MK LAKESIDE RUNNERS
EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEEETING – 9th MAY 2012
| Present |
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| Apologies | Yvette Todd |
38 members were present at the meeting.
CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS
Val opened the meeting by clarifying that an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) would only normally be called for matters which were so urgent for the Club that they could not wait to be discussed at the AGM. This meant that any matters which had been suggested for the agenda which were not urgent would not be discussed, and also any matters of a personal nature. In addition anything which had been discussed at the EGM on 12th March would not be discussed again.
Hilary told the meeting that Yvette would not be attending due to a pre-arranged work commitment and on behalf of the Club, Val expressed her disappointment at this as the EGM had been arranged at her request and many members had made special arrangements to attend. There had been no indication prior to the meeting that Yvette would not be able to attend.
Hilary asked if she could read out a note from Yvette, and also act as her representative at the meeting, which Val agreed to.
CLARIFICATION OF CLUB ACCOUNTS
Kevin presented summaries of the Club accounts for the years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. He highlighted some major items of expenditure over the three years and some anomalies which he had been unable to resolve.
Following a negative final balance of -£3,508 in the accounts for 2010-11, he reported that 2011-12 ended with £285 credit, and that the Club accounts were in credit at present as most members have now paid their annual subs.
Dave (Lewis) asked if two signatures are required on Club cheques and Kevin explained that this is now the case, with two officers out of three (Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary) being Val, Kevin and Jane, signing all cheques. Members agreed that this was sensible as it provided a correct checking procedure of all Club expenditure.
(For members’ information: Val had already thanked June Dennis for her work on the accounts, even though her involvement had not been agreed in advance with the Club Committee.)
COMPOSITION OF CLUB COMMITTEE
Jane gave members a summary of the background to the changes in Committee roles since the last AGM as some questions had been raised about it. This was followed by a more general discussion about the Committee’s actions since the beginning of the year. Chris (Brookman) reminded members that it is normal practice to empower a committee to run a club on behalf of its members and Andy (Gower) explained that it had been decided to hold meetings in one of the Committee members’ houses in order to keep costs down.
Val repeated that any member could propose a matter for discussion by the Committee and also attend a Committee meeting if they wished, so long as they gave the Secretary at least 2 weeks notice. Agreed that dates of the meetings will be put on the website calendar.
Andy proposed that there was a vote of confidence in the Committee and members voted on the following:
“Are members satisfied with the way the Committee are running the Club on behalf of members?”
36 members voted in favour of this. There were no votes against it and 2 abstentions.
It was carried that there was a vote of confidence in the way the Committee are running the Club on behalf of members.
All members agreed that from this point the Club should move on, that this EGM was a watershed, following a difficult period for everyone, and that we all looked forward to our future success as an even stronger running club. Hilary was asked to pass this message on to Yvette.
Dawn proposed that a message of thanks should be sent to Yvette and following a discussion, it was agreed to vote on the following:
“Should a thank you card and letter be sent to Yvette, expressing the members’ wishes as outlined above?”
24 members voted in favour, 9 voted against and there were 5 abstentions.
It was carried that a thank you card and letter would be sent to Yvette on behalf of members.
OLD CLUB WEBSITE & PUBLIC CLUB FACEBOOK SITE
The majority of those present were in favour of the two Club websites being combined so that there was no confusion when people searched on the internet.
Hilary explained that Yvette was concerned that material which was stored on the old Club website would be lost if it was shut down. Marian confirmed that she obtained everything from the old site when she was working on the new one, and she and Chris undertook to look at copying the archive material to the new site.
Members recorded a vote of thanks to Marian for all her work in setting up the new Club website.
Hilary also stated that Yvette felt there should be a public club Facebook site (she is currently the sole administrator of this site).
Kevin confirmed that that there is a public presence on Facebook accessible from https://www.facebook.com/MkLakesideRunners where anyone wishing to find out about the club may do so.
In view of this, Dave (Lewis) proposed the following:
“Yvette should hand over administration of the public Facebook site within a reasonable timescale”.
37 members voted in favour and there was 1 abstention.
It was carried that Yvette should hand over the administration of the public Facebook site and the old Club website within a reasonable timescale, which was agreed to be about 4-6 weeks.
It was recorded that it was possible to send a request to Facebook administration to shut the site down although this is normally a lengthy process.
