Minutes of meeting of National Committee of. Ulysses Club of New Zealand Inc

Transcription

1 Minutes of meeting of National Committee of Ulysses Club of New Zealand Inc Held at Auckland on Saturday 24th of August 2002 The meeting was chaired by Peter McIntosh and opened at 1:24pm. Present: Peter McIntosh, Stuart Burns, William Glendenning, Alan Sciascia, Malcolm Booth, Peggy O Neal, Gordon White. Apologies: None. Minutes of last meeting: These were circulated via prior to the meeting. These were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting, Moved Stuart Burns Seconded Gordon White, carried. Matters arising from Minutes: It was noted that the holding of gear stock is fully insured, covered by our general insurance. This cover is valid for gear stock held by National quartermaster anywhere in New Zealand. William advises that the contract with Taieri Print Limited for production of the Ulyssian has been formally signed and renewed until March Peter advised that he has reviewed the Human rights Act with regard to the ACC levy increase and there is no chance of using this act to assist us. Peter then went on to advise that he has contacted several HOG regional presidents with a view to forming a lobby group. He also advised that he has been in contact with Mark Burton and through him will be in contact with Ruth Dyson. Once a meeting has been set up Peter will contact those who are interested and will arrange meetings as appropriate. William advised that the South Canterbury Branch has now been formally formed and that there was a huge amount of interest and we will probably get a further 30 members from this area (in addition to those who have already joined). William advised that he has had a quote from Fuji Xerox for the creation of 50 off of business cards for each of the committee members for $ This is on the basis that William sets up the master for these. It was agreed to proceed with this and William asked each committee members to supply him with a sample of what they wanted on their card. The question of the spare PC was raised and after discussion it was agreed that Alan S. would send this to William for his use. Stuart B. also has an older PC that he is not using and this is to be sent to William and he would estimate the value and look at possibly selling it. A discussion regarding other items that Gordon W. is holding took place. It was agreed that we would loan one of the 3 fax/phones to the Auckland President of BRONZ, moved Peter McIntosh, and seconded William Glendenning. The reason for this is to allow Peter to communicate more effectively with BRONZ Auckland regarding this motorcycling lobby group. It was also agreed that all committee members will compile a list of items they currently hold on behalf of the club and forward this to Stuart Burns in order for him to reconcile the asset list. Gordon W. is to send the HP Printer to William. It was agreed that all items disposed of should be itemised in the minutes. Page 1 of 6

2 Inward correspondence: 1. Acknowledgement of the formal change of Rule 30(a) from the companies Office. 2. Letter from Auckland Ulysses supporting our actions regarding the Ulyssian editor. 3. Gift Voucher from Torini Leathers for one Brando Style Leather jacket, for the Ulyssian giveaway prize. 4. Letter and submission for the Ulyssian that arrived too late for the September Magazine. 5. from Wayne Painter advising that Auckland branch would not accept nicknames on badges unless full name was also on badge. 6. Memo from Simpson Grierson regarding the ACC Levy advising that any legal challenge to the levy increase was unlikely to succeed. 7. from Colin McKeown advising that there was a strong opinion in Tauranga that the club subs should be paid at branch level and they remit to National the levies required for national needs. Colin also suggested that there was support for this among coordinators at the Oamaru AGM. This was discussed by the National committee and it was felt that this was not practical. William felt that the only way to be able to do this properly was for each branch to be incorporated in its own right and doing this was a nightmare. It was also felt that many branches would not be in favour of this, William stated that the Otago coordinator has said he would not support such a move. It was also felt that this would also mean all branches would need to have formal audits etc. William to reply to Colin in the vein that this is considered not to be appropriate at this time. It was also noted that this was not part of the formal coordinators meeting discussion. 8. Photographs given by George Tofield, possibly the first Ulysses run (possibly Otago). It was decided to publish this in the December Ulyssian asking for information/comment on it. The second copy of this is to be sent to Ross Turner for the club archives. 9. Minutes of the inaugural meeting of the South Canterbury branch. 10. A memo from Jill Warhurst inclosing a page from a magazine regarding ACC s use of funds. Peter has ed the author of this article to ascertain where these facts came from. 11. Comment from Jill Warhurst re the non receipt of mail from the old PO Box. William agreed to contact Dianne Lincoln to ask her to visit the Post Office to see if there was any mail for the old box being held for us. 12. An from Lance Nixon with 2 queries, regarding joining form and branch audits. (See addendum on page 5). Outward correspondence: 1. Formal notification and Statutory Declaration regarding the change of Rule 30(a) at the Oamaru AGM, to the Companies Office (As required by Incorporated Societies Act). 2. A letter to the person who sent the late Ulyssian submission advising it would be used in December issue. Correspondence formally accepted, moved Alan Sciascia, Seconded Gordon White, carried. Accounts: Stuart Burns gave the committee a copy of a draft summary of the accounts for the first six months. There were still several items to resolve yet. Stuart went through these and told the committee of several items that needed to be separated out so that items are correctly coded. These related to the expenses incurred for the Oamaru AGM. Financial comments on accounts to 30th June Subs to date $ 43,616 Full Year 2001 $43,031 Joining fees $ 3,680 Full Year 2001 $ 7,334 Meeting expenses for period were $7,678 compared with 2001 full year $4,922 (South Island AGM costs and meeting in Rotorua with incoming and outgoing committee have been reason for increase.) Page 2 of 6

