OTTAWA VALLEY BRANCH
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING

25 May 2009
Zion-Memorial Church, Carleton Place

1. CALL TO ORDER
   Jim Piche called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.
   

2. RECORDING OF MEMBERS PRESENT
   Jim Piche, Bill Irwin; Ed Rockburne; Lynda Smith; Larry Gray; Doug Schoular; Chuck Parent; Arthur Etkin; Judy Buehler; Steve Fahie
   Regrets: Larry Palmer

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
   Minutes of April 22, 2009 were amended by Jim. Error under 9(4) - Bowkitt, corrected to ‘Bowkett’; date of Regional Meeting /Branch Meeting were reversed. Motion to approve by Ed, seconded by Bill. Passed

4. BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES
   
   Website: Steve Fahie confirmed new domain name has been established: www.fsnaottawavalley.ca. A few other branches with websites have also been contacted.
   
   ING/Bank of Montreal Update:
   
   BOM: transactions covering 15 Jan. 2007 – 15 June 2008 were transferred from Jim to Doug.
   ING: documentation required from Jim to establish the new signing authorities. (Doug only has statements to May 2008).

5. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS
   
   President: - Jim advised:
   - Mr. Jackson remains on National Board as Past President, as he currently sits on a number of committees - until a new person is assigned as President.
   
   - meeting to be held June 15 (prior to the Congress, to discuss some of the resolutions).
   
   Treasurer: Doug distributed Branch Financial Statement covering Jan. 1/09-Apr. 30/09, showing a balance of $5058.63 (based on assumption we’ve paid National Office previous years’ dues portion: ~ 11K). First quarter dues were received from National in April (~ 2K). Doug will bring schedule of dues breakdown to next meeting. For Associate Memberships, the Branch retains $8.00 out of the $10.00 paid. The need to have update on current ING account was stressed. With rewording of “Charitable Donations” to ‘Remembrance Day Wreaths’, Doug moved for adoption of report; seconded by Larry Gray. Passed.
   
   PSHCP: Ed attended meeting May 19 with 9 other PSHCP Regional Officers: reviewed the program; discussed certain experiences. Limited Usage for Drugs under the Ontario Health Care Plan – Ed learned your Dr. can write a prescription for an alternate drug (not on approved provincial list) if the medication on the approved list is having an adverse effect on you. Dr. has to justify the change, which is often then approved by current drug plans.
   
   This will be looked into further and an article included in a future Branch Newsletter.
   
   Discussion of MEDOC ensued, with clarification that MEDOC is for Emergency only – not for maintenance of a health issue.
   
   Branch Newsletter: Judy advised last issue included: AGM; new website; ‘You & Your Survivors’ booklet and a form to help keep Executive current on membership address changes, etc.
   
   Marketing & Recruitment: Larry Gray advised there has been no activity on these issues, but something might be forthcoming from Congress.
   
   Membership: Doug Schoular advised Branch has approximately 35 outstanding renewals to be handled.
   
   Webmaster: Steve advised he’s now included membership statistics on the website. Steve also requested that all newsworthy items should be sent to him to be included on the website. Approved minutes of Nov. 17, 2008 and April 22, 2009 are to be forwarded for posting. Minutes are to be sent as attachments to save on editing.
   
   Regional Meeting Update: Arthur advised meeting included discussion of resolutions; discussion on National President status; role of Directors – Arthur stressed need for Directors to put forward views of their members. National ByLaws Committee has prepared a new set of ByLaws which need a lot of work. Agreement was they should be tabled at next AGM. Arthur expressed concern on usefulness of this Congress.
   
   Training schedules for membership database/Regional Orientation training sessions were discussed. Jim will advise via email on scheduling of same.

6. INTERMISSION - none.

7. CORRESPONDENCE
   
   Emails will be forwarded to Exec. by Jim.

8. OLD BUSINESS
   
   Committees (Mandates & Makeup): Jim distributed draft copies of 4 Committees: Executive; Communications; Policy and Resolutions, and Membership and Services – all of which would report to the Executive.
   
   Under ‘Executive Committee’, the word ‘will’ in the first line is to be changed to ‘may’. Under “Communications Committee, Branch must be spelled out as ‘Ottawa Valley Branch’. Chuck advised grammatical structure of all drafts needed further editing.
   
   Chuck motioned and Judy seconded approval to accept the amended Terms of Reference for the aforementioned Committees. Passed.

9. NEW BUSINESS
   
   Future Meetings: 20 July 2009
   17 August 2009
   16 September 2009 – AGM
   16 September 2009, following AGM

10. ADJOURNMENT
    
    Meeting adjourned.

(Minutes prepared by Lynda Smith)

Approved June 15 2009