UCC Ordinary General Meeting Minutes 2016-10-19 =============================================== Attendance: =========== Present: -------- - [CHS] Oscar Hermoso [President] - [TBB] Alfred Burgress [Education VP] - [EAR] Elton Rodrigues [Social VP] - [DJF] Chris Forbes [Treasurer] - [SOS] Alexander Sosin [Fresher Rep] - [MMM] Shahzad Siddiqui [Social Officer] - [JMA] Jake Alexander [OCM] - [SAS] Samuel Shenton [OCM] - [BLZ] Cain Nixey - [BG3] Mitchell Pomery - Joshu van Breukeleen - Hock Yew Tan - [RAA] Rowan Ashwin - [ODF] Jon van Buren - [PJA] Peter Allnutt - [TFM] Thomas Miller - [PBJ] John Ngyuen - Andrew Hortin - Lo Chien-Yi (CY) - [MLG] Grace Rosario - [BOB] Andrew 'Bob' Adamson - [TPG] John Hodge - [JDN] Jordan Meerwald - [BIG] Nicholas Coetzer - [*OX] Lyndon 'Frames' White Arrived Late: ------------- - [LDT] Roland Kerr - [MVP] Matthew Winslade - Jack Looby (non-member) Meeting opened 1809 - [CHS] moves to elect [SAS] as chair so that he can take minutes - [TBB] seconds, motion passes - [SAS]: Committee reports aren't on the agenda? Excellent Election of Vacant Positions ============================ - [SAS] nominates [BOB] and [TPG] as returning officers - [TPG] declines - [SAS] nominates [BOB] and [BG3] as returning officers - [CHS] seconds, passes - [BOB]: Has anyone not been to an UCC general meeting before? - [BOB]: n-1 voting, for example if you have 4 candidates, you may vote up to 3 times Election of Secretary --------------------- - [BLZ] describes the role of secretary - Taking minutes - Primary role of contact for other clubs/organisations - Not incredibly challenging but unique daily faucets - Some degree of terminal knowledge - Gotta check the mail - Interesting job - Easy foothold to move yourself into a better position on committee - But already looks good - The best position for if you want to help the club, but don't know how Nominations ----------- - [BLZ] nominates [SOS] - [TFM] seconds, accepts - [ODF] nominates [*OX] - declines - [DJF] nominates [JMA] - declines - [hock] nominates himself - [BLZ] seconds - [*OX] nominates [JDN] - declines - [*OX] nominates [MLG] - declines Speeches -------- - [SOS]: - I'm the current fresher rep - I know terminal, I know vim - I know mostly how the club operates - [hock]: - I don't know much - Only joined two weeks ago, but enthusiastic - Wants more organisation, my account is having issues - [BOB]: I swear before today we had like 260 days of perfect uptime Questions --------- - [BLZ]: Any experience on committees? - [SOS]: I've been fresher rep of UCC - [hock]: Been on newly formed international law club - Formed this year, signed up at the open day - [DJF]: Are you a fresher? - [SOS]: Yes - [hock]: Yes - [ODF]: Can you make committee meetings weekly? - [SOS]: Only missed one meeting, camp meeting, and that's because the event was 18+ - [ODF]: So you've already missed a meeting - [hock]: Yes - [BOB]: Is Sosin/Hock actually your real name? - [SOS]: No - [hock]: Yes - [BOB]: Would you run for any other positions tonight? - [SOS]: No - [hock]: Yes, would run for fresher rep if it became available - Candidates leave for voting - Candidates return - Alexander Sosin ([SOS]) elected as Secretary Election of Education Officer ============================= - [BOB]: You are a slave of the Ed VP - [BOB]: Reads role from constitution - Assist in duties, therefore slave - Assits in running events, thereforeslave - [SAS]: Get [TBB] to explain what he wants? - [TBB]: Please help me find someone to run a techtalk Nominations ----------- - [BLZ] nominates Andrew Hortin - Andrew declines - [TBB] nominates [MLG] - [CHS] seconds, accepts - Lo Chien-Yi (CY) nominates himself - [JMA] seconds - [*OX] nominates [ODF] - [CHS] seconds - Discussion about ghost committee member, what are the requirements of being a committee member - [ODF] works full time - Technically you never have to attend a committee meeting if always have valid apologies - General meetings require actual attendance, but committee meetings don't neccesarily - Videocall presense is sufficient - [ODF] accepts - [BLZ] nominates [*OX] - declines - [*OX] nominates [BLZ] - [SOS] seconds, declines - [LDT] arrives 1831 - [DJF] nominates [LDT] - [EAR] seconds, accepts - [???] nominates [TPG] - Declines, considering the current number of candidates Speeches -------- - [MLG]: - Tried to run earlier in the year, had no plans - Perhaps I can do it this summer - CY: - As long as I can learn and make someone elses life better - [ODF] defers speech to [*OX] - Has been on committee multiple times - Frep in 2012 - Has a job with multiple long trainings a week - Utterly human - [LDT]: - Has wheel level confidence with hologram - [BOB]: - Would like education experience for resume - Looking to move into teacher role Questions --------- - [CHS]: Do you have any ideas on how to improve Education in the club? - [MLG]: Will bully [BOB] into having a tech talks - CY: Hoping other people would have ideas - [ODF] defers answer to [*OX] - [*OX]: Let's wait and find out what [ODF] has to offer - [LDT]: Incentivise first years and second years attending tech talks - [TFM]: Will you turn up to committee meetings? - [MLG]: Yes - CY: Yes - [ODF]: No - [LDT]: Yes, but I'll realistically be 5 minutes late - [JDN]: Know