yo. Apologies: Trish. 1 Approvals 1.1. Minutes of June meeting - approved. 2 Ratifications 2.1. The committee unanimously ratified the decision to purchase insurance from CaSE at a cost of £192.15 (a 25% reduction on last year). 2.2. The committee unanimously ratified the following job descriptions: 2.2.1. Director (formerly General Committee Member) - posted 14/07/10 2.2.2. Treasurer - posted 15/07/10 2.2.3. Secretary - posted 15/07/10 2.2.4. Chair - posted 15/07/10 3 Follow up 3.1. Merchandise agreement. Dave stated that he felt unable to cope with the responsibility and felt he didn't know enough about how merchandise issues have been handled in the past. Debbie offered to help. Kalen asked whether Dave and Debbie could collaborate rather than handing over the responsibility entirely. There was a brief discussion about how merchandise issues have been handled in the past. When it became apparent that there were differing interpretations of that history, the Chair deferred the matter to the list for full discussion. 3.2. Directors' indemnity insurance. Peter reported that aQmen can provide Trustees Indemnity / Directors & Officers Liability insurance up to £100,000 for £156.25. No decision was reached at this time. 3.3. Whether any other insurance is needed. Peter reported that aQmen can also offer (but don't recommend or otherwise): Fidelity liability insurance (in case somebody on the board goes off with all the money), Professional Indemnity liability insurance (in case someone suffers loss or damage due to services we provided), and Employment Practices liability insurance (in case we get sued due to discrimination by sex/race/disability/etc). The chair proposed discussing these possibilities further early in the new year. [At this point there was some further discussion of issues relating to 3.1 but no further progress was made]. 3.4. Guidelines for journalists. Trish had indicated in advance of the meeting a willingness to write something for this purpose. The committee discussed this briefly and decided 3.4.1. To delegate to Trish the task of writing and sending Guidelines for Journalists. The guidelines will be approved by Yo prior to sending. Martijn additionally offered to proof read the guidelines prior to sending. 4 Proposals 4.1. The committee agreed that organiser wear (e.g. sashes, baseball caps) remains the property of Autscape and are to be returned at the end of the event. Organisers may have the option to purchase items at Autscape's discretion. There were brief discussions about the possible need to wash baseball caps and what should happen if an organiser accidentally forgets to return them. No definite conclusions were reached on these issues. 4.2. Optional expenses budget - posted 17/7/10. Following a question Peter clarified that the total budget is approx. £890 which is roughly the amount of the difference between current funds (excluding the development fund) and necessary reserves. Yo asked for clarification of what the final list of priorities (derived from the vote of individual committee members was). After some confusion it became apparent that the order of items in the budget posted by Peter reflected the composite priorities of the committee as a whole. Kalen additionally noted that sc-prog is not required to use the budget for leisure presentations but it is available if wanted. The committee approved the budget but 2 votes were modulo discussion of how many people go to Ammerdown on the Monday. 4.3. The Company Secretary designate had requested a budget of £100 out of the funds set aside for development to buy relevant books to assist with that role. Peter queried whether such a small expenditure was appropriate for full committee approval in a meeting and suggested the committee delegate authority to make such requests unnecessary. The chair then proposed to delegate the authority to decide on individual expenditures from the development budget to the Company Secretary (currently Company Secretary designate). To which Yo requested a qualification to make larger expenditures subject to the additional approval of a second person. The committee then approved a proposal: 4.3.1. To delegate the authority to decide on individual expenditures up to £200 from the development budget to the Company Secretary (currently Company Secretary designate). Expenses over £200 will be pre-approved by the Chair or Treasurer. 5 Further approvals 5.1. Health and Safety policy. Peter noted that the policy itself is the section under the heading 'General policy', not the sections labelled risk assessment which are working documents that are subject to change. Trish had suggested that children should also be mentioned in the policy. The policy was approved as it stood. 5.2. Full accounts for 2008/2009 (this is a provisional approval by the committee. The accounts can only be actually approved by a full general meeting). Peter noted that a revision was posted on 17/7/10 and also indicated the need to estimate the value of our currently held merchandise 5.3. Company secretary job description. This was approved by the majority of the committee. Martijn disapproved objecting to the requirement of "excellent communication skills" in an autistic-run organization. There was a consensus that it would be preferable to review this during next year and attempt to simplify the language and make it less intimidating. 6 Delegations 6.1. Peter volunteered to send out notification of the list of nominees and the AGM agenda by 30th July on behalf of the secretary (who will leave a draft agenda which will be missing only the list of nominees, but who will be on holiday at the time). 7 Subcommittee and working group progress reports 7.1. Venue. Peter reported that he and Debbie are intending to visit a Stonar School on Friday. Kalen has been looking into another venue but has made no progress as yet. Yo was concerned about the lack of even a contingency booking for 2011. However Peter informed the committee that we do now have a provisional booking for Ammerdown in the event other venues do not work out. Peter recalled that this is for Monday-Thursday in late August but was unable to remember the exact dates. He was asked to post them to the list when possible. 7.2. Tech. Peter reported that the venue have installed extra equipment to provide a wireless signal in most conference rooms. Very few bedrooms are covered. 