PRESENT: Shane Cousins, Sally Pateman, Marcus Vowels, Tony Lim, Annette Sampson, Cathy Head, Luke Harden, Bill Stahlhut, Alex Organ, Chris Stubbs
APOLOGIES: Jo Warren, Sonja Hammond, Tim O’Connell, Jay Luke, Ken Price, Katie Winkworth, Tony McGowan.
CHAIR: Marcus Vowels
MEETING OPENED: 7.08pm
ITEMS 1 – 3. Welcome, apologies, confirmation of minutes of previous meeting. Apologies accepted and minutes confirmed.
ITEM 4 – Matters arising from minutes.
– Tony Lim reported the Club has received its certificate of insurance from TriNSW and formal approval for club events at Iluka with the first training session scheduled this Sunday. He raised the question of whether the course should be sanctioned as a race course by TriNSW. This would involve charging non-TNSW members a one-day licence fee, payable to TNSW, for participating. Bill Stahlhut pointed out that even though participants were timed, we are not proposing to hold races and should be covered by the allowance for club training events. Tony Lm confirmed that the Club’s insurance was for training events, not races. Marcus Vowels said the insurance only covered the Committee’s liability. If members wanted insurance cover for participating they needed to join TNSW. Resolved that we not seek sanctioning and make it clear to participants that the events are for training purposes only.
– Shane Cousins asked whether the Club’s insurance also covered or needed to cover advertising training sessions such as the Saturday bike ride. Tony Lim volunteered to ask TNSW for clarification.
– Marcus Vowels said Ken Price had asked him to point out that safety issues needed to be considered for events or the Committee could be found to be negligent. Annette Sampson suggested compiling a checklist to be used at every event. Resolved that a checklist include warning signs, first aid kit, risk assessment of course, a minimum of three marshals, safety vests for marshals and a pre-race briefing. Annette Sampson undertook to distribute this checklist to the Committee before Sunday. Cathy Head said the road should also be cleared of hazards. Chris Stubbs suggested a roster be done including someone to determine each month if it was safe for the session to go ahead. Bill Stahlhut volunteered to arrive early this Sunday for the necessary safety checks. Resolved.
– Bill Stahlhut reported the Club trailer had been mistakenly registered in his name and that it has not yet been insured. Resolved that registration be transferred to the Club and Ken Price be asked to organise insurance.
– Tony Lim reported that interest in sponsoring the trailer had also been expressed by a Callala Beach Caravan Park. Shane Cousins said NAB Financial Planning may also offer sponsorship. Resolved that further sponsorship funds be used towards insurance and/or a marquee.
– Shane Cousins suggested the Club apply for sporting grants being offered by the NSW government. Discussion that funds could be sought for bikes, a marquee, walkie-talkies and coaching. Cathy Head said she had been contacted by Phil Dailey about getting more juniors entering state round. He had offered to help with things like transport but she had not yet heard back from him. Resolved that Shane should proceed and submit the applications. Chris Stubbs volunteered to put something together in relation to funding for coaching.
ITEM 5. Correspondence. Tony Lim noted correspondence re insurance and Booderee National Park approval.
ITEM 6. Treasurer’s Report. Sally Pateman said the Club’s current account balance was $202.60 after payment of $900 to TriNSW for affiliation and fees for lodging the accounts with Dept of Fair Trading. She said she had received a further $80 to be banked.
– Sally reported Ken Price had raised the need for a membership database. Tony Lim said he had been keeping a copy of membership information and would forward it to Sally. Sally said she had a list of 21 financial members so far. Resolved that Sally Pateman be responsible for keeping a membership database.
– Cathy Head said some parents had asked her about the $25 flat membership fee and why there was no discount for juniors. Discussion revealed the intention had been to keep fees down for everyone and the introduction of a $50 family rate was intended to make it easier for juniors to join. Cathy commented that sometimes only the junior wanted to join the Club. Chris Stubbs suggested a special membership rate be offered at the Club’s tri season launch in October. Annette Sampson proposed 1. The Club review its fee structure for 2012/13 and look at a discount for juniors then. 2. It offer a membership special for the remainder of 2011/12 at the October launch day. Resolved.
