Archive:Exec report - President 2006 - 2007

From VOC Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

President: Sandra Nicol

Calendar

Here is a calendar-based to-do list for VOC Presidents. It's pretty exhaustive, especially for September. Lots of stuff goes on in this club so it is a good idea to keep ahead of it. Be aware that if the year goes well it is because of a group effort by the whole executive, but that if the year sucks it is all your fault for not motivating the executive.

  • March/April AGM: get elected. Meet the new executive. Shortly thereafter set a date for the Old Exec/New Exec potluck.
  • April Old Exec/New Exec: make sure that someone is in charge of organizing the summer BBQs (bringing the BBQ, sending announcements out, etc). Make sure that someone volunteers to organize Mountaineering Camp for Labour Day long weekend. Remind everyone that they need to give you their student numbers for the AMS forms. Remind everyone that you will need their schedules as soon as they are available.
  • May/June: SAC and FinCom need information from you (you will get an email). The budget and exec lists (with student numbers, phone numbers, and emails) need to be submitted at their website. Hard copies of these documents also need to be signed by you and the treasurer and handed in (the website generates a pdf for you when everything is ready), but if you are away you can let them know and sign the forms in September. The VOC password for this webpage is our bank account number with the AMS.
  • August: get in touch with the executive and harass them about their schedules. After several years on the exec my opinion is that the best way to choose a time for the exec meetings is for one person to look at all of the execs' schedules and find the best time. Be prepared to suffer. This is also a good time to remind the Membership Chair that they will need to be ready for Clubs Days by late September, and about the mandatory AMS Exec Orientations (you will get an email) in September. Check on Mountaineering Camp organizer and start planning your climbs.
  • September - general: Don't expect to get any actual work done in September. Lots of rooms need to be booked this month, so right off the bat you need to get the Climbing Wall Coordinator and the Public Relations executives signed up with the SUB and campus wide booking services people. Contact Kari Hewett ([email protected]) to get the forms for the SUB bookings -- there is a bit of a lag between when you hand in the form and when your bookings representatives can book rooms, so get on it. To register people to book other rooms on campus see the Classroom Services website for information, and to download the AMS Bookings Representatives form. Get all the schedules and choose a meeting time; start meetings. As the club gets a lot of new members in September try to get at least one trip scheduled for each weekend. This is a good time of year for trail and hut maintenance workhikes since returning members are eager to get their workhikes done and the weather is good. The weekends before and after club days are good times for beginner friendly trips, as they appeal to our brand new members (beginner friendly trips and workhikes can overlap). As the Trips Coordinator will be busy organizing Glacier School you may have to shoulder some scheduling responsibility. The PR person should have the first slideshow ready to go by the Wednesday during Club Days so that it can be advertised to potential members.
  • September - Glacier School: You need to make sure that Glacier School is advertised in the VOCene well ahead of time, that suitable instructors are found, that a suitable location is chosen, that the Dry School room is booked, and that the Dry School package is made up. The Trips Coordinator is in charge of all of these things, but you can help them delegate and give them support at meetings.
  • September - Club Days: Club Days is the most important thing that happens in September. Make sure that two executives go to the AMS Exec Orientations or we are out of Club Days. In the past the VOC has been able to secure a good booth by discussing it with SAC before the orientations, rather than participating in the usual lottery. Whoever discusses this with SAC should remind them that the VOC booth sees a huge amount of traffic and therefore needs more space than a lot of other clubs. As an outdoors club a good spot is outside the doors to the SUB on the south side of the building, on the west side of the doors (the east side is unbelievably hot if it is sunny -- I literally got a burn on my arm last year when I touched a metal part of my jeans). Make sure that posters are made (we were talking about using photo competition winners' photos to make a couple of giant laminated posters for use at club days), that volunteers are found, that ample forms and membership cards are available. These things are the Membership Chairs' job, but you can help them delegate and give them support at meetings.
