Minutes of the District 72 Executive Committee Meeting
7 November 2014, Wharewaka Cafe, Tau Henare Drive, Bay of Islands
Those present (see Appendix A)
1 Call to order and welcome
District Sergeant at Arms Officer John O’Leary warmly welcomed everyone to the Executive
Meeting and requested that cell phones be turned off or onto silent.
District Governor Kingsley then called the meeting of the Toastmasters International District 72 Executive Committee to order at 5.45 pm and extended a warm welcome to all District Officers present. He noted that there would be an adjournment for dinner part way through the meeting and apologised for the slight delay in the start of the meeting while things were still being organised.
2 Speaking rights
District Governor Kingsley explained voting and speaking rights.
Only District Officers have voting rights at this meeting.
District Officers include:
· All Area Governors
· All Division Governors
· District Secretary Toni Sharp
· District Treasurer Sarah Bate
· Public Relations Officer Neil Stichbury
· Lieutenant Governor Marketing David Templeman
· Lieutenant Governor Education and Training Carol Mitchell
· Immediate Past District Governor Ellie Young
· District Governor Kingsley Moody
Under Toastmasters International Policy, District Governor Kingsley extended speaking rights to:
· PDDG Chrissy Meyer as Parliamentarian
· Joan Hook was recognised as being in attendance
· Andrew Elphick and Kerry Bainbridge were in attendance to report on the November 2015 convention.
3 Mission Statement
Lieutenant Governor Education and Training Carol read the Mission Statement.
4 Apologies
District Secretary Toni reported the apologies: (refer Appendix A).
Apologies for lateness were also noted for Division C Governor Charlie Turner Area G2 Governor Rob Woolley and Area G5 Governor Fiona Hodge.
“That the apologies be accepted.”
Moved: Beryl Bourhill, Area A1
5 Confirmation of Quorum
District Parliamentarian Chrissy confirmed a quorum was present.
A quorum for a District Executive Committee Meeting is the majority of its members. The Executive currently has 7 senior officers, 9 Division Governors, 57 Area Governors – making a total of 73 members. A quorum is therefore 37 members. There were 48 voting members present.
PDDG Chrissy then requested assistance from 4-5 volunteers to assist on the credentials desk on Saturday morning.
6 Changes to and Confirmation of Agenda
District Treasurer noted one addition to the agenda. That the Blenheim Convention Budget be added as item 11.4.
7 Minutes from the District 72 Executive Meeting 21 September 2014
The minutes of this meeting have been published.
7.1 Corrections to the minutes
There were no corrections received.
“That the minutes of the District 72 Executive Meeting of 21 September 2014 are a true and correct record.”
Moved: Christine Alcott, Division H
Seconded: Craig Robinson, Area D2
CARRIED
7.2 Matters arising from the minutes
There were no matters arising from the minutes of 21 September 2014.
8 Correspondence
District Secretary Toni reported there were no items of correspondence:
9 Urgent Business
9.1 Confirmation of Officer Resignations since the District Executive meeting held on 21 September
2014
District Governor Kingsley advised that there was one resignation, Patrick Filoche Area Governor E9.
“That District Executive accepts the resignation of the officer as listed”
Moved: Ian Lankow, Division E
Seconded: Graeme Hunt, Area C1
CARRIED
9.2 Confirmation of Officer Appointments since the District Executive meeting held on 21
September 2014
District Governor Kingsley reported that there were no appointments in this time frame.
9.3 Confirmation of new clubs into Areas
District Governor Kingsley advised that Pipitea club had chartered into Area E10 and that IPC had chartered into Area J2.
District Governor Kingsley extended congratulations and heartfelt thanks to the teams that had bought these two clubs to life.
10 Convention Reports
10.1 LGET Carol reported that the Bay Of Islands Convention was now underway.
Graeme Kettle Area F7/Convention Chair welcomed all present and offered assistance to anyone
who may require it.
