Current proposed Motions - For the National AGM

[Ryan_Paddy]

[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]The downside is that national votes would become more complex to organise and take longer.

I’m not sure I understand why this would be. Just because of the increase in the number of people?[/quote]

Basically, yes. Passing a motion isn’t just a vote, it’s the discussion you have beforehand to ensure all sides are heard, and it’s the explanations that need to be given to bring people up to speed with the issue so that they’re in a position to vote. The more people, the longer and more complex that discussion can be. Also, while we currently have two branches, we will almost certainly have more later, so the size of the national committee could balloon.

[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]Also, as Ellen says, this would make the role of regional director even more complex. It may force them to vote on national issues that have no special relevance to their local branch, and that they’re not familiar with.

How is not this the case for all members of the national committee as it stands? If I am a national committee member from Auckland voting on a National Issues that has no special relevance to Auckland then am I not in the same position?[/quote]

The difference is that you’ve signed up to be part of the National committee, and to keep up to date with national issues.

I’m not strongly opposed to this motion, it’s just that at the moment the drawbacks seems to outweigh the benefits. It seems to add complexity to the society’s structure without sufficient benefit to warrant it. I could be convinced otherwise, that’s just how I see it at the moment.

Note this is just intended as discussion of a motion. Naturally the motion will go to the vote and the society as a whole will decide, but members are entitled to discuss our thoughts for or against motions here first.

[Scott]

Hi everyone,

So a reminder, the National and Wellington AGMs will be held on Tuesday 22nd October, at 7pm. It will be held at Fairfax Media, 40 Boulcott Street, Wellington (Same venue as last year). I will meet people downstairs and take them up to the conference room (if you need my number send me a number or a PM.

We will try and cover off the Wellington AGM first and then the National AGM.

We will need a large number of our membership there for quorum so all members are very much encouraged to come along. You can use this thread to organise carpooling and such.

If you live outside Wellington, or have another good reason for non-attendance, you may vote by email. We will be using the same email address for both National and Regional elections, so you should send two separate emails and clearly state in the subject line which each is for.

At the start of the meeting a returning officer will be voted on, they will have the responsibility to tally up the votes. The email address is: nzlarps2013agm@gmail.com

Below are the things you need to vote on for the NATIONAL AGM if voting by Email.

National President
Michelle Burt
Rowena Knill
No Confidence
Abstain

National Treasurer
James Cooper
Jospeh Outram
No Confidence
Abstain

National Secretary
Rowena Knill
Malcom Harbrow
Russ Kale
No Confidence
Abstain

National Marketing Officer
Ryan Paddy
No Confidence
Abstain

National IT Officer
Nicholas Wolfe
No Confidence
Abstain

MOTIONS
Motion 1 – Malcolm Harbrow
Motion: Section 23 is repealed and the following new section substituted:
"23. Nominations for committee
Every candidate for committee shall be proposed and seconded by two members in the manner approved by the committee."
Explanatory note:
This rephrases s23(a) to empower the committee to accept nominations in any form, removing any doubt about current online methods. It also removes s23(b), the two-month rule.

Vote Motion 1
Support (add to the constitution)
Disagree (make no change)
Abstain

Motion 2 – Rowena Knill
To insert the following into section 20
20. STRUCTURE OF NATIONAL COMMITTEE
The committee shall consist of five (5) members, comprising of a President, Treasurer, Secretary, Marketing Officer, and an Information Technology Officer. In addition to these five members, the Regional Directors for all incorporated regions shall be full members of the National Committee.
This is intended to facilitate communication between the Regional and National committees and to ensure adequate future regional representation on the National Committee.

Vote Motion 2
Support (add to the constitution)
Disagree (make no change)
Abstain

Motion 3 – Rowena Knill
To insert the following into section 20
Secretary
Maintain the national membership database. Keep all club correspondence in an organised fashion. Send letters as required. Send reminders of meetings to committee members. Take minutes at meetings and distribute to committee members. Communicate decisions made by committee to members.

Vote Motion 3
Support (add to the constitution)
Disagree (make no change)
Abstain

Motion 4 – Ryan Paddy
Electronic voting counting towards quorum
Explanation:
The intention of this motion is to make it easier for the society to reach quorum at its meetings, now that it is larger and more geographically spread. I think that electronic votes have already been counted towards quorum at past meetings, but this motion makes it explicit so the practice can’t be challenged.
Motion
Amend section 15 to read (new text is underlined):
Quote:
15. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING QUORUM
At all Annual General Meetings thirty (30) per cent of the total number of members present of the Society shall constitute a quorum. Members who have cast votes electronically shall be counted towards the quorum. No business shall be transacted unless a quorum is present. If within half an hour from the time appointed for the General Meeting a quorum is not present it shall stand adjourned to the same place and time seven (7) days later and if at such adjourned meeting a quorum be not present those members present shall form a quorum and may transact the business for which the meeting was called.
Also amend section 19 to read: (new text is underlined):
19. SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS QUORUM
At all Special General Meetings twenty (20) per cent of the total number of members of the Society shall constitute a quorum. Members who have cast votes electronically shall be counted towards the quorum. No business shall be transacted unless a quorum is present.

