MINUTES of the Brooklyn Scouts Joint Parent Leaders Committee 
Wednesday 8 July 2015

Venue: Scout Hall. Meeting started at 7.30 pm

Present
Oliver, Gillian, Michael, Denise, Rex, Erina, Alevtina
 
Apologies
Sue, Jo, Bob, Terry, Sue, Annaleah, David, Chris, Gussy

Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.  

Actions review
See comments on the action log below. 

Correspondence
Two Placemakers bills/statements. Further enquiries from new cubs.
Email from Don Thomson, Engineer. Has quoted to look at earthquake assessment and for phase of two work (site investigation). Rex to go back and clarify amounts as this was unclear in the minutes.

HSSE check in
Discussed at leaders meeting – no new issues. 
Bob has circulated the emergency action plan and this now needs to be printed and put up.

Treasurer’s report

Jenny had provided her final set of accounts including a review of expenditure and a series of proposed resolutions and actions. 

The committee discussed how Group funds should be allocated with a general principle for this year to be:

•	First call on funds is to fund operating costs
•	Then upgrade of gear – to enable activities 
•	After that – split of funds to jamboree – what we’re aiming for

We discussed that in subsequent years the order for funds should be operating (1), jamboree (2). The extra priority for gear this year reflects the urgent need to upgrade equipment to enable activities. 

We also noted it was important to communicate this to parents through the newsletter (see action). Points to raise with parents include:
•	That we have raised more this year because of extra stadium work
•	Where the chunks are going to – operating, one-off gear investment

With a larger number of scouts expected to qualify for jamboree this year, the expected cost is $20K. We need to think about both Venture Jam and the Scout jamboree and fundraise and allocate for both.

In terms of allocation of Group fundraising for jamboree we agreed we would use a similar formula to that used for the last jamboree:
•	We will allocate funds raised up to an 80% cap
•	An hour’s effort (in any fundraisers) will qualify for a percentage of the fundraising dollars
•	40 hours effort gets the full 80%. Extra hours don’t qualify the Scout/Venturer for extra money
•	We will accept working bee hours as well. 
•	Parent hours up to 50% of kids hours for cubs and younger scouts can be counted

30% of stadium fundraising will go toward jamboree funds (from 1 July to end of next financial year (30 Sept 2016). Note, the resolution on this records this is subject to core funding costs being met. In addition 10% of stadium fundraising dollars will go to Venturers recognising the significant effort Venturers put into stadium work.

The Committee also noted that with the financial review now been complete we know that we have sufficient funds to complete transfers of funds as follows:
•	$5K for the purchase of gear (see previous resolution 15/126)
•	$5K to go to jamboree fundraising

We noted, that once we identify what we need for gear, we could still look at seeking additional fundraising for gear from grants.

The Treasurer’s recommendation that we allocate $1000 from Group Retained funds to Hall Maintenance upkeep wasn’t necessary since we don’t have a separate fund as such.   If we believe there is a priority maintenance need we can choose to spend above budget (balanced by underspend in other areas).
However we note that for next year we need to allow more for basic maintenance as this year we did not allocate enough and have overspent on general maintenance. In the future we need to allocate 1.5 – 2% versus 1% allocated this year. We noted that no-one had actioned purchasing fire extinguishers (see Resolution 14/110) and this needed urgently actioning (QM to do)

Scout Exec update
Denise noted that one of the key things to focus on as a result of the ‘Better Prepared’ strategy is the inclusive growth goal. 
One of the ways to grow the Group would be to further investigate running a second Cub pack. Some funding would be available from National should we choose to do this. We noted however that the current leaders are not in favour of a second pack. We noted there is an issue with insufficient leaders.
Consolidated reporting is coming. We are ready for this – we may need to adjust approaches to fit entirely. As discussed previously, we could volunteer to trial this. Michael also noted that it is a condition of our lease to provide reporting to the Council. Providing the Chairman’s report and financials from the AGM would be an appropriate way to do this.

Section summaries

75 official members. 69 paid. 
Scouts
David moving to Scouts. Bob, Terry and Denise still there but Bob has noted his intention to retire.
Venturers
Ski trip next week – only two Venturers. 
Keas and Cubs
Cubs growth. Need more leaders. Erina assisting in Keas.

General business

Leaders meeting
Training plan now available. We have identified training will cost up to $3,000 for essential need based training. Some applications for funding could be made to pay for this training – the Committee made resolutions for Erina to make these applications. First aid training is seen as pivotal and essential training with a need for annual refreshers. Full training is needed to take Possum and David to senior leader levels.

