Bluebirds Trust Board meeting / Trust Travel Meeting

[Richard Ingham]

The December Meeting of the Bluebirds Trust board will be held this Saturday, 5th December at 12 noon at The Ambrose, Duke St.

All members of the Trust are welcome to attend to contribute.

Agenda:
1. Apologies & Approval of November Meeting Minutes
2. Action points from previous meeting
3. Changes to the structure of the Trust Board
4. Correspondence
5. Finance Update
6. Membership Update
7. Trust Travel (postponed to later meeting)
8. Fundraising discussion
9. AOB

The board meeting will be followed by a Trust Travel meeting where the recent Dover trip and the future running of the Trust Travel will be discussed.

[tictactoe]

I'm presuming by this Pete has quit the trust board as well as director?

[boyliegladbach]

I'm presuming by this Pete has quit the trust board as well as director?

I don't think anyone's answering tictac.

[boyliegladbach]

Was at this meeting today all was ok,
But I've been asked to raise a point as a result of today's meeting.
Pete has left as chairman, Fraser was voted in at today's meeting .
Not saying he wouldn't haven't have been voted in to this role,
but as an organisation with over 200 members shouldn't a decision like this have been a mers vote?
Is it in the trust any rules that 4 current board members can vote and approve such a motion?

Any similar organisations I have been part of in past, would usually call an EGM for such a crucial vote.

Not saying the appointment would have been any different , but just asked to raise the question .

Also,Tony's is now running his own buses as a few don't like how current ones are being ran,

Can see his point of view and God luck.

[Puffing Ron]

As this is an unofficial forum, this will have to be an unofficial answer, I suppose. Under Rule 79 of the Rules of the Barrow AFC Independent Supporters Society Limited the Chair is appointed by the Trust Board. These Rules were reviewed and apporoved by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). In this respect, as in virtually all others, the Trust's Rules are identical to the Model Rules for a Supporters Community Mutual set out by Supporters Direct ( SD) prepared in liaison with the FCA. I can't comment on any similar organisations with which others are familiar, but the SD Model is in place with around 150 supporters trusts in England and Wales. Both the Bluebirds Trust and SD Model Rules are available in full on the respective websites.
Members may otherwise exercise their rights in respect to the appointment of a Chair : by voting on the appointments to the Board at an AGM, by raising the matter as a members' resolution at an AGM, or by convening a special general meeting.
If a formal, official reply is needed by the member who raised this point with you, then he or she should write to the Secretary of the Trust. In the meantime I hope the above is helpful or, if not, at least it is clear

[boyliegladbach]

Yeah dead clear that puffer

[Alhosk]

Yeah dead clear that puffer

The Chair is appointed by the Trust Board.

[Jonty]

First off- absolutely no issues with Frazer Stewart taking the wheel at the Trust, He has been instrumental in the Trust since the outset and he'll pick up from Pete G, having already been part of the Trust board structure. However the Trust could have perhaps done better to communicate upfront the intention of Peter G to step down and the put forward the proposals /intention to appoint Frazer at the meeting on 5th December and place that communication on the Trust site in advance, and/or send it out globally to Trust members via email, with a chance for member comment to be returned.

It does actually say on the Trust site that item 3 of the agenda is "Election of a new Chairman", but no proposals as to who is putting themselves forward.

[McMark]

As you say Jonty the agenda was up on the Trust site http://bluebirdstrust.co.uk/ and the meeting was also advertised on this forum, what more do people expect!!!!

The guys are a relatively small team working wonders in their spare time in my view, and on it's memberships behalf as best they can! They are always looking for willing volunteers to help out in anyway at all!

Well Done Frazer in volunteering, having been to a few meetings of late I don't think there would of been anyone to stand in the way tbh. As the saying goes you can't beat a good volunteer!

Also thanks to Pete Garbacz who has worked tirelessly on our behalf in the past years and as most will know has been worth his weight in gold, and I'm sure will be warmly welcomed when he does have enough hours in the day to make a return.

[spirit of 1990]

Just from my viewpoint, there was only one, perhaps two people who have the experience to take that role on. One is snowed under with other Trust related stuff and the other isn't available on enough dates throughout the year to be able to fulfil the role with the amount of time needed.
Basically, if Frazer hadn't taken it on I have no idea who would have been able to do it.

I think (or know) that Frazer would/will have the whole Trust committee's backing. It's a very, very hard role so the best of luck to him, I'm sure he'll do a fine job.

[Richard Ingham]

The reason nothing was communicated prior to the meeting is that the board had to vote to accept Pete's resignation formally at the meeting for it to be accepted by the Financial Conduct Authority, so we couldn't mention it before the meeting as it wasn't yet official.

Informally, we knew that Pete was standing down and had spoken informally about appointing a successor. Frazer was the only volunteer for the role, but again, he had to formally elected by the members of the Trust board at the monthly meeting for it to be legitimate.

When writing the agenda I could and probably should have been more careful about the contents before making it public. However, we have in the past been asked to make it available and publicise the meeting so members could attend if they wished. In trying to please everyone I ended up causing more confusion and intrigue than was necessary. I'll try harder next time to make sure things are explained as best they can be given the circumstances.

In answer to Al's point about the members needing to vote on this. As Puffing Ron mentioned earlier, the rules of the Trust state that it is the responsibility of the board to decide and vote on the election of the Chair, treasurer etc. The members elect the board members from those members who put themselves forward for election to the board at the AGM, the elected board then elect the Officers.

For clarification, the wording of rule 79 of the Society is this :

The Society Board shall elect from among their own a Chair, treasurer and such other Officers as they may from time to time decide in accordance with the Society's Board Membership and Conduct Policy. These officers shall have such duties and rights as may be bestowed on them by the Society Board or by statute and any officer appointed may be removed by the Society board.

A statement regarding PG's decision to resign as Trust Board chairman will follow.