Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

The original agenda was largely ignored by those running the meeting too!

 

On a technicality perhaps, but.....

Given that the result of the voting will not occur until late on during the informal discussions, I would expect the two AGMs not to be concluded once the voting has taken place, but to be adjourned and then restarted. Only once the vote results are known can the names of the new Trustees and Directors be announced officially and that action must be part of the formal AGM, but if the AGMs have been closed already then the formalities have ceased and so in effect there elections would have no effect.

There may be different views on this, of course...

 

I note particularly

If they really mean that it seems a major change.

 

The cynic in me says that the only reason you’d feel the need to write that down would be if it wasn’t true (Or at least “not true” in the sense “not demonstrable by the organisation’s actions”).

(See also: railways with split governance structures unfurling “One Railway” banners

Tom

 

>>>>...As a member-led organisation we are keen to listen to the views of our members.....

Surely that should go without saying anyway? Also, do not overlook the fact that - rather like local Councils who 'consult' with their residents, but then act contrary to the majority view of objections - it is beholden on the Board to act in the best interests of the Charity not its members. So the members could all have their say and the Board could listen intently and then...nothing would change.

 

I really don't know why counting the votes would take so long. The proxies are all counted in advance. When the resolution is put to the attendees on the day , they are obviously counted immediately. All it then needs is a few moments to add two numbers together. You are right, the results must be announced during the formal business of the AGM.

 

But some proxies are authorised simply to "vote as they see fit", so can't be counted in advance.

 

Honourable mention for the SVR here, as a railway with split structures, which has unveiled just such a banner as part of its drive to (imminently, hopefully) merge various organisations

 

At last year's EGM, the counting took a little while. There are two AGMs (Trust and CIC), and there are from memory 5 items that each member may vote on in each. Even with pre-counting, if there are 100 people in the hall, that means there would be 1000 individual votes to record and aggregate.

 

I can see why some people like that, but I’ve never been happy to hand a proxy a blank cheque

 

I still don't get it. So the chairman says, we are now going to vote on resolution no 1. All in favour, raise your hands. Perforce these must be counted while the hands are in the air. Proxies are already known so it's a simple addition to get the result. Then the result is announced straightaway. Then onto resolution 2 etc.
Am I missing something?
Ian

 

Very rarely is anything decided by a show of hands at an L&B GM. All items to be voted on are on the agenda, and thus on the voting/proxy form. It takes a while to work through all the possible permutations on each form, then tally up each item, which is why it can take so long, leaving no time for a frank, open discussion on the underlying issues...

 

There would be all the time in the world to discuss things if the meeting started at say 2pm and then broke for a dinner break and continued to 9pm. Hard to avoid the conclusion that the current design of the meeting is intentional, and to ensure that there is minimal risk of the Board being asked difficult questions or held to account.

 

Ian, the only thing which used to happen at L&BR AGMs is if you have one person holding multiple proxy votes that have been left blank. I think last year, one person was holding about a dozen such voting papers

 

If they'd been given, quite literally, carte blanche as proxy, then why on earth hadn't they completed them? That is just dopey

 

They may only have received the proxy forms at the beginning of the meeting, at which time they would need to concentrate on the proceedings.

 

I think a 7 hour AGM for a £1m p/a company might try the patience of a saint!

What you could do though, building on the idea, would be to effectively have a "members' day" with displays and opportunities for informal presentations and Q&A etc; with the formal business of the AGM taking place at a set slot in the afternoon within that day.

Tom

 

I think they count in hexadecimal convert to binary and then publish the initial results in octal with a crib sheet for the chairman of the meeting to announce in decimal.

 

The idea - at least from my understanding and past experience elsewhere - is that the member leaves the proxy to vote as they see fit based on how the proxy assesses for/against each motion after having listened to all the discussions. You can't do that up front at the start of the meeting.
Also, for the Trustee and Director elections, each nominee is a separate Item on the Agenda, so the vote on one person should be completed (and hence counted) before you proceed to the next. You can't just tick all the boxes and hand the form in at the start.