Minutes: general/2001-agm
MINUTES OF ROCKSOC AGM-2001 07/03/01
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The Annual General Meeting was held in the Lecture Theatre of Trinity Hall
College and was called to order by Oli at 2037. All members of the
committee were present. Oli, Baz and Liz sat behind a big table at one end
of the room. There were some nice candles, some black cloth, some roses
and lots of Hobgoblin.
1/ PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Oli welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a brief summary of what
Rocksoc has achieved throughout the year. At this point, the lights were
turned off and the candles lit. Andy lit his spliff from one of the
aforementioned candles. Membership has climbed from nearly 250 to over
300, and we have organised many events and trips throughout the
year. These included a couple of gigs (Akercocke and Marillion), trips to
Brumfest 2000, Iron Maiden, the Peacefest and Graspop, a picnic, a quiz,
the continuation of WUS and the setting up of a new monthly club night
(The Hell Hole) and a short-lived requests night at the Alma. We have also
improved relations with the Boat Race and the Arts Theatre amongst others.
2/ TREASURER'S REPORT
Liz informed everyone that the current bank balance is £1264.29, although
there are still some cheques to go out. The balance at the previous AGM
had been £1076.18. Including assets of about £1500 (decks, CD library,
T-shirts etc.) we probably have a total holding of between £2000-£3000. A
more complete report has been submitted to the Senior Treasurer and will
be put up on the website as soon as possible.
3/ ELECTION OF THE NEW COMMITTEE
(a) President:
Andy McLellan (nominated by Oli Wade, seconded by Jason Hill)
Roy Poulton (nominated by Isobell Barry, seconded by Naama Wartenburg)
Andy said that he would continue to organise lots of events, and would
encourage more people to contribute and to approach the committee with
serious suggestions or complaints. He said he would improve publicity and
would look into promoting local bands containing Rocksoc members, perhaps
by way of a monthly event. Roy was unable to attend due to appearing in a
play, so Baz read his manifesto. This said that he would also improve
publicity, look into organising more college-linked events and strive to
obtain more discounts for Rocksoc members.
ANDY: 22 (+2 postal votes + self = 25); ROY: 2 (+1 postal vote =
3); RON: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 0.
(b) Webthing:
Aidan Campbell (nominated by Marcus Crookes, seconded by Ann Tennant)
Aidan said that he would improve the website. Changing the colour was
mentioned. John Sullivan mentioned that Aidan's e-mail account was
over-quota and that as such his own manifesto bounced when sent to the
list. Concern was raised over how many of the committee meetings he would
be able to attend. Aidan said there would be no problem keeping it updated
over the Summer.
FOR: 1 (+1 postal vote + self = 3); RON: 15; ABSTENTIONS: 8.
(c) WUS Officer
Emma Bennett (nominated by Gina Dungworth, seconded by Barry Carriline)
Andy Hudson (nominated by Graham Russell, seconded by John Harvey)
Emma said that attendance at WUS was good but could be improved. She said
that she'd improve publicity by distributing more flyers and try to
attract people from outside Cambridge. She said she'd like to improve
variety at WUS, and make DJ planning much more concrete and have the
information available earlier. Andy said that numbers at WUS are
increasing anyway, and so the task is to appeal better to the people
already coming. He commented that he has had a successful year this year
with both WUS and the H ell Hole. He said that variety is good and already
present due to the volunteer nature of the DJs, but he wanted to add more
consistency to the layout of the night in order to improve numbers at the
beginning of the night. He also commented that the most important role of
a committee member is often not just that person's basic position, but
other activities that they organise - of which he's been responsible for
several over the last year.
ANDY: 16 (+2 postal votes + self = 19); EMMA: 3 (+ self =
4); RON: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 4.
4/ ABSENT COMMITTEE POSTS
As there was no-one standing for Secretary, Treasurer or Token Fogey, and
nominations for Webthing had been re-opened, a vote was taken to decide
whether the new committee should be mandated to sort out the missing posts
or whether anyone at the meeting would like to stand, and everything
sorted out now. Various people present at the meeting had expressed an
interest in standing for the absent positions.
MANDATE THE NEW COMMITTEE: 1
SORT IT OUT NOW: 24
ABSTENTIONS: 0
Hence, it was decided to let interested parties present at the AGM stand
for the remaining positions. It was assumed that members of the committee
would act as nominators and seconders.
