Meeting minutes

[Guest L/D]

Do board meeting minutes ever get published so the membership knows what is going on and what was moved and carried?

 

If not, why not?

 

 

[Guest Brett Campany]

Do board meeting minutes ever get published so the membership knows what is going on and what was moved and carried?If not, why not?

My guess is that something like that would be published in the Recreational Aviation Australia magazine. The new one's out now, I went and got it yesterday.:thumb_up:

 

 

[Guest TOSGcentral]

No L/D there are no published minutes of Board meetings. The closest that you will get is a written statement sketch of the previous AGM, but you have to physically attend the current AGM in Canberra to get those.

 

 

When I was on the Board I did substantial write-ups of the two Board meetings each year and had them published in the AUF Magazine as the representative for SE Q’ld. Pat McGrath (Rep for Nth Q’ld) did the same. So the membership did actually get a fair bit of information on what was happening – but this was entirely voluntary on our part and ceased when we each left the Board.

 

 

The only way members get to know anything about how the movement is run, or where it is going, is from the magazine published Executive and Manager reports on what has happened, but this is polarised to a handful of currently topical subjects and gives little indication of overall movement management nitty gritty.

 

 

The irritating point about all of this is that the members are from time to time criticised for apathy (ie not voting at elections or taking an interest in the movement itself) when in fact this attitude is being constantly fuelled by a seemingly implicit policy, that has been in place for years, that the successive AUF/RAAus organisation is a ‘service provider to users’ rather than meeting the requirements of its actual status as being an elected body representing the members – with the consequent reporting obligation.

 

 

A great deal could be done to alleviate the very real communication problem that certainly exists by a loose leaf insert of detailed minutes twice a year to the magazine that goes only to financial members. This would not be expensive and would avoid inner RAAus business being placed in the public areana.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Or a web site with a password linked to current membership status.

 

 

[facthunter]

Structure. of RAAus.

 

Without going into this deeply, the RAAus is an incorporated body, and depending on the state in which it is registered, would have a set of rules, (constitution) which must conform (more or less) to a structure laid down by the responsible authority in that state.

 

This would stipulate certain MINIMUM requirements, which covers things like required No. of board meetings per year, Numbers for a quorum, the requirement for an AGM. (Annual General Meeting) notification of said meeting, and matters listed for consideration at that meeting 9 the agenda), Election of officers/reps etc. Publishing of an annual financial report,(audited). These are the basics. There may also be policy statements which could be seen as guidance, but non-binding.

 

The communication issue and Minutes.

 

Minutes are supposed to be a true and accurate record of the meeting, but as most contributors to this forum will realise after a short while, it is very hard to write anything that cannot be mis-interpreted, ie has no ambiguity. Minutes of all meetings are supposed to be initialled by the chairman of the meeting, and kept for a specified period.

 

The need for transparency.

 

This is often seen as a necessity. In deeply political situations, while this would let the members know what is being planned, it would let the whole world know, also, so you could shoot yourself in the foot easily and achieve nothing.

 

So I would not be advocating simply publishing the minutes, but I feel they would be available on request.

 

APATHY at election time.

 

A bit of a worry, but the reasons are hard to pin down. The response to part103 however was seen to be very good by industry standards. The election of good reps. is essential. I would get rid of the preferential system, or make it optional. You should not be compelled to fill in ALL the numbers if you do not want to vote for the others. Nev.