10.2 LGET Carol asked PRO Neil Stichbury to report on the Waipuna Convention being held in
May 2015
PRO Neil reported on behalf of the committee that plans were on track. There were promos in the BOI registration kits and that there would be rooms available to book at the venue with the specific booking code on the registration form which will enable a substantial discount. Speakers and educationals are organized with this information being kept masked at present.
10.3 LGET Carol asked Andrew Elphick to report on behalf of the Blenheim Convention being
Held in November 2015.
Andrew reported that the budget had been presented to District Treasurer Sarah and that the convention team was currently in discussions with the Trio regarding Keynote speakers and presenters. There is a great committee of 8 in place from G5 and G9, Blenheim, Motueka and the west coast working well together. Andrew noted that Blenheim was a central transport hub to all forms of transport and that. There a number of award winning attractions in the region. Cost cutting is being worked on by way of major sponsorship and he noted that at this stage the registration fee was looking like being $10.00 more than previous conventions however it was hoped that sponsorship would lower this figure.
10.4 LGET Carol confirmed that she had received a bid for the May 2016 Convention from Rotorua and
that it was in order.
“That the bid from Rotorua as the venue for the May 2016 Convention be received”
Moved: Jonathan McDonald, Area F2
Seconded: Pauline Wood, Area F3
CARRIED
DG Kingsley extended thanks to Division D Governor Richard Perkins and his team noting that we look forward to updates in due course.
10.5 LGET Carol reported that she had not received any bids for the November 2016 Convention.
11 Treasurer’s Reports
11.1 Budget for the 2014-2015 Financial Year.
District Treasurer Sarah presented her comprehensive report with the following comments. Since the September Exec meeting Sarah had approached WHQ with regard to the acceptability of clubs still being charged a lump sum which could then be allocated to Area contests and other activities. WHQ said this could be done but under no circumstances was it able to be called a club donation. DT Sarah noted that as this payment was not able to be called a donation that we will be required to pay GST on the figure.
DT Sarah reported that our current year budget was sitting at $264K which was lower than last year’s budget but higher than the prior year actual. Sarah noted that the Trio was working to confirm a name for the proposed charge. At this stage it was looking like being District Service Charge or the District Service Levy. The Trio had conferred and note that they require $40,000 income to cover costs of Area and Division contest expenses. Sarah then invited the Trio to comment.
DG Kingsley thanked DT Sarah for all the work she had done taking into consideration all the plea’s, suggestions and requests they had put forward. Kingsley noted that we must attain our costs as much as is possible and encouraged all Officers to consider revenue verses costs for any events that are going to be held.
DT Sarah emphasized the requirement for prudence before spending any money. She noted that the prior year actual figure was $276K against the prior year budget of $355k. This year we have budgeted for a total spend of $287k which has been calculated very carefully. Sarah noted that the marketing budget had been significantly trimmed bearing in mind the need for succinct marketing to be done in order to increase membership. Sarah went into detail on how the budget was made up and congratulated the previous two convention committees for securing a surplus of funds. She noted that the BOI and Waipuna conventions were also on track to have a surplus. Sarah noted that there is a budgeted forecast which is significantly less than last year and she noted that this is based on the assumption that clubs will pay the proposed District Service Charge.
“That the Budget for 2014-2015 financial year be received”
Moved: Sarah Bate, District Treasurer
Seconded: Fiona Hodge, Area G3
CARRIED
There being no discussion District Governor Kingsley commended and thanked District Treasurer Sarah for her brilliant report.
At this point the meeting adjourned for dinner.
Prior to the adjournment IPDG Ellie encouraged everyone to read the nominations for the C & L Award before voting took place.
The five Nominees’ were:
v Henare O’Keith
v John Campbell
v Bernie Monk
v Dr. Lance O’Sullivan
v Sam Neil
The meeting reconvened at 7.05 pm.
11.2 Financial report for the quarter ended 30 September 2014.
District Treasurer Sarah presented the quarter ended report with the following comments. She noted that this report pertained to July-September of this current year. She noted the results were looking good but did note that a number of reimbursements came through the system in October which may change the look of the half year report. Sarah noted we were $7000 ahead on membership revenue which she noted was a figure set by WHQ. Sarah noted that some reimbursement claims were bordering on the 60 day limit and requested officers to submit claims promptly.