3 Stuart will analyse costs and provide detail for next National Committee meeting and also prepare an annual budget for these costs. Funds on hand: 30/06/ /12/2001 Term Deposits $72,739 $70,834 Bank Accounts $92,292 $83,888 Of the funds on hand $3,400 is held on behalf of Rotorua Branch in respect of Southern charities trust donation. Stuart pointed out the there was no official motion at the AGM to re appoint the club auditors. Therefore a motion to re appoint the auditors was made, moves Stuart Burns, seconded Peter McIntosh, carried. Stuart also asked for approval to move the bank account from Napier to Rotorua. It was agreed that the bank account would be moved to the Rotorua BNZ. Stuart is also to reconcile the number of accounts held as we are currently paying fees on multiple accounts. Moved Stuart Burns, Seconded Peter McIntosh, carried. Stuart will look after this. The committee thanked Stuart for all of the work he is doing to tidy up the accounts. Stuart presented accounts for payment and asked for permission to pay regular routine accounts as they arise, items such as photocopying, expenses, website, badges etc. This was agreed to. Stuart specifically advised on an account for work done by his company to set up and sort out the accounts. This was for an amount of $ including GST. Accounts were approved, moved Peter McIntosh, Seconded Malcolm Booth, carried. Stuart was congratulated by the committee on the excellent work done sorting out the accounts. General Business: A discussion took place regarding membership applications, coordinators should be aware that processing a new member can take up to a month. Stuart also advised he would create a specific expenses claim form for committee members so that GST can easily be extracted. William agreed to get prices for stationery items, Peggy to supply details of what is needed. Discussion then turned to the various items discussed at the unofficial coordinators meetings at the remembrance runs. It was noted that the Taupo minutes were recorded but the recording did not work properly. Malcolm Booth mentioned that it was commented on (off the record) as to why do we need to meet so often and why did William need to come to the meetings, i.e. why do we incur the cost of air travel. This was discussed and it was agreed that the costing of alternative be attached to the minutes. (See last page). From this it can be seen that the cost of these options is more than our actual meetings. It is also much more valuable than just a meeting, as the entire National Committee get to know each other better, a lot of things are discussed informally and the outcome of all of this is much more effective than the other options. As air travel costs drop in the future there are even greater savings to be made. It should also be noted that only consumable items and other real costs are being claimed. The official club address is paid for by the club, but all other usage by the National committee is NOT being claimed for. William also pointed out that the meeting at Murchison expressed their delight at having a South Island representative on the National committee and they were in full support of William travelling to committee meetings. They were also in full support for us increasing the travel allowance. The comments made was that they realised how much time the committee members put into the club and felt we should not be out of pocket as well. It was agreed that Stuart will look at creating a budget for future meetings (See Accounts section). The possibility of putting projected budgets into the AGM annual accounts was also discussed and Stuart agreed to look into this. Page 3 of 6

4 Discussion then turned to the mileage allowance, and after a lot of discussion it was agreed that a figure of 2/3rds of the applicable km IRD motorcycle rate be the set rate. Moved Peter McIntosh Seconded Malcolm Booth, carried. Where special circumstances prevail, claims for extraordinary items will be reviewed by the committee before any payment is made. Considerable discussion took place regarding what constituted actual, reasonable and necessary expenditure regarding travel and accommodation while attending AGMs and other meetings, and it was emphasised that we should ensure that this is not abused. Stuart B agreed to produce a summary of guidelines for this. The subject of the use of nicknames on badges was discussed and it was agreed that we go with the consensus of both meetings. This is that the proper name (both given and surname), with nickname (in quotes) below this, with the region below this. Note: Subsequent to the meeting it was also identified that under the Incorporated Societies Act we are also obliged to show the Occupation of members. It has been decided that we will add this field to both membership forms, this then means that over a 3 year period, as members renew, the database will be brought up to date with this occupation information. The question of people joining branches outside of where they live is covered by rule 6. If however the coordinators of the two branches agree then the person may join as a member of another branch. In this case both coordinators must advise the national treasurer and the national secretary and the person maintaining the database. If this is not done the membership application will be returned for verification. William also advised that he had told the Murchison meeting of the (then) upcoming protest ride in Dunedin. The success and publicity of this ride was also discussed. It was noted that any letters etc to ACC or politicians must be polite and to the point. Peter McIntosh outlined the campaign that the ACC road safety committee is proposing to launch in the New Year. This centres on the recognition of the fact that the motorcyclist you see may be someone you know, not just some faceless motorcyclist, i.e. it may be your lawyer, your plumber, your accountant etc. Peter then outlined the proposed Group Riding Skills project that ACC are proposing. Work is going on in producing a pamphlet suitable for motorcyclists. Malcolm B. stated that he felt that our members are confused as to what we (the National committee) want them to do in terms of writing to politicians. This was discussed and it is felt this should be focusing on the unfairness of this levy in that it is punishing the victim and that we are being targeted as we are easy to levy whereas other groups such as skiers, snowboarders etc etc are not being targeted. Malcolm also raised his concern that if we ask for money from ACC to provide training etc then we are admitting we are a problem group. This was discussed at length and it was felt that asking for funding would not compromise our position on the levy. Discussion turned to rider training and the problems in getting the people who really need the training to take the courses available. William pointed out the difficulties of even getting training in Dunedin. It is noted that the ten (or more) years for long membership badges must be unbroken financial membership and that allowing membership to laps for more than 3 years means loss of lower membership number. It was agreed that requests for 10 year badges will be verified by William on the database, he will advise Peggy so the master database can be updated and then will be ordered via Gordon W. Rulebooks It was agreed that William will make this available on the Website as a PDF file. Peter moved that we replace the current small rule book with an A5 format booklet this was seconded by William, carried. It was agreed that all new members must be supplied with a rule book. The membership forms will also be updated to remove this item. William will also have 300 copies of the rulebook made and send these to Peggy. (In A5 format). The membership directory was also discussed and it was agreed that we should print this in the Page 4 of 6

