Exec Meeting @ 2010-03-08 19:15:00
1) Welcome and apologies
Present: Fergus C, Sophie C, Nikita S, Ed M, Owen R, Rob G, Tim B, Linas T
No apologies because all exec were present.
In attendance: Matt Brennan (projectionist)
Meeting commenced: 7:15pm
2) Alcohol
-It was voted in the DM meeting last Tuesday that alcohol in L3, proj box, exec office and the surrounding corridor should be banned during any showing.
-At the proj meeting a total ban was not passed but it was agreed that some restrictions are needed.
-Projectionists should not project under the influence.
-The exec discussed the issue and it agreed that if there was an alcohol-related issue it would mean the end of WSC.
-Vote for banning consumption of alcohol on site (L3, proj box, exec office and corridor) by anyone identifiable as film soc crew at show time (defined as one hour before, when DMs usually arrive to set up).
For: 7 Against: 1 Abstention: 1
-There is alcohol currently in the exec office fridge. It was agreed that it was for consumption at socials and not show time but should be removed. In the meantime no more should be put in the fridge and all empties should be taken away.
3) Chief proj
-Regarding the decision about removing Sam from the position of chief proj after we learned he was not a current member when he stood for elections. Several members have expressed concern that is appears the exec rushed into the decision.
-To clarify for all members, below is an explanation of what unfolded in the exec during this time and how we dealt with the situation:
-As soon as the exec learned that Sam was not a current member, an emergency meeting was called as soon as possible to discuss what to do. Exec members not present were participating in the meeting by telephone. After this meeting we removed his status as acting chief projectionist, whilst speaking to him at the same time on the phone.
-The next day Fergus met with the societies officer who suggested we hold another election unless we thought the whole membership would be happy with overlooking the issue. Another emergency meeting was held that day and the situation was discussed at length. After much discussion, the decision was eventually reached that the only fair resolution was a re-election.
Sam was telephoned as soon as the decision was made and the current and crew news pages were then updated.
-Voting at the chief projectionist election will be done by STV.
4) Crew status, mailing lists and meeting attendance
-Definition of crew: actively participating in the running of shows. Not lifetime crew membership. Lifetime crew status is a ticketing policy.
-Crew is actively partaking in the running of WSC to a minimum of levels previously declared in exec meetings - since it's not solely shows that earn crew status!
-The amendment of the Constitution will be considered: it was proposed that in the new academic year, crew members lose their crew status if they have not renewed their membership by term 1 week 4 8pm. This is the timeframe the exec deem suitable to have become a member by.
-Not a current member: not on decision making mailing lists (exec/proj/DM/tech/IT).
-Mailing lists: there should be a set time for removing people who are not current members. This time the president will notify the mailing lists in advance, whereas in the future it will be the list owner's responsibility. The president will email all lists except publicity, alumni and vacation.
-When members leave the society/university, we will ask if we can keep their emails on a legacy mailing list. If mailing lists are to be cleaned up, all or none should be affected.
-Ed raised that there are a lot of filmsoc email addresses (called aliases) pointing to former members or non-elected/ratified officials. We voted at the meeting to get rid of these.
-Meeting attendance: we cannot stop any member from attending any meeting. The exec can choose to hold the meeting without them being present but we cannot tell them to leave. However, we can tell all non-members to leave if it is not being held in a public place (i.e. the room is booked by us).
-Exec meetings are the only meetings permitted to go into closed session, and all meetings must be open to all members, including associate members.
-Only points can go into closed session - not the entire meeting (unless every point needs to be).
-Certain associate members have been voting at some recent meetings. According to the constitution they do not have voting rights and committee heads were reminded that they should not be permitted to vote.
5) DM Jurisdiction
-The point was raised that DM has the final say over all attendees of shows. Being on the exec/lifetime crew/crew/member gives you no rights over others (concerning drunken or disruptive behaviour etc).
-DM has no right over the proj box.
-Unanimous vote that DM was in charge of everyone at the show including inside the theatre, exec office and corridor, excluding proj box.
6) Outdoor screening- Collecting equipment
-No date has been confirmed yet.
-President is to meet WSAF at 2pm on 09/03/10.
-The exec would ideally want to do the screening Wednesday week 10. WSAF have fields booked until Tuesday. We're not looking into doing Tuesday.
-The exec do not want to use WSAF's tech team. It may be after WSAF that we do the screening.
-Owen rang the council regarding the possibility of showing a PG film. They forwarded him to the BBFC who passed him back to the council. Showing a PG would require ensuring that everyone who is watching the film has parental guidance, which is not practical.
-A hog roast was suggested. We would have to employ restrictions but could ask the union to run it and reimburse us. The president will investigate.
-The exec will look into designing clothing advertising the outdoor screening.
-Tim would like help in signing for the equipment as there is a lot of traveling involved.
-If the event takes place, the film will be Wall-E.
7) IT shizzle (new server, exec office computers, server rack IT purchases, misc purchases, mock website designs, L3 screen)
-Replacement for Deluxe. It was fixed but is now flailing again. Publicity have not yet noticed.
-Ed would like exec approval to replace - Deluxe will cost around £400.
-Unanimous vote in favour.
