Kinross Creek Housing Co-operative

Social Audit Task Force

Record of decisions for September 7, 2001

Present: Kathy Cody, Don King, Velma Moore, Danusia Mossford, Larry Ruble, Barb Shambrook Llowyn Ball, Barb Bawlf, Chris Corless, Alana van Dam, Trish Semproni, Tony Jegen.

Regrets: Christine Oswell, Cathy Dirks, Ben Drake, Jules Drake, Valerie Melanson.

1. Check-in:

Generally it seemed to be a long and stressful week for most.

2. Review meeting agreements:

Timekeeper – Llowyn Ball

Process observer – Danusia Mossford

Minute taker – Alana van Dam

3. Review/amend/accept agenda:

5(b) – Meeting facilitation held over to next meeting.

4. Review notes from Aug. 17 meeting and updates on activities:

Minutes were hand delivered to mailboxes. Those who brought theirs shared with others for review and discussion.

5(a) Mission vision statement update:

No comments received as yet (except from Chris and Alana). Plan: redistribute to members along with an invite to come to brainstorming session on Sept 13. Social audit members should attend 30 minutes prior to set up flipcharts, chairs, etc. and discuss roles at session. Process: Take suggestions to date, look for themes (either words or phrases), workshop it in session. Then look for volunteers to wordsmith it into a semblance of order.

There was no discussion at last general membership meeting other than Don’s update and what Danusia spoke about.

Action: Danusia, Velma, Cathy Cody, Barb Shambrook to assist in getting invite out to brainstorming session by Monday Sept 10.

Action: Get suggestions from brainstorming session, then pass through the document through the committees for comments then bring those comments back to this table for final wordsmithing, etc.

5(b). Meeting facilitation:

Report from small group – Larry, Barb S. and Andrea Rolls on committee. Haven’t met yet. Will meet by the end of the September and report back to the task force.

5(c). Member Relations Committee:

The small group (consisting of Chris, Christine and Alana) met on September 3, 2001 and discussed the document that was handed out by Don at the previous meeting. Notes from this discussion were distributed via e-mail.

General discussion on the document around the table: How to elect? Instead of electing do we have advocates? 1 member to elect, then each member brings their own. Sign non-disclosure agreement? Electionless ballot? Represent the minority/protect the minority. Don felt this initial discussion provides the entry-level framework. Good discussion. Dispute between the member and the board? Define the process/procedure. Training needs to be provided to the members.

Action: Clearer guidelines re: model/procedure/framework/criteria to be used. More structure needed before being taken before the general membership for discussion.

Action: Danusia, Don to provide back ground to small group.

Action: Provide brief overview of process at next general membership.

6(a) Decision-making:

Group exercise – split into 2 groups.

Group 1 – Llowyn, Barb B., Alana, Chris, Barb S

Group 2 – Tony, Kathy, Danusia, Velma, and Larry.

Lively discussion by all. Who has the decision making power? Does board have all-supreme governing power? Or does general membership have the final power as they can elect the board and throw out the board due to non-confidence.

Need to work on motions – can only come from committees or the board. How can we fine-tune and amend the infrastructure in this community? This has generated good discussion. Do not want to silence members by making them go to a committee to bring a motion forward. On the flip side though, it would increase membership participation. This needs further work.

What power does the board have and when might they exercise it?

Take away some insights and areas that we identified.

Action: Identify amendments that we can make to the decision making model for next meeting. Notice of motion. Separate the process of discussing the issue from making the motion and deicing on it.

6(b) Ethics:

Handout “Code of ethics for directors”.

Hold over for discussion at next meeting. For workshopping and setting up of another sub-committee. Mention this at next general membership meeting?

6(c) What is the next step?

For next meeting – suggestions from brainstorming session, reports from MRC and meeting facilitation small groups and code of ethics.

7. Next meeting materials:

Don to provide decision making chart, mission/vision material, and MRC handout (to MRC small group).

8. Other:

Mention was made of the introduction on the web-site that outlines framework of social audit. How do we make Llowyn feel like he is a valued member of the committee? How can we frame the youth issues?

Action: Barb S. to speak with Llowyn and ask him to outline the youth issues and bring back to the committee for discussion and report to general membership.

9. Conduct evaluation:

Still lots of cross talk, “who has the loudest voice is heard”. Time keeping was not evident to all. During the small group exercise – in Group 2 not everyone had a chance to have input. Good discussion, everyone stopped and listened prior to the break, but after break went downhill.

Can we have handouts before the meeting? To have a chance to read and absorb prior to the meeting.

More focused than previous meetings. Improvement needs to happen still.

Homework: we would stick to the agenda better if assignments were met.