[57north-announce] 57North AGM Minutes of Meeting

Hello all, Please see below the minutes of meeting! Sorry they’re so late, a miscommunication of where they were stored and my inability to get my Mac to gig sign things (it could, I’m an idiot) delayed this! Cheers Hx -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 # AGM Agenda, Tuesday the 4th April 2023 Situated in the Hacklab's space in Suite H, Kettock Lodge, Innovation Park, Campus Two, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB22 8GU. Attending Members: Tom Jones, Kevin Mulhern, Wouter Piessens, Robert McWilliam, Andy Gaskell, Peter Drysdale, Iain Learmonth, Dave Hibberd (Hibby), Stephanie Davidson Start: 20:19 ## Agenda for the meeting ## 1) Election of meeting chair Chair: Consensus nominates Dave Hibberd Minutes: Wouter Piessens ## 2) Previous AGM minutes, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/meetings/blob/master/2021/2021-05-04%20AGM%20… ## 3) Report on activities since last AGM Hibby walks through the directors report. He thanks all people involved with activities and would like to see more engagement from members to help out with recruitment of new members. See https://github.com/hackerdeen/meetings/blob/master/2023/2023%20Directors%20… ## 4) Treasurer's report See https://github.com/hackerdeen/meetings/blob/master/2023/2023%20Treasurers%2… Transition issues with RBS (bank) on access control to the account are now resolved. Hibby thanks Iain for helping out. Andy mentioned that the 2021 & 2022 Expenditures are only banking fees. Balance 1st March: £9347.59. Andy advises our contribution to AAOB will reduce this sum significantly. Tom seeks clarification on increases for August 2021? Kevin confirms he made a significant contribution at the time. Andy points out that the increase spike for Feb 2023 is by existing members making back payments, after dismemberment emails were sent earlier. Kevin asks how much are we contribution to charity: Hibby proposes a £2500 one off payment to cover past expenses over the last 2 years, followed by £800 per quarter afterwards. Tom adds that emails with AOB imply they are currently struggling with paying bills, however he points out that the energy consumption spreadsheet provided by the landlord to AOB is incoherent, partly due to a dispute with energy supplier. Tom also suggests that our bank reserves are strong enough to make proposed quarterly contributions. ## 5) Update Article 22 - ending membership if subscription payments lapse, https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/1 Proposal: Rewording of ending membership if subscription payments lapse. All voted for: motion passed. Question Peter: "How does the wording of dismemberment affect return to membership". Rob: "It would be up to board to decide if member has to pay 12 months dues or the 2 months dues only" ## 6) Proposal membership secretary, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/2 Rob asks if this does need to be in articles? Andy and Tom answer that there is no need for anybody to be assigned this role. Vote: Motion is not passed. ## 7). Change articles so the AGM doesn't have to be in April, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/3 Peter asks if we can have an AGM in December? Consensus: "that is possible". Vote: Motion passed ## 8) Simplify the membership application process, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/4 Vote: Motion passed ## 9) Remove binary pronouns from articles, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/5 Iain asks who contributed the changes. Andy said all work was done by Nick, and then all is split up on github articles. Vote: Motion passed ## 10) Create a facility for remote membership, see https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles/issues/7 Proposal is to introduce remote membership to anyone who resides over 80km from centre of Aberdeen, then they can apply for remote membership. Kevin asks if it is possible to change this limitation to Aberdeen and Shire. Tom rebuffs this and explains that the problem is that we are not able to act on proposals from members raised during the AGM and enact them straight away. We require them to be put in agenda, which has to be announced 2 weeks before a meeting. Iain asks if there are any limitations on restrictive members? He addresses that there is risk of membership subsidy issues with HMRC for corporation tax. Hibby answers that members are able under the companies act. Iain then advises we should have a restriction for the remote members. Steph points out 80km distance can be see as a restriction. Consensus: "We have a restriction." Andy suggest we can review this in a year’s time, and tweak the terms further then. Vote: Passed by majority, one objection ## 11) Set fee level for remote membership Initial proposal from prior to AGM was £10, which was deemed to high by members. Tom and Rob advise that per articles fees should be paid monthly. Consensus for fee: £2.50 per month, totalling up to £30 per year. Vote: Passed. ## 13) Election of directors All directors stand down New elected directors: Hibby: no nominations received before hand. Andy Gaskell Dave Hibberd Tom Jones Wouter Piessens Kevin Mulhern ## 14) Any Other Competent Business None ## References * https://wiki.57north.org.uk/doku.php?id=admin:agm_email * https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles * https://lists.57north.org.uk/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/57north-discuss@lists…