Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

November 21^st, 2006 7:00 PM

 

Location:           Regional Office, Grand Falls/Windsor

 

Present:

 

Mr. Thomas Kendell (Chair)                              Ms. Cynthia Fleet, Director

Mr. Clar Brown                                                            Dr. Barbara Palmer

Mr. John George                                               Ms. Marina Hewlett

Mr. Robert Hannaford                                       Ms. Bonnie Lane McCarthy

Mr. Hubert Langdon                                          Mr. Charlie McCormack

Mr. Scott Pritchett                                             Mr. Shawn Brace (Recorder)

Dr. Greg Woolfrey

Ms. Kim Cheeks

Mr. Kerry Noble

Mr. Peter Budgell

Mr. Bill Sceviour

Mr. Newman Harris

Mr. Peter Gibbons

 

Regrets:

 

Ms. Ann Sparkes

Ms. Audrey Whiteway

 

1.         Welcome

 

2.         Approval of Agenda

 

Motion:            to approve the revised agenda as circulated (Brown/Gibbons).  Carried.

 

3.         Minutes of Meetings

 

            3.1        Regular Meeting October 24^th, 2006

 

Motion:            to accept the Minutes of the October 24^th, 2006 Meeting with the following corrections:

                        Item 5.1            change to read extend the budget

                        Item 3.1            add mover and seconder (Noble/George)

(Hannaford/George).  Carried

 

            3.2        Annual General Meeting Minutes October 27^th, 2003

 

Motion:            to accept the Minutes of the October 27^th, 2003 Annual General Meeting as circulated.  (Pritchett/Gibbons).  Carried.

 

 

4.         Financial Report – Report of the Finance & Property Committee

 

Motion:            to accept the audited financial statements as presented.  (Pritchett/Brown).  Carried.

 

Motion:            to adopt the Report of the Finance and Property Committee.  (Pritchett/Harris).  Carried.

 

The Director gave an update on the additional $1.5 million allocated for School Board Administration.  Essentially, Government has to approve School Board Organizational Charts.

 

Dr. Woolfrey asked if the new positions applied for will address issues raised in the external auditing management letter.

 

Mr. Brown asked if the new organizational model is comparable to the College of the North Atlantic.

 

Mr. Pritchett also raised the matter of couriering information packages to trustees.  The cost of this service is approximately $300 per service per meeting. 

 

5.         Election of Officers:

 

Ms. Fleet reviewed policy 201 – “Election of Officers”.  This board has five table officers.  They include the Chair, 1^st Vice Chair, 2^nd Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

 

For any executive position that required a vote it was agreed that only the name of the winner and not the vote count would be announced.  If there was a tie there would be a second round of voting.

 

Motion:            to have all positions of the board declared vacant.  (Budgell/Woolfrey).  Carried.

 

Motion:            to have Bonnie Lane-McCarthy and Shawn Brace act as scrutineers.  (Pritchett/Brown).  Carried.

 

The following nominations were submitted prior to the meeting:

 

Chair                                                                            Nominated by

Mr. Thomas Kendell                                                      Whiteway/Sparkes

Mr. John George                                                           Sceviour/Pritchett

 

2^nd Vice Chair

Mr. Hubert Langdon                                                      Noble/Cheeks

 

Treasurer

Mr. Scott Pritchett                                                         Gibbons/Harris

Mr. Robert Hannaford                                                   Kendell/Langdon

 

Secretary

Mr. Kerry Noble                                                           Cheeks/Langdon

 

The Director then proceeded to carry out the elections.  She called for nominations three times from the floor for each position commencing with the Chair.

 

Nominations from floor for 1^st Vice Chair

 

Dr. Greg Woolfrey was nominated by Mr. Thomas Kendell and seconded by Mr. Robert Hannaford.

Mr. John George was nominated by Mr. Peter Budgell and seconded by Mr. Bill Sceviour.

 

Nominations from the floor for 2^nd Vice Chair

 

Mr. Peter Gibbons was nominated by Mr. Scott Pritchett and seconded by Mr. John George.

