Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
Thursday, April 26, 2001 at 5 p.m. EST
Metropolitan Hotel, Toronto, Ontario

PARTICIPANTS:
Sean Murray, President
Clark Pepper, First Vice President
Angie Shepherd, Second Vice President
Heather Dickson, Secretary
Joyce Webster, Treasurer

Gerry Dorge, board chairman

Staff: Serge Lavoie

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

Wow. A lot has happened since the last board meeting in November. The challenge of the board and executive is to manage all of this activity. CCNA is still committed to openness and full disclosure yet there is also a need to better manage the flow of information to ensure that matters are fully discussed before being generally released to the full membership for further input.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MOVED BY Clark Pepper, seconded by Angie Shepherd THAT THE AGENDA BE APPROVED AS AMENDED. CARRIED.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Serge apologized for not having the printed version of the minutes available at the meeting. He read from his original hand written notes of the meeting.

MOVED BY Heather Dickson, seconded by Clark Pepper THAT THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 29, 2001 EXECUTIVE MEETING TELECONFERENCE BE APPROVED AS READ. CARRIED.


TREASURER'S REPORT

Year 2000 Audit - Joyce Webster and Serge Lavoie presented the key points of the audit that had just been delivered to the association two days earlier. Serge pointed out that all of the financial details were in order but that he had some concerns with the presentation of some of the data. While the association had earned a small operating surplus for the year, a series of one-time expenses approved by the board and designed to be charged to special balance sheet accounts resulted in an overall deficit. Serge recommended that the audit be restated to clarify that the deficit resulted from the board consciously deciding to use its reserves for special projects designed to assist the industry.

The audit also fails to illustrate that the deficit experienced by The Publisher is more than offset by surpluses achieved by the News Release Service. The two are operated under the same business unit and should be reported together, thus showing a surplus for the year.

MOVED BY Joyce Webster, seconded by Clark Pepper THAT THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ACCEPT THE YEAR 2000 AUDIT WITH A RECOMMENDATION THAT CERTAIN PORTIONS BE RE-STATED FOR CLARITY. CARRIED.

First Quarter 2001 Statements-As the statements were not yet finalized for the month, Serge made a verbal presentation from a draft copy he had received. All revenues and expenses are tracking as anticipated. Revenues from The Publisher were behind schedule but revenues from the News Release Service were ahead of schedule. Unbudgeted expenses relating to the readership research project are being tracked separately and will be offset by contributions from regional associations.

STAFF REPORT

Serge gave a verbal report on the activities and accomplishments of staff. He is preparing a reorganization of some functions and will report on those when plans are complete.

Serge also reported on two initiatives relating to the association's concerns with Canada Post. He will give a complete confidential briefing to the board during its Friday meeting.

BOARD AGENDA REVIEW

Executive members reviewed the board agenda for the two days of meetings. Serge explained that this would be a very busy meeting as it included parallel sessions designed to hire a project manager for the research bureau as well as interviewing research firms to conduct the pilot study. The Industry Promotion Working Group had also arranged for a presentation by a young media to share her perceptions of the community newspaper sector. David Stanger was scheduled to give an overview of the research project to date. This is the same presentation he has been giving at all regional conferences.

OTHER BUSINESS

Angie Shepherd raised the issue of the quality of the association's government relations consultants. Her experience with them didn't compare favourably with the work being done by the government relations company used by OCNA for provincial issues. Serge gave some background on the association's use of the current agency and the nature of its working relationship. The current contract dates back to 1993. It was agreed that a review of options could be beneficial at this time.

MOVED BY Angie Shepherd, seconded by Joyce Webster THAT CCNA EMBARK ON AGENCY REVIEW OF ITS GOVERNMENT RELATIONS FIRM BASED ON A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL TO BE DRAFTED BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. CARRIED.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

Gerry Dorge was appointed as the chair of the 2001 Nominating Committee. He will put the remainder of the committee in place.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned without a motion.