Number of financial member organizations in attendance = 13

Transcription

1 Draft Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Sydney Weeds Committees Incorporated Held on Thursday 8 th December 2016 Penrith Civic Centre, 601 High Street PENRITH NSW Attendance Name Organization Sub-committee Jonathan Sanders NPWS (Central) Committee Central Matt McNaughton Camden Council South West Jill Macintyre Northern Beaches Council North Michael Pattison (from 11am) Hawkesbury City Council West / Blue Mts Leanne Bunn Randwick Council Central Jeff Culleton Lane Cove Council North Alex Burgess-Buxton Wollondilly Council South West Mitchell Clark Campbelltown City Council South West Janet Rannard Penrith City Council West / Blue Mts Pam Bateman Northern Beaches Council North Emily McCarthy Strathfield Council Central Joel Daniels Liverpool City Council South West Sandra Payne City of Ryde North Helen Pollard Fairfield City Council South West Robert Adam GS Local Land Services Guest Speaker Amanda Kotlash SWC Executive Officer Executive Officer Number of financial member organizations in attendance = 13 Apologies Name Organization Sub-committee Pino Todarello Parramatta Council West / Blue Mts Steven Smith Mosman Council North Graham Wilson GS Local Land Services Guest Justine Clarke Blacktown City Council West / Blue Mts Eric Mahony Blue Mountains Council West / Blue Mts Ian Allan Blue Mountains Botanic West / Blue Mts Garden Mt Tomah Victoria Currie Inner West Council Central Alex Mackenzie Strathfield Council Central Bart Schiebann Bankstown Council South West Anthony Newling Hornsby Council North Andrew McMillan City of Sydney Central

2 Rudi Adlmeyer Woollahra Council Central Paul Marynissen Central Coast Council North Jacqui Vollmer Hunters Hill Council North Ramin Khosravi North Sydney North Sean Granger Northern Beaches Council North Erin Fardy Sutherland Council South West Cameron Bennell Willoughby City Council North Eddie Ferry Fairfield City Council South West 1. Welcome Jill Macintyre (Chair) opened the meeting at 10.00am and welcomed all attendees. The apologies listed above were noted. It was considered that the requirements for a quorum were met, as there were at least three members present from each sub-committee. 2. Confirmation of the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on 10 th December 2015 The Chair asked whether there was any changes required to the minutes of the last AGM or whether they could be confirmed by persons who had been present. Matt McNaughton moved that the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting on 10 th December 2015 be accepted. Seconded by Mitchell Clark. All in favour. Motion carried. 3. Matters arising from the Minutes of the AGM held on the 10 th December None 4. Presentation of the Sydney Weeds Committees Inc. Annual Report (President) Jill Macintyre presented the Presidents Report (Attachment 1). Jill Macintyre moved that the SWC Inc. Annual Report by the President be accepted. Seconded by Matt McNaughton. All in favour. Motion carried. 5. Presentation of financial report (Treasurer) Matt McNaughton (Treasurer) presented the financial report to members. The following were tabled and are attached: Financial statement - Profit and loss statement as at 30 th June 2016 and balance sheet as at 30 th June 2016 (Attachment 2); Independent auditor s report to the Members dated 25th November 2016 (Attachment 3); and Budget forecast (Attachment 4). The Treasurer invited members to examine the reports and made several comments as follows: Profit and Loss The accounts show SWC made a loss of $24,581 for FY , which is nearly $7,000 more than in the previous year. The loss is a result of the differential between the membership income and operating

3 expenses. Cash assets have covered these trading losses in the past three years and can continue to do so with appropriate budget savings including: increasing membership numbers; increasing membership fees; gaining operating funds from other sources; decreasing operating costs; and a combination of the above. Balance Sheet Total equity of the organisation at 30 June 2016 is $39,226. Assets Cash at bank comprises $61, Funds held in relation to grants in a separate account comprise $14, Liabilities Payables for other creditors total $5,281 (GST incl.) being provision for accounting fees (the account for which is in dispute). Provision for funds held in trust in relation to LLS funded projects. There are/were four projects SWC administers in partnership with GSLLS and NPWS. These are/were: removal of Kei Apple from Kemps Creek; boneseed containment and bush regeneration at Thirlmere Lakes; weed control at Burragorang Conservation Area; and minimising the impact of weeds on cultural heritage at Cattai National Park. Budget The budget details the forecasted income and expenses for the financial year. The budget shows a loss of $6, for the year, which is significantly less than the previous year and can be covered by retained profits from previous years. A significant expenditure item is the development of the new website which can be discussed in more detail in the near future. Matt McNaughton moved that the financial accounts for the year ended 30 th June 2016 be accepted and the independent Auditor s report adopted. Seconded by Jonathon Sanders All in favor. Motion carried. 6. Confirmation of 2016 elections for the Sub-Regional Weeds Committee Chairs and Deputy Chairs The annually elected Chairs and Deputy Chairs of the four Sub-regional Weeds Committees form the Board, which is the management committee for the incorporated association. The Executive Officer noted that the Chairs and Deputy Chairs elected this year were: Sydney North Sub-committee (Election were not held, as group decided to keep current Chair and Deputy Chair) Jillian Macintyre, Warringah Council - elected as Chair Steven Smith, Mosman Council elected as Deputy Chair