  • September - Longhike preparation: Longhike should have been booked by the previous year's VP, otherwise make sure this gets done. In September Longhike needs to be advertised and tickets need to be ready in time for Club Days. Make sure that instructors are found and given their packages, that the liquor licence is arranged and that the AMS insurance is purchased (start the liquor process right at the start of term), that the music is arranged, that dry school is booked, that prizes are purchased, t-shirt and songbook sale organized, and that all of the other details are taken care of. This is the Vice President's job but you can help them delegate and give them support at meetings.
  • October: Find volunteers to organize trips to Leavenworth (Thanksgiving) and Skaha (Halloween). The MEC Gear Swap is this month, so get the exec to discuss the plan of attack. Consult the Gear Plan. Most of the work for Longhike has already been done by the time the event actually takes place in October, so just continue to support the VP, especially regarding clean-up workhikes. Keep the workhikes coming. Near the end of the month find a volunteer to organize Smith. There are a lot of avalanche workshops coming up for Octover and November -- keep an eye out for them so that they get advertised to the club, or delegate someone to do this.
  • November: Trips, slideshows, workhikes (especially gear). The winter social will be at the end of the term, so get someone to organize it. Because it is in the SUB make sure that it is booked in early November. Make sure it is well advertised, a good speaker is found (if that's the plan), etc. Note that AMS Catering can provide pretty good food at reasonable prices (better than ordering pizza) -- they are not the same as UBC Food Services. Keep the trips, slideshows, and workhikes coming. Because people tend to disappear in December, you'll need to talk about New Year's trips (Joshua Tree is a past destination, also huts in the Rockies and the Coast) and early January trips in November. If you get a meeting in December then you can sort out the January schedule with the Trips Coordinator then, otherwise late November. The early January trips to schedule and get organizers for are: Winter Longhike, Tele School, Avy School, and Intro to Backcountry Skiing. The search for Journal Advertisers should start by November, and the exec should all be raising awareness about the Journal at slideshows, in their trip reports on the message board, etc. Get the club's consciousness of the journal raised.
  • December: find an organizer for the Photo Competition. Harass the execs to send you their schedules so that you can choose a meeting time for term 2. Enjoy the winter break.
  • January: As for Glacier School, help the organizers for Winter Longhike, Tele School, Avy School, and Intro to Backcountry organize dry schools/pre-trip meetings. Winter Longhike is the biggest and needs the most organization, as it is aimed at the least experienced people. Winter Longhike and Tele School need quite a few instructors, so help the organizers find appropriate people. The other important thing to do in January is to get a date picked for the Banquet. Once the Banquet date is picked then the Journal Editor can back calculate with the printers to figure out when all of the deadlines are. The Photo Competition organizer needs to know when the Journal deadlines are in order to set the photo competition deadlines. If the journal is not ready in time for the Banquet it will be a giant disaster, so get this taken care of early. Keep the trips, slideshows, and workhikes coming. Find an organizer for Red Rocks at reading break. The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival is coming up in February and the club should be aware of it. Someone might want to organize a big ski trip to the Rockies (booking a hut, etc) for reading break; encourage this.
  • February: Make sure that lots of trips are organized for reading break. Help the Journal Editor drum up advertisers, articles, photos, etc. You can help specifically by harassing the exec; remember, each exec has to write an article. If there has not been a letter writing night yet start reminding the FMCBC rep about it.
  • March: The Banquet is coming up soon. It will take up much of your time for the rest of your term as President. While it is the VP's job to book the venue, get the AMS to sign the venue contract, find the speaker, organize the liquor licence, organize the liquor, figure out the music, coordinate the food, set the schedule, coordinate the awards, etc, you will have to help them delegate. The Banquet is really too big for one person. If you are having the elections at the Banquet then you and the rest of the exec need to start recruiting new executives. You also need to discuss who on the current executive is interested in returning as President, Treasurer, and other positions. Advertise, advertise, advertise. The budget needs to be passed at the AGM, so the Treasurer will be bringing drafts to the meetings for a couple of weeks beforehand. The trips coordinator should make sure that Son of Rock is organized by someone for April, Easter trips are organized, and the Climbing Wall Coordinator should get the competition figured out.
  • April: Attend the Banquet and hand the Presidency over. Attend the New Exec/Old Exec Potluck. Enjoy your freedom.


Projects

Here is a description of the projects that I worked on this year.

