TEI Board Minutes: Google Hangout 12 January 2017

Attendees

  • Hugh Cayless
  • Michelle Dalmau (chair)
  • Kiyonori Nagasaki
  • Laurent Romary
  • Kathryn Tomasek
  • John Unsworth
  • Pip Willcox (minutes)

Appointments for 2017

  • Chair: Michelle Dalmau
  • Secretary: Pip Willcox
  • Membership Secretary: Laurent Romary
  • Treasurer: [under review by MD and JU]
  • Program Committee Chair: Kathryn Tomasek
  • Conference Correspondent: Michelle Dalmau
  • Working group conveners: to be appointed by the Board as necessary throughout the year

Actions

  • All: review and approve Call for Host documentation
  • All: review and approve Rahtz prize documentation
  • MD/JU: arrange a separate call about: Treasurer transition, Wild Apricot, Associated review and revision of By-laws

Minutes

  • Meeting Procedures and Other Announcements
    • Volunteer for Minutes-Taking on Google Docs (password protected): PW to take minutes, with assistance.
    • Welcome New Board Members: Laurent & Kiyonori! - MD offered one-to-one chats with LR and KN to catch them up, if desired.
    • Welcome to the New TEI-C Webmaster, Luis Meneses! - Luis’s was the only application, and he is superbly qualified for the post. At UVic, so 3 hour behind EST, makes joining Board meetings hard
    • July 2016 minutes posted to the web site!
    • August and September 2016 Minutes under review, pending vote
    • 2016 Business Meeting Minutes pending review, pending post to TEI-C web site
  • Review and vote on quote from Virtual, Inc. for outsourcing admin work for the TEI-C (see email sent by JE on 2017-01-02 for quote): How would we re-define the role of Treasurer?

JU reports there was an individual who supported back-office work at the Boston Library Consortium (BLC). This arrangement was not working well overall and the BLC hired Virtual Inc. for the administrative work. For the money, customers get distributed expertise in the fields rather than (in the TEI’s case, and other volunteer groups) volunteers picking up bits and pieces of work. The quotation is less than it would cost the TEI to hire someone to undertake this work at 0.5 FTE. Problems we experience as a Board are typical of NFP runs by volunteers. Virtual would continue to work with our membership system, Wild Apricot. MD will learn more about Wild Apricot, as will the Membership Secretary (about to be elected), to see if we can improve the data we are collecting for reporting and forecasting. MD: We are unlikely to use the in-person meeting space. It was generally agreed that it’s important to have a postal address that is not a TEI member’s personal address. JU: Virtual Inc. could help in planning the budget and financial forecasting, but are not accountants. We would need an accountant too. Current CPA is still in Boston … they wouldn’t change … the accountant has access to our bank account now … accountant and management company could word directly together with minimal intervention from the Board (i.e., Treasurer). The role of the Treasurer: the accountant already has access to the TEI’s membership. JU currently labels the transaction on the banking system, so the accountant can categorize them for their system. The current structure makes it almost a life-long task, hard as it is to sign the role over and requiring an in-person meeting in Virginia. The amount of support for each conference is different. The CPA costs about US $2,000 per annum. The Apache Foundation also uses this association management company, and they are impressed by their services. HC: we might make money back by having a slightly more clingy approach to members around renewal time. Wild Apricot sends automated emails but they are not always received. JU: if the Board agrees this, the handover could happen during the spring when JU could be in Boston. Decision: The Board voted unanimously to accept Virtual Inc.’s proposal. A vote of thanks was given to JU for his phenomenal work as Treasurer and for organizing the quotation from Virtual Inc. and the upcoming handover. JU confirmed to HC that he would still be Treasurer for the arrangements of the Council’s February meeting.

Elect Officers and Appoint Other Roles

According to the Bylaws, we need to elect the following positions:

  • Chair: PW proposed MD stand for election as Chair. KT seconded it. MD accepted the nomination and was unanimously elected.
  • Secretary:MD proposed PW stand for election as Secretary. KT seconded it. PW accepted the nomination and was unanimously elected.
  • Membership Secretary: MD proposed LR stand for election as Membership Secretary. KT seconded it. LR accepted the nomination and was unanimously elected. MD agreed with LR that the membership requires an international effort. Having people on the Board and Council from different countries, continents, and cultures will help with this effort. MD noted that Martin Mueller volunteered to continue in this post, if the position were not filled by the Board.
  • Treasurer (overlap with JU as part of the transition): MD will work with JU to review whether the role of Treasurer needs to be revised in the Bylaws. It was agreed that we need to appoint a Treasurer from outside the Board. The original Treasurer came to Board meetings but wasn’t an elected Board member. While the Virtual Inc. arrangement would make it easier to change Treasurer, it is desirable that people undertake the role for a significant period of time, making it worth the effort of learning it and benefiting from the learning experience. JU: If Wild Apricot emails are not getting through, perhaps we should use the TEI-list and/or other email to ensure people receive reminders to renew membership.

According to existing Board practices, we also need to appoint:

  • Chair of the Program Committee for the 2017 Conference and Members' Meeting: KT received unanimous support in undertaking this role.
  • Conference Correspondent, new position in 2016 that serves as an intermediary between the conference local organizing committee and the Board.
  • The Board supported MD’s proposal that she continue as Conference Correspondent. MD is learning more as she rewrites the hosting documentation.

According to new Board practices, any one of us will serve as conveners to working groups This new system will encourage members to participate in the work of the Board in particular areas. The hope is that the legwork can be done by these groups, producing summary reports, outcomes or similar for the Board to read and discuss.

Top Action Items for January

  • Call for Host Documentation for review and approval: MD is amalgamating and editing the documents on hosting. The plan stands to issue the call in February.
  • Logistics for the Rahtz Prize need to be finalized: The logistics documentation need to be reviewed, but less work than there is with the Host Documents.
  • Transition of Treasurer / Outsourcing Admin work for the TEI-C: Revision to Bylaws
  • MD: If possible, we prefer not to revise the Bylaws unless necessary.
  • JU: suggests a separate call on Wild Apricot.