Hi Everyone,
The November Board meeting was held in Dunedin on Friday
3rd November. Thanks to the Brighton SLSC for
hosting us and putting on some superb weather.
This was the first Board meeting since the AGM, so we welcomed
Paul Carlyon to his first Board meeting, and also our new President
Brian Velvin as an invited guest. It is particularly pleasing
to see Paul on the Board has he is the perfect example of how
someone can go through the BP Leaders for Life programme, gain
experience at Club and Regional level, lead National committees and
then take their place to lead the organisation nationally. I
hope all the people on the BP Leaders for Life course take note of
this…………the world is your oyster!!
One of the first actions of the meeting was that the Board very
kindly elected me as Chair again for the coming year, hence why I
am continuing to be write this report!.
The Board meeting itself covered a number of key topics, which I
will summarise below:
- 2017
AGM: The Board approved the draft minutes of the 2017
AGM (attached) which will now go to the next AGM for
ratification. A big thanks to all those clubs who
attended. The Awards of Excellence dinner was a great event
and my congratulations to all the award recipients.
- AGM Club Chairs
Workshop: The Board reviewed the notes from the
Workshop and approved them for circulation (also attached).
There are some important actions in those that now get passed on to
Management to undertake - and we discussed in particular the next
steps in projects to look into a new consultation/ decision making
process and the work that needs to be done to look into the
management of risk of head injuries in IRB's. The feedback on
Strategic Direction was also noted and will be incorporated in the
planning process leading into the Board signoff of the 2018/19
Strategic Plan in February. I would like to thank all those
who attended the Workshop. Given some of the issues discussed
and the emotion leading up to the day I found the session very
constructive and positive. It was also great to see the BP
Leaders for Life participants take part - the future of the
organisation is in good hands!
- Board roles &
committees. As well as my re-appointment the Board
made a number of other decisions. At this stage we have
decided to again not appoint a Deputy Chairman, but will review
that in February. Joe Pope was appointed as an Independent
Trustee on the SLSNZ Foundation, allowing him to continue now that
his Board appointed term has come to an end. At this time it
was not felt necessary to appoint another Board member as a Trustee
with myself and Trevor Taylor already there. Peter
Fitzsimmons is the other independent Trustee. Graham Crombie
will continue to lead the Audit & Risk Committee, and will be
assisted by Paul Carlyon in that area. Myself, Trevor Taylor
and Vanessa Winning will continue as the delegates in the Board to
Board meetings with SLS Northern Region. We also have some
other small groups of Board members who will work with the CEO
around some specific topics.
- Sustainability.
The Board noted the good news with additional funding to be
received from the NZ Lottery Grants Board, and the ability to
increase funding to clubs for operational grants and subsidise the
increased insurance premiums. However it was noted that this
was likely to be a 'one-off' event and cannot be anticipated to be
the new 'normal'. As such there is still pressure on SLSNZ
and clubs to make sure the work is done now to fill the gap in
2018/19 revenues if the NZLGB money does drop back to normal
levels. The Board tasked the CEO to evaluate the capacity
SLSNZ has to deliver this revenue growth and not be too
conservative in looking at what resources may be needed in the
future in this area.
The Board noted the work that was going on around the country in
working with Councils, who are all in the middle of their Long Term
Plans. This is an important time as Councils are core
partners for Surf Life Saving at a number of levels, and these
relationships need to be maintained and enhanced.
The Board also noted progress being made with the SLSNZ
Foundation, in terms of working with key influencers to test the
collateral, messaging and identification of prospective
donors. More work will now go into the bequest programme to
assess the level of resourcing needed for this.
We also discussed the new Government and the messages we will look
to give them as we enter a new era of politics in NZ.
- Health and
Safety. The Board looked at the first report for the
season on serious incidents involving members. While numbers
are low they continue to remind that vigilance and care is needed
in IRB and Nipper training. The Board has also asked Management to
send out a reminder to clubs on what the policy is around the use
of helmets in all- terrain vehicles (quad bikes and
side-by-sides). There has been no change to the policy, but
there is movement from side-by-side manufacturers to say that in
their brands helmets are required and clubs need to be aware of
this.
And as always there was a review of the SLSNZ financial
position. Attached are the regular SLSNZ Financial Reports
for the first three months of 2017/18. These show a Net
Operating Surplus of $0.412 million, which is $805,000 ahead of
budget. This variance is nearly all due to timing variations,
in particular the early receipt of some grant revenue and billing
of councils for Regional Lifeguard services. A full
explanation of these is in the attached Financial Summary
Dashboard. More relevant is the latest forecast the full year
Net Operating Surplus which is running slightly below budgeted
levels at $103,000 (budget is $120,000). The Board also noted
the Audit Report from the SLSNZ Auditors on the 2016/17 Financial
Statements and were pleased that there were no issues of any
significance identified as part of the audit.
The next Board meeting will be held in Wellington on Friday
15th December.
Subsequently to the Board meeting, I would like to comment on an
article some of you may have seen circulating online written by a
journalist who was sexually assaulted when a member of a surf life
saving club. This was in the context of women across the
world speaking out in the 'Me too' movement since the Weinstein
allegations surfaced. While the incidents mentioned happened
over 9 years ago, it is still a timely reminder for clubs to make
sure they have appropriate 'Member Protection' protocols in
place. Most concerning about the incidents was that a
complaint was made to the Club Chairman, and nothing was done about
it. I would like to think this would be a different story
today, but these situations can be very difficult and clubs need to
think through how such a process would take place if it happened,
and where people can go to safely with any concerns they may
have.
If anyone needs some information below is a link to the SLSNZ
Member Protection Guidelines on the SLSNZ website. There are
also a number of tools available there that clubs can use.
/media/262488/201312_slsnz_memberprotectionguidelines_v04.pdf
And that is enough for me for this month. Until my next
update……
Yours in surf,
Brent Warner
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
