Final Agenda for February 2013 board meeting Meeting to be held at 2pm on Sunday 17th February at irc.starlink-irc.org #autscape Attendance Apologies 1. Request from the company secretary for directors to waive their right to formal notice of this meeting 2. Ratifications (can be dealt with as a group if no objection): 2.1. The board decided to ask the donor who underwrote up to 10 places for Autscape 2012 to pay only the amount Autscape is actually being charged by the venue and not the full cost of the unfilled places (5 for, 0 against 21.01.13-22.01.13) 2.2. The board decided to approve the adverts and role descriptions posted to the board list for release via the methods previously approved. (4 for, 0 against 31.01.13-02.02.13) 2.3. The board decided to: (1) ask Stephen to apply on Autscape's behalf for a 12-month delivery PO box at a cost of £230 + VAT (5 for, 0 against 31.01.13 - 03.02.13) (2) to review this decision in 9 months time (October 2013) to consider whether to continue with the arrangement long term. (5 for, 0 against 31.01.13 - 03.02.13) 3. Proposals 3.1. The interim treasurer proposes the following 2013 Residential fees (see Appendix A for rationale): Adult - 180 GBP Carer - 120 GBP Child 5-17 - 150 GBP Child 0-4 - 60 GBP Babe-in-arms (No child-care) - 0 En-suite/Single supplement - 40 GBP Low income discount - 20 GBP 3.2. Stephen proposes that Autscape get a cheap mobile to take incoming calls [Rationale: so that we could transfer it between those of us who are able to do so, only have one phone number as far as the public are concerned, and don't need to put anyone's personal phone numbers online.] 3.3. The registrar proposes that the board set 12th July as the closing date for registration (see registrar's report on board list for further information) 3.4. The interim treasurer proposes that the board: 3.4.1. approve the draft cancellation policy (see Appendix B) 3.4.2. delegate the power to set exact dates in the cancellation policy for specific years to the registrar. 4. Follow-ups 4.1. PO box (Stephen) 4.2. Director recruitment (Yo) 4.3. Purchase/transfer of autscape domains (Martijn) 4.4. Outstanding 2011-2012 minutes awaiting approval (which were needed for accountants) (Martijn) 4.5. Outstanding 2012-2013 minutes awaiting approval (Martijn) 4.6. Chat list guidance - arrangements for reminders/regular re-posting 4.7. Insurance (Stephen, Yo, Elaine) 4.8. Guidelines for the use of the announce email list for proposal to the board (Martijn) 5. Subcommittee progress reports 5.1. Programme (Chair: Martijn)(call for proposals, proposal submission system, proposal voting arrangements, proposed invitations, other issues) 5.2. Fundraising (Chair: Elaine) (fundraising strategy, other issues) 5.3. Research (Chair: Elaine)(childcare providers, transport providers, writing up venue findings, other issues) 5.4. Publications and publicity (Chair: Martijn)(AU advert, poster/flyer, NAS directory, adverts in other publications, other issues) 6. Roles and responsibilities which still need to be assigned. 6.1. Transport (arranging once research makes recommendation and board decides provider) 6.2. Childcare (arranging once research makes recommendation and board decides provider) 7. Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 7.1. Registrar (Kalen)(registration system, opening and closing dates) 7.2. Venue Coordinator (Elaine)(matters arising, plans for venue visits) 7.3. IT systems manager (Stephen)(handover, website updating, proposal submission system, registration system, anything else) 7.4. Interim Treasurer (Stephen)(progress of the accounts and expected cost - funding for this needs to be requested from the board, actions taken under delegated authority, handover progress, training needs, contact with bank/accountants, anything else) 7.5. Company Secretary (Yo)(bulletins, follow ups from previously delegated actions, actions taken under delegated authority, outstanding issues) 7.6. Chair (Martijn)(road map, actions taken under delegated authority, board functioning and communication, progress so far in 2012-2013 and next tasks) 8. Any other business APPENDIX A Rationale Taking into account what is needing to be entered into the financial system, our general reserves are slightly over 2000 GBP, which about the mid range of our reserves policy. As such, we want to break even this year. Our funds can, without exceeding the parameters of our reserves policy, go up or down by about 1000 GBP, although in an ideal world it won't change by 500 GBP in either direction. At 60 attendees, assuming most attendees are low income and we get an even split of single or en-suite and shared, the above charges will give us a loss of around 900 GBP. It is unlikely we'll get only 60 attendees. At 80 attendees, with the same assumptions, the above will give us an accrual of 190 GBP. This is what I'd consider a normal year for Autscape. While we had just over 90 attendees last year, including children, I do not anticipate the ability to do a publicity push like we did last year, as such reaching this number again seems unlike likely, so I didn't set the costs taking into account 90 attendees. However, with 90 attendees, the above costing will give us an accrual of around 770 GBP. The biggest flaw with the above figures is that I haven't been able to ascertain if the venue are charging the same as last time we attended if the child isn't in a cot, or if they're charging full price like they do for 5-17 year olds. The accrual/loss needs to be adjusted downwards 120 per under five who isn't in a cot in this case. Unless we get an unexpected influx of 0-4 year olds who need beds (as opposed to cots), we should be able to cover this however many attendees we actually get, but if Elaine is able to get clarification on this it would be helpful. The childcare estimate, on the other hand, is a conservative estimate, based on discussion with Elaine about what the maximum she thinks we'll be paying for childcare, and assuming the venue will charge us the full 40 GBP a day. I do not expect it to be this high. For comparison, last time we were in this area we paid less than 700 GBP, although I believe there were some concerns raised with the childcare provider that year. By way of comparison with previous years: This is slightly cheaper than last year with the exception of single rooms, because while we want our reserves to stay about the same this year but were running them down last year, this venue is cheaper, and we don't have many single rooms available compared to last year. For a more direct comparison, with the exception of 0-4 year olds and carers, which are the same, the charges are 10 GBP higher than the last time we were at Ackworth School, which given that we are no longer trying to run our reserves down, and the venue is charging slightly more, feels about right. I'm assuming rebates are at 100 GBP, and one rebate per person for the purpose of the above calculations, but obviously these won't be known until I set day rates, which can be done separately. The spreadsheet is available on the board list in case anyone wants to try some figures out to see if they can find a better way that I missed. You should just need to change costs on the 60 attendees tab, and the 80 attendees tab will adjust itself. APPENDIX B Draft Cancellation Policy If you cancel on or before <Date 1>, you get all your money back less any directly incurred costs (eg. stamps, postal order fee, etc) If you cancel on or before <Date 2> but after <Date 1>, there will be an administration fee of GBP 20 in addition to the directly incurred costs. If you cancel after <Date 2>, no refund will be due. Where Date 1 is set to approximately two weeks prior to the close of registration, and Date 2 is set to the close of registration. --- Comments (not part of draft policy) Someone who has functioned as the registrar in the past, would be better placed for coming up with an automatic way of getting a cancellation date, or a guideline to delegate the setting of to a role, based on our contract with the venue than I, if we desire doing that. The reason for the date where there's an administration fee after being approximately rather than exact is that it gives whoever sets the date that year a little leeway in the ability to pick a 'neat' looking date (e.g. first or last day of a month) rather than an arbitrary looking one, or to go exactly two weeks, at their discretion. If the lack of definitive date for the administration fee coming into place, or ambiguity on what approximately means, is a problem I'd be happy to vote on a modified form of the proposal to make Date 1 exactly 2 weeks prior to the close of registration, or to specify a range we allow it to deviate by.