All year round, we say that at the Media Co-op, you Own Your Media. This is the time of year it shows the most!
Announcing the
2013 Annual General Meeting of the Media Co-op
Thursday, October 17 at 6pm EST
Main AGM in Montreal, with local meet-ups across the country
As a co-operative, it is our members who have a say in developing the nature and activities of the organization. While we try to reflect this in our our day-to-day practice year-round, the AGM provides a formal forum for us to decide together how we want to see the Media Co-op develop.
We hope you can all join us as we celebrate five years of co-operative media, and 10 years of publishing The Dominion magazine, and start planning for our next decade of news from the grassroots.
Scroll down for information on how to participate, as well as for the agenda and meeting documents. Check back often for more details!
Local meet-ups:
Montreal:
Time: 6pm EST
Location: The Centre for Gender Advocacy, 1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, suite 404
Halifax:
Time: 7pm Atlantic
Location: Dalhousie Student Union Building, room 314 (NSPIRG office), 6136 University Avenue
Toronto:
Time: 6pm Eastern
Location: 47 Arlington
Sudbury:
Time: 6pm Eastern
Location: room #1, downstairs at the main branch of the Sudbury Public Library, 74 Mackenzie Street
Vancouver:
Time: 3pm Pacific
Location: Spartacus Bookstore, 684 E. Hastings
To participate by phone, skype or online:
Phone: Find your local call-in number here or dial in toll free at 1-866-662-0780 and enter the PIN: 4510934 (You're encouraged to call-in with a local call in number if possible, since we are charged a small fee for each toll free caller)
By Skype: Add user calliflowerskype, call-in and enter PIN: 4510934
Via Calliflower Connect (requires log-in): visit http://bit.ly/GWYtWf and follow instructions.
Via livestream: visit the livestream and chat page.
Agenda:
1. Opening words of welcome
2. Go around
3. Appointment of Facilitator
4. Appointment of Secretary
5. Approval of agenda
6. Approval of 2012 AGM minutes: Download PDF
7. Bylaw amendment for quorum for meetings of the Board of Directors
Whereas the Board of Directors of the co-op has increased from five members to nine members;
Whereas the current quorum of three directors is too low to ensure adequate participation in decision making;
Be it resolved that article 41a of the Dominion Newspaper Co-operative bylaws be amended to read:
The quorum for a meeting of directors is five (5) directors, two (2) of which must be Managing Editor Directors.
8. Bylaw amendment for submission of motions to AGM by members
Whereas the co-op strives to include and promote member participation in guiding the organization; and
Whereas the principle decision making body of the co-operative is the Annual General Meeting
Be it resolved that the following amendment be made to the bylaws:
29. Member propsals for Annual General Meetings
a. A member may
i. submit to the cooperative notice of any matter that the member proposes to raise at an annual meeting; and
ii. discuss at the meeting any matter in respect of which the member would have been entitled to submit a proposal.
b. Any member or director may, in accordance with section 290, make a proposal to amend the articles.
c. A proposal submitted for consideration at a meeting must be attached to the notice of the meeting, together with, if requested by the person making the proposal, a statement in support of the proposal and the name and address of person making the proposal. The statement and the proposal must together not exceed 300 words
d. Deadline for proposals will be one week before the date of sending notice of the Annual General Meeting (as set by the directors)
e. The directors shall send a call for members' proposals no less than two weeks before said deadline
Be it further resolved that all other articles be renumbered to reflect the inclusion of this new article.
9. Member motion: Paying for web content
Paying for web content
Dominion only regularly pays for content that is intended to appear in the print version of the Dominion, and does not regularly pay for web content. Although print content is reposted online, there are several drawbacks to this: a) the Dominion has a publication schedule that leads to articles coming out weeks after the stories are originally envisioned. (to some extent the Dominion can be criticized as having a style of news articles, but after the stories are timely). b) Staff resources are focused on print. c) One style of media is prioritized over others, for example interactive info-graphics are not given the same priority as print article.
Because of this, I move that half of the money used to pay for content goes to web content and half to print content. (This is intended as a general goal, not something that has to be met penny for penny each month.)
Submitted by:
Tim Groves
Seconded by:
Sharmeen Khan
Franklin Lopez
Dan Keller
Amy Miller
Ben Sichel
a. Appointment of Chief returning officer
b. Appointment of Deputy returning officers
c. Q&A with nominees
11. Presentation and adoption of financial statements 2012/13: Download PDF
12. Special resolution to forgo an audit in favour of a compilation for the 2013/2014 financial year
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the membership of the Dominion Newspaper Co-operative will waive the requirement of an audit for the financial year ending March 31, 2014 and instead will opt for a compilation.
The difference between an audit and compilation is in the amount of work, scrutiny, rigor required in order to sign off on the financial statement report. A compilation is adequate for filing taxes and is much cheaper.
13. Year in Review: presentation, discussion and adoption of the 2013 Annual Report.
Download PDF.
14. Presentation of the 2013/14-2014/15 budget: Download PDF
15. Election results
16. Other business
17. Adjournment
