Regional Executive Meeting - November 17, 2020

 Meeting Minutes

BC/Yukon Region - Regional Executive 

November 17, 2020  18:30 – 21:30

 Video conference - Zoom

Meeting called to order –  18:35

1. Approval of Agenda  (All)
   1. Motion to approve the agenda
      • m/s - carried

2. Approval of Previous Minutes (All)
   1. September 22, 2020 
      • Motion Regional Executive accepts the minutes as amended - m/s -carried

3. Business Arising (All)
   1. Steward Recruitment in a virtual world – (R. MacDonald)
      • R MacDonald had a conversation with Regional Office
        1. Regional Office is going to do a bit of data collection on the following but the Regional Exec has been asked the same
           1. Where do you think we need stewards
           2. What attributes are we looking/not looking for
           3. How are we going to do that in a virtual world
      • This year we had 13 applications to apply to be stewards…only 3 since COVID; 18 retirements/resignations/relocations; 4 breaks in services and 4 renewals
      • Action: R MacDonald to send email to Exec regarding questions
   2. Regional & National awards – (C. Cahoon)
      • C Cahoon has not sent out letters to the recipients of the awards
      • K Hall has not organized the recognition event because recipients have not been notified yet
      • Letters need to be drafted and sent to award recipients
      • Action: P Tam will draft letters with support from Office and K Hall
      • Action:  R. MacDonald to email Office (copy C. Cahoon, K. Hall and P. Tam) on next steps.
   3. Debrief of Steward/Better Together sessions (R MacDonald)
      • Each session there were on aver high 20s to high 30s in attendance
      • Action: R MacDonald will send out results from feedback
      • Noted that people were missing the interaction but overall the feedback was positive

4. Regional Director Report   (R. MacDonald)
   1. Motion:  Regional Executive accepts the Regional Director Report September 22^nd   to November 16^th   2020  M/S - carried
      • Report will be posted separately from these minutes
      • Kudos were given to P Mantler for stepping in for R MacDonald during the Steward/BT Sessions

5.  Office Staff Report  (provided by R MacDonald)
   • • The regional office has taken an uptake in COVID related files
     • The team continues to work from home and operating at full capacity
     • They are looking forward to future training opportunities
     • Kudos to H Mahil for helping pilot the first virtual steward session
     • Motion: Regional Executive accepts the verbal Staff Report m/s – carried

6. Financial Report  (P. MacDougall)
   1. Motion: Regional Executive accepts the Financial Report m/s – carried
      • No changes overall and no expectations that further requests will be coming in for the rest of the year
      • No change to next years available funds even with a claw back
      • R MacDonald mentioned that some regions are putting together packages for their delegates;
      • Motion: The BC Yukon Regional Executive has agreed to donate $50/BC Yukon Delegate to the 101^st PIPSC AGM, to the Legacy Fund m/s – carried
        1. Note: this will total $1050
        2. Action: P MacDougall to follow-up on the transfer
      • Discussion on approving the Budget since we did not hold a Regional Council
      • Motion: The BC Regional Executive approves the budget for the 2021 m/s - carried
      • Action: P MacDougall will send the budget to PIPSC HQ

7. Regional Training Committee Report (P MacDougall)
   1. Motion: Regional Executive accepts the verbal Training Report m/s – carried
      • R MacDonald has been talking to the Regional Office about Advanced School and wrapping our heads around that it will likely be virtual – the Executive supports this train of thought and moving forward with planning for a virtual event
      • Virtual Basic Training in the regions may be held back before being rolled out; R MacDonald is trying to champion training in the regions due to our steward numbers
      • Leadership Training – we are going to continue to follow-up with the group that has been engaged; future sessions to be planned

8. National Initiatives
   1. No initiatives were brought forward for discussion

9. New Business
   1. Planning for 2021
      • Further discussion this meeting regarding holding a virtual regional council
      • Some conversation that we continue to do our business even if it is shorter and virtual to maintain transparency and to maintain relevancy to our processes
      • Concern brought forward that maybe our members don’t quite know what is going on and we lose transparency
      • We will still hold elections and work out a platform that will allow this to happen at the Council; Clear messaging that nominations and election committee volunteers will be sought in the invitation
      • Discussion on how to allow campaigning in a fair way in a virtual environment
      • Action: P Mantler will look into how that could occur and will be brought forward to next meeting
   2. Regional Caucus (P Mantler)
      • Invite has been sent out (December 2)
      • Regional Office will send out a reminder on November 24^th
   3. Regional Executive Members Recognition
      • Is there a dollar amount associated with recognition of service by regional executive members?
      • Action: P Mantler will send out an email to solicit some ideas as to what would be appropriate
        1. R MacDonald suggested that the Chair contact Chairs from other regions to see what they do.
10. Next Meeting(s)
    1. December 2 – Regional Caucus
    2. January 12th – evening meeting by Zoom
    3. March 9^th – evening meeting by Zoom

Adjournment @  20:15 m/s- carried