7.3. Publications/publicity. Peter confirmed that the business cards have now been ordered and will have Kalen's number on them. Yo reported that the information pack is very nearly ready and is expected to go out today. In relation to the information pack Kalen was reminded that Trish had volunteered her phone number as a contact for participants. Similarly Debbie and Yo noted the need to mention that wifi signal in bedrooms is very unlikely. 7.4. Constitution. Yo reported that there has been no progress in the last month. She commented that everyone is too busy right now because of the proximity of this year's Autscape. She expressed the SC's intention to resume work on the outstanding policies after Autscape. 7.5. Fundraising. Kalen recorded that there has been no progress as sc-fund is still without a chair. However, she noted that Yo has offered to chair next year (assuming she is re-elected) but would prefer to cease chairing sc-pub in exchange. 7.6. Childcare. Peter commented that he is waiting for a price from the venue re the childcare providers' meals cost. Kalen suggested including the lunch cost in the childcare budget. 7.7. Programme. Martijn reported that the schedule is ready and thanked Peter for his help in making a table version. He undertook to edit a guidance document for presenters and send it to them, and to work on the call for leisure sessions. 7.8. Transport. Debbie reported having found a cheaper taxi company and noted that they have requested an idea in advance of how many people we need to transport at which times. Peter expects this to be Tuesday 15 yeses and 8 maybes; Friday 17 yeses and 6 maybes. In addition there are a few people who have not filled in forms. Debbie noted that there is a min charge of £20 ie four peoples worth per vehicle and that the vehicles are mostly larger than ordinary car size including one 14 seater. As far as off-site people are concerned Debbie reported attempting to link a volunteer with an individual needing transport and noted that all other people without transport are onsite, camping or have arranged lifts privately themselves. 8 Key position progress reports 8.1. Venue co-ordinator. Peter reported that the diet questionnaires are with the venue and we are awaiting menus. He also reported that swimming is allowed, subject to signing a disclaimer form and noted that Autscape will need disclaimer forms too which he undertook to write. 8.2. Registrar. The registrar hoped the info packs would get mailed soon. Debbie reported that four or five twins have been made into triples, however most of the double rooms became singles as we have a lack of people willing to share beds. The numbers coming are not exact because of the camping situation but currently stand at: 63 residential, 2 camping, 17 day (including presenters), 2 visitors for part of the Wednesday. Debbie reported that she has managed to squash in the last person in on the waiting list and noted that people had switched to non residential as the wait grew and that camping is also helping the situation, as are some cancellations. Yo noted the likelihood that some people who had wanted to come but been put off or given up trying. Kalen enquired about arrangements for collecting the Wednesday visitors and Debbie reported that Peter had volunteered for this. 8.3. Treasurer. Peter reported that he contacted the accountancy company that he found last month (which turned out to be in Cambridge) but they offered to do the accounts for £750+VAT. He feels that this is a ridiculously high price. He reported that one of the people in finance at his place of work does some private accountancy jobs, and they have offered to do our accounts but he hasn't yet got a price for this. Yo asked whether Peter had looked into the charitable accountants she had posted on list about as a possibility. Peter responded that he had forgotten but undertook to do so. 8.4. Secretary. Yo reported that Interchange legal (our solicitors) have now closed as per her report last month. However the solicitor we have been working with for the past 18 months or so (Peter Korn) is setting up on his own and is willing to finish our work for the agreed fee. He has been very competent and reliable and we don't really have much choice, so she has authorised Interchange to let him take our file with him. She reported that this changeover is causing a small delay with our incorporation etc. However he is expected to be up and running by mid to late August and things should then continue to progress as planned. Yo also reported that in the meantime we need to get CRB checks for everyone and she is currently looking into finding a suitable umbrella organisation for that purpose. 8.5. Chair. Kalen had nothing to report. 9 Any other business 9.1. Dave and Peter had a brief discussion about stationery and badge supplies. The chair asked them to continue the discussion by email. 9.2. Dave reiterated that he is not coping with the merchandise responsibility and asked to hand it over to someone else. Debbie offered and a majority of the committee approved the change. Kalen voted against on the grounds that the responsibilities are already too heavily skewed in the direction of Debbie and a few others. 9.3. There was a brief discussion of who will be arriving on the Monday (and consequent funding implications). Funding had been previously agreed for 4 organisers. It became clear that 5 organisers wish to arrive on Monday and final agreement on how to resolve this minor discrepancy was deferred to the list. 9.4. Peter suggested the possibility of an extra committee meeting between this meeting and Autscape. There was a brief discussion. Peter commented that this year communication on the list is working better than in the past. Yo suggested that the committee is likely to be dealing with a lot of minor issues rather than major decisions requiring a meeting. A consensus was reached against a further meeting. [A brief discussion about the meaning of abstention in relation to voting took place at this point. Yo clarified that abstention is the absence of a vote and does not indicate disapproval or anything else in particular]. 9.5. The secretary asked committee members to make a greater effort to send her agenda items in advance of meetings in future to avoid some many items ending up under AOB. The chair added a further reminder of the need to READ the agenda when it's posted and ask for necessary clarifications BEFORE the meeting as much as possible. Meeting closed.