Minutes of meeting of the Board of Directors of the Autscape Organisation
Minutes of the Autscape board meeting held on 24th September 2022
Meeting opened 1608
Present: David, Elaine, George, James, Martijn, Richard
Absent: Heta, Trish
Apologies: Kacey
Observers: 1
1. Approvals
1.1 Final draft of the Minutes of the 27th August meeting, posted to the list on 21st September.
1.1 Carried, 6 for
2. Ratifications
2.1 The decision to book The Hayes conference centre for Autscape 2024 as concluded on list on
(*I need to find the date and number of votes)
2.1 carried, 6 for
3. Proposals
3.1 The Chair proposes that the Board meet formally once every 2 months on odd months, using the even months as discussion-style unofficial meetings to prepare for the following official meeting. The official meeting will continue as IRC and the discussion will be on Zoom.
The proposal was re-worded:
The Chair proposes that the Board meet formally once every 2 months on odd months, using the even months as discussion-style unofficial meetings to prepare for the following official meeting.
3.1 Carried with revised wording: 6 for
4. Follow-ups
4.1 Communications officer, announcement of events eg facebook and twitter
Trish joined the meeting at this point
The company secretary agreed to draft a role description as soon as possible.
Action 4.1 The Company secretary to draft a role description for Communications Officer
4.2 Leneh's departure and replacement of roles including for online meetings
Richard volunteered to facilitate the IRC meetings and Trish offered as back up dependent on what is required. Martijn agreed to train all who are interested.
Action 4.2 Martijn to arrange training for IRC meeting facilitators.
4.3 Code of conduct for Board Members (raised by Leneh last month)
It was mentioned that this can give us something to refer to in difficult situations and can also protect us against unjust accusations as we can show we acted according to our policies, but there was also concern that it could be stifling. It was agreed that the Company secretary prepare a draft Code of conduct for directors
Action 4.3 Company Sec to prepare a draft Code of Conduct for directors
4.4 Refunds as a remit of Organising Committee (raised by Leneh last month)
Rationale from the Company Secretary: in accordance with our Booking policy, cancellation refunds requested after final figures are submitted currently have to go to the board for approval. as per the booking policy but it would be more appropriate for them to go to the organising committee who are delegated responsibility for the event budget they are in a better position to know what the income/expenditure was and whether we could afford a refund etc. Therefore it was suggested that the booking policy be amended to reflect this change.
Some people still thought that the board should be responsible for approving late refunds based on the fact that these places have already cost us money.
The Company Secretary agreed to bring the policy back to the board for revision
Action 4.4 The Company secretary to bring the Booking policy to the board for review
5. Role reports
5.1 The Chair
Nothing specific to report
5.2 Company Secretary
Nothing to reported but explained that quite a few things will require board attention in the coming month
5.3 Treasurer
The Treasurer reported there is £11,199.85 in the bank as of today. We have a few expenses yet to pay for Autscape 2022, but this won't make a huge difference, so our free reserves are just over £10k.
However, whilst this is better than expected, he did have concerns re paying another venue deposit of around £15k early in the calendar year. He predicted that we would probably be able to cope but as the size of our deposits continue to increase the board should look at ways of increasing our cash reserves.
There was a brief discussion around the impact of covid, grant funding, some small online Autscapes and raising funds through High net Worth. The treasurer will discuss possibilities of High net worth with the company secretary and bring any further info to the board.
Action 5.3 The treasurer will discuss with the Company secretary and implications of using High Net Worth
5.4 Event Manager
No further report
6. AOB
6.1 Announcements
David asked if the said the dates for Autscape 2023 could be published
Martijn agreed to put them on the website asap. David agreed to put them on the Announce list and prompt Martijn about Twitter and Facebook.
It was mentioned that access to logins for certain things was restricted which the board should review
Action 6.1 Martijn to put announcement on website, facebook and Twitter (David to prompt) and David to put on Announce list
6.2 Minutes on the website
The chair asked that minutes be uploaded to the website urgently. He also requested access to do this himself, as Chair. It was suggested that we should move away from Linux to something easier, and that this is a possible thing for funding.
The tech coordinator said we need a proper CMS, probably Jekyll. But it involves throwing everything away and starting from scratch and a discussion around this was deferred to list
Action 6.2 Martijn to upload past minutes to website.
Closed part of the meeting
7.1.1 Chair election
Nominations: James
7.1.1 Carried, 7 for
7.1.2 Vice-Chair election
Nominations: Martijn
7.1.2 Carried, 7 for
7.1.3 Lists Coordinator
Deferred to next meeting
Meeting closed, 1809