 

Motion:            to destroy the ballots.  (Pritchett/Gibbons).  Carried.

 

Business from Minutes – October 24, 2006

 

There was a discussion on the procedure required to rename the “Personnel Division” to the Human Resources Division.

 

Motion:            to change the name of the Personnel Committee to the Human Resources Committee.  (Sceviour/Langdon).  Carried.

 

Motion:            to lift the motion of October 24^th, 2006 that where the present policy states “will consist of three individuals” be changed to “will consist of a minimum of two individuals”.  (Noble/Langdon).  Carried.

 

Mr. Gibbons suggested that in the future we should make an effort to have the AGM by the end of October.

 

6.         NLTA Liaison Committee

 

Ms. Fleet informed the board that due to the consolidation of school boards, the NLTA Liaison committee has been increased.  There are currently 3 trustees and the Assistant Director (Human Resources) and it needs to be increased by one member.

 

Mr. Noble and Mr. Langdon advised that this was addressed last year and that it was agreed that the NLTA would have 5 members and the board will have 4 members.

 

7.         Correspondence

 

·         A letter from the Minister concerning a September motion concerning the name change for the board.  This Minister inquired as to whether the motion passed.

·         Letter – November 6 from the Auditor General re Capital Assets.

·         Letter November 14 from the Auditor General referring to the 2004 Lewisporte/Gander School District.

·         Letter from the Minister – re:  Exploits Valley Intermediate land/R.C. Episcopal Corporation.

 

After some discussion, Mr. Harris suggested that we request a meeting with the Minister.

 

Mr. Hannaford suggested that the Finance & Property Committee should address the concerns raised by the Auditor General in the above correspondence.

 

There was a general discussion on Auditor General Reports.

 

·         Letter from Minister – advising that the Department is prepared to purchase white boards for schools.  We are required to submit a list of our requirements.

·         Letter from Minister re:  Nova Central School District’s 5 year Restructuring Plan.  The letter discussed the matter of raising public expectation around new schools and extensions and renovations.  Ms. Fleet offered some explanation as to the purpose of the letter.

 

8.         Capital Projects

 

            Capital Priorities

 

·         Ms. Fleet gave an overview of the Capital Projects.

·         Estimates are old and need to be reviewed.

·         The Department is looking for Capital Projects that are outside of our long term capital plan.

·         The list of capital projects was generated by removing last year’s approved projects and renumbering the balance of the projects.

 

Motion:            to adjourn the meeting (Hannaford).  Motion defeated.

 

Motion:            to extend the meeting until 10:15 PM.  (Sceviour/Noble).  Carried.

 

9.         Strategic Planning (Update)

 

There is a session planned for December 1, 2 and 3 at Sinbad’s Hotel.  The session will begin at 4:30 PM and end at noon on Sunday.

 

10.        Re-structuring Plan (Update)

 

The Director informed the board of meetings held at both MSB Academy and Dorset Collegiate.

 

Dorset Collegiate

 

·         Parents in Roberts Arm raised a number of concerns:

·         Concerns about fire safety at Dorset Collegiate – parents were informed that the school will have a water sprinkler.

·         There was also a concern that the school was not located in a community

·         In response to the fire safety issue, parents were informed that the school plans have to be approved by Government Service Centre.

 

Mr. Kendell advised that when meetings are held with parents the trustee for that zone should also be in attendance.

 

The Director advised that Ms. Sparkes was not available for the meeting.

 

11.        NLSBA Report – deferred

           

·         Professional Development for Trustees (date) – deferred

·         Conferences – deferred

 

12.        Date of Next Meeting

 

The next regular board meeting will be held on December 19^th, 2006 in Gander.  It was suggested that the Chair touch base with Mr. Randell Mercer to see if he is available for the Christmas meeting.

 

13.        Adjournment

 

Motion:            to adjourn the meeting (Pritchett/Sceviour).  Carried

 

 

 

_____________________________                          ____________________________

Thomas Kendell                                                            Shawn Brace

Chair                                                                            Recorder

 

SB/fg