4 Sydney West Blue Mountains Sub-committee (Election took place on 22 th August 2016) Eric Mahoney Blue Mountains Council elected as Chair Justine Clarke, Blacktown City Council elected as Deputy Chair Sydney South West Sub-committee (Election took place on 1 st September 2016) Erin Fardy, Sutherland Council elected as Chair Joel Daniels, Liverpool City Council elected as Deputy Chair Sydney Central Sub-committee (Election took place on 30 th November 2016) Leanne Bunn, Randwick Council elected as Chair Rudi Adlmeyer, Wollahra Council elected as Deputy Chair Michael Pattison moved that the elected Chairs and Deputy Chairs be confirmed, Seconded by Matt McNaughton. All in favor. Motion carried. 7. Election of Sydney Weeds Committees Incorporated office bearers. According to the SWC Constitution (sections 5.2 and 5.4), The people holding the Office Bearer positions to are to represent an equitable spread across the four weeds sub-committees Amanda Kotlash, as SWC Executive officer, declared all positions vacant. Nominations for the positions were called for. Nominations, seconders and acceptances were recorded except for Honorary Secretary. There was not more than one nominee for each position and all were declared duly elected. President: Jill Macintyre (Northern Beaches Council) Nominated by Matt McNaughton. Seconded by Leanne Bunn. Vice President: Leanne Bunn Nominated by Pam Bateman. Seconded by Jill MacIntyre. Treasurer: Joel Daniels Nominated by Jillian Macintyre. Seconded by Sandra Payne. Honorary Secretary and Public Officer: Justine Clarke Nominated by Janet Rannard. Seconded by Joel Daniels. It was noted that Justine Clarke was not present but will be contacted to accept or decline the nomination. 8. General Business 8.1 Outgoing office bearers Continuing President, Jill Macintyre offered sincere thanks to all outgoing office Bearers on behalf of members for their hard work and dedication to strategic weed management.

5 8.2 Signatories for banking Joel Daniels, Leanne Bunn, and Amanda Kotlash are to be made signatories for banking. Matt McNaughton and Alex Burgess-Buxton are to be taken off as signatories. Matt McNaughton moved that this be confirmed, Seconded by Janet Rannard. All in Favor. Motion carried. Robert Adam and Michael Patterson joined the meeting at 11 am. 8.3 Executive Officer s report Amanda Kotlash (EO) described the new website development process. Initially, it was thought that a Canadian company called Wild Apricot would be an appropriate provider of association membership software and website. However, this proved to be too complicated, so a local company Highland Creative have been engaged to produce a skeletal website that can be populated by the EO (after some training). This will mean our new website will be quite dynamic with new content being added when needed. Members will be able to manage their own details and an events calendar will help plan the year ahead. The Stop the Spread weed brochures were discussed. It was decided at the last Board meeting that an electronic copy of the current weed brochures could be sent out to members on request for them to print out if needed. But they have not been updated yet and still have reference to Noxious weeds. 8.4 Membership fees Matt McNaughton suggested that a new scaled-down membership category could be created for volunteer and community groups to join SWC. The consensus was that we need to have a separate meeting about building membership as it has many implications. 9. Regional Weed Plan Guest Speaker Robert Adam Robert Adam gave a presentation on the Regional Weed Plan. The slides from his presentation can be found at Attachment Meeting Close The Annual General Meeting closed at noon.

6 PRESIDENT S REPORT SYDNEY WEEDS COMMITTEES INC. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2016 Attachment 1 Summary 2016 has been a busy year for the Sydney Weeds Committees and I would like to thank Matt McNaughton and the SWC board, Anne Duncan, Amanda Kotlash and Robert Adams for their help and support over the past 12 months. It has been a steep learning curve taking on the president s role, but I do believe that the SWC is in a good place moving into Report Membership and meetings Membership was just down on last year (34 from 36), which is pleasing given all the upheaval with amalgamations and the like. And the importance of the SWC network to its members and supporters is indicated by the attendance at the regular meetings achieved this year. The last round of meetings across the region involved a total of about 51 people. Weed Management across Sydney SWC members have continued to build partnerships with other organisations and individuals to address integrated weed management across the Greater Sydney Region throughout the year: Greater Sydney Regional Weeds Committee (GSRWC) was formed and Chairs for each sub-committee hold a position on this committee. April/May - formation of the Greater Sydney Regional Weeds Committee and similar regional committees across the state- objective from the NSW Biosecurity legislation. June/July - GSRWC members elect chair and work through project plan to develop the draft Greater Sydney Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan (RSWMP). August/September - Sub Committees asked to identify weed species to be considered in RSWMP and requirement for strategic weed management of these species. October- first draft RSWMP developed for consultation with committee. November- Final draft circulated to members for comment. Highlights and achievements Creation of Sydney WeedMAP SWC's new web-based weed mapping and reporting system. Inspection of the Sydney Flower Markets

7 Mini-Field Day- Scheyville NP Dr Louise Morin from CSIRO presented on Crofton weed biocontrol and field inspection of African Olive control and African Lovegrass / Fire experiment at Cattai Draft SWC Policy Manual - This policy provides a framework for Board members in dealing with conflicts of interest. Recruitment process for Executive Officer role undertaken and Amanda Kotlash was appointed to the role, I welcome her to the committee and look forward to working with her to secure SWC in future weed management in Sydney. Budget Matt McNaughton will provide the details, but SWC is travelling reasonably well in term of our finances. Year ahead Development of new website Support for GSRMP Integration into LLS to support weed management across the Greater Sydney Region Assistance in consultation process for the GSSWMP