Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: Saturday 14th March 2015 Meeting time: 11:00am GMT Meeting Chair: Martijn Present: Alastair, Martijn, Trish, Elaine Apologies: Kalen, Debbie, Stephen, Liz Meeting opened 11:12am. 1. Announcements 1.1. Retirements 1.1.1. Announcement of resignation: Peter Benie has decided to resign from the board effective immediately. However, he will continue to be active behind the scenes, running our web systems including the booking system, and we continue to have a confidentiality agreement with him to make that possible. We are grateful to Peter for his immense service to the board as treasurer and for his continued help to Autscape even after his resignation. 1.1.2. Announcement of resignation: Alastair: "I have decided to step down from the board at this time due to taking the lead in another autism-related project related to the General Election however I plan to continue to be active in supporting the work of the publicity subcommittee and in other subcommittee roles or with the on-site team if Autscape needs me to." Martijn thanked Alastair for his service to Autscape and expressed appreciation that he is still willing to be active. 1.2. Registration dates Announcement: Registration for the Autscape conference will be open from the 9th of May to the 18th of July 2015. 2. Ratifications 2.1. The board ratified the decision to sign the contract with Giggleswick school for Autscape to take place on 21st - 24th August 2015 (4 for). 3. Proposals 3.1. Donation earmarking. Debbie proposed that: 3.1.1. We designate the £1000 donation from the Lingard family for up to three years for a specific purpose. 3.1.2. Select what that purpose should be. The board carried 3.1.1 (4 for) and deferred 3.1.2 by consensus, to be discussed on board list so we can decide at the next meeting. 3.2. Venue visit expenses. The venue coordinator proposed that we pay expenses for the venue coordinator, programme coordinator, registrar and assistant registrar to visit the venue. There was a short discussion on whether all four people were essential. The proposal was carried (3 for, 1 against). 3.3. Purchasing budget. The purchasing coordinator proposed that the purchasing working group be granted the following budgets: 3.3.1. £350 for the purchase of registration materials (See Appendix A for cost breakdown) 3.3.2. £200 for the purchase of sensory equipment 3.3.3. £200 for the purchase of merchandise The board approved the purchasing budgets (4 for). 4. Follow-ups 4.1. Annual Report Elaine confirmed that Liz has been helping Debbie with this and she now needs to spend some time getting up to speed on what is happening with it. 4.2. Accounts No report. 4.3. Personal Data Retention Policy (Martijn). No progress since last meeting. 4.4. Guidance for splitting conference organisation from governance (Elaine). Elaine reported she is still working on this but it will come on the list soon. She feels it is something we really need to be working towards though given the workload now we are bigger. 4.5. Newsletter. Alastair reported little progress though Laura has had a couple of new submissions. Martijn anticipates taking this over depending on 8.2. 4.6. Purchase of font license (Alastair). Alastair reported little progress however confirmed we can get a desktop (print) license for £59. That allows us to use it on 1-5 PCs so someone would really need to keep track of the licensing. Martijn requested info so he can try and follow this up. 4.7. Allowances policy for out and about (Debbie). The new policy has been discussed on list and will be deferred to list for further discussion and/or voting. 5. Role reports 5.1. Chair (Martijn). Martijn reported he is still not happy with the way he is functioning as chair, and he has been preoccupied with web systems. However he and Trish are continuing to work on communication. 5.2. Treasurer (Peter). No report. 5.3. There was no item 5.3 due to a numbering error in the agenda. 5.4. Company Secretary (Elaine). Elaine reported that due to exceptionally busy weeks for herself and Debbie they have not yet completed the handover and she will get onto this asap. 5.5. Web systems (Martijn). Martijn reported lots of progress though hard to give details at present. His understanding of the system has improved and ultimately he hopes to be able to take over fully. 5.6. Honorary Secretary (Stephen). No report. 5.7. Programme Coordinator (Kalen). Martijn reported for Kalen that the Call for Proposals is pretty much ready, and that the Call for Proposals can be opened later today. 5.8. Venue Co-ordinator (Elaine). Elaine reported that the Venue visit will take place on 30th Match after which she should know everything she needs to about the venue and be able to do that part of the info pack. Contract will be posted when it's countersigned next week. Had to wait for address change to be official as well. There was a discussion about announcing the venue. Although there was a suggestion of waiting for completion of signing the contract there was also concern about putting the venue in the CfP. Elaine (venue coordinator) is happy to announce as we have voted to approve the contract. 6. Subcommittee and working group chairs 6.1. Fundraising (Liz). No report. 6.2. Purchasing WG (Stephen). No report. 7. Any Other Business 7.1. Next meeting. Trish announced the next meeting as 3pm Sunday 19th April and reminded everyone this is a change from the original time. 7.2. Announcement of retirement and dates effective. There was concern over the validity of the immediate resignation of Peter. Alastair agreed to write a further statement for members.
