Hi Everyone,
On behalf of the newly appointed SLSNZ Board, I am pleased
to be able to provide this update. Firstly we have an update
from the Annual General Meeting in September:
- We ended up with just 28 clubs present in person on the day,
with one there by proxy and six that voted electronically. My
thanks to all the clubs who did attend as this was only just enough
clubs present to exceed the minimum required for the quorum (25
clubs) which is something we will need to improve on next
year. While there were a number of factors creating this
situation (the General Election and lots of people in France
supporting the Black Fins) only having 35 clubs participate in the
process does mean there the majority of clubs (39 clubs or 53%) did
not and we should be able to do better than this.
- In terms of Board election results, Colin Weatherall was
re-elected and Todd Cations-Velvin was elected as a 'newbie'.
Welcome back Colin and congratulations to Todd.
- The meeting approved the Annual Report and the 2013/14
Financial Statements.
- The meeting also approved the proposed Honoraria for the Board
for the coming year.
- There were no changes to the Constitution or other agenda
items, so the whole meeting was over in 27 minutes - something of a
record our President who chaired the meeting can be proud of!
- The full Board is now myself (Geoff Hamilton), Brent Warner,
Colin Weatherall, Joe Pope, Trevor Taylor, Graham Crombie, Todd
Cations-Velvin and as previously announced Rick Stolwerk (Waipu
Cove SLSC) as our new Appointed Board Member. Our first
meeting was held in October an update of which is below.
- Our Annual Report is available online on the SLSNZ website for
those that want to read it.
- On the morning of the AGM, a strategy workshop for club Chairs
was held. This was a very worthwhile event and discussed some
key topics including Health & Safety, a Strategic Plan for the
surf life saving movement and the priorities for SLSNZ in
2015/16. The outputs from this are also attached.
- The Awards of Excellence dinner held at the Amora Hotel in
Wellington was again a great night. Hosted by Sky TV
presenter Stephen McIvor, we were very fortunate to have our
Patron, Lt. General The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae and Lady Janine
with us for the evening, despite the General Election being on at
the same time. I'm sure it's not every day the Governor
General gets commended by his former lifeguard instructor (in this
case Denis Cooksley) for 'turning out alright' in the end!!
It was great to see so many people honoured for their years
of commitment. A full list of award winners has already been
announced but I do want to mention the main recipients here:
- Gudsell Trophy - Mairangi Bay SLSC
- London Trophy - Raglan SLSC
- NZLGB Lifeguard of the Year - Nick Mulcahy, Titahi Bay
SLSC
- DHL Volunteer of the Year - Stephen Johnston, Waimairi
SLSC
- BP Surf Rescue of the Year - Whakatane SLSC
- DHL Surf Official of the Year - Ross Merrett, Papamoa SLSC
- DHL International Sports Performance of the Year - Samantha
Less, Lyall Bay SLSC
- DHL Coach of the Year - Kurt Wilson, Papamoa SLSC
- Instructor of the Year - Fiona Climo, East End SLSC
- Innovation of the Year - Bethells Beach SLSC
- SLSNZ new Life Members - Ron Valentine (Paekakariki SLSC) and
John 'Spindles' Bryant (Mt Maunganui Lifeguard Service)
- 50 Year Badges - Malcolm Beattie (Sunset Beach LS), Warren Clow
(Fitzroy SLSC), Barry Coleman (Waimarama SLSC), Denis Cooksley
(Mairangi Bay SLSC), Warwick 'Wok' Donnelly (Mairangi Bay SLSC),
Lynette McFedries (Otaki SLSC), Napier McFedries (Otaki SLSC),
David Lean (NPOB SLSC), Terry Dell (Mt Maunganui LS), Marie Flavell
(Mangawhai Heads VLS), Ian MacLaine (Waipu Cove), Arthur Tong
(Whakatane SLSC) and Warwick Jones (Pacific SLSC).
Congratulations to everyone.
The October Board meeting was held in Wellington on Sunday
19th October in Wellington. This was the first meeting
of the new Board.
From a financial perspective the results for the 3 months to
30th September were a Net Operating Surplus of $1.16
million against a budget of $0.95 million, a positive difference of
$210,000. This is all due to timing differences and the
underlying result for the period is really at budgeted
levels. The Year-end Forecast for the Net Operating Surplus
had slipped a bit this month, to being $115,000 behind budget, but
action has now been taken to fix this for next month. See the
attached normal monthly report for details.
At the first meeting after each AGM the Board goes through the
process of appointing the Chair and Deputy Chair for the coming
year and sets up a number of committees.
This year the Board re-appointed myself (Geoff Hamilton) as
Chairman and Brent Warner as the Deputy Chairman for the next 12
months. The following Board subcommittees were also
appointed:
- Audit & Risk:
Chair - Graham Crombie with Todd Cations - Velvin.
- Water Safety
NZ
Chair - Brent Warner.
- Governance
:
Chair Geoff Hamilton with Colin Weatherall and Trevor Taylor.
-
Foundation:
Chair - Geoff Hamilton with Joe Pope, Rick Stolwerk and Trevor
Taylor.
In addition the following Board members were confirmed as
ex-officio liaison members of the NLC and NSC:
- National Lifesaving Committee - Rick Stolwerk.
- National Sport Committee - Colin Weatherall.
After discussion on the topic of co-opting an additional Board
member to cover any skill gaps, it was decided that there were no
obvious gaps that needed to be filled at this time. While
there was a noted lack of gender diversity in the makeup of the
current Board this alone was not a strong enough reason to co-opt
an additional member, and it was felt it should be left for the
Board Appointments Panel to manage in the next round of
appointments in 2015.
In terms of other outcomes from the meeting:
- The Board endorsed the recommendations of the selection panel
to appoint Joel Davies and Brad O'Leary as SLSNZ appointed members
of the National Sport Committee for an 18month term starting on 1
October 2014. Congratulations to Joel and Brad and thanks for
your ongoing contributions.
- Also in terms of Surf Sport, it was noted that the Blue Sky
Review report was now finalised and ready to come to the Board in
November.
- The Board discussed the upcoming Sport NZ review of governance
in 26 sector organisations including SLSNZ in a follow-up to a
similar study in 2003.
- Discussion also took place on the latest draft of the Water
Safety NZ Sector Plan that has been circulated on 17th
October. This was to be presented to the wider WSNZ
membership at the WSNZ AGM later in October.
- The notes from the Club Chairs Workshop at the AGM were
discussed by the Board, along with the actions arising. As
mentioned earlier, this was a good session with some concrete
outcomes to follow through on.
- The Board noted Clubs progress in aligning their Constitutions
with that of SLSNZ, the deadline for which had been set as
30th September. The focus is now to assist the
last five clubs currently having challenges to get this work
completed.
- Looking ahead, the Board discussed the exposure that SLSNZ has
to income via grants from Gaming Trusts, currently at about
$600,000 per annum. Discussion took place on the plan to
reduce this reliance in the event this income source continues to
decline and also the need to also identify the exposure of Clubs to
gaming grants.
- The Board also discussed the full year Serious Injury Summary
for the 2013/14 Season (previously discussed in April with interim
results) along with some proposed targets for 2014/15. The
area the Board wanted to see the most improvement in was in
IRB-related injuries.
- On the wider subject of Member Protection it was noted as part
of the Club Chairs Workshop that Clubs were looking for more
templates in this area as soon as possible. Management has
taken this message on Board to fast-track as many templates as
possible in the next couple of months.
So that's it from me - it has been a busy few months!
The next Board meeting will be held in Wellington on Sunday
16th November. So until my next update……
Yours in surf,
Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
