Minutes Executive Council meeting 9 August 2010

Living Streets Aotearoa Inc 

Minutes of Executive Council Meeting

held 9 August 2010

Meeting held by telephone conference call

Present: Andy Smith, Mike Mellor, Rhys Taylor, Daphne Bell, Liz Thomas, Meg Christie,  Chris Teo-Sherrell, Willemijn Vermaat, Gay Richards (took the minutes)

Apologies: Peter Kortegast

Confirmation of Minutes of 14 June 2010 meeting

 Resolved: Rhys, Daphne carried
That the minutes of the Executive Council meeting held on 14 June 2010 be confirmed.

 Matters arising from minutes

Noted that minutes of previous meeting should be amended to read “May” financial report was received.

Conference debrief

Liz advised that Harding Consultants were collating all the feedback and a summary would be provided to the Executive in due course.

Meg commented that she felt the health benefits and health care cost benefits was a topic missing from the conference.  It was suggested that this would be an excellent theme for a future issue of Footprints.

It was also noted that people from Sustainable Cities were not aware of the conference. This group should be included in the contacts list for future conferences.

All agreed that the conference was very professional, enjoyable and informative and reflected well on Living Streets Aotearoa. The conference committee was thanked.  

Andy noted that the conference was projected to run at a small loss, with an attendance of around 100 delegates. The previous conference made a surplus.

Director’s Report

No report prepared due to the short notice of this meeting and the busy period immediately prior – Golden Foot Awards and NZ Walking Conference.

Gay asked whether any press releases had gone out during the conference. It was suggested that Executive members should write media releases for local papers, especially related to any groups in their areas who were successful in the Golden Foot Awards.

Financial Report

Resolved: Andy, Daphne, carried
That the financial report for June 2010 be received.

Position of National Treasurer

No one was formally elected to the position of National Treasurer at the AGM.  

Liz explained that the bookkeeping work previously done by Lily takes about three hours a week with some extra work at the end of month. The Treasurer’s role is a governance one to check transactions are correct though this could change if there is no office staff.

Resolved: Rhys, Chris, carried
That Andy continue as Treasurer for time being and that he discuss whether Peter would be prepared to undertake the role as he had offered prior to the AGM, and that this be matter be reviewed in October 2010.

Short term NZTA contract

The short term contract offered by NZTA to 30 September 2010 was discussed. Future funding scenarios which could include the need to tender were also discussed.

Resolved: Mike, Rhys, carried
That Living Streets Aotearoa accept in principle the short-term contract as offered by NZTA on 30 July 2010, and that the Executive delegate Liz and Andy to negotiate final details of the contract and outputs required.

The background to the current contract offer was outlined:

The Executive noted that Living Streets had a three year contract with NZTA since 2007 for the Networking Programme, to strengthen the capacity of national and local walking action groups to participate effectively in Transport-focused planning and decision making processes. This included developing the Walking Awards and the Walk2Work campaign, and was worth $180,000 a year. This contract came to an end on 30^th June, and any new contract will not commence until September 2010 at the earliest.

 In the interim, in an email dated 18 June NZTA offered us a 3-month contract worth $31,000; then in an email dated 30 July NZTA unilaterally reduced the contract deliverables, and the value to $20,000. NZTA has also indicated that any future contract will be put out to tender.

Resolved: Mike, Rhys, carried
That our concern over the financial impact of changed circumstances outlined above be noted and conveyed to NZTA.

 It was noted that Liz and Fiona’s contracts end 30 September 2010.

Andy’s discussion document was tabled for future consideration.

Options will be clearer once NZTA funding intentions are released on 6 September 2010.

Future meeting dates

It was agreed that Monday was the best day for most people. 7pm start would suit most.

Next meeting 13 September 2010, 7pm, by teleconference.

General Business

ACTION: Andy to update Executive Workplan for 2010-2011 and place on Google docs for further amendment by others.

Meeting closed 7.12pm