Precis Minutes of the Board meeting held on 3rd March 2011
PRECIS OF THE MINUTES OF THE SECOND MEETING (2011 SESSION) OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HELD AT ACU HEAD OFFICE ON THURSDAY 3rd MARCH 2011
MEETING COMMENCED AT 10.00am
Present: Brian Higgins (Chairman)
John Collins (Deputy Chairman)
Peter Beardmore
Peter Gregory
Roy Hanks
Eddie Jones
Dr Paul King
Bryan Puckett
David Smith
In Attendance: Xenia Munro (Item 5 onwards)
Gary Thompson MBE BEM (General Secretary)
Item 1: Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Frank Carter and Ian Murphy.
Item 2: Confirmation of the minutes of the First Meeting held on Tuesday 25th January 2011
The minutes of the first Board meeting held on Tuesday 25th January were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
Item 3: Matters Arising
Honorary Members. The Chairman stated that he had spoken with Mr Bellars with a view to him being invited to the Board on occasion to assist with any Insurance Matters. Mr Bellars was delighted with this and would make himself available as and when required. Mr Parker would be appointed as a Honorary Member of the Board and be invited to Board meetings at the discretion of the Board.
RHL Activities Ltd. The Chairman and Mr Collins updated the Board on a meeting recently held with Mr Hockey, with the organization of the ISDE being the main topic of discussion. Since the meeting and following the FIM Congress in Geneva, Mr Collins had produced a document to assist Mr Hockey which outlined the dramatic changes in the structure of the FIM and how things will have to be done differently. The document also gave a very comprehensive explanation of how to apply for an event, the costs involved, the Officials involved and all other matters which would have to be taken into consideration when organizing a World championship event of this nature.
Committee Responsibilities. A paper produced by Mr Gregory distributed prior to the Board meeting was discussed. The paper included some general proposals regarding the commitment and responsibilities of Committee members. There were one or two areas which the Board felt needed to be revisited and redrafted, but in principle the Board agreed with the overall document. Mr Gregory and the General Secretary would reword certain parts of the document for the Board’s further consideration.
Item 4: Insurance Matters
The Chairman stated that Locktons had not been invited to attend this Board meeting as a separate meeting had been held with Peter Mitchell which involved the Chairman, Mr Collins and the General Secretary. The General Secretary had prepared and distributed notes of that meeting with the Board papers. Both Mr Collins and the Chairman said that the meeting was very useful, and they both feel much more comfortable now regarding the position we are in than was the case before.
The Board’s biggest problem for 2011 was to investigate ways in which we could reduce our overall insurance premium. The Chairman said we were in difficult times and the ACU and motorsport in general were not immune. This was consequently having an effect on our Membership. The increase in fuel costs, less Members, less events all added up to less money coming in to fill the ACU Insurance pot.
It was agreed to hold a meeting at ACU House on 29th March with representatives from Locktons, Brit, ACU Insurance Ltd, the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Mr Smith, Mr Bellars and the General Secretary to look at ways in which we could reduce our premiums going forward.
Payment of Observers. Mr Collins asked for clarification on the payment of Observers, and it was agreed by all that these payments should be deemed as a contribution to expenses.
4.1 ACU Association with SCB
The Chairman commented on a meeting held with Alex Harkess and Angela Price, the Chairman and General Manager of BSPA respectively, just before this Board meeting. The meeting was held to generalize where we currently are with Speedway. The Chairman said that a closer relationship with the BSPA was required, particularly in light of the recent legal dispute between the BSPA and two of its’ member clubs.
The Chairman had outlined to both Alex and Angela that he wanted to work closer with them so that if something of this nature happens in the future, and with the ACU being the overarching ‘umbrella’, the Governing Body for all two wheeled sport, to be able to support and advise as necessary.
Item 5: Finance Matters
Ms Munro went through the commentary previously distributed to the Board.
5.1 On Line ACU Competition Licence Applications
Mr Smith had produced a comprehensive paper giving his initial thoughts as to how an on line system may work for ACU competition licences. The Chairman stated that although this was the way forward, the on line system proposed would stand alongside the existing ACU Competition licence forms and not replace them altogether, therefore giving the applicant an option of applying for his licence on line or filling out an application form.
There was some discussion about an electronic signature for those applications being made on line, however, it was agreed that an individual’s on line signature could be their email address. There was then some discussion about the requirement for an individual to join a Club before he applied for a licence, and Mr Beardmore suggested that competitors declare on line that they are a member of a club. This whole process needed some more thought as we progress. The Chairman thanked Mr Smith for his excellent paper and asked that Mr Smith, the General Secretary and himself draft a paper on how the On line system may work. It was established through Dr King, that due to the specific requirements of Road Racing and the need for Clubs to identify there Members for financial reasons, Road Racing would not be part of this process which would only apply to Off Road disciplines. Once established, Road Race competitors may well be able to apply for their licences on line in the future, once a system had been tried and tested for Off Road activities.
