Joint Meeting – May 2022 (held on May 7th)
Chaired by: Moin Asjad
Attendees are:
Trustees:
Br. Shafiq Islam
Br. Javid Khatri
Br. Amer Sufi
Sr. Marina Azim
Br. Hashem Molla (left the meeting at 12:10pm)
Br. Moin Asjad
Representatives:
Br. Bashar Patwary (left the meeting around 12:00pm)
Br. Ahmed Khan
Br. Zainul Abedin
Br. Ashabul Anam
Br. Noor Alam (left the meeting around 12:00pm)
Br. Mohammad Ali (on phone – no documentation on how long he was on call)
Br. Saria Sadique (on phone – no documentation on how long he was on call)
Br. Taufique A Bhuiyan (on phone – no documentation on how long he was on call)
Br. Mohammad Kamrul Hasan (on phone – no documentation on how long he was on call)
Standing Committee Members:
Br. Mohammed Rafique Uddin
Br. Saad Farooqi (on phone)
Br. Zia Ul Haq (on phone)
Attendance required for quorum: 10
Attending number of members: 18
Meeting started on: 10:07am
Following Agenda items were discussed at the meeting:
At beginning of the meeting Sr. Marina Azim mentioned to all not to record the meeting proceeding and mentioned that at BOT meeting recording was done without permission. Joint Meeting Chairperson mentioned that it is a BOT meeting concern and asked her to bring it forward at the next BOT meeting.
1) Started with recitation of the Holy Quran and dua to Allah to guide all of us to righteousness
a) Br. Moin mentioned that the objective of the meeting is to serve Allah Subhanawatalah and HIS house. Br. Moin provided a guideline not to use any individuals name, or pronouns that would point to any individual while addressing any issue, that type of address by a speaker who gets floor shall be treated as personal attack and the person will be warned for first violation and requested to excuse himself/herself after 2nd violation of personal attack.
2) Donation & Expense Reporting was done by Br. Shafiq, Br. Abedin & Br. Anam
a) Br. Shafiq started by bringing in his personal interpretation of constitution of specific position on Board of Trustees. He was requested to refrain from doing so and mentioned that these will be discussed during walk-in time. After again getting floor, he returned to a separate issue of Chairperson position for joint meeting. Br. Shafiq was again requested to refrain from doing so and stay focused on agenda item. Br. Shafiq then provided status of total donations in different accounts for AMDA
b) Br. Zainul Abedin provided expenses for month of April 2022. Explained that the expense is high because of additional expenses related to additional construction expenses related to additional work completed by Architect which were not included in the initial bid, due to optional nature mentioned in the bid document. Br. Moin mentioned that the additional work are for 3rd floor design and engineering and also additional requirements imposed by city during plan approval hearing at city, these are related to additional landscaping and light deterrent measures added to the south side of the property.
c) Check writing concern was raised by one of the attendees, he mentioned that per constitution, checks for day-to-day expenses should be written by Board of Representative and there should be 2 signatures, he questioned if that is being done, also asked about other checks which are not day-to-day category. Br. Moin clarified that there should be 3 signatures for checks which are not for day-to-day expenses. To this clarification the member had a follow-up question on how the organization would know about that. To answer the question, Br. Moin mentioned that these are supposed to get captured in the policy of the organization. Also, mentioned that the policy formulation is part of Board of Trustees responsibility, and that has already been done. Additionally, Br. Moin mentioned that during a recent check writing for construction activity, he has communicated with Br. Zainul not to single handedly sign the construction check, also since it is of not an expense that is of day-to-day category, requested him to at least have a second signature on the check with suggestion of signatory.
d) Br. Anam started by asking question on whom he is reporting the account status to. Chairperson of the joint meeting mentioned to him that he is reporting the status to the members of the 2 boards and standing committee and by doing that he is reporting the status to all the members of the organization because all the board and committee members are responsible and accountable to the general members of the organization. After providing the explanation, chairperson of the meeting, Br. Moin again gave him floor to report out the account status. Upon receiving the floor Br. Anam mentioned that he previously reported this to chairperson of the meeting and kept utilizing the time to give explanation on why it should be done that way. Br. Moin again reminded him of the explanation that was provided and asked if he would want to utilize the time that was allotted to him to report the account status or if the meeting should move forward to the next agenda item. Upon hearing this from chairperson of the meeting, Br. Anam reported out the account status.
3) Membership update: Br. Mohammad Ali was not present at the time of agenda item, so this agenda item will be moved to next meeting.
