Minutes of Trustees Meeting held on 20th September 2013 at Colchester Campus

Present: Becky Fisher - Chair

James Potter (VP Education )

Barry Hadden (External Trustee)

Alison Inman (External Trustee)

Matthew Schatten – Student Trustee)

Chantel Le Carpentier (VP Welfare and Community)

Michael Thorns (Student Trustee)

Sarah Smith (VP Student activities)

Dmitry Christie (VP International)

Alessandro Georgiou – Via vid con (Student Trustee )

Max Slipaczek – (VP Loughton & Southend)

Becky Newbury – ( VP service and Comms)

James Rolfe ( Student Trustee)

In Attendance: Craig Stephens (Chief Executive)

Sophie Seear (HR Officer) – Clerk

Barbara Reynolds (Director of Finance)

Michelle Harris ( Clerk)

Apologies: Edgar Ceciotkin

MINUTE / ACTION
  1. Apologies and Announcements
  • Apologies noted.

  1. Minutes of the Last Meeting
  • Becky Newbury was not showing as attending so the minutes need amending
  • CS spoke with University Register about removing Profit clause but he was not keen ,so no change as yet.
/ MH
CS
  1. Matters Arising
  • Southend Commercial – Staffing structure has now changed and organisational chart changed to reflect changes - Kirsty Matthew has been appointed as services and activities manager and the vacant position has now been offered to Gary Richardson.
  • There was a delay on vending machines for the whole Southend Campus. The Student Union has now taken over vending for the whole campus. Reasons are not known but are being chased. Only found out on the 20th Sept.
  • MS was concerned that the Southend work was the most essential that needed doing this summer but seems to be the last to have been done. CS explained that there were restrictions around what contractors could be used but that the work would only take a day and they have been assured that it will be done by the start of term.
/ MB
  1. Licensed Trade Summer Development Plans 2013 – CAPEX Approval
  • Emails were circulated seeking approval. All received and approved
  • AI was concerned about retrospective approval
  • CS - item 4 was not retrospective but item 5 was.

  1. £25K Capital Works to SY Reception – CAPEX Approval
  • AG asked why this overspend was not predicted.CS explained that there was an oversight and no project manager was put in place.
  • Concern was raised again over reception work taking place in preference to Southend work. CS reassured it was being dealt with but there were concerns that the University policy’s and procedures were holding up work and limiting value.SU can only use University vetted builders and contractors. Becky was asked to raise with the VC at a later meeting.
/ BF
  1. Big Plan
  • Steve Haugh presented to the group the plans for the new SU strategy. The group had been sent a link prior to the meeting and copies of the presentation are available on request
  • Presentation was greeted with praise and thanks were given to Steve and Becky for the work they had put into this. Short and snappy was a great idea.
  • However concerns raised about being careful not to over promise. i.e how are we helping to get a student a good degree and a good job.
The plan was formally approved by the Committee in principle with the understanding that there needed more meat adding to the bones and that that would take place over the next few months.
  • SH asked for volunteers to sit in with the rebranding agencies he was meeting with. AG volunteered
  • BH didn’t think an agency was necessary, as costs are high and what the team had already put together was good and just needed some tweaking.

  1. Proposal re Directors Appointments
  • Proposal was circulated prior to the meeting – The proposal was to remove students representation from the directors board. Due to the administration burden and past unreliability of some students. MT submitted a counter proposal, details are attached in appendix.
  • The main concern was that the changes would mean that there were no students acting as directors, and although all decisions are brought before the Trustees, being reported to is not the same as being part of the discussion.
  • The role of the directors and why the two companies existed was explained, and it was explained that the Board of Directors was more about rubber stamping legal requirements and not steering the direction of the Union.
  • The proposal was accepted with the conditions that minutes and agendas of the Directors meetings are included with the Trustee papers and there is an annual report made to the Trustee board.
/ BR
  1. Role, Obligations and legal responsibilities of Directors of SU Companies.
  • BH – Directors are not fulfilling their legal requirement that minutes need to be available to the trustees and kept for 10 years. This should be in place by the next meeting
  • It was voted we wouldn't move to permanent directors of SU companies
/ MH
  1. Information Trustees need to ensure they’re able to discharge their responsibilities.
  • AI – would appreciate a written report from the Chief Executive to accompany his verbal update. CS – used to do this but found they were not being read but happy to do that in future.
  • In addition a report from the SABS running through what they do and projects they are working on would also be appreciated – External Trustees can be better ambassadors if they are fully informed.
  • AI suggested that future meetings should be formed around the new 4 promises outlined by SH Big Plan.
  • Training – does everyone understand the spreadsheets they have – BR did doing training earlier in the year for SABS but it was agreed more could be arranged for those who missed it and to include the trustees this time.
  • BH wanted to draw attention to the fact that BR had inherited a huge mess with regards to the finance and had done a sterling job over the last few years to bring the accounts back in line and presented in a user friendly way.
/ CS
SABS
BR
  1. Governance Committee’s Membership
All positions on the remaining boards were filled. They were:
  • Union Performance Committee
  • Audit & Risk Committee
  • Staffing & Remuneration Committee
  • Human Resources manager
  • Names have now been added to the master spread sheet – attached for information and dates will be added as soon as possible
  • It was also agreed that Human Resource management should be renamed Human Resources Committee and that the Sabbatical Officers Committee can be removed. The Union performance Committee needed an additional Student Trustee place adding too.
/ MH
MH
  1. Year End Accounts
  • These were all seen prior to the meeting and approved.
  • Question asked about Mondo – CS said that one new full time member of staff has been employed in the kitchen. The menu has changed ensuring it was easy to prepare and will be launched week of 23rd Sept.
  • AI – asked about the takeover of the hairdresser, as it was showing as running at a loss. CS responded that the Hairdressers was running at a small profit but was in default with the rent. The decision to bring into the SU fold, was made on the basis that the University wanted a hairdressers on campus and so did the SU. A plan of action was being pulled together and prices were being reviewed and a name change was also being planned. It was believed that it would not take long to turn it around.
  • It is believed that Colchester Institute is being talked to regarding possible placements.
  • Alcohol sales were down but the loss was less than expected.