5.2 Club Affiliations
At the recent meeting of the Centre Chairmen/Secretaries meeting, a lengthy debate had taken place regarding Club Affiliations. Initially, Mr Burrell had asked if the Centre Chairmen/Secretaries meeting could adopt and approve new affiliations as well as meetings of the National Council, however, it was soon established that everyone was in agreement that the whole process could be made quicker if affiliations of new Clubs were conducted by email. This would mean that a new Club would not be kept waiting for unnecessary long periods of time and would lessen the bureaucracy involved with such a simple and straightforward process. It was agreed that should an application for Affiliation cause any concern, then there was a method by which the concerns could be aired and discussed. Based on the discussions held at the Centre Chairmen/Secretaries meeting, the General Secretary had been tasked with producing a consultation paper which he submitted to the Board for their approval. This was subsequently approved and he was asked to circulate it to the Centre Chairmen/Secretaries for their comments.
5.3 Permit System
The General Secretary reported that a number of problems had been occurring with the Permit System, mainly to do with the ability of Centres being able to print Permits. A recent meeting with Zarr had been held and they stated that a new Permit system was currently being developed which would be compatible with our new Licence system. This would be completed within the next six weeks. The problem with printing permits was currently being investigated by Zarr and Colbeks with the assistance of Ms Munro.
Item 6: Business Plan
After some discussion and useful comments, the Chairman stated that Mr Gregory, the General Secretary and himself would discuss the Business Plan in more detail to move it forward to a conclusion.
Item 7: ACU Awards & Presentation Day
Although the recent ACU Awards & Presentations Day held at the Park Inn, Northampton was heralded as a success, it was considered that some changes could be made to probably improve or freshen things up for future Awards presentations. The General Secretary was asked to look at this and provide some alternatives for the Board to consider.
Item 8: Sport Committee Chairmen Updates
Enduro. Mr Collins stated that applications were put forward for two Trophy Teams and seven Club Teams. The Trophy teams were accepted, but only three of the seven Club applications were confirmed. The T&E Committee have a priority of order which was established prior to the 2010 event held in Mexico which we didn’t enter for security reasons, and it was therefore decided that the 2010 established order would hold for 2011.
The Chairman commented on a recent discussion he had with Mr A King prior to the Centre Chairmen/Secretaries meeting regarding Mr King’s proposal (idea) to possibly split the Trials & Enduro Committee in the same way as the FIM split the Trials and Enduro Commissions some years ago. After some discussion, it was agreed that the Board were more than happy with the way that the current Trials & Enduro Committee were managing both disciplines and the General Secretary was asked to write to Mr King in this regard.
Road Racing. Dr King reported that overall, Club memberships seemed to be holding fast despite the current financial climate. However, he said he was a bit nervy about ‘bums on seats’ as the numbers of Club memberships were not converting to actual rides at events.
Track Racing. Mr Gregory said there were no problems yet as the season had not really started. He was in discussions with the Grass Track section of the VMCC as they didn’t see the need in having silencers on their bikes. The Chairman asked Mr Gregory to liaise with Mr Jones regarding this issue and to speak with the VMCC accordingly.
Motocross. Nothing to report other than what had previously been highlighted earlier in the meeting.
Trials. Nothing to report. The first round of the ACUE British Trials Championship will take place on 6th March, a full entry is in place and the event is being organized by Dirtbike Action.
Item 9: Medical Panel Issues
Mr Hanks reported that Dr Heike Romer had replaced Dr Stevens on the Medical Panel. There were one or two issues discussed at the recent Medical Panel meeting which Mr Hanks was asked to bring to the Boards attention:
Medical Report Forms and Reporting of Injured Competitors. Discussions within the Medical Panel had looked at the issue of reporting injured competitors so that they would be unable to participate in another meeting until they had been passed medically fit to race. The Panel had discussed other solutions such as confiscating the Riders licence and returning it to the ACU, however, it was felt it would be too easy for the Rider to be issued with another licence that could be produced at another meeting. The use of a Rider logbook or diary which every rider would have to present at signing on was suggested. The Chairman asked Mr Hanks to relay to the Panel that the Board want to work with the Panel in every way, but could see some problem with this proposal.
Major Incidents and Fatality Plans for Road Race Events. It had been suggested by the Medical Panel that an ‘envelope plan’ be put into operation where every official is given an envelope of instructions/duties to carry out following a major incident. The Board considered this, but concerns were raised regarding whether the envelope(s) would ever turned up. There were a number of flaws with this proposal. The General Secretary would speak to Locktons regarding the Major Incident Packs they produced a few years ago and see if these could be reintroduced.
Cleanliness of Medical Centres. A number of unofficial complaints had been received by the Panel about the general cleanliness of some Medical Centres at permanent circuits. The Board stated that this should really be dealt with on the day and if the medical staff in situ had a problem, this should be reported to the Clerk of the Course.
Item 10: Any Other Business
Glastir. Mr Puckett stated that concessions had been made to allow events to take place on farmers land in Wales. Once this had been confirmed a suitable Press Release would be established and sent out in conjunction with Craig Carey-Clinch.
Item 11: Date of the Next Meeting
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 5.00pm. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 5th April commencing at 9.30am with the presentation of Accounts for ACUE Ltd and ACU Ltd. Mr Parker and Mr Bonny would be invited to remain and attend the ACU Ltd Board meeting if they so wished.
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