ALMA MATER SOCIETY OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY INCORPORATEDmyams.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/PUBLIC_June202015_Board… · • A summary of what’s discussed and what the highlights

PUBLIC

ALMA MATER SOCIETY OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY INCORPORATED Board of Directors General Meeting Open Session Minutes

June 20th, 2015 at 9:30AM Room 506, Queen’s Centre, Kingston, Ontario

Meeting was called to order at 9:33am.

Present: A. Aguilar - Gonzalez, Student DirectorK. Beaudry, Vice-President (Operations)M. Blair, ChairK. Chinniah, President & CEOD. Coderre, Community DirectorA. Dungca, Student DirectorE. Fuller, Media Services DirectorQ. Giordano, Vice-ChairG. Giannopoulos, Student DirectorS. Harper, Hospitality & Safety DirectorN. Kalergis, Corporate SecretaryM. Lindsay, Community DirectorT. Lively, Retail Service DirectorD. McConomy, Community DirectorE. McElroy, Student DirectorL. Parry, General ManagerC. Wright, Vice-President (University Affairs)

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Agenda Minutes Table of Contents

3. Approval of Agenda

4. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting

5. Reports

7. New Business

a. Setting the Tone: A Conversation About the Year Aheadb. Understanding the Role of the Boardc. Services and Offices of the AMS: A Brief Historyd. Long-term Financialse. Insurance & Risk Managementf. Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA)g. Board Policy Manual Amendmentsh. Employee Policy & Procedures Manual Amendmentsi. TAPS Point of Sale Maintenance Capital Expenditure Proposalj. Service Toursk. Accessibility Queen’s Fund Grant Proposal l. Advancement Office Goal Planm. Human Resources Office Goal Plann. Information Technology Office Goal Plano. Marketing & Communication Office Goal Planp. Student Life Centre Goal Planq. Queen’s Student Constable Goal Planr. Queen’s Student Constable Marketing Plan s. Common Ground Goal & Marketing Plant. The AMS Pub Services Goal Planu. The AMS Pub Services Marketing Planv. The Queen’s Journal Goal Planw. The Queen’s Journal Marketing Plan x. Walkhome Goal Plany. Walkhome Marketing Planz. StudioQ Goal Planaa.StudioQ Marketing Plan bb. P&CC Goal Plan cc. P&CC Marketing Plandd. TriColour Outlet Goal Planee. TriColour Outlet Marketing Plan

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3. Approval of Agenda

Board has adopted the circulated agenda with the addition of the topic: student fees for Studio Q .

Motion: To change the order of the agenda (office goal plans at the end).

Mover: M. Lindsay Seconder: K. Chinniah

Motion passed and Board agenda approved at 9:37am.

4. Approval of minutes of previous meeting

Board has adopted the minutes for April 7th, 2015 as circulated.

• A summary of what’s discussed and what the highlights are is more beneficial than ascript for the meeting minutes (D. Coderre)

Mover: K. Chinniah Seconder: D. McConomy

Motion passed at 9:39am.

5. Reports

Chair of the Board

No questions or comments regarding this report.

President

• Collective bargaining process; Comprehensive paper released yesterday; press releasewill be on Wednesday; hope to complete process by September 1st (K. Chinniah)

• Meal plans; Concerns about how actual meal plans work; planning to speak of at thebeginning of the summer (K. Beaudry)

• Reunion street festival; easier to get the request approval; few hiccups along the way oflegal issues with the city; we plan to correct with the city (K. Chinniah)

o More open to discussion once money is off the table (D. McConomy)

Vice-President (Operations)

• Food credit update; challenging to set up for the 50-60 staff; not efficient set up and somechanges could be made (K. Beaudry)

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o Consider food allowance; Can claim up to x number of dollars by committing anexpense report with the dollars attached. Non-taxable benefit. Put onus back onthe people instead of keeping track (D. McConomy)

o Thinking of using same plan as last year. Gift cards were not administered to anyof the salaried staff. Process was incredibly slow. Looking for salaried staff to becompensated by May. One other thing to add is a discussion with Universityaffairs. Looking into a walk-in clinic next to Drugsmart. Tried the last 2 years andhas had one meeting so far with Susan Kurr (pharmacist at Drugsmart.) (K.Beaudry)