“That the quarter one financial report be received”
Moved: Sarah Bate, District Treasurer
Seconded: Pauline Wood, Area F3
CARRIED
Discussion followed.
· Richard Perkins Division D sought clarification that the proposed District Service Charge had been incorporated into this budget. DT Sarah confirmed that it had. Sarah noted there was still discussion taking place on what the final per head figure was going to be.
· John Sullivan Area G9 asked what the average budgeted cost for the Service Charge would be. Sarah indicated this is likely to be $10.00 + GST broken down to $4.30 for speech contests and $5.70 to everything else.
· IPDG Ellie noted that all District Officers being the appointee’s to Area’s and Divisions need to ask questions in order to be prepared for a bombardment from clubs around the District Service charge. She again emphasized the importance of having all detail clearly understood to ensure clubs will be well informed.
· Terry Cave Area E10 asked how the Service Charge was going to impact individual clubs. Sarah comprehensively outlined the past cashbook operations and why all has now been aligned into the main District operating accounts. She highlighted the extra challenges incurred by the requirement to comply with California tax laws as well as NZ tax laws. She gave an overview of how the funds were spent and how the Service Charge/Levy would function under the new regime at Division and Area level.
· Fiona Hodge Area G5 noted that she has already spoken to the Treasurers of her clubs and told them of the Service Charge and what it covers which they were all quite happy about.
· Katrina Hudson, Division B asked who would be invoicing clubs for the Service Charge. Sarah indicated that the invoice would need to come from the Top Table but that she and the Trio need to work out the mechanics of who will be chasing invoices that are not paid. At this stage it is the Division Governors who will do the chasing.
· Nandini Doreswamy Area A3 asked if AGs were given a defined budget with guidelines for costs to the different events. DT Sarah confirmed that in July Area Governors were charged with drafting a budget which was presented to Division Governors. These in turn were passed on to DT Sarah and the cashbooks now being worked are based on the supplied budgets. Sarah requested Division Governor’s to share the current cashbooks with their AGs in order for them to track their individual progress. Sarah also noted that although a budget figure for CLT was requested District is covering this expense.
· Sharon Kerr-Phillips Area A2 asked if it would be possible to have a spreadsheet of some kind in order to identify which clubs have paid the in-coming District Service Charge. DT Sarah confirmed that this would be possible however she would not update it every week and it would be reliant on clubs clearly referencing their payments.
· Neil Stichbury PRO noted that he was aware that in some Divisions, clubs had made unsolicited donations to district and he queried if they would be given some form of credit in relation to this with the District Service Charge. DT Sarah confirmed that this would not be possible as the payments made had not been clearly referenced rendering her unable to determine exactly where the payments had come from. She noted also that she had not seen any of these payments in the last three months bank statements. Sarah also requested that if a random payment of some form was going to be made that she be emailed with the information in order to track it fully.
· Jonathan McDonald Area F2 asked if the current published budget was an accurate reflection of where the District currently stood. DT Sarah confirmed that due to not all July-September expenses having been claimed in a timely fashion there were still outstanding payments in this regard. At this point she had not had time to update the October accounts with the expenses that had come in in that time frame.
· Craig Robinson Area D2 asked what “the per head figure” would be for the Service Charge. DG Kingsley confirmed that this would be $10.00.
· Jim Harknet Area H4, asked if the previous donation was optional. DG Kingsley confirmed this was.
· Rob Woolley Area G2 suggested that all Divisions should be charged the same across the board. He noted that he felt some Divisions were not comfortable with having a door charge at Contests and thought this option may have been sending the wrong idea to members. He also suggested that all AGs should be told what their budgeted allocation would be at the beginning of the year. DT Sarah confirmed that all Division Governors were given completed cashbooks from the previous year along with the budgets that applied to these. This information was the guidelines for Areas and Divisions to establish what the expenditure was previously in order to give them a guideline moving forward.