Leaders meeting had noted that special needs training could be useful.  Denise noted that this was a training need also identified in national and regional discussions, so perhaps an opportunity to get some training going at Zone or Region level.   

Selling / donating shirts
Sue had raised the idea of selling shirts via the newsletter. The committee noted making uniforms available would be consistent with inclusive growth goals. However we need to make this very easy to manage.

The Committee proposed that that if any parent wants/needs to sell their shirt they can contact Gillian to put a notice in the newsletter with the parent contact details – parents to contact each other direct with no Leader or Committee involvement. 

If parents want to donate their shirts they can give to a Leader who will allocate it to someone. If youth can’t afford a shirt they should talk to a Leader who will be able to help.

Fund-raising

A number of resolutions were made during the meeting to make fundraising applications. See record of resolutions.

Projects update
Refer to the pre-read circulated with the agenda. 
Rex explained that the proposed project 1 – apron, would give us immediate utility and future proofs us for ongoing work. Note, this is separate to the wider deck idea. The next priority is to get toilets sorted. 

Denise noted Iona Pannet had queried whether we could do a disabled toilet. Denise wondered whether we might apply for a grant for the phase one, feasibility study. We would need enough to cover basic drafting, resource consents, etc. Until we have decent feasibility information we can’t really determine priorities or where we might best seek full costing.

The Committee agreed the apron would be the best next project. Funding is needed – there has been an anonymous donation of $1500 subject to us matching this. However currently we don’t have sufficient funds to match (and pay for the required safety railing). Funding ideas discussed approaching the Masons for funding for the apron. With a benefit for them of visible signage (subject to Council approval).

Maintenance ideas – Rex’s list added to minutes as the list of maintenance required. 

Other business

Meeting closed: 9.30 pm

Next meeting
==============
Wednesday 5 August: 7.30 pm

Record of actions discussed and closed at or since last meeting (see comments), and still open or new as at 8/7/2015. 
Grey = closed at meeting. Red = overdue actions 