Val thanked everyone for their attendance at the EGM and the meeting closed at 21:45.
Appendix 1 – note from Yvette
Dear Fellow Fun Runners and Members,
My apologies for not attending tonight’s EGM. Unfortunately I am working away and will not be able to make it back in time.
I do wish to let members present know a few matters on my mind and I have asked Hilary to read out my email in full and for it to be later attached to the EGM minutes in full.
I note that none of the agenda items requested by me (supported by more than 10 members emailed to the Secretary cc to me by the 4th April) have been tabled for tonight’s EGM. The committee’s role here is only of administration which is to circulate the agenda items requested and to call the meeting as per the Constitution. Nothing more. The Committee have assumed powers that they do not have in deciding what should be tabled and stating that they should be constitutional. And even with further clarification by me on the constitutional aspects now published on the Club’s old website, the Committee still have not tabled the agenda items. The Committee have been deliberately disruptive of what should be a simple process (as per the Constitution) in calling this EGM. In so much that members as at 31st March may have been robbed of their rights to attend and vote on issues concerning them when their membership lapsed 30th April as the EGM was not called in time. The unfair treatment on both counts are a constitutional issue. Along with all the other issues put forward these are all constitutional issues. Fellow members please view in detail and evidence of breaches to the Constitution on the Club’s old website, membership site (username: mkls, password: mkls) /membership/EGM request April 2012.
Also I would like to remind members
1. My vote was 1 of 2 against the change to the current Club kit (AGM 2009). Given the expense, I am surprised with all the past efforts that went into consulting the members for the two Club kits we have had so far, that there was no consultation whatsoever for the new training kit. I look forward to being informed of the full cost of the training kit and the consultation and proposals to what is to be done with our current club kit or new club kit.
2. The membership declined the annual subscription fee of £25 and the discontinuation of the parking permit subsidy at September 2011 AGM. After an in-depth analysis £30 annual subscription fee was proposed at the March 2012 EGM and was duly approved by the members – £5 more than what was proposed 6 months earlier! Please Committee share this in-depth analysis/plan for the spend, since you have already done the work which has resulted in the new subscription fee of £30. We would all like to know what we can look forward to.
3. I resigned in January as Headcoach but I have always been a fully paid up member and Coach of the Club. I am sure the members would like me to continue to offer my years of experience as a qualified exercise instructor and running coach in any capacity that I can. After all it was Club funds that paid 50% of all my specific training as coach including the UK Athletics Levels – 1 and 2. After 6.5 years of leading sessions as coach and Headcoach, I am happy to be a coach on a consultative basis and to meet and greet new members.
4. Finally the Club’s old website and the Club’s open group Facebook. As the only volunteer that set up and maintaied both at a time when no other member came forward to do so, I should be allowed to continue this service for the Club until I wish to handover. I am sure members will agree that I have done a sterling job on both and would like me to continue this role, appreciating how difficult it is to get volunteers especially a long serving, committed volunteer.
I would like Hilary to be my intermediary for all communication from the present Committee. I have verbally answered questions that are being asked repetitively by email from 2 of the Committee members. Perhaps via another 3rd Party they will realise that they have been answered. I have also requested that I am happy to meet up and help finalise the last accounts but this has been declined.
I wish you all the very best at the meeting and hope you all are able to act with integrity and fairness which has been sadly lacking by a few members recently.
Kind regards
Yvette
The Founder Member
MK Lakeside Runners
Sent from my iPhone=
Appendix 2 – letter from Val on behalf of Club Membership
OPEN LETTER
Ms Yvette Todd 15th May 2012
Dear Yvette
Further to the EGM on 9th May 2012, members wanted to show their appreciation for all the work you have put into the Club since its inception back in 2005 until your resignation in January 2012. Please find enclosed a Thank You card as a show of their appreciation.
Hilary raised your concerns on your behalf and these were discussed at length by all the members who were present. They felt that the EGM was a watershed for what has been a difficult period for everyone and now was the time to move on. They all voted to draw a line in the sand putting the past behind all of us and look forward to future success as a strong running club. We hope you continue to run as a member of the Club.
As agreed at the EGM this now draws to a close the issues that have been raised over the past few months.
The minutes from the meeting will shortly be available for all members to see on the new Website.
Yours sincerely
Val Hall
MKLR Chairman