Hannan Hibernates, Misses Meetings

A quick scan of the Agenda for the September 27 UVSS Board meeting reveals the following two motions submitted by Director at Large Jenn Bowie:

Whereas the Executives are paid a salary that comes from students fees; and

Whereas this salary makes them responsible directly to students , and they should therefore be holding regular and consistent office hours.

BIRT All executive directors log their hours and report them on their director reports for placement on the agenda of regularly scheduled board meetings

BIFRT Any director found to have falsely reported their hours have a motion of censure submitted against them at the next board meeting.

BIFRT Any director who refuses to comply with this or who neglects to submit a report also have a motion of censure submitted against them

Whereas Committees are important in the running of the UVSS Board; and

Whereas the Executive director have a duty to the members of their committee and as an extension the entire membership of the UVSS to attend and be punctual for the meetings they chair

BIRT Executive directors must be present and punctual for all of their committee meetings, unless they contact the members of their committee in advance.

BIFRT Executive directors who neglect to, without proper notice, be punctual and present for committees which they chair must report to the board the reason for their absence.

As with many motions submitted by board members, these motions are in response to issues events that have come up. For anyone who has been around the UVSS Resource Centre lately it is obvious that these motions are directed towards Director of Finance Kelsey Hannan and his recent work hours. For several weeks now Hannan has been routinely arriving at the SUB after noon, causing his fellow board members a lot of grief.

It should be noted that there is nothing in UVSS Board of Directors policy that states when an Executive Director must conduct their work. There is also no policy specifying how much time they must spend working. The only mention of Executive salary is found in Bylaw 13.6 of the UVSS Constitution which states “The salary paid each executive director shall be established at a rate equivalent to the monthly rate of pay earned by student staff supervisors working a thirty-seven and a half [37.5] hour week.” In reality, the UVSS Executive tends to work well above the 37.5 hours they are paid for, especially during the month of September.

Even though Hannan’s hours do not violate any policy or rule, they are still problematic. It is important to have Executive Directors in and around the SUB during normal business hours for a number of reasons. As the Director of Finance, Hannan may also need to sign cheques and help make business decisions as they arise. Students may also have questions that need answering, particularly with respect to the Health and Dental Plans.

Hannan’s hours are especially problematic when he misses meetings that he himself has scheduled. While there may be other examples in the past few weeks, I have been made aware of two recent examples:

• On September 15 Hannan was to meet with StudentCare to sign the final contract for the UVSS’s Health and Dental Plans at 11AM. As this was an important meeting, StudentCare representatives were patient and waited until after 12:30 before leaving. Hannan eventually arrived for work at 1PM. The contract was eventually signed the next day.

• On September 24, Hannan scheduled a meeting of Finance Committee for 12PM. By 12:45PM Hannan still hadn’t arrived. This meeting was important as the committee needed to recommend the budget so that it could be addressed at Monday’s board meeting. The meeting eventually occurred sometime around 2PM.

Being an Executive Director in the UVSS is a job that comes with a lot of a flexability, but with that flexibility comes an equal amount of responsibility. Right now, Hannan appears to be focusing more on the former rather than the latter. Hopefully the threat of formal censure, expressions of discontent from fellow board members and this post will serve to get Hannan’s Office hours back on track.

In the long term, however, the UVSS may benefit from setting more formal expectations of its Executives into policy.