  1. Budgets 2013/14
  • Budgets are late being presented due to waiting on grants from University to be fully agreed.
  • CS is in talks with the University and trying to establish a three year cycle for grants
  • A surplus of £15k is predicted
Board Approved / CS
  1. Proposed Management Charge and gift aid from UESU Ltd
  • Items 13 and 14 are items on the Directors meeting agenda. An amount of £24k was given in gift aid to the union and management fee was decided on the advice from the Auditors.
  • It was formally approved by the board.

  1. Proposal re Student Lets interco balance
  • Lets made a loss in 13/14 and are predicted to make a loss in 13/14 but predicting a profit by 14/15.
  • A new manager has been recruited and is aware that their job depends on the business starting to improve and make profit.
  • The SU will only continue to support this venture if a significant improvement is noticed over the next financial year.
  • There is the possibility of a major slice of business, the SU has signed a contract with the builder of Kings Quays. Lets will be the sole letting agency for these properties which would mean over £250k of business, however the Quays are not completed and it is not clear when they will be.
  • In addition since the new manager took over, the number of houses on the books has already increased.
  • It was suggested that Southend could do with something similar and CS responded that MI is already working with the new manager at looking at what can be done, using the SU accreditation services.
  • BR had sought advice from the auditors and has proposed the loss is converted into a loan, thus improving the chances of it being paid back.
  • AI – does the Charity Commission approve of this?
  • Board approves on the proviso that if improvement is not shown, plug will be pulled by end of 2014.
/ BR
  1. Staff Theft
  • A report was written and circulated so everyone should be aware of what happened and how it was dealt with. The university has agreed to run the cameras back to their centre and they will be installed on 27th Sept.
  • Providing proof of the thefts was the main problem they encountered

  1. Chief Exec – verbal report
  • Major Change in Staff structure – staff has increased from 60 plus members of staff to over 90 members.VC is funding one post,The rest are funded by commercial services. As a result of the thefts, it has been decided to employ a number of permanent supervisors to monitor the student staff and increase the quality of service provided.All post were included in the budget presented.
  • Smart sheet – the SU are now using smartsheet to track and monitor projects. There are over 100 projects on the sheet.
  • It was agreed we could send AI and BH the login codes for the sheet.
  • PA to present to the Board at some point on the impact report (?)
  • Building work update – Proposals have been submitted however CS has discovered that there was a budget of £5 million set aside for developing the Hex, which is currently unused. The next steps are to seek funding for a feasibility study and then if that is forthcoming, the request the additional £3million it is believed to convert the building to meet the SU’s needs.
  • Timescale would be between 3-4 years.
/ ZW
PA
  1. Risk Register
Nothing to report
  1. Trustee Board Workplan for the coming year
AI to sit down with MH in the next few weeks to look at minutes and objectives of the various meetings / MH
  1. AOB
  • Pension enrolment information circulated for information and update
  • The decision was made to end our contract with Red Oak Roller, with Everything Essex taking responsibility to provide personalised clothing for clubs and societies as well as the Union’s marketing team. So far 3 orders made by the union have not been completed by Everything Essex and we have been directed back to Red Oak Roller. The choice of clothes suppliers needs to be revisited as the predicted income from switching to Everything Essex is currently looking unlikely, yet we will no longer get a percentage of Red Oak Roller’s profits from our campus.
/ SS

S:\Governance\Trustee Meetings\July 2011 - June 2012\16.09.11 - Trustee Meeting Minutes.docx

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