10A. Motion: Timing of CFC AGMs (Mallon/Best)

[Lyle Craver]

Moved/Seconded Chris Mallon / Garland Best

Be it resolved that the CFC Online AGM starts on July 2nd every year and runs for two weeks, although the Executive can choose to delay the start to as late as July 8th to give some flexibility for weekends and the schedule of the Secretary.

[Garland Best]

Historically, the CFC AGM coincided with the Canadian Open, traditionally held in July. Prior to the internet era, this was logical as it represented the largest cross-country gathering of Canadian players.

While having on-line meetings mean that the two no longer need to be tied together, it was also convenient as it gives time for regional and provincial associations to close their seasons and prepare for the coming meetings.

I personally was caught off-guard by the timing of the meeting, and it appears that others have as well, as not all governors received sufficient notice.

A fixed time frame for the AGM would reduce confusion on matters like this.

[David Gordon]

I like the idea of a fixed time frame. Before committing to supporting this motion I would like to hear more thoughts from others regarding when this fixed time frame should be.

[Lyle Craver]

Speaking for myself (not as CFC Secretary) I think that operationally it might make sense to stagger the two meetings perhaps 2 or 3 days. Having done numerous quarterly meetings and both this and last year's AGMs (i.e. all the AGMs that were done online) I felt last year's format probably worked reasonably well and I think we got done what needed to be done. I'm not at all convinced a two week period is needed for the AGM.

Speaking as Secretary, the single most important jobs I have during and immediately after the meetings are tweaking the forum permissions so that (a) newly elected officers get Governor status quickly and (b) to de-activate outgoing Governors who are not part of the new Assembly and give all Governors the access they need. Done correctly this is about 2-3 hours work that no one will notice. Done badly EVERYBODY will notice!

From a personal point of view having the meeting end near June 30th is brutal since if one is responsible for a business which has their fiscal year end on December 31st (which in Canada is most of them) their Corporate Income Tax filing deadline is June 30th. This necessarily limits the amount of time I can spend online during the day while at work. Pretty much ANY time after June 30th is more "user-friendly" for myself or any successor who has employment responsibilities involving responsibility for the company's income tax return. Even two weeks earlier than this year's schedule would have been easier.

I am absolutely NOT griping - just saying...

[Aris Marghetis]

If I may suggest, why don't we move the AGM to a "slow chess month" like August, which falls nicely after the Canadian Open, where people could "politic" ;)

[Vladimir Drkulec]

If I may suggest, why don't we move the AGM to a "slow chess month" like August, which falls nicely after the Canadian Open, where people could "politic" ;)

It seems to me that the beginning of July is the peak of summer vacation season. It also coincides with the World Open. A two week window would also run into CYCC and possibly the beginning of the Canadian Open if we went with the July 8th start. August probably offers its own conflicts. From a time and logistics point of view August would probably be a better fit for most active chessplayers. The problem is not so much with the Canadian Open with its one round per day schedule as conflicting with CYCC would be. If that tournament is on my schedule then I am pretty much unavailable for the duration though I probably could check in late in the day after all the games are over.

I understand the reason for this motion particularly with the concerns about timing of the present meeting and concerns about legal obligations. It might be a good idea to compress the meeting a bit and allow candidates for the various offices to speak in the meeting. I am not sure how much of a problem that would be with setting the appropriate permissions for the forum.

June is too early because of issues that we have encountered with financial statements and notification deadlines.

[Fred McKim]

If we changed our year end to be Mar 31 instead of Apr 30, then June 1 would be perfect and all the other meetings could be moved forward by one month.

Perhaps this could be done as part of the constitution change.

[Christopher Mallon]

If we changed our year end to be Mar 31 instead of Apr 30, then June 1 would be perfect and all the other meetings could be moved forward by one month.

Perhaps this could be done as part of the constitution change.

That would also almost force the provincial associations to change their year-ends as well. It's not just a simple "OK our year now ends a month earlier"...

[Garland Best]

Exactly. There has to be adequate time for the various provincal associations to complete their work. This is what happened this year. We cannot simply accelerate the process.

[Lyle Craver]

Historically the pattern has been that provincial AGMs take place during the May long weekend which is a major hub of tournament activity with the CFC AGM taking place at the Canadian Open.

With the introduction of the Online AGM it was felt that players in the Open were not fully able to participate and that it was desired to de-couple the process. Usually the Open starts in the second week of July but some years due to the calendar it can slip forward.

From my personal point of view it's highly stressful to have it in the final week of June as that's an extraordinarily busy time for most businesspeople (aka the Corporate Income Tax deadline which for most Canadian businesses is June 30) and I would have preferred the original dates of June 10-23 but we weren't able to bring it off. Last year was the first online AGM which I felt worked reasonably well for a first effort and I'm not convinced we need two weeks but if the consensus is that we do so be it.

Administratively the biggest job is convincing, cajoling, screaming etc. with the various provincial executives to get their Governors lists in on time and thus a later AGM works better than an earlier one.

The CFC has never strictly enforced paragraph 4 of Bylaw 2 of the Handbook (http://chess.ca/handbook#provassocrep) one paragraph of which says:
Governors effective at the convening of the incoming Assembly of the annual meeting of the Chess Federation of Canada and shall serve as Governors for approximately one year until the commencement of the incoming Assembly at the annual meeting in the following year.

nor the following paragraph which says:

Where a provincial association fails to elect or appoint some or all of its governors then the Annual Meeting of the assembly may appoint those governors or may defer the decision to the President in accordance with the procedures outlined in clause 5. All such appointments made pursuant to this section shall be deemed to have been made by the provincial association.

which means, "Folks it is NOT the job of the CFC President or the CFC Secretary to tell you you need to get your nominees for Governor in promptly" even though in practice we prefer not to choose your Governors for you if you are in fact affiliated!

While this year's AGM is a bit earlier than usual, the issue of getting the nominees in promptly has always been an issue as long as I've been Secretary. I don't remember a single year when I got my last Governor nominee e-mail less than 48 hours before the start of the meeting.