– Luke Harden suggested a forum be added to the Club’s website so that members could communicate with one another. Tony Lim said the Club already had a group email and Facebook page but would consider whether further channels were needed.
– Tony Lim moved to thank Sally Pateman for all her work getting the accounts in order and lodged. Resolved.
– Tony Lim said he had received a Secretary’s Report from Ken Price and would email it to members. (Appendix 1)
ITEM 8 – General Business.
– Alex Organ questioned whether the Club had events for beginners. Cathy Head said she was planning special training sessions and these would be communicated to members.
– Marcus Vowels reported that TriNSW was trying to encourage membership by reducing its annual fee to $100.
– It was noted that Katie Winkworth had suggested a trivia night to raise funds. Resolved to discuss at the next meeting
– Chris Stubbs reported that he had undertaken preliminary investigations on the feasibility of an Ocean Swim event. He said it would likely need separate insurance cover and safety standards. Discussion that these may be set out by the insurer. Chris said he had spoken to some members of the Sailing Club who were in favour of the idea, though we would need formal agreement. He said we would also need to get approval from Marine Parks and Council and both had indicated they would support it. He said one possible date was the weekend of March 17/18 or 24/25 as no other races were set for these weekends. He said he had looked at possible venues and favoured Plantation Point where the sailing club is based as this allowed for a 1.8km swim, a shorter swim around the point, and events for juniors in the cove near the Sailing Club. He suggested Shark Bait Swim as a possible name. Resolved that the Club would pursue the idea and Chris would do further work on it.
– Discussion on whether January might be a better date as there are fewer races on then and it could take advantage of the tourist season. Reservations expressed about using Shark in the name. Cathy Head said Dave Edwards had also done some work on the idea including talking to a surf life saving Club. Agreed that Chris would see what he had come up with.
– Shane Cousins suggested a Corporate Challenge be included.
– Resolved that Sally Pateman would be the membership co-ordinator.
– AGM set for 15 September at 7pm at St Georges Basin Country Club.
– Shane Cousins suggested we look at communityconnect.com.au which had been advertising free promotion of local events. Tony Lim agreed to investigate.
– Chris Stubbs said that Noah’s Ark was running an adventure race in Nowra on October 15 and asked whether the Club would support it. Resolved to include it in the next newsletter.
Meeting closed: 8.21pm
SECRETARY’S REPORT – TO BE TABLED AT NEXT MEETING ON 21/7/11
Please note that all correspondence is available for inspection by club members if required.
Letter to the Department of Fair Trading sent on June 19, 2011 changing the objects of our constitution in line with 2009 legislation. Response received on 27 June noting that the changes have been registered. There was no fee for this.
Letter to the Department of Fair Trading sent on June 20, 2011 noting the appointment of myself as the club’s new Public Officer. Response received on 09 July noting that the changes have been registered. There was no fee for this.
Letter to the Department of Fair Trading sent on June 24, 2011 attaching financial statements for the year ended 30/6/11. Response received on 30 June requesting further information, extra fees of $77.00 and statutory declarations relating to the lack of available historical data. These were sent back to the Department and I am currently waiting a response.
Meeting with Kathy Wiseham, Road Safety Officer, Shoalhaven City Council in June. She briefed me on Council initiatives and we agreed to keep in touch
Letter to the Basin Country Club sent to the general manager, Peter Thorncroft on July 6 requesting they waive room hire costs for future meetings and offering to add their name to the list of sponsors on our web page in return. No response received as of 6/7/11.
2010/11 Financials. These have been discussed with Sally Pateman, who will prepare a final version to be presented at the AGM.
Business Plan. I have not had time to look at this yet and will have to do so when I return from overseas in late August.
Ken Price
Secretary