Re: how does an exec meeting work?


"poison dwarf" <newsgroup.2nd4th@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:W1o4g.1632$EM5.1324@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Probably already answered but here's my 43p worth.

Our exec seems to be stricter than a lot of those I've read about here.

Couple of questions:
1) I'm told I'm a defacto member of exec, but I'm not allowed to attend
the
meetings, is this right?

If you are the warranted CSL in the Group then you have an ex officio
position on the GEC by right, i.e. your membership of the GEC is because of
your warranted section leader status in the Group. Membership in this
instance is invested by reason of the person's section leader status (CSL)
in the Group and it goes to whoever holds that position; there is no
requirement for the person to be elected or nominated. The person holds that
membership of the GEC for as long as they hold the section leader
appointment. As a member of the GEC you are defined in Charity Law to be a
trustee. As a trustee you have a right in Law to attend and take part in any
properly constituted meeting of the trustees, i.e. GEC meetings. You do not
have to wait for an invite; it's your legal right. Anyone who seeks to
wilfully obstruct a trustee from attending a trustees meeting is guilty of
an offence under Charity Law. You must be allowed to discharge your trustee
duties as given in Charity Law.

Note: if the section is led by a couple of assistant leaders (as is
sometimes the case for various reasons) then even though one of them may be
the de facto section leader they do not have a right through reason of their
position to sit on the GEC; they must either be elected or nominated or
co-opted.

Who the 'eck has said you can't attend!!?? Assert your rights!

Is it you alone of the section leaders that's been refused attendance or has
refusal been applied to all the section leaders? If the latter, then who has
been meeting as a GEC? And have those who have been meeting met the
requirements for a quorum such that the meeting has been properly
constituted?

Very dodgy business!


2) when should minutes be produced, no-one is willing to give me a copy of
any of the past meetings.

Minutes should be taken at each and every properly constituted meeting of
the
trustees, i.e. GEC meetings. They should be disseminated to trustees, i.e.
GEC members, in a reasonable time - this is usually understood to be before
the next meeting. And before does not usually mean at the next meeting or 10
minutes before it starts! A trustee must be afforded a reasonable time to
read and understand the minutes and research and prepare any questions they
may have that result from them. Common practice (it does vary) is for the
secretary to send them out at least 7 days before the next scheduled
meeting.

As a trustee you have a right in Law to see all documents that could impact
on you carrying out your trustee duties. To me that means you have a right
to see all
previous minutes back to the year dot. These should be made available to you
in a reasonable time. Because of the likely effort and time involved in
doing this, the reasonable time here is different to that above. A month or
two or three might be considered reasonable for very 'historic'/deeply
archived minutes, but 14 days is fairly reasonable for minutes of meetings
since say the last AGM. You should table such a request to the secretary at
the
next meeting.


3) How do you operate regarding getting money from group?

There are different ways operated by different Groups, but some key elements
are the same for all.

we asked for a ball park figure of how much was available for tent
replacement, instead we've been told to find out what we like and they
will
decide whether or not suitable and if to get them! Makes a change from
last
time when they told us that they had been looking on our behalf but hadn't
found any suitable. Not one of them has had to be involved in active
camping
since they were in shorts half a centery ago!

Financial matters are the concern of the GEC. Technically speaking, if you
want to spend a few pence on a badge award you have to gain the permission
of the GEC. Now, no one works this way! Most GECs delegate executive
spending decisions for sections to the section leader. Some will set a
budget for the sections and allow them to spend up to that limit or limits
set for particular items. Pragmatism is the order of the day! No GEC is
going to be bothered about the fine details of the pennies you spend on
badges or programme items - a quarterly update from you to the GEC is fine
for this sort of business.

For major spending items - and lots of camping gear could be such - or items
that exceed budget limits then these should be put before the GEC before
expenditure. The role of the GEC is to advise and facilitiate the matter
such that any
expenditure meets the charitable purposes of the Group (and the main
charitable purpose will be to provide a scouting programme in your locale).
Certainly if you come along with spending plans that would likely put the
financial status of the Group at risk then they're going to say at
the least: 'think again!' or if the expenditure was in some way illegal then
they will say no!
Most of the time a GEC is going to say yes, but sometimes they will say
'think about it again or in some other way' or maybe 'yes, but we're going
to have to do this - fundraise say - first', or maybe 'we need further
details or more quotes, etc'.

The people who decide whether the purchase of an item is suitable or not are
the leaders who wish to use that item to support the programme, not the GEC.
If you can show the item supports your programme, has been properly budgeted
for and sufficient funds exist to buy it, then the GEC is no position to say
no, or even to say 'we'll think about it'! Advise and facilitate (the
purchase) is all it needs to do.

It's the occasions 'in the middle' where sometimes there can be a bit of
mis-understanding leading to a bit of 'friction'. For example, you want to
buy some expensive camping gear and there's enough money to support the
purchase, however, your programme isn't geared to doing a lot of camping and
experience might be very low, then it would be correct for the GEC to
question the purchase and maybe ask whether it was appropriate (at this
time) or the best use of funds. Leaders can then sometimes get the idea that
the GEC is saying no and being a nuisance and blocking leaders whereas it's
actually saying 'think again'.

Seems to me that some people have got their responsibilities mixed up!

It's all in POR in B&W. Some people it seems need to do a bit of bedtime
reading!

HTH

GAGS




.