Vote Motion 4
Support (add to the constitution)
Disagree (make no change)
Abstain

Motion 5: - Ryan Paddy
Allowing electronic voting without requiring a reason
Explanation:
To allow any current member to vote at AGMs or SGMs electronically without giving a reason. Combined with motion 4 this will further increase the ease of reaching quorum, and will allow any society member to vote on all motions and positions regardless of their ability or willingness to attend meetings.
Motion
Amend section 14e to read (new text is underlined):
Quote:
(e) For Members of the Society who are eligible to vote at an AGM or SGM but who will not be attending for any reason, a provision shall be made for distance voting whereby the voting forms will be made available at a pre-advertised time electronically and they must within an advertised time frame be returned to a pre-determined email address to be counted by the scrutineers.

Vote Motion 5
Support (add to the constitution)
Disagree (make no change)
Abstain

[Mike_Curtis]

My 2c on having the regional directors be on the national committee:

I’m note sure what problem is being solved here. As a Regional Director I have found that the National Committee to be both accessible and responsive to requests, and because my role grants me access to the National Committee forum, I have visibility of their deliberations (and I can also comment if I have something to add).

Regional committees are operational committees, involved in supporting larp at an operational level, whereas the National Committee is a strategic body. Their focuses and priorities are necessarily different. So, I’m not sure what is to be gained by granting Regional Directors full voting membership on the National committee. And, as Ryan has pointed out, there are logistical challenges around decision-making to consider.

I am wary of changing the constitution without a sound case for it. To date, the relationship between the Regional and National Committee’s is highly functional, so I see no requirement to fix what is emphatically not broken.

[Ryan_Paddy]

Regional committees are operational committees, involved in supporting larp at an operational level, whereas the National Committee is a strategic body. Their focuses and priorities are necessarily different.

That’s a great way of expressing it.

I’d say that the national committee is also an oversight body over the regional committees, and that oversight works best when it’s performed by separate people than the group being overseen.

[Anastriel]

I am not especially dedicated to the idea of the regional directors being on the national committee, but I do think that it is something that should be discussed and voted on for several reasons.

This year in the Auckland committee, there have been several issues raised that it has been noted were National issues. IIRC none of them were especially important, but they were raised and so should have been passed on for discussion. To my knowledge these things have not been discussed by the national committee. As an Auckland committee member I do have access to view the national forums, and I have seen no discussions there. There has been no minutes of any national meetings but that is understandable because to my knowledge there have been no formal national committee meetings, and very little national issues raised this year.

It’s not my intention to point fingers or cast blame on any members of either committees. I think everyone has done a very good job, on what we must remember are voluntary positions. What I would like to see though is an improved process for communications between the committees, so that things do not get lost in the shuffle, the way I think they sometimes do now. There is no clear process as to who is responsible for passing on any issues, and no process for reporting back to the regional committees.

The process I would like to see is this: Any issues, large or small, that are raised in regional committees that should be passed on to the national committee are done so by the Regional Director. These are recorded into the regional minutes by the secretary. At the next regional meeting when the committee is going over the last months minutes, the Regional Director can report back on the outcome. Also I think that it is important that any discussions, and especially votes, that take place in the backstage committee forums are also reported back to the society as a whole.

This process could be implemented without adding the RD to the national committee, but I feel that the added benefits of having them on the committee are worth it.

As Ryan pointed out “regional directors may bring a perspective to certain topics that the national committee may not consider, especially if the national committee members don’t attend regional committee meetings so aren’t up to date with local events”.

Also having them as full members on the committee would encourage them to fully participate in any topics, rather than them feeling they are spectators only.

I don’t see why adding the regional directors to the national committee adds any logistical difficulty, considering the national committee primarily discusses things via the backstage forums due to members being in both regions. Unlike the other national committee roles, which Ellen pointed out rightly do require a significant workload, the regional directors national roles would only involve raising any relevant issues with the national committee, and discussing and voting on issues, which would not add much to their existing workload.

As for not fixing what isn’t broken, I disagree with that in concept alone. Just because something isn’t “broken”, doesn’t mean it can’t be improved upon.

[IdiotSavant]

After tonight, I think the need for Motion 4 (to reduce quorum requirements and state explicitly that electronic votes count towards quorum) should be beyond dispute. Given the growth and geographical spread of the society, it is now difficult for a single branch to meet the quorum requirement for a national AGM. And while we’d all like people to show up, there is clearly a lack of interest in the annual administrivia (and there is likely to be even less interest after tonight). If we want our AGMs to be quorate in future, and not have every year turn into a do-over, then we need to pass this motion.