ECF Reporting of Board meetings

[Carl Hibbard]

It's possible that Angus may have more luck than I, although I notice that he has not posted on the forum since 15 May. In other words, he hasn't posted since he joined the board. I wonder if this is a coincidence?

A little bird informed me last week that board members have been advised/told not to post in the Forum....

So the gag order again, interesting.

[John Upham]

A little bird informed me last week that board members have been advised/told not to post in the Forum....

I'm sure Tom Hanks would be delighted to hear this.

Nobody could accuse the ECF of not wishing to communicate with its customers.

[Roger de Coverly]

So the gag order again, interesting.

Won't they all reappear next time there's an election to be fought?

We've had recent posts by Alex and Loz, admittedly not about ECF decisions. Nigel too, about the coverage in Norway.

[Carl Hibbard]

So the gag order again, interesting.

Won't they all reappear next time there's an election to be fought?

We've had recent posts by Alex and Loz, admittedly not about ECF decisions. Nigel too, about the coverage in Norway.

The ECF wants a closed forum or section where all posts are approved.

I have declined several times with the "consultation" section of their main site being the last waste of time.

[Roger de Coverly]

The ECF wants a closed forum or section where all posts are approved.

There would be little to stop it setting one up in opposition. That might assume it has the necessary technical know-how plus rather more importantly the resources to monitor every post. If no-one used it, the resources wouldn't be a problem.

Whatever they may promise at election time, ECF Directors really aren't interested in what people have to say, or at least them saying it in public for fear that they will be disagreed with.

Last time, around five to six months ago, that the ECF directors went completely silent as far as official deliberations were concerned, they was having almighty internal rows, not least about the ECU and FIDE elections. Any speculation as to what may have caused the current non-communication?

[Paolo Casaschi]

The ECF wants a closed forum or section where all posts are approved.

I would support that.
ECF officials only allowed to post in a closed section of the ECF forum moderated by RdC; if he disapproves/disagrees/questions any of the content, the post is rejected and sent back for revision!

[benedgell]

The minutes of ECF Board Meetings used to be published here: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/. The last published set of minutes are for the meeting of 1 November.

So far as I can gather, published minutes are missing for the meetings of:
- 22 November (date notified in the minutes of the 1 Nov meeting);
- 8 December (meeting with Garry Kasparov - date notified here: https://twitter.com/nigelshortchess/sta ... 5133812737); and
- 16 December (date notified in the minutes of the 1 Nov meeting).

Angus' quote is from Feb. this year (page 3 of this thread).

Thank you for your scrutiny of ECF Board minutes. Minutes from 22 November and 16 December are now published. Your complaints here should not have been necessary.

The delay in publishing minutes is entirely down to me. I apologised to the Board and will apologise to Council in April. All of the Board members have been justifiably disappointed in my performance on this matter. Let me assure you that there is no motivation to keep the Board’s activity hidden, although there are topics that require confidentiality for legal, commercial and collegial reasons.

The Board gladly accepted an invitation to meet in December with FIDE Presidential Candidate Garry Kasparov. As it was not a formal Board meeting, minutes were not produced. This link refers: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/meetings ... andidates/. Minutes from a Board meeting on 19 January are in work.

Sincerely,
Phil Ehr
ECF Chief Executive

Phil's quote is from page 4 of the same thread.

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

We're nearly three months on. 19 January's are headed "in draft and in confidence". 7 March is still represented by a snapshot. Is anybody in a position to say what's happening?

1. The lack of minutes is disappointing. That the issue arose 5 months ago, was recognised and sorted at the time, but has now arisen again is very poor. There is a Minute's Secretary position at the ECF, and it is currently listed as vacant. The ECF should find someone for this position asap.

2. Angus French clearly recognises the importance of having board minutes produced in a timely fashion. Whether or not he is able to post here now that he is an ECF Director, I hope he is working hard behind the scenes to ensure the minutes are published. Equally I would hope Julian Clissold recognises this issue and is working to the same end.

[Sean Hewitt]

It's possible that Angus may have more luck than I, although I notice that he has not posted on the forum since 15 May. In other words, he hasn't posted since he joined the board. I wonder if this is a coincidence?

A little bird informed me last week that board members have been advised/told not to post in the Forum....

Angus would take no notice of such a gagging order. Remember his election address

I believe in speaking up.
- I also believe in consultation and engaging with people – in my experience this produces better solutions and helps achieve “buy-in”

I'm sure he'll speak up shortly.

[Julie Denning]

I volunteered to take the minutes at the Board and Council meetings held on 12th April. Write-ups of those meetings (2 x ECF, 2 x BCF) were all submitted to the Board within 10 days of the meetings.

[Stewart Reuben]

I am sure that Julie will make an excellent minutes secretary if she is willing to do it for a period.

I wonder whether the ECF has an endemic, but soluble, problem. Perhaps they want the minutes only to be published AFTER they have been passed.
When I edited ChessMoves I publishd an account of the BCF Board Meetings, making it absolutely clear that they were a draft and had no standing, apologising in advance for any mistakes, which were all mine. I didn't attend the meetings, relying instead on David Anderton's account to me over the phone.
There were never any adverse comments.

[Roger de Coverly]

I wonder whether the ECF has an endemic, but soluble, problem. Perhaps they want the minutes only to be published AFTER they have been passed.

ECF directors have a track record of becoming silent whenever something is happening they don't want to become public knowledge. There was the decision to join the action by Kasparov against FIDE on vice-Presidents and more recently the breakdown in the relationship between the President and the rest of the Board.

When I edited ChessMoves I publishd an account of the BCF Board Meetings, making it absolutely clear that they were a draft and had no standing

That's the point really, even if the ECF isn't doing anything major, it should report that. It doesn't have to be by formal minutes.

[Sean Hewitt]

I volunteered to take the minutes at the Board and Council meetings held on 12th April. Write-ups of those meetings (2 x ECF, 2 x BCF) were all submitted to the Board within 10 days of the meetings.

This is not a surprise. A previous minutes secretary supplied minutes within days of the meeting, but the board didn't see them for 2 months by which time they had been substantially re-written (by Phil Ehr). It will be interesting to see how close to Julie's version the published minutes prove to be.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"When I edited ChessMoves I publishd an account of the BCF Board Meetings, making it absolutely clear that they were a draft and had no standing, apologising in advance for any mistakes, which were all mine. I didn't attend the meetings, relying instead on David Anderton's account to me over the phone.
There were never any adverse comments."

I imagine Mr Anderton had already edited out the bits they didn't want published.

[Stewart Reuben]

I very much doubt that. David may have edited out some material, but the Board would not have interfered with the process.
Of course there are often some confidential items.

[benedgell]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

We're nearly three months on. 19 January's are headed "in draft and in confidence". 7 March is still represented by a snapshot. Is anybody in a position to say what's happening?

6 days later, it would appear the answer to your question is "no". I'm still hoping that the CEO and 2 Non- Exec Directors are working behind the scenes to rectify the situation, but the longer it goes on with no response/ recognition from any of them, the more it reflects badly on them.