Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc – Annual General Meeting – 16 September 2020 – Minutes of Meeting (held via Zoom)
Welcome
Social Secretary Alan Laird opened the meeting at 7:30 pm, inviting President Diana Terry to present her report. 37 members were present via Zoom.
President’s Report
Diana reported that the year had been a most difficult one, with fires in Namadgi, and then Covid-19, which had both posed major challenges for the Club. Nevertheless, there had been significant achievements which included:
- Updating the Club’s governance framework, with particular attention being paid to risk assessment, documentation and management.
- Formation of a plan to undertake maintenance of the Club’s website; the Thought Foundry had been engaged to perform this work (further information in the financial section of these minutes).
- Leaders had been encouraged to add information in walk descriptions as to the pace of the walk.
- Continuation of Family Bushwalking Activities and Come and Try Walks (thanks to Linda Groom).
- Ongoing Navigational Training (thanks to Jenny and Rob Horsfield).
- Continuing Save Kosci campaign.
Diana noted that the Club’s membership had remained fairly stable at around 400 members.
Thanks
Diana extended her personal thanks to the outgoing Committee Members of 2019-20:
- Mac Kirby (Membership Secretary)
- Gabrielle Wright (Newsletter Editor)
- Alan Laird and Marg Sharp (Social Secretaries)
- David Williams (Publisher).
In addition, Diana noted the outstanding contribution of long-term membership secretary Roger Edwards, the inspirational contributions over many years of John Evans, and the ongoing innovative contributions to the Club program of Linda Groom.
Walks Secretary’s Report
Walks Secretary Terrylea Reynolds summarised the achievements of the year:
- there had been 272 completed activities over the year, a strong result
- a wide variety of walks had been presented
- a huge vote of thanks to the Club’s leaders
- leaders who had led more than 8 days of walks in the previous year, would each be acknowledged by a special gift voucher.
Greg Buckley Award
Presented to John Danaro for his outstanding facilitation and coordination of the Wednesday Walks program.
Treasurer’s Report and Motions
Report
The Treasurer, Melinda Brouwer, presented Income and Expenditure for 2019-2020, and the 2020-2021 Budget, as published in the September 2020 Club newsletter. The 2020-21 Budget included an amount of $19,500 for Web Maintenance ($7,500 of this had been approved at the previous AGM). The President explained that the Club’s website required attention to a backlog of issues and that it had proved necessary to engage a professional in the field. The President confirmed, in answer to a question, that it would be necessary to use the Club’s reserves to finance an estimated $12,000 work for 2020-21. A question was asked re the ongoing financial requirement. Andrew Meers advised that more information would be available once the initial phase of work had been completed.
Financial Motions
Financial Statements 2019–2021
That the Club adopt the Income and Expenditure Statement for 2019–2020 and the Budget for 2020–2021 as published in it, September 2020.
Moved: Melinda Brouwer
Seconded: Andrew Meers
Motion carried: 37 votes for, 0 against
Transport rate
That the transport rate be kept at 40c per kilometre (per car).
Moved: Melinda Brouwer
Seconded: Linda Groom
Motion carried: 37 votes for, 0 against
Members’ subscription rate 2020–2021
That the subscription rate for the 2020–2021 year be set at $40 per member. (A motion to raise the rate to $50 was not proceeded with, as there was no seconder).
Moved: Melinda Brouwer
Seconded: Terrylea Reynolds/Alan Laird
Motion carried: 33 votes for, 4 against
Appointment of Auditor
That David Holt be appointed Honorary Reviewer in line with Clause 6.6 of the CBC Constitution.
Moved: Melinda Brouwer
Seconded: Janet Duncan
Motion carried: 37 votes for, 0 against
Constitutional Amendments
Jenny Stewart presented 3 amendments to the meeting on behalf of the committee. The text of the amendments had been circulated 3 weeks prior to the AGM. She confirmed that consideration of the Standing Resolutions associated with the Temporary Members/Guests Clause would be undertaken by the incoming Committee.