-Suggestion of naming our new system Skynet.
-IT committee not in favour of replacing the Exec Office computers at all, but feel if we want to do so, then we should replace them with RM One machines, not completely new machines.
-The options are: no replacements, replace one computer with RM1 or both with RM1, or both with brand new computers or one brand new and one new RM1.
-New computers would cost about £450 each. We are certain we can use the uni site license and make completely sure before we use it.
-Unanimous vote in favour. £900 for two computers.
-Tim Davidson would like to purchase a remote power switch (£300) and a KVM and IP (also £300).
-The advantage would be that if any of our servers suddenly disappeared the problem can be found and fixed remotely. Remote KVM allows us to use the computer remotely, and the switch can power cycle it.
-The exec were not convinced that it was worth the cost when the technology would really only be useful over holiday periods when we cannot get to campus easily, and we should allow some time for IT to come and fix the problem, we are only a society, and with the new server everything should be more stable anyway.
For: 0 Against: 7 Abstention: 1
-Ed would like approval to buy 1 terrabyte hard drive (£60). It would allow offsite backups of publicity material.
-President has discovered one in the exec office cleanout. If it is not our own we should consider getting a new one.
-Ed also asked for £10 to spend on CDRs and another £10 on CDR cases.
-Tim Davidson also suggested a gigabit switch for the server rack (£40) and a gigabit network card (£10) for the entertainment PC.
-Unanimous vote for £130 to spend on miscellaneous.
-Ed previewed the potential new website design.
-Exec agreed it was well made but the colour scheme is not a good choice.
-Screen Outside L3, budget is now about £600 for a 42 inch screen or just over £1k for two. -Would be linked to the proj box directly via the L4/5 booth.
8) Tech shizzle (spools, dowser spring, non-proj on team)
-According to our inventory we have 24 spools but we actually only have 12.
-2000s (£106 each) are for putting normal film on and the ones on the floor are unusable because they do not fit together.
-Tim would like to buy 10 but will take it to the tech meeting first.
-Tim also wanted 6000s at a different cost, and came to an odd total. The Exec informally agreed we could spend £1k in principle, and Tech should look at not really exceeding that budget.
-It was also agreed that it should be debated at a tech meeting, how many of the spools are no longer fit for purpose, nor fixable.
-A dowser is completely essential but we have them (Tim was checking on the progress of a spring we ordered for it). Tim also asked on the progress of a test loop which he needs to install the new lenses.
-Tim proposed that he may be able to fix the cue dot maker, but may break it in the process, so would need approval as a replacement is several hundred pounds. The Exec suggested he ask Proj if it was bad enough to run the risk first. A replacement would cost £600.
-Constitution says non-proj should not be on tech team.
9) Old exec lifetime crew status
-Lifetime crew status was approved for those members of the previous year's exec who did not already have it.
-Gaby Aptula, Nikita Shah, Matt Breeze, Owen Rye, Ben Lewis unanimously voted to lifetime crew status. (Nikita and Owen left the room for their individual votes).
10) Exec office cleanout
-IT did a 'bloody good job'- Ed
-Various things can be got rid of
-There should be no tech stuff in the office
-Exec to arrange a clean out
11) Exec office refurb
-The refurb of L3 is being undertaken this summer, including the removal of the glass windows in the exec office wall. This provides us with what is potentially the best opportunity that we will get for many years to give the exec office a proper refurb.
-Andy's ideas: move toilet to where the water bottles are on the rack, turn toilet into kitchenette, plumb water cooler, replace DM cupboard with safe, replace desks with ones similar to those in the proj box.
-This would free up some space in the exec office and provide an opportunity for a clean out.
-All but one exec member agreed it sounded like a good idea and would like more details.
12) Autumn schedule format
-Owen suggested afternoon screenings of classic films. Problem is that films may not be available and training sessions for proj are done at that time, and that many people work the Saturday afternoon to go out Saturday evening.
-There have been many suggestions of showing Lord of the Rings. A Lord of the Rings all-nighter was suggested.
-We could possibly have an evening showing on a Saturday up to every other week.
13) Pizzagate
-Concerning the offering of free pizza as an incentive to get more crew members to come on publicity runs. Fergus suggests that we should evaluate offering free pizza on a case by case basis.
-Ed suggested Nikita try to negotiate a deal with Dominos.
-Rob proposed pizza runs as an incentive for every start of term publicity runs or for crew not able to win prizes at sponsored events.
14) AOB
-President is emailing the refurb group because Mike Joy suggested that they would not be refurbing L3 until the end of next term and we may be able to get in Weeks 6-10.
-Tim would like £15 to spend on splicing tape and 60p per roll (buying approx ten rolls) on masking tape.
-Ordering news keys: cost either £20 or £40 each. We will order 5 for L3, 4 for proj. Exec agreed to only buy L3 keys.
-Tech box should be moved into the corridor. Many keys will be returned at the end of the academic year.
-Tech box could be moved into the corridor for proj to have a proj box key as we don't have any should anybody qualify, but this was met with resistance from the Tech Officer. Many keys will be returned at the end of the academic year, so it was decided to refrain.
-Nikita as acting chief proj will quality by the end of term.
Meeting adjourned: 10:55pm