OCUA FAQ for the Board of Directors

In an effort to improve communications and provide answers to our members' questions, the Board of Directors now has a Questions and Answers e-mail address. Questions may be sent to

.

Answers will be researched and answered on a regular basis, either by replying via e-mail, or if it's a frequently asked question, the question and response will be posted here as well as in later Ultimate Happenings posts where the membership can benefit from reading them.

For a listing of questions that are awaiting an answer, please see http://www.ocua.ca/node/view/1460

Q) Just wondering if there were any plans to publish when BOD meetings are scheduled? More importantly, will the agenda for the next meeting be published so we know whether to push to have something added?

A) The board meetings are typically the 2nd Tuesday of every month. There are currently no plans underway for publishing meeting agendas, however any member can submit an item for consideration for a meeting or make a presentation, if they so desire, and the time constraints allow for it.

Submissions can be sent to

, and must be received at least 4 working days prior to the meeting.

Q) What specific things has the board accomplished in the 2003-2004 term since the last election?

A) Our completed Actions Arising for 2002-2003, and 2003-2004 can be found at http://www.ocua.ca/book/view/121.

Q) Why are the board minutes for February 2004 onwards not available?

A) The minutes for the March meeting failed to get approved at the April meeting, the April session was a very quick session with most of the work going towards the preparation of the AGM. Both these minutes were brought forward for approval at the June meeting, but were asked to be ammended. They will be approved at our meeting on July 14, and posted the following day (along with the minutes from the June meeting).

The May BoD meeting was disolved without taking place. As we were unable to reach quorum. This does not mean that the board took the month off however, we just pushed the formal gathering into the June meeting.

Q) What is OCUA's plan for the next 5 years and the next 10 years? If we don't have a long-term plan, why not?

A) The five-year plan is currently being researched and drafted. A committee, much like last year's by-law review committee, will be assembled when the first draft of the plan has been completed in the fall. This committee will be tasked with finalizing the document in time to present it at the 2005 AGM.

Q) A number of questions regarding the upcoming elections:
1) Who is this year's electoral officer?
2) When do nominations open?
3) When will voting take place?
4) Are there any referendum measures on the ballot (ie: bylaw reform), or will it just contain the election of board members?

A) 1) OCUA's elections officer is Stephan Suys. Mr. Suys has served in this position since elections were first held for OCUA in 1998.
2) Nominations will open officially within the week. The OCUA elections officer is preparing the notice for the election and will issue a call for nominees at that time. There are a few changes to the elections: as per the recently approved By-Law amendments, nominees should present the signatures of 5 OCUA Regular Members (captains) supporting their candidacy, and as with the procedure adopted last year, the nominees will be asked to declare that they would not have a conflict-of-interest in the position for which they are running.
Another change is that there will be a nominations committee which will meet to discuss possible candidates for election and will put these candidates forth to the membership. The nominations committee will consist of at least one member of the Board of Directors and interested League members that are able to fulfill the mandate, as posted. Candidates that are endorsed by the Nominations Committee will be so indicated on the ballot, and in any elections material.
3) As has been the norm, the elections will be held during the final playoffs (21-22,28-29 August). The announcement of the results will be made as soon as possible the week beginning 30 August. Captains will be given one ballot per team on the day of play-offs and are to cast their ballots on the same day. There is no proxy voting for the Board of Directors.
4) The ballot will only ask members to cast votes for the Board of Directors.

Q) What happened with the Coliseum regarding our rates being raised? Are they now clear on our not-for-profit status? Will they roll back the rates for us? Will they give us a rebate on the overcharging they did
last year?

A) The President and General Manager of OCUA met with the owners and GM of the Coliseum on July 6th to discuss our past and future pricing schedules. The rates that we paid for the indoor season 2003/2004 were the first year
of guaranteed rates that they have offered us for the next 5 years at the same rate. We were also informed that the prices at the coliseum will be increasing around 7% per year over that same period, but that our prices would remain at the quoted rate.

In addition, OCUA is now being treated as a 'preferred customer' in that we displaced the higher paying soccer league this past season to obtain the additional time slots that we requested, this led to a rate increase to balance out their losses. As well, OCUA now has the right of first
refusal for additional prime time slots that might open up.

Q) Since the board is divided up into different cells of responsibility, what are the terms of reference for each of these cells? If there are no terms of reference, why not, and when will they be created?

A)The terms of reference generally for all of the cells are set out in a document entitled Cell Guidelines which was created in 1999. Terms of reference specific to each cell do not exist in one spot, but exist throughout the documents and cell workplans created by each cell. The Board is considering revisions to this document as well as the creation of cell guidelines specific to each cell.