Minutes of Council Meeting Autumn Conference 2006 Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland
11 am, Saturday 11th November 2006 1. Call to order The meeting was called to order at 11:15am and all delegates and special attendees including David Thompson, Angus Galbraith, Mike Silverman and Ted Corcoran, were welcomed by Nick Benning, District 71 Governor.
1a. Invocation was given by Eddie O'Neill, Shannon Club 1b.District Mission was read by Samantha Babister, Woking and Guildford Clubs 1c. Introduction of Top Table Lt Gov Marketing - Gary Sander DTM; Lt Gov PRO - Joe Gibbs; Secretary - Teresa Dukes ATMS,AL; District Governor - Nick Benning ATMS, AL; Parliamentarian -Cecil Kirk; Lt Gov Education and Training - Mary Murtagh DTM; Treasurer - Glen Vaughan; Immediate Past District Governor – Lynda Molloy.
1d. Apologies for Kay Federico, Div G; Jacqui Hogan, Div H; Sean Oman Area 10; Sandra Lawes, Area 20; Dick Dixon, Area 33
1e. Remembrance of Toastmasters highlighting the death of Terry McCann, former Toastmasters International Executive Director. A moment of silence was held to remember those who had died since the last Council meeting.
2. Adoption of Agenda Sufficient notice of the Council Meeting having been given, a motion that the agenda be adopted was proposed by Dave Minzey and seconded by Lucia Hughes. Agreed by the Council.
3. Report of the Credentials committee and Appointment of Tellers Cecil Kirk presented the report of the Credentials Committee and informed the Council that 171 clubs were eligible to participate thereby giving a quorum (1/3) of 57 and other eligible persons of 53. There was a possible 120 votes plus 25 making a total of 145 possible votes. There was a majority of 73. Tellers appointed on the day by Cecil Kirk included: Luanne Kent and Andy Hammond - seconded by Brian McDermont. Agreed by the Council
4. Minutes of Spring Conference meeting 2006 District Governor Nick Benning thanked Adrienne Crowe for taking the minutes. Acceptance of the Minutes was proposed by Diane Jones and seconded by Ronnie Gillanders. Agreed by the Council.
5. Confirmation of District Officer Appointments for 2006/2007 A list of officers was submitted and proposed by Sean Brady and seconded by David Thompson. Agreed by the Council.
6. Year-End Audit 2006 The Year End Audit for 2006 was presented by the Mary Kehoe, District Treasurer. There were no outstanding bills and the report had been reconciled as at 30th June 2006 for administration purposes. The report has been submitted to the Audit Committee and also to WHQ and has been approved. Mary Kehoe thanked our Immediate Past District Governor Lynda Molloy and the audit committee for all their support and dedication to her and this role. No questions were asked. Acceptance of the Audit was proposed by Brian O’Connell and seconded by Mike Silverman. Agreed by the Council.
7. Adoption of the 2006-07 Budget and Treasurer’s Report District Treasurer Glen Vaughan presented the budget which was based on the number of members as of June 2006. The district receives $4.50 per member every 6 months. Malcolm Warden asked whether we kept the surplus from last year. Glenn Vaughan replied that we did and that it is listed on line A of the Budget in Available funds for 2006 – 2007. Acceptance of the budget was proposed by Mary Kehoe and seconded by Mary White. Agreed by the Council.
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8. Reports of Division Governors and District Officers Written reports from District Officers were included in the Council pack. All Division Governors and District Executive Officers presented verbal reports in the following order: Division A Division B Division C Division D Division E Division F Division G Division H
Sean Corcoran Pedro Casillas Bob Gilbert Lucia Hughes Jane Cameron Geraldine Smith Roger Crews (on behalf of Kay Federico) Robin Chawner (on behalf of Jacqui Hogan)
Immediate Past District Gov Lt Gov PRO Lt Gov Marketing Lt Gov Education and Training District Governor
Lynda Molloy Joe Gibbs Gary Sander Mary Murtagh Nick Benning
9. Bids for future District Conferences • •
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Spring Conference May 2007 - Portsmouth - The Victory Conference - Andy Hammond gave a quick update. Autumn Conference Nov 2007 - Harrogate, Jo Haskins. Proposed that Jo Haskins be acknowledged as Conference Director for Nov 2007. Approved by the Council. o Comment noted from Eddie Dunphy - great that we have such fantastic leaders within our organisation but a shame that we are relying heavily on one person to take on the conference director role rather than have a British club come forward to host it. Spring Conference May 2008 - Killarney, Bernadette Noonan presented her proposal for Killarney, and Gleneagles hotel, to be the location for the May 2008 conference. Agreed by the Council with one dissent from Ted Corcoran who did not want to return to his home town!
10. Any Other Business • • • •
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Pedro Casillas expressed his concern about the microphones/sound system for the competition. Eddie O’Neill expressed his concern about the use of ‘Christian’ names alone in presentations and reports earlier in the meeting. Lucia Hughes asked if the hall would be cleared prior to the competition. It was confirmed that the room would be cleared. Steve Evans – Visually impaired member expressed his concerns about the new Competent Leadership manual as it has place a large emphasis on filling in forms and evaluations. This is causing him more problems regarding his participation within Toastmasters. Can we ask WHQ to provide better material for the visually impaired? Nick Benning said he would talk to Steve Evans later during the conference and take up any matters with WHQ that needed to be addressed. Peter Farrelly asked if we can we build a plan to allow for accruing awards for the next District Year? Nick Benning stated that if the member has done the work for their award they should be recognised as soon as possible. Samantha Babister -Woking club has a programme set up to help track members working on the CL programme. Samantha will work with Pedro Casillias on pulling together a plan for the District on the new CL Manual. Samantha Babister – TI WHQ have failed to keep track of Woking’s membership. We need to build stronger links with the WHQ membership team. Pat Connolly - Is there any plan to change the format of the 4 + 4 CCs for each year? In other words, recognising more than 8 CCs in one year. Nick Benning stated that there is no plan in place for this at the moment that he is aware of but that he would keep the District up to date with any changes. Robin Chawner – asked how the £18k to be spent on Marketing is applied? Gary Sander explained that all clubs are able to request assistance for marketing and that a proposal must be presented to the District Council for consideration. Brian O’Conner – asked, regarding Division H’s report, what was meant by ‘Two clubs needed to be refocused’. Robert Chawner explained that one was not giving evaluations and the other was not using basic protocols. Sean Brady – said leadership within this organisation needs to be highlighted. We should limit Areas to a maximum of 3 clubs which would alleviate superfluous travel for Area/Div Governors. Luanne Kent – suggested we could extend the conference to three days. Margaret McCarthy – pointed out the Marketing report had an inaccurate list of pre-charter clubs in Division A.
11. Announcements and Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:49 to be reconvened at the Spring Conference in Portsmouth on 12th May at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth.
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