anything about hardware and or software, can you educate? - [MLG]: Took computer apart to clean it last week, for what it's worth, short answer is yes - CY: Can't say no - [ODF]: Wheel member, highly trained in agile practices - [TPG]: I'm sorry, all I heard is BS - [LDT]: Trained in hologram (the 3D printer) - [ODF]: Being on committee is really, really valuable - [ODF]: Like, valuable enough that someone else should have the oppurtunity - [BOB]: The main thing is making sure other people are learning, not neccesarily having experience - [JMA]: having someone experienced would be really, really nice in the role - [RAA]: while you are education officer, your primary role is to help committee and help make committee decisions - [BLZ]: Would you say the biggest part of being on committee is being committed? - Candidates leave for voting - Candidates return - [BOB]: We welcome our new ed officer.... - [MVP] arrives 1844 - [MVP]: Winslade! - [BOB]: ...We welcome our new ed officer [LDT] - Roland Kerr ([LDT]) elected as Education Officer Election of Fresher Representative ---------------------------------- Nominations ----------- - [JDN]: I nominate [TBS] - [TBS] is neither a first time member of the club, nor first year student - In fact he's graduated and not a student at all - [DJF] nominates [hock] - [CHS] seconds, accepts - [EAR] nominates [MMM] - [MVP] seconds, accepts Speeches -------- - [hock]: - Fulfils constitutional requirements of being a Fresher Rep - Has committee experience, ran as ordinary guild councillor too - [john]: hock the hack - [MMM]: Wants to open up the soc officer position to a new committee - Will still be able to do what he wants on committee as frep - Allows more experience onto committee by moving to frep and opening up soc officer Questions --------- - [EAR]: The previous Fresher Rep this year, [SOS], ran regular events to attract Freshers (eg. Pizza Nights) - [EAR]: Would you be willing to take over that level of committment from [SOS] - [MMM]: Yes - [hock]: Yes - [DJF]: Do you have ideas of how to get freshers into the clubroom - [MMM]: Has an idea of social events what attracts freshers - [hock]: wants more exposure for the club - Wants club more well known around campus - [BLZ]: Can you use mspaint? - [MVP]: Can anyone? - Jack Looby (non-member) arrives 1850 - Candidates leave for voting - Candidates return - Hock Yew Tan ([hock]) elected as Fresher Representative - [JMA] leaves 1853 Constitutional Changes ====================== - [SAS]: Congratulations to all new committee positions - Next order of business, constitutional changes - We really didn't need most of them, but they're neccesary with the new law changes - [SAS] moves that we change the constitution, as per this document - Don't worry, we'll discuss all of the changes before we vote on them - [CHS] seconds - [SAS] quickly runs through why the changes are neccesary - Definitions - Specific definitions of words needs to be clarified with what Guild wants, but; - Essentially it's just neccesary definitions included as per normal regarding subsequent changes - We need to define specific percentage of membership - We have that now, but it's a halfway house - It's the lower of 10% or 100 - We satisfy the requirement of having a percentage, but don't make it more difficult to hold an SGM - S18.8 - Noted in the past agm and constitutional change before that - Committee made a majority of a general meeting for quorum - Should be changed so that committee can't blaze through a general meeting on their own - Proper dispute resolution required by incorporation laws for in house resolution - Proposes chair of guild council as external mediator - They already rule on such disputes anyway - Saves us from paying an external mediator - Neccesary appendment on paying committee - [MLG] asks for clarification on what situation you'd pay a committee member for a service - [SAS] gives short clarification, but debate is left for later - Will now open up constitution for debate - Will move through section by section - [SAS]: Proposes we move to section 18.4 first - [*OX]: If we fail to pass these changes, what happens? - [SAS]: Not sure of specifics, but they must be passed in the next 3 years - If not passed now, they must be passed in some form, sooner or later - [BOB]: Hasn't been discussed on any communication channels - [CHS]: Also hasn't been discussed at any committee meetings yet - [BOB]: Minimum notice was given, only 5 minutes to spare before midnight - [*OX]: Moves to defer entire constitutional changes for a later date - No second as conversation moves on - [MVP]: At least part of it does need to change right now, and that is for quorum - Quorum of 15 with 10 committee allows a unified committee to blaze through a small General meeting passing what they want together - Serious fundamental problem, quorum does need to be changed today - [BOB]: For many years, quorum was 10 with a committee of 8, wasn't a problem - [ODF] moves to defer the entire constitution on the table, leave it until later - [*OX] seconds - [BOB] suggests an amendment, everything with the exception of the quorum section - [MVP] seconds - [SAS]: Should still be discussed tonight, lots of valuable input - [SAS]: Is there anything else that people