EGM Saturday 26th

Brian Hope · Post by **Brian Hope** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:45 am

The EGM to present the motion for restructuring the Association takes place on Saturday 26th September.
Details of the motion, with the Memorandum of the Association, Articles , and Rules of the Association, can be found via a link on the home page of the website.
This is a major constitutional change that will bring the Association into line with the manner in which most modern day associations are operated, rather than the outdated arrangement that currently exists where a company that members have no direct control over, owns the Association, rather than the members owning it.
Apart from the fact that acceptance of the motion will mean that the members actually own their own Association, which is at it should be, one of the major benefits will be that proxy voting will be instituted. thus members will be able to lodge their vote for future motions regardless of whether they attend an AGM or not - surely a more democratic system than we have now.
Sounds a bit boring I know, but it is important. If you can possibly make it to the EGM on Saturday at 10:00 am please do so

martin payne · Post by **martin payne** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:29 am

Hi Brian, that's plety of notice to people..... They can't complain about that ...nearly a years notice, but the 6th Sept. does fall on a Monday next year though, not sure I'll make it.
Martin..

Hehehehehe

Peter Harvey · Post by **Peter Harvey** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:50 am

Good point Martin.

The EGM is this Saturday 26th September 2009.

You'll note Brian posted at 5.45am - a time when he often does his voluntary work for the Association, before going to work. Hopefully we can all forgive him being a digit short at that hour (so to speak).
Pete Harvey

steveneale · Post by **steveneale** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:20 pm

I'm taking a car load up and others please try to rally members and do the same. It will be shame if the twenty minute rule has to be invoked because less that 1% attend. This happened at the last AGM.

Let's not let it happen again or less than 40 members votes will decide the future structure of this association. I think it would be quite demoralising for our committee members to put as much work into this as they have only to have only few dozen members turn up.

Steve

Brian Hope · Post by **Brian Hope** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:51 pm

Sadly a very poor turnout, about 40 people in all and that included about a dozen EC members. Motion carried with just a single 'against' vote. Thanks to those that took the time to come and listen to the debate and have their say.
From now on, low turnouts at AGM or EGM will not be such a problem as proxy voting will come into force and members will be able to lodge their votes on line or by post.

Ian Melville · Post by **Ian Melville** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:30 pm

Yes it was a poor turn out, but to be fair it is not realistic to expect members to drive/flying from all cormers of the UK for a 2 hour EGM.

After James first few slides I was thinking how we could use the new rules to change the voting, but there was no need to tax my brain as that had been covered on a later slide.

Dave Hall · Post by **Dave Hall** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:17 am

The low turnout could be seen as trust in the EC and officers who have been working on this for a year or more.

It could be that they don't feel it will change things for the average member, which is probably true.

It might even be that they've read the papers and understand the arguments put forward.
Early questions at NC from Strut representatives gave time for their concerns to be answered, which shows the value of consulting members well before major decisions are made.

I don't think that the relatively low turn-out on a lovely Saturday in early autumn really proves much about the members' attitudes towards the management team.

Proxy votes may mean that even fewer will feel obliged to attend future AGMs or EGMs to hear the arguments for and against, and ill-informed or malicious votes count the same as considered ones. Consultation and airing the arguments will become even more vital.
Proxy voting may not necessarily be a good thing, but it is the law so we can't change it anyway.

Our car-load met up with old (and not so old) LAA friends, and we also looked in on the fascinating Wellington Aviation Museum at Moreton-in-Marsh on the way home - a pleasant way to finish a sociable day out.

Ernest Lear · Post by **Ernest Lear** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:27 pm

As Dave said

"Proxy votes may mean that even fewer will feel obliged to attend future AGMs or EGMs to hear the arguments for and against"

If the maority of our members will be voting by using the web or the post to determine the outcome of any point in question. What will be the point in turning up at any future AGMs or EGMs to hear arguments as they will not have any effect on the outcome of the debate.

"Our car-load met up with old (and not so old) LAA friends,"

Now who was the old or did you have me in mind as the not so old

Dave Hall · Post by **Dave Hall** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:46 pm

Since you were one of the car-load, you were left out of the descriptions, Ernest!

Brian Hope · Post by **Brian Hope** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:54 am

"Proxy votes may mean that even fewer will feel obliged to attend future AGMs or EGMs to hear the arguments for and against"

We just have to ensure that via the website and the magazine, we have the debate prior to members lodging their proxy vote. The AGM does become somthing of an irrelevance though.

Rod1 · Post by **Rod1** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:07 pm

[quote="Brian Hope
We just have to ensure that via the website and the magazine, we have the debate prior to members lodging their proxy vote. The AGM does become somthing of an irrelevance though."[/quote]

That is certainly possible, but only if most of the EC are prepared to put their point of view on the BB, and enter into a debate. Is that likely?

Rod1

Brian Hope · Post by **Brian Hope** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:32 pm

Rod, motions that are raised by EC, or to be correct now that we will be adopting the new company/association structure - by the directors - will have board approval and thus there is a 'party line', so no real need for other than a representative view or explanation to be expressed when responding to questions. To some extent the same will be true of motions raised by members, the board will discuss the motion and take a view on it, either supporting or not supporting it, and explain the reasoning behind its decision.