MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION HELD AT THE CCNA OFFICE, TORONTO, ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 AT 10:00 AM

PRESENT:
Brian McCristall, President
Mike Williscraft, First Vice-President
Lana Meier, Second Vice-President
Chris Ashfield, Corporate Secretary
Abbas Homayed, Treasurer
Coleen Campbell, Chairman of the Board

STAFF:
John Hinds, CEO
Tina Ongkeko, Managing Director, Community Media

1. CALL TO ORDER

Brian McCristall called the meeting to order at 10:08 AM.

2. PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS

Brian welcomed everyone to Toronto and provided a brief summary of association developments. He expressed thanks to John and his staff for the smooth and successful implementation of the new co-management agreement with the Canadian Newspaper Association.

A discussion took place regarding advertising sales performance, particularly with government, from province to province.

A discussion took place regarding the role of the Community Media Canada committee and its industry promotion function. John recommended that CMC become a CCNA program not funded by the regions. CCNA would continue to do marketing and industry promotion using existing CCNA and CAN marketing staff. CCNA would also continue to maintain the CMC website and campaign calculator. CCNA would rebate any unused portion of the CMC fund to the participating regional associations. Future initiatives will be funded uses proceeds from CCNA’s revenue centres and new revenue partnerships. John will present this proposal to the CMC committee at its October 28 meeting.

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MOVED by Lana Meier, seconded by Chris Ashfield, THAT THE AGENDA BE APPROVED AS CIRCULATED. CARRIED.

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOVED by Lana Meier, seconded by Mike Williscraft, THAT THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON MAY 7, 2008, IN TORONTO BE APPROVED AS CIRCULATED. CARRIED.

5. CO-MANAGEMENT REPORT

Coleen Campbell provided an update on co-management activities:

• Hiring of John Hinds as CEO of CNA and CCNA on July 1
• John and Tina moved to CNA office almost immediately
• Staff have been moving in over the summer
• Some changes to the office setup
• Occupancy costs formula established – calculated per capita for CNA, CCNA, NADbank
• Work has continued on member programs, recycling, marketing, government relations, Canada Post Mandate Review, communications, etc.

6. ACTIVITY REPORT

John and Tina referred to the written report and provided an update on CCNA office activities.

7. FINANCIAL REPORT

a. July 2008 Financial Statement

Tina presented the July 31, 2008, financial statement for review and discussion.

b. 2009 Budget Discussion

Tina presented the draft 2009 budget for review and discussion.

MOVED by Abbas Homayed, seconded by Chris Ashfield, THAT THE DRAFT 2009 BUDGET BE RECOMMENDED TO THE BOARD WITH ADJUSTMENTS AS DISCUSSED. CARRIED.

8. COMBASE

John reported that data processing has begun for the 2007-2008 study, and topline numbers are expected by November. Further processing to make the data compatible with IMS/Telmar software will take another 4-6 weeks.

An in camera session was held with John present for the first half. There were no motions arising.

9. OCTOBER BOARD MEETING AGENDA

Schedule for October 27-29 meetings in Toronto will be as follows:

• Executive Committee meeting – Monday, October 27 – 7-9 PM
• Committees – Tuesday, October 28
• Joint social with CNA board – Tuesday, October 28 – 5PM
• Board meeting – Wednesday, October 29

10. BOARD SURVEY RESULTS

Brian reported that he surveyed board members over the summer on topics of interest and priority. The committee reviewed the results of the survey, identifying and assigning action points as follows:

• STAFF: Take advantage of the joint capacity of the two associations to provide a greater range of services as well as lobbying efforts for the benefit of all members.
• NEW IDEAS COMMITTEE: Become more proactive in our commitment to the new world of online, and be open-minded as change comes at us.
• STAFF: Promote ComBase results more effectively and enthusiastically than we have in the past and make sure that we utilize the resources that we have to “do it right.”
• CHRIS ASHFIELD: Need to provide services more in line for small markets as well as provide value to larger operations as well.
• BNC COMMITTEE: Maybe the judging of BNCs could be reviewed and perhaps new awards such as best young journalist could be established.
• NEW IDEAS COMMITTEE: Revitalizing the new ideas committee is mandatory to enable us to become more contemporary.
• ABBAS HOMAYED: Introduce a program that shows how money can be made through the web side of the business and demonstrate what members are doing online. Have a group discussion with internet access so a member could describe what they are doing and be able to show what’s happening to everyone in the room.

Points raised regarding conference topics will be forwarded to the conference committee.

11. OTHER BUSINESS

None.

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next CCNA executive committee meeting will be held on Monday, October 27, from 7-9 PM at the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto.

13. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:24 PM on a motion by Lana Meier.