• Dental plan; 29% increase; fee is set by Incoming VP Ops and reps of student care; lotsof data on on-campus dentist from other universities; set up in the JDUC; about onemillion dollars of internal reserves (K. Beaudry)

• Other update – the $1.2 million. Was not able to get information about that money(whether invested or not) when the agreement was signed back in 2011. Now committedto that money at the same value at 2011. Trying to get exemption to go to tender and goforward that the projects were all bundled together would cost less (K. Beaudry)

Vice-President (University Affairs)

• New item: $4000 pool is consistent with last year. We went through an equitable process.Report made to assembly by the fall. Noted that unclear process besides criteria set byclubs manager. Working with club manager to work with it. (C. Wright)

Hospitality & Safety Director


Retail Services Director


Media Services Director


General Manager

• How was the reaction from the permanent staff? But what was the real story?

Motion to enter closed session.

Mover: Q. Giordano Seconder: K. Beaudry

Entering closed session at 9:46am.

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---Now in closed session [see closed session minutes]--- Motion to exit closed session. Mover: Q. Giordano Seconder: K. Beaudry Closed session ended 10am.

• Asking about search for Controller. About the market for controllers in Kingston. Good candidates are hard to find. What’s the plan of the min. number of candidates to choose this position? (Q. Giordano)

Motion to enter closed session. Mover: M. Lindsay Seconder: Q. Giordano Entering closed session at 10:01am. ---Now in closed session [see closed session minutes]--- Motion to exit closed session. Mover: A. Agulair Seconder: Catherine Closed session ended 10:06am. Reports ended 10:06am. 7. New Business Setting the Tone: A Conversation About The Year Ahead

• We should go through the appropriate motion processes as part of the educational experience of being on the Board (D. McConomy)

• Thinking about smaller practical changes to improve student experience rather than big projects that may not align with projects from previous years; we want to leave the AMS better than we started, also focus on changes that are going to matter on the corporate side to run more efficiently. (K. Beaudry)

• Tried to create bookmarks. Between Niki and I, we will look at functionality of the documents. Moving forward, you shouldn’t expect so many documents (M. Blair)

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Understanding the Role of the Board

• Board serves: strategic planning, HR, fiduciary planning. Satisfies strategic plan with this particular meeting; From a high level, the services are heading the direction that we want. That is why we have staff and directors, to step back and take a look at where we are going. For future reference, next meeting will be about budgets. Third meeting will be about strategy and looking and setting things up for the fall and winter term. Will also talk about the frequency of meetings during the term and once everyone gets their schedules, we will find a mutually acceptable time. (M. Blair)

• I would have appreciated comments from the exec, especially from Kyle, about each of the goal plans. What the execs thoughts were. I think we are here to advise the exec with respect to the operations. Not here to advise the service directors or managers. (D. McConomy)

• Board has oversight in corporate and offices. Does not have oversight for the government. Any capital expenses, not budgets, are all approved by the corporation. Assembly and Board jurisdiction is going to be investigated this year as a continuation of last year and meaningful changes will be made as appropriate. Most likely serve as a function of committees (ad-hoc committees). (M. Blair)

• Feedback on performance would be helpful (G. Giannopoulos) o Falls under vice-chair; developing a package of professional development

materials to all members of the Board; wondering about informal review (Q. Giordano)

o A coffee chat. Keeping it informal and low key would be my suggestion. (D. McConomy)

End: 10:24am Services and Offices of the AMS: A Brief History K. Beaudry:

• Experienced healthy surplus: Common Ground around 25,000, Taps finished around 70 • PC&C experiment with online course pack and proceeding to move forward; trying to get

more bulk volume • Underground began developing; specific events and new target audience; QPOP music

festival created good buzz • New phone charging units • Walkhome adopted approach where they streamline the operation about person

requesting that walk • StudioQ was formed for Yearbook and CoGro implemented new projects with a new

atmosphere • StuCons standardized event sanctioning process • Journal introduced Journal long form and new website that came out a few weeks ago