want to vote on today - [PJA]: 18.4, simple, can be adequetly changed today - 22.6 also wants to be discussed - [SAS] withdraws motion to amend sections 2, section 22 and section 23 - Therefore 18.4 18.8 and the new, 22.6 are still on the table - [*OX] moves to withdraw all motions bar the discussion on quorum - [SAS] is not amendable to this because people at the meeting do want to discuss this - [ODF] seconds anyway - Motion draws, with even votes - [SAS] uses casting vote to have the meeting consider the amendments - [JDN]: Clarifies, requires a 3/4 majority to make constitutional amendments Proposal: Amend 18.4.1 of the Constitution ------------------------------------------ - [SAS]: 18.4.1. The Secretary shall forthwith call a Special General Meeting upon receiving a written requisition from the lower of ten percent of the total membership or ten ordinary members of the Club, and such meetings shall be held with appropriate notice requirement and not later than 17 days immediately following the receipt of such requisition. (Previously 10 members) - [RAA]: It's a simple change, should be trivially passed - [DJF]: It's literally only there because we require a percentage - CY: There's no concievable way for this to bite us in the ass - [JDN]: Has as special general meeting ever happened, anyway? - [SAS]: Not in my recollection - [*OX]: It almost happened in my first year but didn't - [SAS]: So, no. - Goes to a vote, passes Proposal: Amend 18.8 of the Constitution ---------------------------------------- - [SAS]: The quorum of a General Meeting shall be twenty ordinary members present in person. (Previously 15 members) - [TFM]: How many were at AGM this year? - [DJF] checking, 38 people - [BG3]: If we can't hit 20, there are alternatives, like going to the commissioner - [BOB]: attendees at AGM is not a good indicator of attendance at an ordinary or special general meeting - That being said, attendance here is quite good, though I have been to a meeting where we didn't hit the 15 - If we have a quorum of 15 and a committee of 10, that's only 66%, not the 75% neccesary for constitutional changes - If committee want to trash the club, they can, they're not going to do it at a general meeting anyway - [*OX] there's only a few things that a general meeting actually requires anyway - Rowan in the case of a "ghost" committee with only 3 or 4 active members, we would struggle to hit quorum - [LDT]: We apparently have 28 vs 20, but what we've seen is that the natural variation of attendance for Cameron Hall clubs puts 20 in a range that may not hit quorum - [SAS] puts it to a vote - Fails, amendment is defeated Proposal: Append to new Section 24 (Finance) -------------------------------------------- - [SAS]: 24.6 A payment to a member out of the funds of the Club is authorised if it is - 1. the payment in good faith to the member as reasonable renumeration for any services provided to the Club, or for goods supplied to the Club, in the ordinary course of business; or 2. the reimbursement of reasonable expenses properly incurred by the member on behalf of the Club - [MLG]: What situation would we ever need services from a member that we pay for - [BLZ]: Suppose graphics designer signs up for club - [BG3]: Alternatively, if we were to pay our chef for camp, and he was a member - [BOB]: Objects wording - Says: is authorised - Should say: can be authorised - Arguably conflicts with 18.4 and may misinform what defines an authorised payment - [BOB]: What is the neccessity of the change in any respect - [SAS]: Again, changes in laws require we specificy for the only circumstances that commmittee members may be paid - [*OX]: This is sad, it should have already been in the constitution - [TPG]: Have these lines been tested? Are there any cases that these lines have been used to break rules? - [BOB]: Note that our rules also differ significantly from the model rules - cy: Suggests change to "may only be authorised" - [BOB]: Is this required to be discussed before the next AGM? Is it blocking anything - [SAS]: No, it's not - [*OX]: It's already in our constitution - Under objects part 3, point 3, which covers all persons - [CHS]: Laws ask for specifically committee members - [*OX]: Committee members are people - [BLZ]: moves to order pizza now - [DJF]: After this topic, we will - [SAS]: I see no problem with this, as this is the last item on the agenda - [SAS] amends to "is authorised, subject to subrule 4", that is; - [SAS]: 24.6 A payment to a member out of the funds of the Club is authorised subject to subrule 4 if it is - 1. the payment in good faith to the member as reasonable renumeration for any services provided to the Club, or for goods supplied to the Club, in the ordinary course of business; or 2. the reimbursement of reasonable expenses properly incurred by the member on behalf of the Club - Motion passes - [SAS] moves to amend above constitutional changes (18.4.1 and 24.6) - Sufficiently passes with a 3/4 majority General Business ================ - [TFM]: Minutes aren't out for last meeting, why is Education officer vacant - [CHS]: Sorry about the lack of minutes, have been busy - Will push them soon - Removed for consistent absence from meetings, as per constitution 17.2 Meeting close 1941