Closed part of the meeting 8. Role, subcommittee and working group assignments 8.1. Childcare Coordinator. The board assigned the role of Childcare Coordinator to Elaine (4 for). 8.2. Publicity and Publications Chair. The board assigned the role of Publicity and Publications subcommittee chair to Martijn (4 for). 8.3. Transport coordinator. Elaine commented that there seemed to be a possibility of Peter doing this. Martijn agreed to contact Peter. 9. Finance authorisations 9.1. Bank Signatories. Two new Bank Signatories are needed, as Peter and Yo should be taken off. It was decided by consensus that Debbie should be one of the new Bank Signatories, as she is treasurer. Elaine was assigned to be the other new Bank Signatory (4 for). 9.2. CAF Web Interface access (online banking). Rather than authorising CAF Web Interface separately, Martijn proposed to authorise the Bank Signatories to access the CAF Web Interface during the time that they are Bank Signatories. The board carried this proposal (4 for). 9.3. PayPal account access. During discussion it was concluded that Debbie should have access and there was some uncertainty about the situation regarding Peter as he has programmed the interface that integrates PayPal with our accounting system, so taking him off would be quite impractical but at the same time he would not be covered by our insurance. The board agreed for Debbie to have access to the PayPal account (4 for). Martijn agreed to contact Debbie and Peter and clarify the situation with both of them. Meeting closed 12:57
Actions from this meeting 1. Announcements Martijn to send announcements of retirements to members when leaving dates confirmed. Registration date 9th May to 18th May now confirmed for use in CfP etc. 3.1.2 use of Lingard money - deferred to list for further discussion and decision at next meeting. (Debbie) 3.3. Purchasing budget agreed - Stephen you will want to make a record of this. (£350 for registration materials, £200 for the purchase of sensory equipment and £200 for the purchase of merchandise) 4.1. Annual Report - Elaine to follow up with Liz/Debbie 4.2. Accounts (update?) 4.3. Personal Data Retention Policy (Martijn) 4.4. Guidance for splitting conference organisation from governance (Elaine) 4.5. Newsletter (Martijn/Laura) 4.6. Purchase of Font License (Martijn) 4.7. Allowances policy for out and about (Debbie) - further discussion/voting onlist 5.1. Chair (Martijn) - Trish and Martijn to continue to work on communication. 5.4. Company Secretary (Elaine) - 5.7. Programme Coordinator (Kalen) - sending of Call for Proposals imminent 5.8. Venue Coordinator (Elaine) - venue visit - organise and report. 7.2 Announcement of retirement and dates effective (Alastair/Elaine/Martijn) Elaine to check validity of immediate resignation. Alastair to write a further statement for members. 8.3 Transport - Martijn to contact Peter 9. Finance authorisations: Change of Bank Signatories and CAF to be set up. Martijn to contact Peter and Debbie re PayPal. And new positions: Elaine (Childcare) Martijn (Publicity and Publications)