Photo by Halley Requena-Silva

The SAGBC voted to approve a lengthy terms of reference contract which was prepared by its legal counsel Ben Millard and presented to the board on Monday. This will act as the basis for its governance review, which was sanctioned in a previous meeting.  

The terms of reference are intended to set out what the governance review will entail. “It sets out my authority to conduct the review, the issues that are going to be addressed and answered. It describes the process that is required to complete the review,” Millard said.  

The document begins by summarizing issues that the board has wished to address, which Millard has condensed into five broader areas of concern. For example, high turnover and frequent changes to by-laws and policies fell under the category of “organizational flux and instability.”  

Staff have expressed a need for clarity on job duties and the scope of authority that they encompass. Executive members can also be voting directors, which often blurs the distinction between the two roles. Similarly, guidance will be given to address the differences between the roles of the general manager and staff versus the elected board. The review will also engage with all job duties and adjust them to reflect what is accurate and realistic. 

Millard noted that a lack of external accountability requires SAGBC members to police each other, which can strain relationships.  

“Board members, and in particular executives are in the position of having to review each other’s performance,” he said. “They sit on the Board Mediation Committee for any conduct complaints or conflict of interest complaints. And it can be a real challenge.” The review will collect information on how other student associations address this issue. 

Reworking board procedures and meetings will also be a main focus, along with looking at how relationships between board members can be strengthened and how the board can ward off potential conflicts of interest.  

According to Millard, the review will be executed in a three-step process.  

The first step is to analyze governance models and documents from other student associations across Canada to establish a precedent on what policies are most effective. When this is done, stakeholders, staff and board members will be interviewed and asked to provide their thoughts on what could be improved. Finally, Millard will produce a written report outlining recommendations for changes based on the data that will be collected. 

As the data gathering process is expected to be intensive, Millard expects that it will take approximately four months, after which he will spend around two to three months writing the deliverable.  

The goal at the moment is to have the report ready in time for next year’s fall annual general meeting, which will likely be held in October 2022. For transparency and good governance purposes, it will be available to the public. 

In other news, the Student Association has proposed an increase in operation fees from $114.78 to $120.26 for September 2022, which is expected to be confirmed this coming January. The board also anticipates a rise in health insurance fees as a result of new services offered and for working with new providers alongside WeSpeakStudent.  

In a return to campus update, Director of Student Engagement Melissa Gallo stated that the college is looking into opening up three floors of the half of the 200 King St. Building that was not affected by the fire. The libraries at the building and the gym are still not expected to be open come January.