MINUTES OF MEETINGS

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LANEHEAD RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Minutes of meeting held at Tarset Village Hall, Monday 12 April, 7.30pm
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
This meeting was called following a preliminary meeting of residents, also held at Tarset Village Hall, on 25 March 2010, when it was decided to form Lanehead Residents Association (hereinafter called 'LHRA'). Since then Jane Hart of Community Action Northumberland has assisted residents in finalising a constitution of the kind deemed suitable by the Charities Commission for use by both charities and voluntary organisations with charitable aims. This meeting was chaired by Jane Hart, who gave a detailed account of each clause of the draft constitution, which also allowed for amendments to be made to the wording to take account of the particular needs of the proposed association and the community it would be serving. Some amendments were also needed because this constitution had been shortened for use for smaller organisations from a much longer document and there were some anomalies which needed to be clarified.
2. ADOPTION OF THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION
The following points were raised and discussed in arriving at the final text of the constitution adopted at the meeting (numbering here relates to the clauses in the document):
(2.2) For the purposes of this association, Lanehead was defined as extending beyond High Newton to East Newton (The Box) and beyond Tarset Hall to Knoppingsholme.
(2.5) This form of residents association is an "opt out organisation". This means that all residents and people working in the area of Lanehead are deemed to be members unless they opt out of membership. LHRA had a responsibility to inform all members of the date and content of meetings using whatever means is appropriate for this community, and this could be a mixture of emails to people with computers, hand-delivered notices, notices on the Village Hall noticeboard and announcements in the Tarset news or on the Tarset website. Advertising in the Hexham Courant would not be necessary for a residents association covering just under 40 households. Future communications could be more manageable if email addresses and opt out requests were collected the first time LHRA tries to circulate everyone in the community.
(2.6.1) The first AGM will be held in about a year's time, but it does not have to be held in April.
(2.6.4) Accounts have to be approved by an independent responsible person to be a true record. Full audits are not required for low turnover residents associations.
(2.6.5) Committee members may be drawn from any adults either resident or working in Lanehead.
(2.7.3) If a meeting decision isn't quorate because a conflict of interest means a particular committee member cannot vote, the appropriate decisions must be held over to the next meeting with a quorum.
(2.7.4) The committee may appoint (i.e. co-opt) up to 2 additional committee members from the membership of the association, which would usually be people with special expertise of matters in hand or additional members needed to replace committee members who have moved. Co-opted members would not serve a full year but would stand down at the next AGM.
(2.7.5) This clause provides the association with ways of operating in a particular instance, such as making a standing order.
(2.8.3) Committee members function as trustees and cannot be paid for their work, but they can claim expenses. Ordinary members can be paid for carrying out work as long as their charges are competitive and represent value for money. Alternative quotes should be sought in order to make sure that giving work to local people is cost effective. The process of giving work to members must be transparent and reasonable and follow normal practice, with no inflation allowed of the going rate for particular kinds of work or services. Attempts should also be made to have certain kinds of work carried out free of charge.
(2.9.3) This clause was rewritten to suit the particular needs of LHRA and the small community it aims to serve.
3. APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The following residents present agreed to sign the constitution and thereby became the first committee of LHRA to serve until the first AGM in a year's time: Ross Anderson, Neil Astley, Pat Cooper, Rex Cooper, Preston Hoggan, John Holland, Pamela Robertson-Pearce and Jenny Swaile. A committee meeting will be held in the next ten days at which the chairman, secretary and treasurer will be elected by the committee.
4. APPOINTMENT OF BANKERS
It was agreed that Lloyds TSB should be appointed as bankers.
5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The constitution does not allow for members not present in person at the meeting to be elected to the committee. Acting on the advice of chairperson Jane Hart, Rob Cocker's emailed nomination of himself sent to several people was ruled inadmissable, nor could he propose himself as secretary because the secretary could only be proposed by members of the committee elected at this meeting.
6. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be a committee meeting at which the officers will be appointed, date and time to be agreed by the committee members after email consultation, preferably within the next ten days.


[Minutes compiled by Neil Astley]
Approved at the Committee Meeting 21st April 2010

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