Council Meeting Highlights, September 25, 2018

The College Council met on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Here are some highlights:

Volunteer Recognition

Council President, Dr. Pooya Hemami, presented a certificate of recognition to Dr. Dino Mastronardi, councillor from the Western Electoral District, who after nine years has finished his term on Council. The College is indebted to Dino for his exceptional contributions to public protection.

Corporate Governance Committees

Research in governance benchmarking and best practices of councils/boards shows a drop in the use of Executive committees and a rise in Finance/Audit and Governance committees. Although the RHPA requires regulatory colleges to have an Executive Committee, their only legislated function is to act on behalf of Council between meetings. Currently, Executive performs other tasks such as financial oversight and HR.

At its June meeting, Council agreed to strike an Audit/Finance/Risk Committee and introduce the role of Human Resources to the restructured Governance Committee, to commence in January 2019. These new committees would be comprised entirely of Council members. Draft terms of reference have been developed for the restructured Executive Committee, Governance/HR Committee and the new Audit/Finance/Risk Committee. Council were presented the terms of reference and approved a motion to accept them.

Strategic Planning Committee

Council approved a motion to strike a five-person ad-hoc Strategic Planning Committee to oversee a strategic review in 2019. This was noted in both the recent College governance review and feedback from Council to be a prime opportunity to re-evaluate and update the College’s Strategic Plan. This ad-hoc committee will support the development and delivery of a comprehensive College strategic planning process.

OEBC Exams Approved

Council approved the November 2018 Optometric Examining Board of Canada (OEBC) written exam and OSCE as the standards assessment examination for registration.

OPR Update: Clinical Equipment

One revised document, 4.1 Clinical Equipment, was approved for publication in the Optometric Practice Reference (OPR). The revision removes the express forms outlined for the examination of the eye and ocular adnexa. A minor edit to the wording was also introduced as “ophthalmic disclosing agents” was changed to “staining ocular issues”.

The revised OPR document will be available soon.

Our next Council meeting will be held Friday, January 18, 2019 at the College office, 65 St. Clair Ave. E., Suite 900, Toronto. Council meetings are open to the public, and members are welcome to attend.