School Tax Exemption for Huts When Dan Eagan showed me the Rural Property Tax notices for Brew II, Brew III, Harrison Hut and Phelix Hut I was concerned by two things: the fact that we were still paying any tax at all for Brew II, which no longer existed, and the fact that we payed so much in School Tax despite the fact that no one lives at the huts and they are open to the public. I had heard a rumour that public structures could get School Tax exemptions. Several weeks of phone calls to various government departments later I got in touch with Godfrey Robinson, and Appraiser with BC Assessment Vancouver Sea to Sky Region. He can be reached at 604-739-8588 Local 506. He deserves some praise because even though he had never heard of such a tax exemption in 2 years of working as an Appraiser, and neither had anyone in his office, he did the research anyway and found Sec 15 (1) (q) of the Rural Taxation Act. To get an exempetion I had to provide a copy of the AMS' Certification under the Society Act to show that the VOC is a Society, a copy of the AMS' Financial Statements to show that we are non-profit, photos of the huts, a letter explaining how the huts are a benefit to society and why they should be exempted from School Tax, and of course the folio numbers for all of the huts. Getting the folio numbers was not as straightforward as might be assumed, but Godfrey came through again. The numbers are: Mount Brew II 08-748-15005.000 (no longer in existence: license 238158); Mount Brew III 08-748-15006.000 (license S24260); Phelix Creek 08-748-241060.000 (special use permit 22793); Meager Creek 08-748-01825.000 (licence 238705). Henry Chen, the Treasurer and Controller for the AMS, was also very helpful on this project and provided me with tax statements and the AMS documentation.

Constitution Updates The following motions were passed at the Winter Semi-Annual General Meeting in order to bring the constitution up to date with the the way the club has been run for several years. These changes were accepted by the SAC.

  • The executive proposes that article 3 1.1.3.1 of the constitution be changed to - 1.1.3.1. Membership commences when membership fees are paid, a membership form is filled out, and the waiver is signed. Membership terminates on September 30 of the following school year.
  • 1.1.4 Notice of the general meeting shall be posted on the VOC website, message board outside the clubroom, and included in the weekly newsletter (VOCene) at least seven (7) days before the meeting is to take place.

Embroidery of VOC Logo The exec decided to give Roland Burton a retirement gift of a fleece embroidered with the VOC logo. I found a company that could do the embroidery. It costs about $50 to get a logo digitized, but once it has been digitized it does not have to be done again. The company is EmbroidMe. I now have an account there, but I asked them to put the VOC's name on the account with me as a contact person only. The digitized logo will be kept for around 2 years, and then discarded if it has not been used. The embroidered logo looked really snazzy so the VOC could consider getting some higher quality/more expensive stuff made, such as hats or hoodies. Embroidery can be done in any two colours. If the VOC ordered 100 items embroidered the per item cost would be approximately $5. EmbroidMe also does silk screen and digital printing, so future executives could consider purchasing t-shirts from them (although they may not be the cheapest option). They are located at 15th and Oak St.

Gear Plan At the Winter Semi-Annual General Meeting it was decided that a gear plan should be formulated to help future executives decide what gear to purchase. The quartermasters did an inventory of the gear room, and they, Dan Eagan, and I came up with the Gear Plan.

Avalanche Safety Course The contact person at Canada West Mountain School is Linda Knight ([email protected]). She sent me the waiver forms and an equipment list to be distributed to paying members. CWMS required that I confirm how many instructors would be needed two weeks in advance, so the deadline for signing up was early and non-negotiable (a difficult situation for many VOCers). The exec decided to require students to pay in cash, and not accept any cheques. When I confirmed the number of instructors with Linda she sent me an invoice which Dan gave to the AMS, and which was paid using the cash collected from the students. CWMS provides beacons, shovels, and probes. I organized the students into groups based on what equipment they were using (skis vs snowshoe/board), since I assumed that uphill speed would be similar in the two groups. The feedback I got suggests that it would be better to put the groups together based on downhill speed: good skiers and riders together, poor skiers/riders and snowshoers together.

Retrieved from "http://www.ubc-voc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Archive:Exec_report_-_President_2006_-_2007&oldid=57075"