Hi Everyone,
On behalf of the newly constituted SLSNZ Board, I am pleased to
be able to provide this update. First up are some notes from
the Annual General Meeting in September:
- We had a very good attendance on the day and a significant
increase in clubs voting by proxy and electronically. My
thanks to all the clubs who did attend and participate in the
democratic process, to our President Neale Ames for chairing the
meeting and Napier McFedries as Returning Officer and Brian Velvin
and Denis Cooksley as his very able Scrutineers.
- In terms of the election results, myself and Brent Warner was
re-elected for further two year terms on the Board and Neale Ames
was re-elected for another two year term as President.
Congratulations to Neale and Brent - it is a pleasure working with
you both, and overall with the re-appointment of Joe Pope and
Graham Crombie it is good to be able to maintain a stable Board to
keep the same focus and momentum in the coming year.
- The full Board is therefore myself (Geoff Hamilton), Brent
Warner, Colin Weatherall, Joe Pope, Trevor Taylor, Graham Crombie,
Todd Cations-Velvin and Rick Stolwerk.
- The meeting approved the Annual Report and the 2014/15
Financial Statements. Both are available on the SLSNZ website
if you wish to see them.
- The meeting also approved the proposed Honoraria for the Board
for the coming year. There was no change from last year.
- There were a number of minor changes to the Constitution
approved at the meeting, most of them just tidying up the wording,
but a few are worth noting:
- The term of office of Board members will be extended from two
years to three years, to allow better continuity and stability at a
governance level. This will apply from the 2016 AGM and will
take a few years to fully implement. All the current Board
members (including those appointed or elected as the 2015 AGM) are
still on two year terms.
- From 2016 the SLSNZ Auditor will be appointed at the AGM on the
recommendation of the Board, rather than by the Board
directly. This just adds further transparency to the audit
process and came from a recommendation from the SLSNZ's own Audit
and Risk Committee.
- Anti-match
fixing: A new Regulation was passed as required by
Sport NZ to combat the risk of anti-match fixing. While not a
high risk in surf life saving it is in other sports and Sport NZ
want the entire NZ sport sector to be able to minimise the
opportunity for this to occur. There will be a bit more
publicity of this in the future to let all those who need to know
this regulation exists that it is now in place.
- On the morning of the AGM, a strategy workshop for club Chairs
was held. This was again a very worthwhile event and
discussed some key topics including Health & Safety, a
Strategic Plan for the surf life saving movement and the priorities
for SLSNZ in 2016/17. The outputs from this are also
attached.
- The Awards of Excellence dinner held at the Amora Hotel in
Wellington was again a great night. Again hosted by Sky TV
presenter Stephen McIvor, it was great to see so many people
honoured for their years of commitment. Congratulations to
all the award winners.
- A draft set of AGM Minutes is attached. These were
reviewed at the October Board meeting and will be formally approved
at next year's AGM.
The October Board meeting was held in Wellington on Sunday
18th October. As this was the first meeting of the new
Board we had to review the positions within the Board
itself. The end result of those discussions was more
stability, with the current roles staying the same, specifically
re-appointing myself (Geoff Hamilton) as Chairman and Brent Warner
as the Deputy Chairman for the next 12 months. The following
Board subcommittees were also re-appointed:
- Audit & Risk:
Chair - Graham Crombie with Todd Cations- Velvin, and Geoff
Hamilton as a regular attendee.
-
Governance:
Chair Geoff Hamilton with Colin Weatherall and Trevor Taylor.
In addition the following Board members were confirmed as
ex-officio liaison members of the NLC and NSC:
- National Lifesaving Committee - Rick Stolwerk.
- National Sport Committee - Colin Weatherall.
In a related note, at the Water Safety NZ AGM on the
22nd September, Brent Warner was re-elected as the SLSNZ
'Core Member' on the WSNZ Board and also has taken on the role of
WSNZ Deputy Chair. As such, Brent is the Board-level link
between the two organisations. My thanks go to Brent for
taking on this role as it is a very significant commitment of time
and energy.
From a financial perspective the results for the 3 months to
30th September were a Net Operating Surplus of $0.693
million against a budget of $0.783 million, a shortfall of
$90,500. This is mainly due to some of the stretch revenue
targets not being achieved, and will continue to be a pressure
point as the budget is set to aggressively continue to rebuild
reserves. With much higher depreciation expenses this year
(over $450,000) as we depreciate the new PAM system the Net
Operating Surplus result is budgeted to be lower than last year,
but fortunately this cash still stays in the business.
The Year-end Forecast for the Net Operating Surplus is $217,000,
which is $133,000 behind budget, and will continue to be under
pressure as the year goes on. See the attached normal monthly
report for details.
In terms of other items of note from the meeting:
- The SLSNZ
Foundation. A bit more work is still required on the
Trust Deed but this should be completed by the end of the
year.
- Replacing State
Insurance. No new sponsors have been signed up yet but
this continues a top priority for the year.
- The Board was updated on the outcomes from the latest National
Sport Lifesaving Committees.
So that's it from me - it has been a busy few months!
The next Board meeting will be held in Wellington on Sunday
13th December. So until my next update……
Yours in surf,
Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New
Zealand
