TCHC's GCHRCC Meeting (August 14th, 2017)

The GCHRCC (Governance, Communications, Human Resources, and Compensation Committee {Certainly I am not the only one that thinks this should be divided up into smaller committees?]) met today at TCHC's main office.  Topics of discussion included an update on their insurance coverage, rethinking their practice of matching employee donations to United Way, modifying their current Conflict of Interest policy, and  implementing a new board evaluation process 
I'm going to do us both a favour and admit that I am not an expert on insurance.  By the sound of it though TCHC may be investigating options.  Last year they paid three million dollars  in premiums.   Yet they only had claims amounting to $1.2 million.  TCHC would be looking to equalize those numbers.  Reviewing the supporting documentation would alert anyone to the fact that there are a number of outstanding claims.  That could potentially equalize those numbers toward the amount that TCHC is actually paying. .  .
The next order of business was the discussion about cancelling the annual tradition of TCHC matching the annual donations made by employees to United Way.  The reason being that as long as there are Capital projects that need to be completed TCHC should be putting every penny towards those costs   If  they want to look at partnering with United Way in other ways how about offering them space at a reduced rate within our communities to run test pilots of new projects that would be beneficial to our tenants.  Never mind looking for yet another cause to support on a corporate level.  Capital repairs will always need more money.   Employees are free to contribute to whatever charitable organization they choose.  But, TCHC, as a corporation, will no longer automatically match those donations.  
Now I am dumbfounded by the Conflict of Interest policy conflicts.  Apparently, one unnamed member of the TCHC Board of Directors sits on upwards of a hundred plus other boards.  In order to avoid the notion of impropriety that the governance committee is seeking should this board member not simply step down?  Was there not full disclosure on his part before his appointment to the TCHC Board of Directors?  As the Chair said today if there is an appearance of impropriety it is, in all likelihood, already too late.  It's not just the fact that there could not possibly have been full disclosure before this individuals appointment (at least I hope not) but he also wants to keep his conflicts confidential between himself and the Chair or CEO.  Being on a hundred other anythings should automatically mean you are not qualified to even apply to be a TCHC Board of Director. I don't care if those other positions are quote unquote "just on paper".  
​Finally, I guess it is somewhat expected that even though the concept of a board evaluation is a mandatory requirement there would be discussion about the who (Google Forum or Survey Monkey should have the honours of hosting the surveys/commentary), what (whether the survey will remain constant or will become a "living" document), when (annually, during the fall ASAP), where (the information will be analyzed), and how (the information will be distributed).  It will be interesting to note whether or not this item makes it to the Board of Directors meeting at the end of this month.    
FYI ... The main reason I tuned in to this meeting, in the first place, was because I was informed, last week by a TCHC staffer, that the Governance portion of this meeting would be discussing modifications to the current tenant engagement system.   Thank goodness I wasn't holding my breathe.