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• Changes: (1) customer service customization, (2) data collection, (3) creation of followers

Ended 10:33am. Long-Term Financials K. Chinniah:

• Marketing Officer: moving towards data collection, 2013-2014 there were two people reporting to the officer; one being the Brand Coordinator for the AMS brand and the second being Marketing Research Coordinator for surveys and focus groups for student perception

• IT Officer: there were several staff in the IT officers, same staff with the day-to-day maintenance of any computer; we got the permanent staff and got rid of the two student positions, which has allowed us to standardized the IT infrastructure to provide a better offer to the students at large

• HR Officer: main change being the outreach commissioner; shifted away from just doing HR to also including component of recruitment and branch out to recruit students roles. The provincial government has introduced the pieces of legislation that has made the job of the HR officer increasingly critical to comply with those regulations

• Advancement officer: when Michael Lindsay was President, it existed and under the same structured and the salary of the officer and provided everything else. Closed in 2007-2008 by the Kingsley team, and we do have some documentation as to why that office failed in the past to ensure it doesn’t fail this time.

Comments:

• Essentially, we budget for break-even in every service. Therefore, for minor changes in volume or expenses provide significant impact. We should be careful as the Board and not be overly concerned with deficits or surpluses over time. When you budget to break even, it is hard to maintain that every time (D. McConomy)

• Another point, with annual turnover of the AMS Board, the tendency is to do big changes with the limited data that we have. Looking also to sustain the work that has been done. Example, last year Underground was the ropes in terms of financials (M. Blair)

• Services were projected worse than last year in case anything emergent had to occur during year (K. Beaudry)

• We lose sight on the fact that a) we are providing money back to the students and b) we are provided experiences back to the students. Should be more emphasized that it has been in the past. (D. McConomy)

• 1,800 new students – this will have to managed and be sure the services are not making too much of a profit (D. Coderre)

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Insurance & Risk Management K. Beaudry:

• Policy was renewed on May 1; coverage of the faculty societies being very specific; president of each society provided the expenses that needed to be covered; will be providing brochure during the summer about the process and any events that will be run on campus

• Finalized staff and faculty agreements; there are components at the end of the agreement that have been problematic in the past (I.e. summer programs for faculties, is it the AMS or department covering it?)

• Concerned about events happening on campus (ASUS summer camp, EngSoc Science Quest, etc.); therefore university has created policies that have to go through a committee to be approved; AMS wants to make sure everyone is aware and is complying moving forward.

• Business interruption insurance. Lyn and I looked in to this new from of insurance. Looking to have more closure on before the school year starts. If there’s a flood at the Queen’s Pub, the insurance will look at the revenue lost. Media liability, they recommend we switch insurers for the media portion (the Journal, or public content); recommendation for next year when insurance is up to renewal.

Comments:

• Need to understand our faculty societies and the events going on; unclear where the risk is shared; ex. EngSoc is under the AMS with extravagant activities (i.e. formula cars), however the department tends to fund those operations; the club is relied on Queen’s insurance to cover those events (L. Parry)

• There will be a continued discussion about terms and conditions of those who are fully funded by departments, instead of clubs by AMS policy. Have yet to work that through (L. Parry)

• On business interruption insurance, they only care about making sales. They have gotten away from business interruption insurance, and how they professionally manage business interruptions is less costly. (D. Coderre)

o They indicated that all other student groups have it. However I think it is a hard policy to claim against, but will look into it to see if there is any value. (L. Parry)

Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations ACT (ONCA) M. Blair

• AMS falls under it as a not for profit corporation • They expect the act to come into power in 2016 • Our corporate lawyer will have to look into the changes for the AMS

Board Policy Manual Amendments

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Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• You should avoid using passive language. The word “shall” should “has a duty to”, or use the word “will”. (D. Coderre)

