Meeting of the Executive Committee 1995-05-05 16:00 - 18:30 Present: Dave Sutherland, Chair Andrew Patrick, First Vice-Chair Julie Chahal, Second Vice-Chair Jeff Bossert, Treasurer Richard Taylor, Secretary Lisa Donnelly, Executive Director 1. Role of the Secretary Specific responsibilities of the Secretary were discussed and clarified: Maintain Policy Area - write access to this area should be limited to Secretary - all policy changes should be sent to Secretary Maintain and expand Minutes Area - expand Minutes of Board Meetings to include agenda background info - organize to serve as NCF historical reference Maintain Agenda Area - there should be more strategy in setting agenda - guide members in submission of agenda items - suggest 3-meeting schedule for major policy decisions: 1) introduction and discussion 2) presentation of researched alternatives 3) decision Direct content of Board Manual - Executive Director & volunteers will continue to maintain - Secretary will provide general direction Maintain By-Laws - ensure amendments are made properly and posted version is up to date Corporate Seal - Secretary is responsible for corporate seal - currently held at the office of Rick Mount at Bleeker Mall 2. Role of the Executive Committee Executive Committee was tasked by the Board to propose amendments to the mandate of the Executive Committee. At the Board Meeting of 1995-03-21, the consensus was that the Executive Committee did not need to retain operational authority and spending authority, but should remain responsible for implementing disciplinary actions on the advice of the Complaints volunteer. The Executive agreed with this but suggested some additional responsibilities. Motion to the full Board: that the Executive Committee be given the following responsibilities: a) In order to deal with members who contravene the User Agreement or other NCF policies, the Executive are authorized to suspend user accounts for such contraventions. All suspensions will be reported to the Board and each account will remain suspended unless the Board passes a motion to reinstate the account. Robert Pless has been delegated by the Executive Committee to look after investigation of complaints regarding contraventions of the User Agreement or other NCF policies, and to send warning notices. b) In order to deal with newsgroups that are in violation of our Acceptable Use Policy or the User Agreement, the Executive are authorized to remove the newsgroup for such contraventions. All suspensions will be reported to the Board and each such newsgroup will remain suspended unless the Board passes a motion to reinstate the newsgroup. c) Advising the Executive Director on how to implement Board policy, and making sure Board decisions are implemented. d) Primary (but not exclusive) representatives of NCF at official functions and meetings, and for media interviews. e) Take fast action on issues where speed is important. Executive Director can call on Executive Committee for people to take on urgent tasks. f) Participate in confidential business discussions until the point where a proposal can be brought to the full Board in public. 3. Relationship with Human Rights Commission The Canadian Human Rights Commission (HRC) wrote to NCF with a proposed procedure for handling human rights complaints. Dave Sutherland suggests, and the Executive Committee agreed, that the HRC should contact the offender directly and copy NCF Complaints - this would consititute the first warning. If offense continues to violate the law (and NCF User Agreement) then NCF Complaints would act as usual to issue further warnings or recommend suspension. HRC should decide the legality of the offense. Action: Dave Sutherland will write a letter to the HRC and bring the the Board for comment. 4. Complaints: illegal activities admitted but not committed on NCF There needs to be further discussion amongst the full Board on our role in governing content. The Executive agreed that we should avoid taking responsibility for what people do on the NCF. Admissions of criminal activity are the responsibility of the Police. It was suggested that the Police Department should have a more visible role on NCF and should be available to accept reports of criminal activity. NCF should still limit violations of members' privacy and not release personal information without a warrant. Action: Dave Sutherland will contact former Board member John Ferguson to investigate whether the Police are interested/willing to have this role on NCF. 5. Scheduling for annual agenda items for the Board More forethought is needed to make sure certain issues are brought to the Board at the right times. Action: Lisa Donnelly will draft a schedule of agenda items. Action: Richard Taylor will reorganize the Agenda menu to show future agendas. 6. Developing a Board Conflict of Interest Policy Some situations have arisen in the past in which there have been suggestions that Board members or committee chairs have engaged in activities for personal profit which have been aided by their position in NCF. In order to clarify when a conflict of interest situation exists, a Conflict of Interest Policy is needed. Action: Lisa Donnelly is investigating similar policies in other organizations and will try to present a draft policy at the June Board Meeting. 7. Draft proposal for outsourcing to an Internet access provider The relationship between Carleton University, NCF and ONet is under review by Carleton U. The current informal arrangement should be formalized. Another draft proposal from a commercial Internet provider has been presented to the Executive Committee (details are confidential for the moment). The Executive Committee felt that alternate arrangements for Internet access were worth investigating. Lisa Donnelly, Andrew Patrick and Gordon Pearson will be arranging a meeting and will ask for further information. 8. Review of System Administrator Contract The System Administrator contract (Ian Allen) is up for renewal soon. Also, if certain grants are received, we will need to hire a second system administrator to handle the load. To be prepared, we should begin thinking about job descriptions and possible load-sharing arrangements. Action: Lisa will send a copy of the System Administrator's contract to Executive Committee members for review. 9. Roles of Hardware/Software and System Design Committees Not discussed. Lisa Donnelly and Andrew Patrick have clarified the roles with the two committees. 10. Evaluation of Executive Director Lisa Donnelly asked that there be a "mid-term" evaluation of the position of Executive Director. It was proposed that this should be done at an in-camera session of the full Board at the June meeting. The Planning Committee should also think about setting targets for the Executive Director for the future. 11. Regional Information Service meeting Dave Sutherland, Lisa Donnelly and Julie Chahal volunteered to represent NCF at this meeting. 12. Peak Times The implementation of the two hour time limit has made a drastic improvement in accessibility. The change in load may make it possible to adjust the definition of peak times. However, it was decided to make no further changes until one month had elapsed.