Minutes of September 2009 meeting

Autscape Management Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: Sunday 20th September 2009

The meeting opened at 15.08

Present at the meeting: Kalen, Martijn, Peter, Debbie, Dave, Kabie, Trish, Yo.
Apologies: Robin
Three observers.


1.0 Provisionally approve minutes of 2009 AGM, which were posted to the
committee list on 13 September.
Approved: 4 for, 4 abstain

2. Committee positions approval

2.1.   Co-ordinators
2.1.1.      Venue co-ordinator - Peter

2.1.2.      Programme co-ordinator - Martijn

2.1.3.      Technical co-ordinator - Peter
Approved. 7 for, 1 abstain

2.2 Sub-committee chairs:

2.2.1.      Venue - Peter

2.2.2.      Tech - Peter

2.2.3.      Publications/publicity - Yo

2.2.4.      Constitution - Yo

2.2.5.      Fundraising - Kabie

2.2.6.      Childcare - Kabie

2.2.7.      Programme - Martijn
Approved. 7 for, 1 abstain

2.3 Vices and assistants
2.3.1.      Vice Chair - Debbie

2.3.3.      Vice Treasurer - Robin

2.3.4.      Assistant venue co-ordinator - Robin

2.3.5.      Assistant programme co-ordinator - Kalen
Approved. Unanimous.

2.3.2 Vice secretary (interim) - Trish
Approved. 7 for, 1 abstain

2.3.6 Assistant technical co-ordinator - Dave
Approved. 7 for, 1 abstain

2.4 Other responsible positions

2.4.1.      Communications - Trish, with assistance from Debbie

2.4.2.      Merchandise and sensory room equipment purchasing - Dave
Approved. 6 for, 2 abstain

3.0 Sub-committees

3.1 Venue (Peter) Nothing to report but hope to get going soon
3.2 Tech (Peter) Nothing to report but hope to get going soon
3.3 Publications/publicity (Yo). Pub has decision making procedures in place,
has drawn up a task list and some deadlines and has started work
3.4 Constitution - (Yo) Unable to report at this time due to confidential
issues under discussion on the committee list
3.5 Fundraising (Kabie) Have decision making procedure. Have identified
priorities for funding and are searching for funders. Hope to have the first
round of applications off before Christmas.

3.6 Childcare (Kabie) Nothing to report. No members of the SC yet. Will be
looking at previous ammerdown childcare as a start.
3.7 Programme (Martijn) Not started yet. Nothing to report.

4.0 Proposals

4.1 Participant confidentiality and management of SC membership

4.1.1 That agreement to abide by the participant confidentiality agreement is
required of members of the following sub-committees:
Venue
Tech
Fundraising
Childcare
(modified to exclude Programme)


Approved. 7 for, 1 abstain
Issue of programme subcommittee still outstanding. Martijn did not feel they
needed to handle confidential information however this was not agreed by all.

4.1.2 that if a subcommittee member of whom it is required persistently fails
to respond to requests to register their agreement to the participant
confidentiality agreement, their subcommittee membership can (at the discretion
of the sc chair) be suspended until their agreement is obtained.

This issue was deferred to the committee list for further discussion (see
below)

4.1.3.That if a member of a subcommittee remains suspended for more than 60
days their subcommittee membership can (with the approval of the main committee
chair) be terminated.

This issue along with 4.1.2 was deferred to the committee list for further
discussion. Issues were raised around the lack of difference between suspension
and removal from a subcommittee given the way they currently work. It was
suggested that we may need a method of automatically requiring potential
members to agree before joining but this also created concern around making it
harder to join subcommittees.

4.2 SC-pub would like approval in principle of the concept of a generic
brochure (with only dates and venue changing each year) and a general business
card (for members to hand out to people giving the website address) which would
allow us to advertise Autscape all year round. An insert would be produced
later in each year to provide details of the programme and registration
information.
Approved. Unanimous.

4.3 Yo would like to request the committee's permission to explore the
possibility of creating a youth programme for 2010. Initially this would
involve setting up an email list and inviting/encouraging young people (10-18)
to join it. This email list would work separately from but alongside the
childcare SC (and provisional agreement has been obtained from Kabie to this
co-ordination) towards the development of a youth programme. Yo would like to
chair this email list and take overall responsibility for the development of
the programme but as far as possible would intend to support young autistic
(and AC friendly) people to have ownership of their own programme.
Proposal withdrawn after discussion and concerns raised by Peter about CRB
checks etc. ongoing discussion onlist regarding CRB concerns generally. 
 


5.0 Ratifications
5.1 Appointment of Yo as committee's liaison to the solicitor in relation to
the incorporation and charity registration process (originally agreed in May
2008)

Approved. 5 for, 1 against, 2 abstain

5.2 Company secretary designate to be Yo (again, confirmation of a previous
decision)
Approved. 6 for, 2 abstain

5.3 Vice company secretary designate
Deferred until necessary, probably later this year.

6. Questions and clarifications

6.1 Interim accounts
Final accounts cannot be completed until next month when all the cheques have
cleared and the Autscape financial year is over.
Vote to approve the interim accounts as posted by Robin on 18/09/09.
Not approved. 3 against, 5 abstain.

We will come back to the accounts next month when the final ones should be
available and Robin has had a chance to answer any questions.

7. Any other business.
None raised
Meeting closed at 16.51