Guy Proulx Sylvia Faulkner Lysanne Gauvin Lucie Houle Leslie Lawry Brian McCauley Jean-François Normand Ann Perry Wendy Potvin Lisa Rondeau Robert Way Sheila Willis (by phone)
Teri Caruci Anne Morin Michael Snaauw
Guy Proulx welcomed the directors to the meeting.
The minutes of the meeting of March 2, 2016 were approved and have been posted on the QCC website.
Guy provided the financial overview update. He indicated that Teri Caruci had told him the financial statements for 2015 will be available shortly and will then be posted on the QCC website. Guy indicated that the balance in the QCC account is about $3,000.00. This amount is considered to be low with a more reasonable balance being in the $5,000.00 range. Revenues need to be increased and expenditures decreased in order to maintain a $5,000.00 balance in the account.
Ann Perry reported that eight teams – a full draw - participated in the event. Nearly $214.00 was made for the benefit of the QCC. Various prizes were awarded and the pizza lunch was well received. Ann P. reported that the booking for the RCMP curling rink has been completed for the fall curling bonspiel on October 14, 2016.
Sylvia Faulkner, J-F Normand and Lisa Rondeau hosted this event. It was reported that 69 people had registered for this event and 66 attended. The 50/50 draw generated $150.00 for the QCC. The Mill Street Brew Pub donated two $25.00 gift certificates that were won through two separate draws. In addition, one free ticket for the upcoming Ottawa River Cruise was also provided as a prize.
The restaurant provided a shortened menu for the lunch. This worked well and allowed for faster service of the food. The restaurant also had more service staff for the group. A microphone was provided free of charge by the restaurant and worked very well. Given that the Mill Street Brew Pub listened to our feedback from the 2015 luncheon and the smooth operation of the event in 2016, it was decided to go ahead with the same location for the spring luncheon in 2017. The Ottawa River Boat Cruise was promoted at this event.
Lucie Houle, Guy and Robert Way will host this event. It was reported that seventeen foursomes and two singles have now registered for this event. The Hammond Golf Course can handle up to 140 players for the shotgun start of 1:00 pm. There should be a minimum of 80 players so the registration is a bit short. Ann P. will see if she can encourage more colleagues from the Information Technology Branch to participate.
It was also agreed that Guy would open up this event to the Young Professionals Network to increase the number of participants. Guy also mentioned that all funds received to date for the golf event have been deposited to the QCC account.
Robert Way donated a golf board game as one of the prizes to be awarded at the tournament.
Finally, Guy reiterated the need to keep the costs of the prizes for the golf tournament under control.
Guy and Lisa will host this event. At the time of the meeting, the cruise was nearly sold out with 171 tickets sold. The capacity of the cruise boat is 180. It should be noted that this event is now sold out and a waiting list has been established.
Guy reminded everyone that the boat would leave the Quai des Artistes at 7:00 pm. The same boat has been reserved for 2017.
It was agreed that there would be a 50/25/25 draw while on the cruise. The QCC will provide munchies. There is a cash bar on the boat.
Lucie, Guy and Robert will host this event. Lucie has checked with a number of golf courses in the vicinity of the city and the Pineview Golf course was selected which is located at the junction of Blair Road and the Queensway. This location was selected as it is close to the center of the city.
It is proposed that the golfing will begin between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm while the Happy Hour is proposed to start at 5:00 pm. When the invitation is sent to the QCC membership, members will be asked to select if they are golfing only, golfing plus staying for a BBQ, attending the Happy Hour only or attending the Happy Hour and staying for a BBQ. This will enable the organizers to provide the Pineview Golf course with the expected number of people who will stay for the BBQ.
Lucie will continue to work with the Pineview Golf course to finalize the arrangements while Robert will develop the invitation for this event. It was agreed that this new event would be promoted at the QCC Golf tournament on June 6, 2016.
Leslie Lawry and Sylvia will host this event. Leslie indicated that a deposit of $1,000.00 has been provided to the Hellenic Centre for the 2016 event and that the same location has been booked for 2017. An entertainer, at a cost of $500.00, has been booked for the evening of the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Leslie agreed to provide a $100.00 deposit to the entertainer. Leslie will undertake discussions with the entertainer so that more than one impersonation will occur during the evening.
Leslie also raised the question of the food quality at the previous AGM held at the Hellenic Centre. Leslie said that she would undertake negotiations to try and get better quality meals at a lower cost per person and will also examine the question of a buffet style meal compared to a meal served at the tables. Leslie will provide an update at the next directors meeting.
In 2015, the price for each ticket for the AGM was $45.00. This price included a subsidy paid by the QCC. The question was raised as to whether we should have two-tier pricing for attendance at this event to ensure that the QCC subsidy is only provided to current and/or previous employees of the CRA. This will be discussed at the next directors meeting as the ticket price will need to be set.
Leslie agreed that she would have the “Save the Date” e-mail ready for distribution by the end of June 2016.
Brian McCauley provided an update on his research to date on a potential beer or wine tasting. Brian indicated that the costs for wine tasting events, whether through the LCBO or other providers, was quite expensive and very dependent on the choice of wines made for the tasting. At the LCBO, the wine tasting packages start at about $50.00 per person with a maximum of 24 people.
Brian agreed to provide additional information at the next meeting of the Directors with costs details for both beer and wine tastings. It was agreed that this event would not take place in 2016 but might be a possible event for 2017.
Guy indicated that Joanne St George is interested in becoming a director of the QCC. Joanne made her interest known to both Sylvia and Wendy Potvin. It was agreed that Joanne would be a good addition to the Board of Directors. To that end, Wendy will discuss this further with Joanne. If Joanne is still interested, Guy will finalize the arrangement with Joanne, recognizing that Joanne would have to be nominated and voted in at the next AGM. In the meantime, Joanne will be invited to participate at the directors meetings as an observer.
Guy reported that the new QCC website is up and running well. Guy asked that all directors take a close look at the new website as we move into Phase II of the website. Several ideas were put forward. It was agreed that all directors would be canvassed for potential improvements to the new website. Once that list is completed, it will be prioritized and work would begin on each priority in sequence. This exercise will begin in the fall of 2016.
It was also agreed that it made sense to have a structured approach to the updates to the website such as bundling updates on a regular basis. This would, in all likelihood, reduce the costs to the QCC of the consultant who is maintaining the website.
Sheila Willis and Guy provided an update of a problem that Sheila encountered when trying to send out an email to all members of the QCC. Sheila was being limited on the number of emails that she could send out a day. The website consultant suggested a solution called Mailchimp and worked with Sheila on its implementation. Sheila indicated that this solution is working satisfactorily.
With the announcement that the current Commissioner of the CRA is retiring, the proposed presentation about the QCC to the Agency Management Committee (AMC) is currently on hold. Guy will discuss with Mike Snaauw the next steps for a presentation to the AMC pending the appointment of a new Commissioner. This also means that using the poster developed for the QCC is on hold until further discussion.
The use of Dropbox for archiving QCC material was deferred to the next meeting of directors.
Lucie agreed that she would review, for accuracy, the letter that is sent to the recognition coordinators. A review of the letter provided to employees who reach the 25 years of service milestone will also be reviewed. Once these reviews are completed, the letters will be ready for distribution by the CRA.
The next meeting will be on Monday, September 12, 2016 at 5:00 pm at the Train Yards.