• CoGro is looking to sell the oven that hasn’t been touched once because it is too industrial. Not equipped to sell. Retail officer is ready to go through and sell it, so this new policy designates the retail officer to sell the oven (K. Beaudry)

• No minimum bar currently in place to sell it • Thoughts on whether people should go to the Board to explain why an item is being sold

for less than its depreciated value M. Blair: I motion to table this. Mover: K. Chinniah Seconder: Q. Giordano Passed. Motion is now tabled at 11:19am. AMS DISPOSAL OF ASSETS Insert after Section 4 (new five) Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah “AMS Board of Directors approval will be required to dispose of any asset having a net book value that is greater than $1,000.00 if the proposed disposal price is less than the then current net book value.“ Friendly Amendment. Voting for entire change to the section Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah Motion carried. Employee Policy & Procedures Manual Amendments Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• Few challenges with turnover on week of May 1st. Due to two things. One, communication between incoming and outgoing HR may not allow for fact that

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everything’s on track. Circumstances where things weren’t accounted for. Communication needs to be on the same page. Payroll was being entered and inaccuracies could have come up (K. Beaudry)

Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah That the Board adopts the amendments as seen by article 8 and article 12 . Moved at 11:24am. 15 minute recess. TAPS Point of Sale Maintenance Capital Expenditure Proposal Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah. “Motion: That the AMS Board of Directors approve the capital expenditure of $5,531.35 for the upgrading of the current cable system from Queen’s IT Services as well as a new MajorD back office terminal for the Queen’s Pub, to be depreciated over 3 years.” Movement passes at 11.46am.

• Email about emergent capital expense – need to fix or replace POS server at CoGro ASAP (might not make it through the summer months); coming to the Board because it’ll cost $2,700 to replace the system; system went in five years ago (K. Beaudry)

• Uncertain if we have performance guarantees, as it is handled through a permanent staff member

Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah Movement passed. Service Tours Done at 1pm. Accessibility Queen’s Fund Grant Proposal Mover: C. Wright Seconder: K. Chinniah Motion: That Board approves the Accessibility Queen’s grant allocation of $72,000 to the Student Life Centre, towards the implementation of gender neutral washrooms in the John

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Deutsch University Centre. Unanimously Carried. 1:09am Student Life Centre Goal Plan

• The rebrand of the SLC and new logo is meant to help students understand what it means, have received feedback and conducted focus groups for it (K. Beaudry)

• 46% utilization is based on space booked and space occupied during SLC hours of operation (K. Beaudry)

• Concern about external outreach pushing students out and internal clubs losing the opportunity (Q. Giordano)

• Some value in not having 100% utilization rate; students can walk in to use free space (Q. Giordano)

• Want rebranding process completed by the beginning of school for when new students arrive to avoid confusion (K. Beaudry)

M. Lindsay: Can I move that we add an objective that the booking approach for the SLC clearly preferences student usage in peak hours of operation. I believe that’s a good thing for Kyle to take back to future discussions with the rest of the parties. M. Blair: Is that amendment taken friendly? K. Beaudry: Yes M. Blair: We would like to expand the usage data, utilization data with concerns to unused spaces, and the new goal to ensure that students are prioritized as the external and granting outreach processes take place, as tailoring the external outreach to tailor the slow hours, and the branding during the summer and how difficult it is to change the foundation of our services. Unanimously passed at 1:26pm. Advancement Office Goal Plan Mover: K. Chinniah Seconder: K. Beaudry Moved to go into closed session: Mover: K. Chinniah, Seconder: K. Beaudry --In Closed Session—

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Moved to go back into open session at 3:32pm

• Concerns about how little the Reunion Street Festival was mentioned; AMS reputation ison the line; would support more of a goal around the project instead of foundation aroundbuilding the office (L. Parry)

• First time the Board or anyone has approved goal plan from this office; now is the time tomake recommendations (M. Blair)

• Main problem in advancement is building relationships with donors; should work closelywith Queen’s Student Alumni Association (K. Chinniah)

• A lot of alumni retain connections with the AMS, jury is still out whether or not we canget smaller donations (K. Chinniah)

• Should create a check list of what needs to be done because it’s an important initiative(D. Coderre)

• This goal plan had components that are more alumni engagement and not so muchadvancement for the AMS; alumni engagement assists university, while the other assistsus in engaging our own alumni (K. Chinniah)

M. Blair: Call the question – be it resolved that the Board adopts the Advancement Office Goal Plan.


Zero for. Unanimously against.