Number	Action	Who	Due date	Status	Comments	
15/196	Approach the Masons to see whether they would be interested in funding the 'apron' for the Hall	Erina	30/08/2015	Open		
15/195	Approach Council to discuss potential for feasibility funding for next phase of building project work	Erina/Rex	30/08/2015	Open		
15/194	Erina to put in applications for funding as noted in the resolutions	Erina	10/08/2015	Open		
15/193	Supply the Chairman’s report and financials from AGM to Council to meet the conditions of our lease to provide financial reporting	Michael	31/12/2015	Open		
15/192	Close the electrics and QM store projects from the accounts	Alevtina	31/07/2015	Open		
15/191	Organise to purchase 6 fire extinguishers (hall, den, kitchen QM store and 2 camping) to be paid out of the hall maintenance fund in the absence of any grant	Michael	31/07/2015	Open		
15/190	Talk to Kiwibank about setting up a best available rate savings account to separately maintain jamboree funds ($5,000) 	Denise/Oliver/Alevtina	10/07/2015	Open		
15/189	Set up a system for recording stadium hours (liaising with Denise re adding to total jamboree fundraising hours)	Chris	30/08/2015	Open		
15/188	Write instructions for running a fundraising BBQ	Erina	30/09/2015	Open		
15/187	Find the previous jamboree fundraising spreadsheet and organise to set up to record hours for the next jamboree	Denise	10/08/2015	Open		
15/186	Include information in the next newsletter about how Group funds are to be allocated (split between operating, fundraising etc)	Oliver	31/07/2015	Open		
15/185	Transfer over the bank accounts so that Alevtina can sign	Denise/Oliver/Alevtina	10/07/2015	Open	Completed 09/07/2-015	
15/184	Leaders to organise to print out the evacuation plan	Denise	31/07/2015	Open		
15/183	Clarify where stadium fund-raising is going and confirm back to the Committee	Jenny	07/07/2015	Closed	Discussed at meeting 8/7	
15/182	Review all expenditure noted at this Committee meeting against previous resolutions and commitments to ensure the proposed spend remains in line with them	Jenny	03/06/2015	Closed	Discussed at meeting 8/7	
15/180	Discuss communication channels to parents and make a recommendation to next Committee meeting	Gillian / Oliver	07/07/2015	Closed	No responses to request for feedback on newsletter. Look at using mailchimp to trace readership online. Gillian and David will need to liaise on membership list. Leaders to reinforce to parents the importance of reading emails.	
15/179	Table leader training plans for approval at next Committee meeting	Oliver	07/07/2015	Closed		
15/178	Send donation receipts to those who've donated to the building project	Jenny	15/06/2015	Open	Oliver to send Alevtina a template to use	
15/177	Add information about pro-rata fees for those joining part way through the year to the website information about fees	David	07/07/2015	Open	David - please update. Has this happened?	
15/175	Complete set up of Online Scout Manager	Leaders	30/06/2015	Open	Good progress made. Cubs 100%, Scouts 80%. Venturers 40%. Keas needs help.	
14/171	Review forms on website and replace downloaded forms with link to forms on National website	David	31/05/2015	Open	Necessary as forms get out-of-date. Priority is vetting and warrant form	
14/169	Develop a memorandum of understanding or similar that can be stored on google drive to record hall hires	Michael/Oliver	30/06/2015	Closed	A4 planner to go on wall. Hires already contained within google drive. Note one-off hire progressing on 6 June. Completion date extended until A4 planner is available and in use.	
14/168	Develop a policy on refunds for activities	Jenny/Oliver/Denise	31/05/2015	Closed	Policy determined. Needs to go on website.	
14/164	Follow-up on results of first exit surveys and establish a system to alert Sylvie of 'new exits'	Erina	31/05/2015	Open	Interviews have happened. No reasons of note – but committee asked to see them anyway and also process for alerting to new exits. New date set for this part. 8/7 - noted we should only see anonymised trend results.	
14/160	Further detailed instructions to be sent re using new i-cloud facility (including how to set up Gmail)	Oliver/Gillian	01/12/2014	Closed	Re-send link and instructions with the minutes. See David if you don't have gmail and not sure how to set it up	
14/158	Discuss the costs to fix items on the snagging list, particularly those that raise safety concerns	Oliver/Jenny	31/03/2015	Closed	See full building report/snagging list. Now being picked up out of maintenance.	
14/152	Put seeking leader feedback on what the QM store should contain into the next leaders meeting agenda	Oliver	21/11/2014	Open	Discussed at leaders meeting although no outcome was determined.To be confirmed.	
14/147	Circulate a written update on signage pricing options and the proposed designs	Terry	30/ 4/2015	Open	Terry will take over actioning this. Waiting for email from Gavin	
14/133	Update Committee on status of hall lease agreement	Michael	30/04/2015	Ongoing	Word version not available. Michael to email PDF to David to convert. In the interim Council have agreed hiring of hall is up to us (providing it's not for substantive periods). New deadline added. 8/7 - Converted to Word. Proposed amends complete except for one. Once completed will go back to Council. Michael comfortable we are ok despite no formal conclusion at this stage (still within agreed term, and we renew for an extra 5 years after this).	

Record of resolutions from 8/7/15
Number	Resolution	Moved	Seconded	Voting	Notes	
15/137	THAT, we approach the Pelorous Trust for a grant of $10,000 for essential gear for jamboree	Erina	Gillian	CARRIED U		
15/136	THAT, we apply to the Lottery Outdoors Water Safety and Safety Trust for $xx to send up to 10 leaders/parents and senior youth to outdoor training	Denise	Oliver	CARRIED U		
15/135	THAT, we apply to Trust House for $1600 for first aid training for up to 8 leaders	Denise	Oliver	CARRIED U		
15/134	THAT, Alevtina take over as Treasurer effective from 8 July 2015	Gillian	Oliver	CARRIED U	With acclamation	
15/133	THAT, we allocate $5000 from retained funds to a special new sub-account for jamboree funds. 	Oliver	Erina	CARRIED U		
15/132	THAT, we use a similar system to that used for last jamboree to record hours and allocate fundraising monies to individual Venturers and Scouts for jamboree (reflects hours effort across all fundraising). 	Erina	Oliver	CARRIED U		
15/131	THAT, 10% of stadium fundraising from 1 July 2015 onwards goes to Venturers 	Erina	Oliver	CARRIED U		
15/130	THAT, 30% of stadium fundraising from 1 July 2015 to end of financial year (30 Sept 2016) be allocated for jamboree (subject to core cost funding being met) 	Erina	Oliver	CARRIED U		
15/129	THAT, THE emergency evacuation plan circulated by Bob be accepted	Erina	Michael	CARRIED U		
15/128	THAT, the minutes of the previous meeting be approved	Erina	Gillian	CARRIED U