(d) Secretary - Elisabeth Connolly said she would be willing to secrete
for the society and was interested in pulling new members.
FOR: 24 (+ self = 25); RON: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 0.
(e) Mary Chester-Kadwell said she'd stand for webthing. She said that she
thinks the current webpage is good, and so she wouldn't change much,
except maybe some textures.
FOR: 23 (+ self = 24); RON: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 1.
(e) Token Fogey. Barry and Gina said that they could stand together for
Token Fogey if no-one else would do it, but said that might not be able to
attend many committee meetings.
FOR: 1 (+ selves = 3); RON: 14; ABSTENTIONS: 8.
(f) Treasurer - Emma Bennett said that she would stand for Treasurer as
she still really wanted to get involved with the committee. She said she
could use Excel, and that she was currently working for a bank which might
be useful.
FOR: 13 (+ self = 14); RON: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 11.
The new committee are therefore:
President - Andy McLellan
Secretary - Elisabeth Connolly
Treasurer - Emma Bennett
WUS Officer - Andy Hudson
Webthing - Mary Chester-Kadwell
Token Fogey - to be sorted out by the new committee
5/ CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
a) The committee were proposing the following, in order to reflect current
practice and remove inconsistency:
To change clause 4a of the constitution from:
"The Society shall be run by a committee of no more than eight
members. This committee shall include a President, a Secretary and a
Junior Treasurer, plus other members as deemed necessary by the electing
AGM."
to:
"The Society shall be run by a committee of no more than eight
members. This committee shall include a President, a Secretary and a
Junior Treasurer, plus other members as deemed necessary by the outgoing
committee and confirmed by the electing AGM."
And to change clause 5 from:
"The committee shall be elected at the AGM."
to:
"The committee shall be elected annually at a general meeting."
b) David Damerell is proposing this alternative amendment to the
constitution:
From:
"5. The committee shall be elected at the AGM."
to:
"5. The committee shall be elected at the AGM. Any proposals to add or
remove Committee posts must be submitted by Members of the Society and
seconded by two other Members of the Society no more than ten days after
the notice of the AGM. Members of the Society may stand for Committee
posts which are proposed as well as those currently extant; they should
declare their intention to stand as early as possible, for the convenience
of those submitting proxy votes. All proposals to add or remove posts must
be voted on as simple yes/no votes before any voting is done to appoint
candidates to posts."
John Sullivan commented that this was the wrong time and place to argue
about this issue, as people hadn't had enough time to think about the
motions, people were too drunk and wouldn't consider the implications, and
that really this kind should have been thrashed out and virtually decided
before the meeting to prevent wasting time in argument. A vote was taken
as to whether the proposed change should be sorted out now or at a later
date by the new committee.
SORT IT OUT NOW: 3
SORT IT OUT LATER: 13
ABSTENTIONS: 9
It was therefore agreed that the new committee are to sort out the
conflicting proposals.
c) The committee were also proposing, with the Senior Treasurer's
agreement:
To introduce a new clause 13a to read:
"No committee member may pass the (responsibility of the) accounts on to
another committee member unless they have been verified by the Senior
Treasurer."
And a 13b to read:
"All accounts and financial reports must be kept for a minimum of 3
years."
FOR: 14; AGAINST: 1; ABSTENTIONS: 10. Motion passed.
d) The Committee were also proposing, again to reflect current practice:
To change section 6 from:
"Only current members of the Society shall be eligible to vote. Ballot
papers will be made available by the Secretary on the presentation of a
valid membership card. Candidates for election must be Members of the
Society and must be nominated and seconded by two other members
of the Society."
to:
"Only Current members of the Society shall be eligible to vote. Members
will be required to produce a valid membership card. The Secretary will
organise the voting procedure. Candidates for election must be Members of
the Society and must be nominated and seconded by two other members of the
Society."
FOR: 16; AGAINST: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 9. Motion passed.
6/ OTHER MOTIONS
a) Proposed by the committee:
he incoming committee are mandated to sort and catalogue the Rocksoc CD
library, and then make it available to members as appropriate.
FOR: 18 (+1 postal vote = 19); AGAINST: 0; ABSTENTIONS: 7. Motion passed.
b) Emma's AOB concerning the upcoming Killing Miranda was agreed to be
discussed at a committee meeting rather than at the AGM.
The meeting was finally called to a close at 2302, after much Hobgoblin
and Trinity Hall people complaining about the offensive nature of my
T-shirt. Ho hum.