Agenda for April 2013 board meeting Meeting to be held at 2pm on Sunday 21st April at irc.starlink-irc.org #autscape Attendance Apologies received from Trish 1. Request from the company secretary for directors to waive their right to formal notice of this meeting 2. Ratification 2.1. Our decision to set the professionals' fees for Autscape 2013 to £210 (shared) / £250 (single/en-suite). (3 for, 0 against on list 20-25/3/13) 3. Proposals 3.1. Accountancy. 3.1.1. The company secretary proposes that we increase the agreed budget for accountancy services to £700 (from £550 previously) [See Appendix A for rationale] 3.1.2. The company secretary proposes that we rescind our previous decision to not have an independent examination of the accounts. 3.2. Programme proposals voting???? 3.2.1. Delegate scheduling programme. To whom? 3.3. Day fees. The interim treasurer proposes the day fees set out in Appendix B. 3.4. 2014 venue. 3.4.1. Venue and cost. The research subcommittee chair proposes that we book Belsey Bridge for Autscape 2014. (See closed Appendix C1 on board list for detailed cost information and Appendix C2 below for background and rationale). 3.4.2. Dates. If 2.2.1 is approved, the research subcommittee chair proposes that the board select either: (a) 4 - 7th Aug 2014; or (b) 11 - 14th Aug 2014; as the dates for Autscape 2014. (Link to 2014 calendar in Appendix D for reference) 3.5. Co-options (please vote for or against each potential co-optee) 3.5.1. Rangesh Nallan (see 16/4/13 'Fw: #log' and 7/4/13 'Rangesh' thread for further information) 3.5.2. Debbie Finucane (see 9/4/13 'Fw: Trustee' for further information) 3.6. Storage (detailed proposals to follow, see email on list 'Storage' 21/3/13 for information about the issues) 4. Follow-ups 4.1. Submission of accounts/annual report by accountants and signing engagement letter inc. independent examination issue raised by Peter (Stephen) 4.2. Director recruitment (Yo) 4.3. Insurance (In Feb meeting Stephen undertook to check the details of last year's provider with Peter and pass this information to the board list for Elaine to take forward. Has this happened?) 4.4. Potential sponsorship offer (Martijn) 4.5. Outstanding 2012-2013 minutes awaiting approval (Martijn) 4.6. Collecting powerpoints/handouts from 2012 presenters (Trish) 4.7. Amendment to gender question on registration form for equality reasons (Stephen) 4.8. Appointing an onsite transport coordinator (Elaine) - deadline 22nd April 4.9. Onsite team. Preliminary expressions of willingness/not to serve on onsite team, potential coordinator?, possible invitations to non-directors 4.10. Autreat/Autscape overlap possibilities (Martijn) - are we realistically going to be able to manage anything on this? 5. Subcommittee progress reports 5.1. Programme (Chair: Martijn)(proposal voting arrangements and summary of subcommittee comments on proposals, proposed invitations including progress on benefits adviser, assessment of whether there is an adequately strong programme in place or in prospect, other issues) 5.2. Fundraising (Chair: Elaine) (fundraising strategy - deadline for presentation to the board in some form, assistance required, other issues) 5.3. Research (Chair: Elaine)(childcare providers, transport providers, future potential venues - providing information to the board, any outstanding points on storage, other issues) 5.4. Publications and publicity (Chair: Martijn)(poster/flyer, NAS directory, adverts in other publications, updating website text esp. from 2012 to 2013 venue/fee/registration information, information pack, other issues). 5.5. Purchasing working group (Coordinator: Stephen) 6. Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 6.1. Registrar (Kalen)(registration system, are we on course to open registration on 23rd April?) 6.2. Venue Coordinator (Elaine)(matters arising, obtaining plan of fire doors, special diet discussion/draft menu) 6.3. IT systems manager (Stephen)(handover, website updating - especially venue information prior to registration opening (Last month Martijn offered to find the Ackworth information and email it to Elaine for checking - has this happened?), registration system, anything else) 6.4. Interim Treasurer (Stephen)(actions taken under delegated authority, paypal handover, are we ready to take payments from registration in all the likely forms?, handover progress, training needs - including consideration of how the current year's accounts are going to be compiled, contact with bank/accountants, anything else) 6.5. Company Secretary (Yo)(bulletins, situation re 2010 and 2011 accounts from old organisation, follow ups from previously delegated actions, actions taken under delegated authority, outstanding issues) 6.6. Chair (Martijn)(road map, actions taken under delegated authority, board functioning and communication, progress so far in 2012-2013 and next tasks) 7. Any other business APPENDIX A Rationale: Back in November 2012 we decided not to request an independent examination in order to save money. However interacting with the accountants it has become clear that they are in fact unwilling to provide us with accountancy services for less than £700, which is their standard