The Committee
9th February 2004, 09:17 AM
Minutes of the GAGB committee meeting
Date: 25th January 2004
Location: GCH9Y4 - Winchester Late Xmas Cache Bash
Present: Peter Bancroft, Paul Blitz, Ian Harris, Sarah Tate
Absent: Dave Edwards
CONSTITUTION
- Paul will rework the draft constitution from scratch, using the charity commission model, as it is more modern than the WHR one.
- The constitution will be shown to a number of interested parties for proof reading
- The new draft will be released by 8th February, with the intention of opening a poll of all members by 15th February. ACTION: Paul
WEBSITE
- Various contingency options (new logo, content etc) were briefly discussed
- It was agreed that the development domain should be renamed from "new" to "test", to avoid misunderstanding. ACTION: Ian
- At this point, Tim and June joined the meeting
- Tim indicated that he wished to release the gagb.org.uk domain name to the committee ASAP, and that he was willing to transfer the copyright of all GAGB material created by him to the committee. Any domain transfer charges to be met by the committee. Once the domain transfer has completed, Tim will lock the forums on his server and send a backup to the committee for transfer to the new server. ACTION: Tim, Paul, Ian
- Tim raised concerns about certain sockpuppet accounts. These will be looked into by the committee. ACTION: Paul
- At this point, Tim and June left the meeting
- Peter will create some new help pages for the website. ACTION: Peter
- Ian will provide standard templates for creating GAGB webpages. ACTION: Ian
MONEY
- All present agreed with Sarah's statement that there was no need for GAGB's income to exceed its immediate running costs.
- Paul indicated that there may be running costs other than the provision of a website. For example it would be nice to provide membership cards for members.
MEMBERSHIP DEFINITIONS
- The question of having a tiered membership, requiring full members to give their name and address, was discussed. Advantages include: increased credibility both internally and when speaking to landowners, fewer problems with sock puppets and with cheating in elections, more conventional structure etc. Disadvantages include loss of anonymity, increased legal responsibility on the committee etc.
- The committee felt that the membership as a whole should debate and ultimately decide what the best approach will be.
- It was agreed that we should aim for "one person, one vote" (rather than "one team...", "one household...", "one IP address..." etc).
- The minimum age of full members was briefly discussed. It was felt that the membership should decide.
- The new standing orders will present a simple structure, describing the status quo. ACTION: Paul
- A straw poll about membership requirements will be started on the GAGB forums. ACTION: Paul
- If the membership agrees that changes would be beneficial, a formal notion will be written and put to the vote.
NEW FOREST
- Sarah is waiting for the final draft to be sent through. She will follow this up with the NF. ACTION: Sarah
FORESTRY COMMISSION
- We have been approached by an East Dorset Ranger based at Moors Valley Country Park. This is a joint site between FC and EDCC, so there is some overlap between this discussion and the ongoing discussions with the FC. Paul will follow this up as he spoke to them before. ACTION: Paul
ELECTION OF CHAIR
- It was felt that we should have a constitution in place before electing a chair.
- It would be preferable, though not necessarily essential, for the standing orders to be in place too. A "status quo" set will be drafted, excluding any changes to the membership structure, which would take more time to debate.
- We still aim to start the election process by the end of February, but the recent delay in proposing a constitution may mean that this could slip into early March.
PUBLICITY
- Seems to be working! People are finding us and we have had a number of approaches "out of the blue" from landowners.
MINUTES
- Will be distributed to the committee to ensure that they are a full and correct representation of the meeting. They will then be publically posted on the GAGB website. ACTION: Ian
Posted by Ian Harris
On behalf of the GAGB committee
Date: 25th January 2004
Location: GCH9Y4 - Winchester Late Xmas Cache Bash
Present: Peter Bancroft, Paul Blitz, Ian Harris, Sarah Tate
Absent: Dave Edwards
CONSTITUTION
- Paul will rework the draft constitution from scratch, using the charity commission model, as it is more modern than the WHR one.
- The constitution will be shown to a number of interested parties for proof reading
- The new draft will be released by 8th February, with the intention of opening a poll of all members by 15th February. ACTION: Paul
WEBSITE
- Various contingency options (new logo, content etc) were briefly discussed
- It was agreed that the development domain should be renamed from "new" to "test", to avoid misunderstanding. ACTION: Ian
- At this point, Tim and June joined the meeting
- Tim indicated that he wished to release the gagb.org.uk domain name to the committee ASAP, and that he was willing to transfer the copyright of all GAGB material created by him to the committee. Any domain transfer charges to be met by the committee. Once the domain transfer has completed, Tim will lock the forums on his server and send a backup to the committee for transfer to the new server. ACTION: Tim, Paul, Ian
- Tim raised concerns about certain sockpuppet accounts. These will be looked into by the committee. ACTION: Paul
- At this point, Tim and June left the meeting
- Peter will create some new help pages for the website. ACTION: Peter
- Ian will provide standard templates for creating GAGB webpages. ACTION: Ian
MONEY
- All present agreed with Sarah's statement that there was no need for GAGB's income to exceed its immediate running costs.
- Paul indicated that there may be running costs other than the provision of a website. For example it would be nice to provide membership cards for members.
MEMBERSHIP DEFINITIONS
- The question of having a tiered membership, requiring full members to give their name and address, was discussed. Advantages include: increased credibility both internally and when speaking to landowners, fewer problems with sock puppets and with cheating in elections, more conventional structure etc. Disadvantages include loss of anonymity, increased legal responsibility on the committee etc.
- The committee felt that the membership as a whole should debate and ultimately decide what the best approach will be.
- It was agreed that we should aim for "one person, one vote" (rather than "one team...", "one household...", "one IP address..." etc).
- The minimum age of full members was briefly discussed. It was felt that the membership should decide.
- The new standing orders will present a simple structure, describing the status quo. ACTION: Paul
- A straw poll about membership requirements will be started on the GAGB forums. ACTION: Paul
- If the membership agrees that changes would be beneficial, a formal notion will be written and put to the vote.
NEW FOREST
- Sarah is waiting for the final draft to be sent through. She will follow this up with the NF. ACTION: Sarah
FORESTRY COMMISSION
- We have been approached by an East Dorset Ranger based at Moors Valley Country Park. This is a joint site between FC and EDCC, so there is some overlap between this discussion and the ongoing discussions with the FC. Paul will follow this up as he spoke to them before. ACTION: Paul
ELECTION OF CHAIR
- It was felt that we should have a constitution in place before electing a chair.
- It would be preferable, though not necessarily essential, for the standing orders to be in place too. A "status quo" set will be drafted, excluding any changes to the membership structure, which would take more time to debate.
- We still aim to start the election process by the end of February, but the recent delay in proposing a constitution may mean that this could slip into early March.
PUBLICITY
- Seems to be working! People are finding us and we have had a number of approaches "out of the blue" from landowners.
MINUTES
- Will be distributed to the committee to ensure that they are a full and correct representation of the meeting. They will then be publically posted on the GAGB website. ACTION: Ian
Posted by Ian Harris
On behalf of the GAGB committee