Minutes from February 22

Peak Publications Society Board of Directors Meeting Agenda
February 22, 2017
The Peak offices
Chair: Jessica Pickering

In Attendance:

• Maia Odegaard (Board Secretary, non-voting)
• Max Hill (Editor-in-Chief)
• Nathan Ross (Collective Rep)
• Jessica Pickering (Employee Rep)
• Nick Bondi (guest)
• Zach Siddiqui (guest)
• Bernice Puzon (guest)
• Tamara Connor (guest)
• Gabrielle McLaren (guest)

1. Call to Order
   5:36 p.m.
2. Approval of Agenda
   Vote not possible
3. Approval of past minutes from January 18, 2017
   Vote not possible
4. Financial update
   Maia presented spring 2017 budget and finances through January 2017
   No vote
5. Staff writer
   1. Nathan outlined original intent of the position
   2. Define their role, give more clout when requesting interviews
   3. Staff Writers should apply for the position
   4. Should it be hiring board or section editors? Hiring board, possibly at a different time than the editors and other staff (one week after)
   5. What are the requirements, word count expectation?
   6. Hire two for now
   7. Job description committee will meet on the March 8th to discuss other example job descriptions (The Other Press, etc.)
   8. We shouldn’t worry about hurting contributors feelings if a new applicant is the best candidate for the job
   9. Only deciding on staff writer (no illustrator or photographer at this time)
6. Stipend Proposal
   Tamara and Nick presented their proposal for stipends for the work they produced during Reading Break while no paper was being printed (also on behalf of Ashley and Linda). They have asked for roughly ½ a week’s pay for each person.
   1. Tamara published 3 features, some were timely
   2. Nick broke a story, had to be published right away
   3. This decision will affect future spring semesters, so we might need to decide if we treat Reading Week like a regular week of online-only work (and eliminating the first week)
   4. Can’t vote on the proposal without a full board at this time
   5. Table this discussion
7. Constitution review
   1. We are currently reworking the previous draft constitution
   2. Definition of student should match that of SFU
   3. Quorum needs to be updated
   4. Membership definition should probably go back to original constitution
   5. Having EIC job outlined in the constitution is too binding, we need that to be defined by policy so that we can update the job as the Peak grows
   6. Chair as a tie-breaking vote rather than a voting member
   7. Keep editor in chief on board
   8. Keep informality of meetings (only adopt Robert’s Rules when requested)
   9. Board being required to publish minutes and agendas
   10. Definition of collective member: anyone who has contributed (twice?) during the current semester…
   11. How are Collective Reps nominated?
   12. How major changes made to the structure are finalized by the collective?
8. Independent Electoral Commissioner
   Max brought forward a proposal for an IEC for the upcoming EIC election, including offering them a $50 stipend and ensuring they are independent of the Peak.
   1. This decision is going to be voted upon in an emergency meeting on Friday
   2. We still don’t have a solid idea of how the online voting can still be anonymous while ensuring individuals vote only once
   3. All voting members of the BoD to come up with potential nominees
9. Hiring Board Policy
   1. This is not detailed in our legal constitution so we need to draft a policy pointing to everything we’ve already been doing (hiring board and their stipends, the work expected, etc.)
   2. Jess will draft something for next meeting.
10. Adjournment
    7:18 pm