fee including an independent examination. Consequently we may as well have the independent examination for the same price. The only alternative would be to shop around for cheaper accountancy services and my advice to the board as company secretary is that (a) it is unlikely we would be successful in securing cheaper services; and (b) the potential saving is not worth the demands of time and effort to try to find suitable alternative accountants and establish a working relationship with them. Yo For reference "November 2012 minutes 2.1 Independent Examination. The board considered a proposal (deferred from last month) not to have Autscape's accounts subjected to an independent examination henceforth (see Appendix A). Some mild concerns were raised about the potential for a negative reaction from some members, but there was a consensus that the sum saved (£300-400) was significant enough to outweigh the likelihood that a relatively small number of members may be less than comfortable with the decision. The board noted, as last month, that an independent examination is not a legal requirement for Autscape due to our small size and that the process is largely redundant since Autscape's accounts are, in any case, prepared by external accountants. The board also noted the possibility of having an independent examination less frequently that every year if that was felt to be of benefit and the importance of explaining this decision to the membership in advance of queries being raised. Yo volunteered to write the explanation and Martijn offered to proofread and simplify. The board decided not to have Autscape's accounts subjected to an independent examination henceforth (unless it becomes legally necessary or the board sees fit) and to communicate an explanation of this decision to the membership. (5 for, 0 against)" APPENDIX B Day fees proposed: Adult Standard £75 1 day / £150 2+ days Adult Low cost £65 1 day / £130 2+ days Child standard £60 1 day / £120 2+ days Child low cost £50 1 day / £100 2+ days Child 0-4 £30 1 day / £60 2+ days Professional £90 1 day / £180 2+ days Carer/PA: 1 day - £30 2 days - £60 3+ days - £90 Notes: We're charged GBP 30 per day compared to GBP 40 a day for full attendance, so I've aimed at a reduction of GBP 30 for a 3 day attendance, based on the corresponding residential fee for a shared room. I have made the two day attendance be the same as three days, and the one day attendance be half of that, as we have been doing for the past few years. The result is that, for standard income adults at least, our day rates are slightly lower than the day rates for the past two years. The exceptions are: Child 0-4: Unreduced. Whether the venue charges us for young children is based on if the child needs a bed or not for overnight attendance, and I have literally no clue how they'd do it for day attendance. Carer: The cost isn't the same for 2 days as 3 days to allow us to charge only what the venue is charging us. Stephen APPENDIX C2 Background I have been working extensively on venues recently with help from Debbie. A lot of the venues we had on the list have had to be eliminated for one reason or another after closer scrutiny. E.g. Sneaton Castle at Whitby has always looked promising. However, during a phone call, which also sounded promising it suddenly emerged that whilst we could have exclusive use of the living accommodation we could not have exclusive use of the conference rooms as they are used by various groups on a regular basis throughout the week. As a result we are left with 2 familiar venues (Ackworth and Belsey Bridge) and 2 possible new venues, one of which Debbie is visiting (King's Park conference centre near Northampton) and one of which I am visiting (Cloverley Hall near Whitchurch). There are other possibilities but they have yet to be investigated fully and are not so easy to arrange a visit because of the distance involved. However, bearing in mind that at the September 2012 board meeting, item 2.1.3, we had a discussion in which we were all keen to return to Belsey Bridge but were put off by the increased price quoted, I decided to call to see if I could negotiate a better price. Details of the response I got are available to the board in Appendix C1 on the board list but cannot be made public due to the commercial sensitivity of the financial information. Unfortunately they won't hold this offer open very long and I have to let them know next week if we are going to accept. If the board decides to wait until the outcome of the planned venue visits before deciding it runs a very strong risk of losing Belsey Bridge. There is also no guarantee that the two planned venue visits will be successful and therefore we might be left with just Ackworth to choose from until other venue visits can be made. I also think it is worth considering that they might not offer us a good rate again should we turn them down. By choosing Belsey Bridge now this also takes the pressure off trying to find a venue for 2014 with such a small board and lots of other tasks. Hopefully the momentum started can continue but without the urgency to find us a new venue for 2015. Elaine APPENDIX D http://www.calendardate.com/2014.php