Proposed addition of a new sub-clause to section 3 of the Constitution relating to Temporary Members/Guests
3.2.3 Temporary Members, also known as Guests, may participate in Club activities under conditions set by the Committee
Background
This proposal is aimed to ensure that the Club’s liability insurance coverage includes Temporary Members/Guests.
Moved: Jenny Stewart
Seconded: Lorraine Tomlins
Motion carried: 36 votes for, 1 against
Proposed revision to the Constitution relating to Finance (section 6)
6.6. A Reviewer, not being a Committee member or a Club member, shall be appointed at each Annual General Meeting and shall be eligible for re-appointment. If the office becomes vacant during the year, the Committee shall appoint another person to be the Reviewer until the next Annual General Meeting. The Reviewer may be removed from office by a resolution of members at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
Background
The changes (underlined) from Auditor to Reviewer and the addition of the words ‘or a Club member’ are required by changes (effective from 1 June 2020) in the Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (section 70B). As a small association (annual revenue less than $400,000) CBC’s accounts are reviewed rather than audited.
Moved: Jenny Stewart
Seconded: Alan Laird
Motion carried: 37 votes for, 0 against
Proposal to add a new section 13 to the Constitution covering Dispute Resolution
13 Dispute Resolution
A Member may notify the Club that the Member is in dispute with another Member or Members or with the Club. The notification must be in writing, and addressed to the Club President.
The parties must endeavour to settle any such dispute by mediation. Such mediation is to be conducted by a mediator who is independent of the parties and appointed by agreement of the parties.
If mediation fails to produce an outcome that is accepted by the parties to the dispute, any one of the parties may appeal to a General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting of the Club. The Meeting’s decision is the final decision of the Club in relation to the dispute; the parties to the dispute cannot pursue any further avenue of appeal within the Club.
Details of the Club’s procedures for resolving disputes must be published on the Club website.
Background to the Constitutional Change
The inclusion in the Constitution of a dispute resolution procedure is required by new provisions (effective from 1 June 2020) in the Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (section 65B). The Constitutional change provides the basic elements of the process, with further detail contained in Club policies on the website.
Discussion
A number of points were made in the discussion, with Jenny Stewart responding on behalf of the committee: how private would the proceedings be? Response: up to the point of the dispute being referred to a Club meeting; who would pay for the mediator, if this became an issue? Response: not yet determined; What was the exact definition of a dispute? Could trivial matters potentially be the subject of a dispute? Response: as the Club had a well-developed complaints procedure, which had to be invoked prior to a dispute being lodged, the committee was confident that only major matters would be handled in this way; Was it possible to defer proceeding with this amendment? Answer: while there was no government deadline for the changes, the committee considered that there were advantages in bringing all three amendments to the AGM.
Motion carried: 31 votes for, 6 against
Handover to Returning Officer
The returning officer for 2020 was Mark Peirce.
Elections for Committee
| POSITION | NOMINEE |
|---|---|
| President | Diana Terry |
| Treasurer | Melinda Brouwer |
| Walks Secretary | Terrylea Reynolds |
| Assistant Walks Sec | Keith Thomas |
| Membership Secretary | Andrea Coomblas |
| Conservation Officer | Cynthia Breheny |
| General Secretary | Jenny Stewart |
| Social Secretary | Ana Vrancic |
| Training & Safety Officer | Pete Hegarty |
| Editor | Meghan Bergamin |
| Publisher | Lauren Ogden |
| Web Manager | Andrew Meers |
The appointment of the new Committee was confirmed by the meeting.
Other Business
Terrylea R expressed special thanks, on behalf of the Club, to Linda Groom for her many contributions over the year.
Diana T foreshadowed the Club’s 60th anniversary in 2021. Expressions of interest for an organising committee would soon be sought.
The meeting ended at 9:13 pm.
Jenny Stewart
General Secretary
27 September 2020