Board Meeting Minutes Jan 19, 2021 - Victoria Brain Injury Society

Board Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Attendance/Regrets

Directors: Wyatt Pickett, Trevor Jones, Barbara Phillips, Gerald Hartwig, Natalie Benson Tyler Dolan, Varun Dhaul, Adam Harnden Staff: Pam Prewett

Approval of Previous Board Meeting Minutes

Motion to approve as written by Wyatt, seconded by Natalie. Motion carries.

President’s Report

Governance committee met to discuss tweaking the policy for board members. Natalie reported that the recommendations for changing the policy for Role of Board Member were outcome specific. The consensus of the committee is that there is no need for crossover of board members volunteering in other capacities. Gerald mentioned that the committee also discussed that instead of focusing on governance at the strategic planning, the governance committee would work with Doug and then bring recommendations to the board. This would allow for a faster process. Motion: to approve the language added to the Role of the Board of Director policy as is written. Moved by Wyatt. Motion carries. Action: Pam to add to history that the policy was revised January 2021.

Wyatt has received feedback regarding housing issues for VBIS clients. A specific issue brought to his attention is “renovictions” and a client has asked if the board could advocate for her. This is a little outside of the VBIS mandate and Wyatt’s suggestion is to get a meeting with Grace Lore, partially to discuss BIA funding and also housing issues. Any board member with comments or anything to add please forward to Pam or Wyatt. Discussion around rather than asking our local MLA to advocate perhaps we should ask directly for funding so VBIS can address the housing issue directly. This would show the board as being strategic rather than reactionary.

Wyatt, Natalie and Barbara have been soliciting staff for Pam’s review. The review will take place this Friday and recommendations will be made at the next board meeting.

Finance Report

Finances are looking great. Pam is working on next year’s budget already and will meet with Trevor in February.

Discussion around applying to View Royal for funding of West Shore outreach services. The board acknowledged the difficulty brain injury survivors often have in accessing services due to geographical barriers. Other potential outreach opportunities were discussed including Sooke, Colwood, West Shore RCMP and Esquimalt. Motion: given that clients often experience barriers in accessing services due to difficulties with transportation, the board resolves to apply to the Town of View Royal Grant-in-Aid to fund outreach in this area. Moved by Trevor. Motion carries. Action: Pam to apply for View Royal Grant-in-Aid.

Gala Update

Gala has been postponed due to COVID-19 and we are working on finding a new venue, since the Union Club will be undergoing kitchen renovations from March – June. Pam and Jess are working hard at securing auction items.

Executive Director’s Report

Pam provided update that re-branding is back on track and she and Suzanne have met with CIBC to discuss moving our bank account.

Strategic Planning

Session one will be held on Saturday, February 6 from 10am – 12pm. Action: Pam to circulate a Doodle Poll for session 2.

New Business

Trevor brought up that it is interesting to see the difference in our finances between last year and this year. Gerald mentioned that having Trevor as treasurer has made a great difference. We are in a much stronger situation than last year. Pam reported that she is talking to funders about the difference in our financial situation over the past year and receiving a good response.

Wyatt brought up that he had been looking forward to discussing proposed governance models and prefers a ‘doing’ board over a strictly policy board. Discussion around whether we should replace board members and if so, what kind of people should we ask? Decision to wait until after the strategic planning session to discuss further.

Next meeting: Tuesday, February 16th, 2021