Minutes of the 2016 Annual General Meeting of ABOTMA Inc

2016 Annual General Meeting of ABOTMA Inc
19th November, 2016.
Feathertop Chalet Conference Room, Harrietville

The Annual General Meeting was declared open at 5.32pm.
The 4th Annual General Meeting of ABOTMA was declared open by the President and Chair, Lachlan Davidson.

  1. The Chair appointed Helen Ludellen as minute taker.
  2. Attendance and apologies: A list of attendees is attached. 
No apologies were tendered.
  3. No names of members attending by proxy were tendered.
  4. The minutes of the 2015 AGM: The motion to confirm the minutes of the 2015 AGM was put by Lachlan Davidson and seconded by Donal Baylor.
  5. Reports from Executive Committee for 2016. 
The chair tabled the Annual report
    1. President’s report – Lachlan Davidson read out the highlights of the President’s report.
    2. Secretary’s report.
    3. Treasurer’s report including financial statements: Helen Ludellen indicated that the audited Financial Statements for the 2015-2016 Financial year and auditor’s report are available in the 2016 Annual Report.
    4. 2015 Festival report.
  6. Annual membership fee and membership period:
    1. It was noted that many members are finding the current system of paying for membership via the ABOTMA website difficult. There was no discussion of the actual term of the membership period.
    2. It was proposed that the Annual membership fee be raised to $30 p.a. This was seconded by Mick O’Neill. In a vote this proposal was defeated. 
The Annual Membership fee therefore remains at $25 for the 2016-17 financial year and term of membership.
  7. Committee member retirements
    1. Sue Dwyer retired during the year. The Chair thanked Sue for her service.
    2. Other current committee members including Lachlan Davidson, Leonard Cohen, and Donal Baylor indicated that they would be stepping down from their Executive Committee roles.
  8. Election of ordinary committee members for 2016. (The AGM provides the opportunity to increase the number of Ordinary Members elected to the Committee).
    1. It was noted that we currently don’t have any ordinary members elected at the AGM.
    2. Leonard Cohen proposed expanding exec from 4 to 5 members in case the committee was split down the middle on an issue and am impasse occurred.
    3. The motion to increase the Executive Committee by one person was moved by Will Manovel and seconded by Evan Webb. All except one were in favour of this change to the Constitution. (Helen Ludellen was not in favour of this change because she believes that the existing Model Rule for resolving an impasse, i.e. that the President has a casting vote, is the preferred method for resolving an impasse if the President is regarded as the leader of the Committee).
  9. Elections: Returning officer: Robert Lewis was appointed as Returning Officer.
  10. Election of Officers for 2015/2016
All positions were declared vacant and the President vacated the chair.
    1. President – Kim Wheeler was nominated by Will Manovel. Seconded by Helen Ludellen. All in favour. Carried.
    2. Vice President. Will Manovel nominated himself. Seconded by Michael Whelan. All in favour. Carried.
    3. Secretary. No nominations were received. After discussion on how to resolve this issue Barry Torkington nominated Will Manovel on the understanding that Will would fill the role until a Secretary could be appointed by the Committee. This motion was seconded by Kim Wheeler. All in favour. Carried.
    4. Treasurer. Will Manovel nominated Helen Ludellen. This was seconded by Kim Wheeler. All in favour.
    5. Ordinary member. Mick O’Neill nominated Barry Torkington. Seconded by Jenine Abarbanel. All in favour. Carried.
  11. Welcome to 2016/2017 Executive: the incoming President (and Chair) Kimberley Wheeler welcomed the newly elected Executive Committee.
  12. General Business
    1. It was moved by Will Manovel that the ABOTMA Executive Committee from the Mountaingrass Organising committee and that a Festival organiser be appointed. (Helen Ludellen pointed out that up until now several members of the Executive committee have been organizing the Mountaingrass festival due to a lack of volunteers). This motion was seconded by Evan Webb. Carried.
    2. Festival organizer: Leonard Cohen moved that Peter Hisco be the 2017 Festival organizer. This was seconded by Mick O’Neill. Carried.
    3. A further motion was put by Will Manovel to authorize a festival organizing committee to seek volunteers. This was seconded by Leonard Cohen.
    4. In the final item of General Business Lachlan Davidson moved that Helen Ludellen receive Life Membership to ABOTMA. This was seconded by Evan Webb and carried.
  13. Date for next Mountaingrass festival: 17-19 November, 2017.
  14. Date for next ABOTMA AGM: November 18, 2017.
  15. The meeting closed at 6.43pm.