5 December issue of the Ulyssian. It was agreed that in the meantime we would advise new members that we were out of stock and that it is to be printed in the December magazine. The next item was replies to Frank Foster correspondence. It was felt that at this point we should leave this subject alone, and to not respond unless Frank requests a specific reply. Peggy asked for clarification on the procedure for nomination of a life member, it was confirmed that the branch must send the nomination, along with justification for this as per the instructions in the September Ulyssian. Anyone may speak to this nomination at the coordinators AGM. It was also made clear that these nominations would not be publicised prior to the coordinators AGM. Discussion around the voting procedure for life members was discussed and this needs to be very clear prior to any voting at the coordinators AGM. If any person entitled to vote has to leave the meeting due to their being a candidate for life membership, then the numbers used for calculating the vote will be reduced accordingly. William raised the fact that we have stated that we would issue guidance for running AGMs, we did get feedback from Oamaru. It was felt that it was too late to offer any help or guidance to Hamilton, and the following one was Southland that has previous experience and would probably not want too much guidance from us. It was felt that we should contact the Hamilton AGM committee to ask if they were on track, and to see if they need any assistance from us. William is to them regarding this. The question of standing for National committee next year was discussed. Various people talked about their feelings on this, but all felt that they would probably be standing for re election. It was reiterated that it must be clear that the Ulyssian editor can not be a national committee member and that they can not be a branch executive committee member. Peggy raised the question of overseas members paying the same membership fee as NZ Members. This was discussed and it was agreed that overseas members would be charged an additional $10.00 pa membership fee. William will also add this to the membership form; this is to come in force as from 1 st January 2003, so affects all overseas members who renew this year. Moved Peter McIntosh, seconded Peggy O Neal, carried. Peggy asked for permission to have a return address stamp made for her use for membership packs etc. Stuart also requires one so asked Peggy to get one mad for him as well. Peggy asked if anyone has heard grumbling re that Auckland should form their own club. It was agreed that Peggy was being wound up. Gordon White asked about branches having flags made. It was agreed that all branches wishing to do this must submit any proposed design to the National Committee for prior approval before having anything made. The meeting closed at 5:07pm. The next meeting is on Saturday 12 th October in Auckland this was to be at 9:00 AM it was agreed that we would gather on the Friday night and have a get together on the Friday evening. The following meeting is on Saturday 14 th December in Rotorua. The one to follow that is on Saturday 22 nd February 2003; the Westpac run is on the Sunday 23 rd. Addendum: Due to the meeting length the from Lance Nixon re joining form and branch audits was discussed via subsequent to the meeting. The first question raised was a member had commented that they felt that the joining form was misleading in that it did not state that the 3 year period began at the beginning of the year and not at the date of joining. It was mentioned that this if subject to Commerce Commission scrutiny it would be found wanting Page 5 of 6

6 The feeling of the committee is that this is not the case as this is made clear by Rule 11. In addition to this it is felt that it is the duty of each coordinator to make prospective members aware of this and of the rules in general. This is part of the intention of the 2 month association with the club prior to joining. It was also agreed that some change will be made to the joining form to clarify this point. The second point raised was that where any branch holds funds, then should a formal audit be carried out by an accountant or other qualified party who has no other association with the club. It was felt by the committee that we should seek further opinion on this point as there are legal implications associated with this and we were not qualified to give an opinion on this point. Opinion will be sought and the committee will discuss this further at our next meeting. Cost Comparisons: Conference Calls: From Telecom Website Rates Per Participant Night Rate (Monday - Friday 6pm-8am) Per National participant $0.54 per minute (inc GST) $2.80 (inc GST) Assume 7 participants Cost to participate. $19.60 Assume 3 hours, could be more! Cost of Call $ Per Meeting $ Jetstream Video Conference: Jetstream 3 per location Per Month $ Equipment Modems 350 plus GST Cameras $ Software 1500 Setup costs 600 Per Year $3, Total Assume write-off over 4 years $1, Per Annum $4, Per meeting $ Page 6 of 6