IT Ottawa West Subgroup
MINUTES
Regular Executive Meeting November 3, 2022 18:00
Chances R Restaurant, College Square, 1365 Woodroffe Avenue
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Present: Daniel Shen (President), Blair Mason (Treasurer), Steve Anderson (Secretary), Zhidan Guan (Member at Large), Junaid Fazal (Member at Large), Lisa Chau (Member at Large), Charles Dugas (logged in remotely / Member at Large) With Regrets: Beverley Miranda (Vice-President), Sylvia Suska (Member at Large) |
The President of the Ottawa West IT Subgroup, Daniel Shen, called the first meeting of the new Executive to order at 6:15 PM.
AGENDA The draft agenda was presented.
MOTION M/S Daniel, Steve. Carried. The draft agenda was approved as written.
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES Since it wasn’t clear which previous meeting minutes have or have not been passed, it was informally agreed to start fresh with this meeting.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT Daniel reported that he has not attended any in-person PIPSC meetings since our Subgroup AGM on September 26, 2022. He thanked the other new Steering Committee members (Blair, Beverley and Steve) for the work they have done to prepare for this, our first meeting of the new Executive. The itowsg_exec@pipsc.ca has been updated to aid with internal Executive communications.
ACTION ITEMS Daniel is to arrange the creation of a new general Subgroup mailbox (a general mailbox for the subgroup whereby members can make enquiries and indicate their preference to attend certain subgroup events). Our shared drive is to be set up so that all Executives can see what is in there, but with Blair able to alter any financials, Steve able to alter any agendas or minutes, and with Daniel and Beverley able to alter anything on the shared drive.
VICE-PRESIDENTS REPORT Deferred to next meeting
TREASURER’S REPORT We have a good amount of funds available for the rest of 2022, due to our diminished activity during the pandemic. We spent 22% of our 2022 allocation on our recent Subgroup AGM, and currently have $30,162.45 remaining in our bank account. Our mileage to meetings and events is covered by PIPSC.
NEW BUSINESS
SIGNATURE FORMS All four Steering Committee members have now signed the bank form and Daniel has given it to Blair to follow up with the bank.
MOTION To formally create a Communications Officer position on our Executive. M/S Charles, Lisa. Carried.
MOTION To appoint Lisa Chau as our Communications Officer. M/S Blair, Zaidan. Carried.
ACTION ITEM Daniel is to work with the other Steering Committee members to clean up our shared drive.
ITOWSG It was confirmed that the short form of our Subgroup name is ITOWSG as that fits the naming convention used by the IT Group.
COMMUNICATIONS ALLOWANCE Blair reminded us that we are generally not supposed to use workplace computer systems for conducting our union business. He said that the word “allowance” is not the proper term – we may apply for a “reimbursement” of some of our communications-related expenses. It is very important that receipts for internet or cellphone charges be provided in order to claim the allowance. No “double-dipping” is allowed (ie. are not allowed to claim the same expense through two different PIPSC bodies). It was suggested that these $25 monthly reimbursements to all ITOWSG Executives be made retroactive to the ITOWSG AGM in September.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AoLnmfn9HnkjocJlB6HrI84AN9WFYJkNwAD7GFxuQdw/edit?usp=share_link
MOTION To approve the Policy on Communication Reimbursements as written, with the understanding that such payments will begin as of September 26, 2022. M/S Blair, Zaidan. Carried
IT DEVICE UPDATE Daniel indicated that both Beverley and himself already have ITOWSG laptops. Two other ITOWSG devices, which were purchased in April 2019, remain in the possession of Nino Mangione and Michael Vincent.
ACTION ITEM Blair is to send an email to PIPSC finance asking for their advice regarding these two outstanding ITOWSG devices. If they are deemed unrecoverable, can we obtain the remaining value of these devices as a reimbursement from PIPSC?
Steve mentioned that he recently purchased a new laptop for his personal use, and that he doesn’t need another laptop.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L2jCnlEY5CQcIa33XbUQd1Jyxd9BQKG711JZ9PYCYfQ/edit?usp=share_link
MOTION To approve the Policy on IT Equipment as written, with a clarification that previously purchased personal equipment can be reimbursed with receipts. In addition, that an extra $200 be reimbursed for laptop software where appropriate (for example, for the Secretary to purchase and install the MS Office Suite). M/S Lise, Charles. Carried.