M. Lindsay: Board directs advancement officer to provide a detailed operational plan for the staging of the reunion street festival at the earliest opportunity of the Board.

Mover: M. Lindsay Seconder: D. McConomy

Recess at 3:55pm.

Recess ends at 4:01pm.

Human Resources Office Goal Plan

Board adopts

Unanimously voted yes.

Information Technology Office Goal Plan

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Mover: K. Chinniah, Seconder: K. Beaudry

• Timeline section is missing, but will send it and pass the motion knowing you’ll receive the IT (K. Chinniah)

• : You’ll know that timeline section is missing, but will send it and pass the motion knowing you’ll receive the IT.

• Is enough in the IT group/permanent staff to get everything done? (D. McConomy) o The IT office is very reactive. A lot of projects come externally. What we will be

working on is creating policies trying to constrain what people are requesting from us. Once we take away that additional work, that IT office can actually achieve its goal. (K. Chinniah)

• Main barrier is the obsession with cyber security; also area of licenses for creative projects; looking at moving to an open source software (K. Chinniah)

The board adopts the IT contingent on seeing the timeline as referenced by K. Chinniah Unanimously passed. 4:13pm Marketing & Communication Office Goal Plan A. Agulair: Declaring a conflict of interest. [Leaves room]

• There really is no reason to rebrand as a visual identity issue, although there could be cause to rebrand as a brand perception issue (K. Chinniah)

• Issue is not about the logo (D. Coderre) • The AMS website is getting redone in house this time. Can expect the website to launch

around September 1st (K. Chinniah) • The AMS may not just be ready for the rebrand mentioned here (M. Blair)

Board adopts the plan Unanimous vote 4:21pm Queen’s Student Constable Goal Plan Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• For now, the hope is to create a more positive perception amongst students (S. Harper) • Training the StuCons to be more student friendly may be the maximum we can do; we

are not going to change student perception overall (D. McConomy)

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• Idea of secret shoppers might be impossible; hard to create difficult scenarios where the StuCons will be put to action to see how they handle it (Q. Giordano)

• Moreso working with TAPS staff to create a positive environment; right now StuCons feel like TAPS staff over-serve their customers; TAPS staff feel that StuCons are being overbearing; must work together towards common goal (S. Harper)

• There have been talks about end of August training about going through scenarios with StuCons and TAPS managers that could happen where conflict exists (K. Beaudry)

Unanimous vote to pass the motion. 1:34pm Queen’s Student Constable Marketing Plan Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah Unanimous vote to pass the motion. 1:35pm. Common Ground Goal & Marketing Plan M. Blair: Moved that we adopt the goal plan set out by CoGro? Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• Concerns about consistency of management (A. Dungca) • Possibility of weekly informal evaluations from head manager; office hours and

providing feedback to assistant managers (S. Haprer) • We should try to use CoGro’s success through promoting the Brew, not separate the two

brands (D. McConomy) • Not a foot traffic problem; more so a marketing problem • Supply chain problem; three suppliers of different food items; hard to coordinate times

Unanimous vote to approve the plan at 1:48pm. The AMS Pub Services Goal Plan & Marketing Plan Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• Is it possible to increase the space of the kitchen? (D. McConomy)

