5A. President's Report

[Fred McKim]

Mark Dutton's Report is to go here.

[Fred McKim]

From CFC President Mark Dutton.

The last fiscal year of the Chess Federation has resulted in some major changes and adjustments in the last 12 months.

I was thrust into the Presidency position back in February when Michael von Keitz stepped down, and we had to handle 3 major RFPs.

The 7-man Executive team that was elected at the last AGM has seen 2 resignations (our previous President - Michael von Keitz, who stepped down from the Executive to head up the "Executive Director" paid managerial position. Further Bob Gillanders (the past President) has also stepped down. Patrick McDonald, our Junior Coordinator has also indicated that he will not be running again, and I have decided to move on to the "Past President" position on the Executive. This means that the executive will see some "fresh blood" for the next fiscal.

I welcome you to this Annual General Meeting and encourage you to take an active part in the process of discussing and selecting people to help our chess future in Canada.

I will copy my previous report from the April meeting, since some seem to have missed it:

As you acting President since February of this year, I have worked on 3 committees to achieve the hiring of a new bookseller, a new Executive Director and a new CCN Editor.

It has been an extremely busy period for your CFC Executive Board.

As most of you are aware by now, our previous president Michael von Keitz resigned in February and I took over the job on an interim basis until the next AGM.

We currently have an Executive of the 5 remaining members and I have been working very closely with Fred McKim, Hal Bond, Lyle Craver and Patrick McDonald.

The CFC recently handled 3 RFPS in March and we have had some very successful arrangements come out of these RFPs.

1. CFC Executive Director appointed

Michael Von Keitz was the unanimous selection of the Executive Director selection committee. He assumes his duties on May 1. The Executive members on the committee offered to abstain on the final vote, but the result would have been exactly the same. The Committee consisted of Govenors Hal Bond, Vlad Drkulec, Felix Dumont, Mark Dutton, and Paul LeBlanc. I acted as non-voting facilitator.

There were four other bids considered. The Committee was pleased with the quality of all bids submitted and while each could have been acceptable, feel confident they've selected the strongest applicant. In keeping with common business practice they will not be revealing the names of the other applicants.

2. CCN Editor Appointed

John Upper has been appointed the newest editor of Canadian Chess News. John will commence his responsibilities on May 1, 2013, preparing for the June newsletter and also providing a daily newsfeed on the CFC website. The CFC Newsletter Editor Selection Committee consisted of Governors: Mark Dutton, Ken Einarsson, and David Steer. The final round vote was a unanimous decision. There were 4 other bids submitted.

3. CFC Book & Equipment Supplier announced

The Selection Committee for the Book&Equipment Contract received a single application. They gave their unanimous recommendation for CMA to become the "Official CFC Supplier of Chess Books & Equipment" to the Executive, who ratified the contract. The following CFC Governors were on the committee: Bob Armstrong, Hal Bond, and Mark Dutton. I acted as non-voting facilitator.

The CFC will receive $8,000 per year for this deal, and takes us out of the sales business for the extent of the three year contract. This contract will allow the Executive Director to spend more time administrating and updating the Web Site. The contract will begin on May 1

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Since our last online meeting in April, there seems to be some discussion in an effort to delay this meeting.

This is NOT my preferred option as this will force the meeting into our busiest chess playing days (July).

I have polled the Exec on this matter and we may postpone (in the spirit of compromise) for one week with no voting on financial issues until the 26th of June.

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So with the above appointments - all effective May 1, 2013 we are 30 days away from a new "team" moving forward into our next fiscal year 2013-2014.

As our year end is coming up - we will need to get the Financial Statements prepared for our next AGM.

Hal Bond and I were presenting a motion (which has been withdrawn) about setting an earlier AGM.

For this year only I am asking that we move the meeting date for the online AGM to run from Monday, June 10 to Sunday, June 16, 2013

If we require the additional 7 days (that is allowed for AGMs) we would be finished by the 23rd of June.

I see that our Foundation under Paul Leblanc's excellent management will be OK with this and I have already requested that our new Executive Director have financial statements for year end review by May 14th.

Hope my suggested dates work for all Governors. If I don't hear any major objections, we can proceed with that timing. This would also be a good time to consider the "make-up" of the next Executive as we have lost Michael, Bob and we have already heard that Patrick McDonald will not be returning as Youth Coordinator. Lots to think about -- interested in serving the Executive and our membership -- then this is a good time to consider running and developing a platform for the "election".
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On a personal level, I began playing chess in CFC-rated tournaments more than 40 years ago. I have been an active member of chess "politics" and leadership at the club level (Toronto Chess Club, Scarborough Chess Club and the Dutton Chess Club on Bayview); as well as serving the GTCL; the OCA, the BCCF and the CFC as a governor for 30 of those years, the last half dozen of which have been on the Executive. I appreciate the letters and messages of support I have received and continue to receive. That being said, I would like to leave the political side of things and step down from that portion and focus on playing a little more chess. I know that a number of us in chess "wear many hats" including player, organizer, tournament director, league official, provincial director and even that of CFC governor. I have enjoyed the ride and now look forward to handing the ball over to some newer, fresher executives to assume the running of our national organization, the Chess Federation of Canada.

Mark S. Dutton, I.A., I.O.
President
Chess Federation of Canada

[Fred McKim]

From Chris Mallon:

#1, I still dislike having all the reports in one thread, as it's too easy for different conversations to get lost in the clutter.

In any case, the CFC AGM has been held in July pretty much always as far as I know, and the main complaints were the distance to travel to attend one, not the business of the month of July.

Lastly, I would have thought that "this meeting will technically be illegal" would have been considered a fairly "Major Objection" ... I guess not.

[Fred McKim]

I have moved the reports to their own threads. hopefully this may generate some more discussion.

[Lyle Craver]

From Chris Mallon:

#1, I still dislike having all the reports in one thread, as it's too easy for different conversations to get lost in the clutter.

In any case, the CFC AGM has been held in July pretty much always as far as I know, and the main complaints were the distance to travel to attend one, not the business of the month of July.

Lastly, I would have thought that "this meeting will technically be illegal" would have been considered a fairly "Major Objection" ... I guess not.

Governors should note that we specifically delayed the start of voting on motions until June 26th to be sure we complied with 3 weeks from June 5th.