Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: Saturday 25th June 2016 Meeting time: 15.00 Meeting Chair: Kalen Present: Debbie, Elaine, Joseph, Kalen, Trish Apologies: Jeremy Observers: None Meeting opened: 15.03, meeting closed 17.41 1. Approvals 1.1. Minutes of the April 2016 meeting posted on list on 2nd June 2016. (4 for 1 abstain) 2. Ratifications 2.1.The decision taken on list on 27th May 2016 to add Marie Yates proposal to the list of proposals accepted onto the programme for Giggleswick 2016. (4 for 1 abstain) 2.2. The decision taken on 7th June 2016 to accept the new fees and not to include requests for donations as part of the registration system for Autscape 2016. (4 for 1 abstain) -Rationale: Because we need to keep our income under 25K this year we took a decision not to introduce the idea of asking for donations at registration time this year. This allows us have more people attend Autscape as we are not dealing with an unknown donation amount that could be more than 10% of our income. 3. Proposals 3.1. The Company treasurer proposes we make changes to our finance system and requests that board decide the following: 3.1.1. Should all expenditure have at least two distinct approvers, who, in the opinion of the board, are sufficiently independent from each other.(5 for) 3.1.2. Should all approvers are board members or at least one of the approvers be a board member. There was a discussion about whether this was recommended and it was mentioned that the Board have a deeper commitment and overall responsibility for finances.There was a query as to whether our insurance covers non board members approving things. this will be looked into by the Company Secretary or Treasurer. It was suggested that they should be members. The proposal was reworded as: How many approvers *must* be board members? A) all, B) at least one, C) not necessarily any. (4 B, 1 A) 3.1.3. It is recommended that the board sets who is in charge of a fund. However, should the person in charge of a fund be able to add or remove additional approvers, and place expenditure limits on the additional person's authority. (5 for) 3.1.4. Should the person in charge of a fund, at their own discretion, require that they are always one of the approvers. There was a short discussion about whether this was recommended and what alternative there may be. (4 against, 1 for) 3.1.5. Should the treasurer be one of the approvers for expenditure above GBP 2000, and confirm that the expenditure decision was taken correctly by the board. The Company Secretary reminded the board that this is a current requirement of our Bye laws. (5 for) 3.1.6. Should the treasurer be one if the approvers for expenditure that would take a fund into debt (even if future income is anticipated that would resolve the issue).(5 for) 3.1.7. Should a person who has a requisition approved be granted permission to make the purchase on behalf of the company. (5 for) In the following two proposals the board were asked to confirm they wanted the existing rules to apply to the new finance system 3.1.8 Where the cost actually incurred is higher than that approved, the treasurer and/or book-keepers may authorise an additional 10% or GBP 50, whichever is higher, unless 3.1.5 applies. [note: 3.1.5 is about expenditure over GPB 2000] (5 for) 3.1.9 Where the cost actually incurred is higher than that approved, and the discrepancy is too high for the above to apply, or if condition 3.1.5. applies to the higher amount, the expenditure must be re-approved following the normal procedures for that level of expenditure. (5 For) By agreeing to make changes in our financial systems in the above proposals (3.1.1 to 3.1.9), our computer programmer can now make the necessary changes and the board have taken a significant step in committing to going over 25K in future years. 3.2.1. The venue search coordinator proposes that we choose either High Leigh conference centre or Kings Park conference centre as the venue for Autscape 2017. The venue search coordinator stated that the minimum number of people required to meet exclusive use at Kings Park was 120 and at High Leigh 168. The company treasurer pointed out that High Leigh offer a matched funding scheme which may be beneficial to our low income people if we raise £500. However, there were concerns about the cost of High Leigh and our ability to meet the required numbers for exclusive use and whether we wanted to have such a high number of people. Both venues were discussed and considered to have merits particularly regarding location and facilities. Kings Park was considered more accessible for disabled people and the numbers for exclusive use more manageable. Following a vote the board chose Kings Park conference centre as the venue for Autscape 2017 (5 For) 3.2.2 The following dates were available for Kings Park conference centre in 2017. A. Mon 7- Thurs 10 B. Tues 8 - Fri 11 C. Mon 21 - Thurs 24 Following a vote the board chose Mon 7 to Thu 10 August 2017.(4 for) Items 3.3-3.8, regarding budget requests, were deferred to the list due to time constraints Joseph left the meeting 3.9. The Company treasurer proposes that we adopt the reviewed Reserves policy (see appendix A). (4 For) 3.10. The Company secretary proposes that we make a change to our mailing lists and sub committees in that the membership lists should only be available to list admins and moderators unless a list has to have it's membership list available to everyone on the list for operational reasons. This proposal was changed to The Company secretary proposes that we make a change to our mailing lists and sub committees in that the membership lists should only be available to list admins and moderators unless it is appropriate for a list to have it's membership list available to everyone on the list. (4 For) 3.11. Elaine requests permission from the board to run a tuck shop and sell merchandise at Autscape 2016 entirely at her own expense and independent of Autscape following which she will donate the profits to Autscape. (4 For)
Actions 3.10 Ensure mailing lists are changed Appendix A Reserves Policy To allow the charity to operate with adequate financial stability, and to assure that it has the means to meet its charitable objectives, the charity will operate with reserves within the following limits: Lower limit: GBP 2000 Upper limit: GBP 5000. If the reserves are fall outside this range, the trustees will take action to control the level of reserves. The policy will be reviewed annually.