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o Only alternative was knock out wall and use space left to the bit to add two more deep fryers/microwaves. Not changing equipment, but adding more. However, it will take away table space and forgoing revenue (K. Beaudry)

o Private events can be done at the Underground, especially used by conferences and clubs, most people don’t realize that (S. Harper)

o Reducing long lines can be done through more staff, higher efficiency when letting people in, knowing which staff is most effective at the Underground, trying to find ways to make it more fun (S. Harper)

o Busiest day of the year was in the summer during Convocation due to better perception by the end of the academic year (S. Harper)

Unanimous vote to approve the TAPS goal and marketing plan at 2:04pm. The Queen’s Journal Goal Plan Marketing Plan Mover: K. Beaudry Seconder: K. Chinniah

• Looking to transfer old cameras to the Journal as a learning model (E. Fuller) • Should be a goal to gain more analytical data to judge the Journal (M. Blair) • Are there a group of students not on the Journal that want the opportunity to learn? (M.

Lindsay) o General Queen’s population does not know they can contribute (E. Fuller)

• It is up to the editors to decide what contain gets published or not • One of the big goals in the marketing plan to bring more contributors (E. McElroy) • Facebook is the primary source for social media usage with Twitter being used for quick

update and breaking news (E. Fuller) Motion moved at 2:17pm. Walkhome Goal Plan & Marketing Plan

• Changing the logo, finalizing it this week (E. Fuller) D. McConomy: Would it be safe to say we were successful in changing the atmosphere at Walkhome last year? Moved to enter into closed session: Mover: K. Chinniah Seconder: K. Beaudry --- In Closed session --- Motion to close closed session

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Mover: K. Chinniah Seconder: K. Beaudry ------2:25pm Open session is back up ------

• Walkhome provides peace of mind, especially to parents (Q. Giordano) • Difference between other campuses and our campus is that we are a residential service

(K. Chinniah) • Mental health is number one on the university agenda. And mental health is very much

tied to service of Walkhome. Students feel comfortable, parents feel comfortable when the option is there. (D. McConomy)

• Walkhome gets a $40,000 grant from Queen’s each year, which just requires an application (K. Beaudry)

• We do not have statistics on this service due to confidentiality (E. Fuller) • Need to improve the training of Walkhome staff in terms of mental health issues; not a

walking counseling service (E. Fuller) • The culture has shown positive trending for us (M. Blair)

Unanimous vote. D. Coderre abstained. 2:40pm StudioQ Goal Plan & Marketing Plan M. Blair: Any questions?

• Management is a 50/50 split; so far merger was been great, very positive (E. Fuller) • Weakness: little accountability with equipment safety (Q. Goirdano)

o Goal this year is to better streamline an out system so we are aware if anything happened; equipment would be stored in rooms only accessed by managers; volunteers would need permission (E. Fuller)

• StudioQ can be used as an educational tool to improve student’s professional development in the area of design; marketing is a huge interest for a lot of students now (E. Fuller)

That the board adopts the goal plan and marketing plan as seen. Unanimously passed. D. Coderre abstains. P&CC Goal Plan& Marketing Plan

• Without course packs, PCC would not exist moving forward (T. Lively) • Coordinating with StudioQ for their poster printing, photo printing, etc. (T. Lively) • The walk up service alone is not competitive without being subsidized by the course

packs

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• Copyright fees have increased and become standardized (T. Lively)• PCC is also moving towards more commercialized work and managing the wind down of

course packs and the needs to replace revenue streams (M. Blair)

Board approves the plan


Unanimously voted yes.

TriColour Outlet Goal Plan & Marketing Plan

• Books contribute a lot of money because people don’t come to pick up their consignment;removing this would be not be wise (T. Lively)

• Possibility of replacing book area with the Brew or other revenue stream – leads intobigger conversation about space configuration for the whole second floor JDUC (T.Lively)

• Currently do not make volume guarantees for charter buses, but the deal ends after thisyear (T. Lively)

• Discussion about first years visiting the AMS services and how to utilize orientationweek to promote the services

Unanimously in favour.

Open session adjourned at 4:16pm.

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Documents

ALMA MATER SOCIETY OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY INCORPORATEDmyams.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/PUBLIC_June202015_Board… · • A summary of what’s discussed and what the highlights