Dear Clubbies,
The season is now underway in many parts of the country - best
wishes to all clubs for their summer 2013/14 activities.
A big thanks to Colin Weatherall for his month as Acting
Chairman. As a result of the October Board meeting I am now
the one writing this update so no surprises I guess as to my new
role!!
The October meeting was a very important one, being the first
after the AGM. We welcomed newly appointed Board members
Trevor Taylor, Joe Pope and Graham Crombie to their first meeting
and also congratulated those who had been re-elected at the
AGM, along with congratulating Neale Ames on his re-election as
President and offering a vote of thanks to Neale for his very
successful handling of the AGM itself.
Some key decisions were then made around the Board structure -
with myself taking on the Chairman's role for the next 12 months
and Brent Warner continuing on in the role of Deputy
Chairman. The following Board sub-committees were
appointed:
- Audit & Risk: Chair - Graham
Crombie.
- Healthy Clubs: Chair - Brent Warner.
- Governance : Chair Colin Weatherall with
Geoff Hamilton and Trevor Taylor.
- Commercial: Chair - Brent Warner
with Joe Pope and Trevor Taylor.
- Northern Relationship: Chair - Geoff Hamilton with Brent
Warner, Warwick Bell and Trevor Taylor.
- Water Safety NZ - deferred, pending confirmation of the timings
of the appointment process by WSNZ. On the Transition Board
we have Michael Bassett-Foss.
Any Board members can attend any sub-committee meeting they
wish.
Also decided to meet the rotation requirements specified in the
SLSNZ Constitution for Independent Appointed Board Members, Trevor
Taylor volunteered to have an initial one year term, which by
default confirmed Graham Crombie as having an initial two year
term.
In addition the following Board representatives were
confirmed:
- National Lifesaving Committee liaison - Andrew Lancaster.
- National Sport Committee liaison - Warwick Bell.
- Watersafe Auckland - To be confirmed
The financial results for the 3 months to September were
presented - copies of the summary reports will be made available as
usual to clubs (attached). The YTD results remain healthy with a
$1.77m Operating Surplus, which after taking account of timing
variances is on track for a full year Operating Surplus budget of
$1.05m, but of course it is still very early in the year and at a
time when money is coming in rather than going out, so constant
vigilance is needed to ensure things remain on track as we get into
the December/January period where major expenditure programmes kick
in.
In terms of other agenda items covered at the meeting,
the following are worth commenting on:
- The Board has asked Management to summarise all the known
Clubroom building projects around the country - and then seek input
from clubs as to what they see as the future usable life of their
current facilities are. The first stage of this work is
nearly completed and will be presented at the November Board
meeting. The next phase will follow over the next few
months.
- The Board noted the work going
on to fill vacancies in the Management team as a result of some
recent resignations - and were happy with the progress being made
to fill these key gaps.
- A paper was presented from the
National Honours and Awards Committee on suggested improvements to
the process following the 2012/13 Awards. The Board was
delighted to see the number of awards being earned but agreed that
some minor changes - including to the application forms and
clearer communication, could assist in coming years. The
changes will be rolled out as part of next year's call for
nominations, which is intended to start earlier to give people more
time .
- The Board approved the final
contracts terms for the renewal of the BP sponsorship, which was
announced in principal at the AGM and taking the partnership into
its 50th year in
2016/17. This is very exciting and in longevity is unmatched
in any other sponsorship in NZ.
- The Board was also pleased with
progress being made with a number of other commercial
opportunities, and expect there will be some announcements able to
be made in the coming months.
- The Board discussed the next
steps to be taken on the use of a facilitator to achieve alignment
on topics of national significance between SLSNZ and SLSNR. A
terms of reference will be drafted for both parties to consider in
the coming weeks.
- Progress on the Member
Protection Regulations & Guidelines and the Event Safety
Operating Procedures was discussed. Both are reaching
critical milestones and the Board re-iterated to Management that
these are very important documents to have out for clubs to use as
soon as possible.
- Also covered was the progress
on having all clubs Constitutions in line with the SLSNZ
Constitution. The deadline for this had been extended to the
30th November but
there were still a small number of clubs who had not completed the
process. Management was asked to look at a revised deadline
and seek Board approval at the November meeting, and to follow-up
with any clubs needing more assistance to get this
done.
- A report was submitted by
Management on the results of a staff survey in August. While
obviously impacted by the recent restructuring the Board was
pleased to see the positive attitude of staff and their drive to
see the organisation succeed despite the recent
challenges.
- A progress report on activities
in the 2013/14 Strategic Plan was noted, along with a summary of
the outcomes of the Club Chairs Strategy Workshop at the AGM, which
will help frame up the 2014/15 Strategic Plan. It was good to
see the participation from clubs at this workshop and I hope to see
even more clubs there next year.
The next Board meeting is being held on Sunday 17 November - so
until my next update……..
Yours in surf,
Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New
Zealand