4) Update on construction:
a) Br. Moin updated that the information provided previously regarding completion of engineering drawing was not accurate and told that the architect has mentioned that the drawing which was dropped at Masjid on fundraising Saturday was for fundraising event and it was not for submission to city. The architect has mentioned that the engineering drawing will get completed by next week or the following for city.
b) Expansion project groundbreaking: Br. Moin suggested that AMDA should do a groundbreaking event for expansion project. Suggestion was to hold the event in July 2022. Br. Noor Alam suggested that he wants to contact some of the speakers who could come to the event. It was agreed that Br. Noor would contact for speaker. All are requested to put on effort to plan for the event and try to utilize contacts to get city mayor, senator, and congressman. Follow-up meetings will be held to facilitate organization of the event.
5) Meeting minutes agreement: Four meeting minutes were sent by Br. Mohammad Ali (3/5/2022, 3/12/2022, 4/2/2022 and 4/9/2022). Edits for 4/2 was requested after asking for clarification by Br. Moin from Br. Mohammad Ali regarding item 4 and voting documentation regarding “abstain-1”. Br. Mohammad Ali clarified that it was for Br. Moin’s vote. Br. Mohammad Ali mentioned that it was recommended to put “abstain” for Br. Moin’s response of “do not want to vote as his vote will be in BOT meeting not in that specific meeting with constitution amendment proposal agenda item”. Br. Moin mentioned that it is not correct to put someone else’s vote the way it was not casted. Br. Moin also requested Br. Mohammad Ali to capture the fact and resend the meeting minutes for agreement and documentation.
6) Specific Request by Br. Hafiz via email: Br. Hafiz was not present at the time of agenda item, so this agenda item will be moved to next meeting.
7) AMDA policy improvement suggestion (BOR & SC members roles and responsibilities): Since this is specific to BOR & SC, the board and committee are requested to send improvement proposal to BOT per constitution.
8) YouTube Video upload – Tafsir of Surat Fatiha and Baraka by Sheikh Munawar: Br. Hashem Molla will upload the videos to YouTube AMDA Masjid channel.
9) Walk-in: Concerns from Br. Shafiq: Br. Shafiq mentioned that his term ends in June and would want to have someone pick up the responsibility of accounting. Br. Shafiq mentioned that he has talked to Br. Zainul Abedin and Br. Abedin has agreed. Considering the involvement for accounting and the expertise Br. Amer Sufi has in accounting, Br. Amer Sufi’s name was proposed to work along with Br. Zainul Abedin and Br. Amer Sufi has accepted the responsibility.
AMDA recognizes the following individuals for support in doing accounting:
• 12 years – Br. Shafiq helped in accounting
• 4 years – Br. Amer Sufi for tax filling
• Br. Moin and Br. Ferdous for helping in tax prior to Br. Amer Sufi
10) Walk-in: Concern from Br. Shafiq: Execution of general consensus as mentioned in April 9, 2022 meeting minutes. Upon question of Br. Rafique’s action as mentioned in the meeting notes of 4/9/2022, Br. Rafique mentioned that there were supposed to be representatives from each Board to accompany him. Since he did not get any volunteer from other groups, he was not able to accomplish the task.
Br. Moin mentioned in the meeting that an urgent meeting was called by the Joint Meeting Chairperson at the middle of BOT investigation which was not appropriate. Br. Rafique suggested that it was done because of no communication from BOT, to which Br. Moin commented that, throughout the investigation meeting there was representation from the Board of Representatives and also an email was sent to all by BOT chairperson, much ahead of the quickly put together joint meeting, giving considerable time to cancel the urgent meeting in question. Br. Moin mentioned that this was not right to do at the middle of an active investigation, because that puts questions on the intent of the urgent meeting.
Upon question on what should be done as next step for execution on general consensus, it was suggested by Br. Moin to send the consensus request to BOT for consideration. Br. Moin suggested all to follow the constitution to take any binding decision for the organization, because that is the only way decision becomes binding. At this suggestion, some individuals started disrupting the meeting proceeding. Br. Moin requested them for sabr. Sr. Marina called Br. Ferdous Ghazi on phone to find out what was mentioned to Br. Moin on January 2022 regarding Br. XX, after listening to the comment from Br. Ferdous, Br. Moin mentioned that the information as told by Br. Ferdous regarding the detail information related to Br. XX’s wife was not mentioned to him. At this point due to continuous disruption by 2 members of BOT, Br. Moin initiated to adjourn the meeting. Br. Rafiq requested Br. Moin to continue for few additional minutes so issues could be resolved. Br. Moin honored the request and continued. One member at this point disrupted the meeting proceeding and questioned who Br Moin is, to which Br. Moin requested the member to check the website for Br. Moin’s details. Due to continuation of disruption of meeting proceeding by two members, to bring the meeting to order, Br. Moin requested both to control themselves and adjourned the meeting at 12:20pm.
Meeting adjourned at 12:20 pm