SHIRTS Daniel shared a link to possible ITOWSG clothing. The intent of a potential clothing purchase is to provide ITOWSG Executives with greater visibility at events, to purchase a small extra supply for any new Executives who join in the coming year, and as prizes at ITOWSG events. It was decided to continue communicating via email over possible clothing designs and choices.
MOTION To spend up to $5,000 on visibility items. M/S Steve, Blair. Carried.
DND CARLING REPRESENTATION Daniel shared that a DND Carling steward has offered to join the ITOWSG Executive. It was noted that we currently do not have an ITOWSG Executive in that large location. It was agreed that the person will be invited to our December 1 2022 Executive meeting for an informal meet n’ greet. After that meeting the current ITOWSG Executive will have a closed-door session to decide if they would be a good fit on our team.
AGM ACTION ITEMS Blair communicated that the Income Statement will be corrected to reflect the discrepancy that was raised during the recent ITOWSG AGM. This will be communicated to the members as part of a letter of greeting describing the “rebirth” of our Subgroup, and perhaps communicating also our first event for the members.
Insert Link to the 2022 ITOWSG AGM Minutes Here
ACTION ITEM Blair is to work with Lisa in crafting a communication to the members and fulfill our AGM commitment.
MEMBERS SOCIAL EVENT Daniel has prebooked a pool/ping pong/light dinner event at Tail Gators for December 8, 2022. This facility has many appealing offerings, including handicapped access, flexibility over numbers to attend (50-200 people and relative ease to change on short notice), reasonably priced food (dinner buffet is $28. per person), free parking, they will manage any dietary restrictions directly themselves, etc. There was informal agreement around the table on moving forward with this event. Daniel called for assistance, and Lisa was enlisted to work on the communications. There was a discussion about drink tickets, snack foods, and the large screen that is available. We aren’t committed to numbers (bad weather possible?) if we choose the buffet option, but if we do give attendee numbers ahead of time without the buffet we can make changes up to three days beforehand. Guest speaker? Tony Goddard was mentioned, as was Jennie Esnard. Since there is a bar in this location there was a discussion about the issue of alcoholic drinks, any liability, and how best to handle those who might drink too much.
ACTION ITEM Steve is to follow up with PIPSC about how we can best manage alcohol consumption at our events, and if we should be concerned with liability and insurance to protect ourselves.
ACTION ITEM Steve is to send a previously-composed “Welcome to the new Ottawa West Subgroup” blurb to Lisa for possible inclusion in a future communication.
EXECUTIVE FESTIVE/END OF YEAR DINNER Steve raised the issue that our possible festive dinner, which many constituent bodies have at this time of year, had morphed into the Members Social Event. After some discussion it was decided that our next regular meeting on December 1, 2022 could be enhanced.
ACTION ITEM Steve is to source out a “nice” restaurant for our next regular meeting.
FINANCIAL LAUNCHPAD Lisa presented some background information on these potential financial workshops for our members. She added that the provider is offering 30 free workshops remotely through Zoom (minimum attendance 20 people each time) up until January 13, 2023. There was a consensus that if we can avail ourselves of one of these free sessions, we might be willing to book them for an in-person presentation next year for approximately $1,500.
ACTION ITEM Lisa is to follow up with the provider to see if we might be able to book a free virtual session for January 11, 2023.
ROUNDTABLE
Daniel said he will follow up with the DND Carling steward and invite him to our next Executive meeting.
Steve reminded that there could be significant mileage involved in sourcing out clothing choices, and the consensus was that this expense would be covered by the ITOWSG.
Junaid thought we should make a donation in memorium to former ITOWSG Executive Brandon Wilson.
MOTION That the ITOWSG make a $100 donation to the Black Canadian Scholarship Fund in memory of Brandon Wilson. M/S Junaid, Lisa. Carried
ACTION ITEM Blair is to send a notice to all the members about Brandon Wilson’s passing.
Junaid emphasized that he would appreciate any ITOWSG Executive training to be held remotely (a poll had been previously circulated by Daniel asking for interest and preferences in our taking this training).
Blair mentioned that the PIPSC Board of Directors had decided in September that a lunch can be expensed for any virtual PIPSC meetings over 90 minutes long. This can only be claimed once in a 24 hour period.
ADJOURNMENT (8:25 PM) M/S Daniel/Lisa. Carried.