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Board Report: November 2013

Hi Everyone,

Below is a quick summary of the November Board meeting - held in Wellington on Sunday 17th November.  Following the last meeting where a number of key decisions were made on Board structures, this meeting was more of a 'business as usual' session. 

The financial results for the 4 months to October were presented - copies of the summary reports will be made available as usual to clubs (attached). The YTD results remain healthy with a $2.15m Operating Surplus, which after taking account of timing variances is still on track for a full year Operating Surplus of $1.05m before Capex and Revaluations.  Out of this surplus we have to fund $556,000 of capital expenditure for which grant income has been received, so the forecast cash surplus at the end of the year is around $500,000. 

In terms of other agenda items covered at the meeting, the following are worth commenting on:

  • The Board asked Management to provide clubs on a twice yearly basis the 'Balanced Scorecard' being used to measure the health of the SLSNZ business and overall Surf Life Saving movement.  The scorecards set out a number of Key Performance Indicators that are being monitored.
  • The Board noted the latest progress in getting alignment between Club Constitutions and the SLSNZ Constitution, which is a requirement of membership of SLSNZ.  After two years and multiple extensions to the deadline there are still a number of clubs not through the process and a revised deadline was agreed to enable those clubs one last chance to tidy up the paperwork.  There will be direct communication coming out to those clubs affected and SLSNZ or SLSNR will provide assistance where required to get clubs across the line.
  • Risk management also got a good discussion - with an update to the SLSNZ risk register to be provided to the Board at its February meeting.  We are in the 'risk' business and with increasing expectations on us for risk management (with health & safety just being one area), the Board will be spending more time on this in the future.
  • Also in relation to the February Board meeting, it was decided to bring the Planning Day forward from its traditional May date to the February Board meeting in order to get more alignment with the overall planning process, which is now underway for 2014/15, with the outputs of the AGM Club Chairs workshop in September and feedback from the Regional Club Chairs meetings being integrated with thoughts from Management to develop strategies and budgets for the February meeting.
  • The Board also undertook to develop a 'charter' document - to describe how the Board itself will operate - which is a common best practice approach these days.
  • Also noted by the Board was the release of club funding agreements for the 2013/14 year, the release of the draft Member Protection Regulation and Guidelines to clubs and the relocation of the SLSNZ Commercial Manager to be based in Auckland rather than in Wellington, the latter to be closer to our major commercial partners and to assist optimising the win/win opportunities with SLSNR.
  • Satisfaction was also expressed with the imminent release of the Event Safety Manual and the start of the process to train Event Safety Officers.  The Board is particularly keen to get this out and in use this season.
  • Discussion took place on the position SLSNZ has to fill on the Water Safety NZ Board  - and a decision on this will be made in the next few weeks.
  • The topic of re-establishing a SLSNZ Foundation was also given attention - and will be given a more thorough airing in February.  Discussions have been held with parties who can provide the 'behind the scenes' support, but there is a lot of work to do to ensure the market-facing structures are ready.  This has been a subject of discussion for a number of years now and the Board is keen to see progress made. 

Overall, this was a productive meeting and with a number of key activities due to be completed in the next few weeks the Board will have a lot to discuss at its next session which is being held on Sunday 15th December by teleconference .  So until my next update……..

Yours in surf,   

Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
 Surf Life Saving New Zealand