AGM Minutes 11th June 2019 ‐ At ibis Southampton

Minutes

Ordinary Business

 1.     Apologies for absence

As above.

 2.     Minutes of the 2018 SCMS AGM

These were circulated earlier, and hard copies were available at the AGM.  These were considered and agreed with no comments given. Proposer Mark Lockie, seconded Karl Pizzey. Vote was unanimous.

 3.     Presentation of the unaudited financial statement

 These were previously circulated and printed copies were available at the AGM. These were presented by Stuart Gladwell. Proposer Mark Lockie, seconded Allan Larsen. Vote was unanimous.

 The accounts were in two sizes as per previous years, a short version and the full Statement. Last year we made less than the proposed budget due to an investment in staffing and IT within HQ SCMS and changes in the accounting processes. A total profit last year was £9,988 after corporation tax. 

 This year we are above the projected £15,000 profit budget for the year and are currently projected to make approximately £20,000 - £23,000 profit at the end of 2019.

 4.     Appointment of the society’s accountants for the ensuing year

Menzies had been the SCMS accountants for 2018 and were proposed to continue in 2019. Proposer Allan Larsen, seconded Marcus Lankford. Vote was unanimous.

 5.     To receive proposals of Office Bearers for 2019/2020

As Nick Gladwell has served his term as President it was proposed that Nick now becomes Past President and Allan Larsen becomes President. Proposer Marcus Lankford seconder Karl Pizzey.

 Robert Barnes objected to this proposal as he stated that proposed names had not been circulated at least 28 days before the AGM and could therefore not be voted on. Mark Lockie stated that as long as further proposals for President candidates were heard, then the election could continue.  Stuart Gladwell asked the room for any further nominations for President.  There were no further nominations or volunteers, therefore Marcus Lankford proposed the original candidate Allan Larsen, and Karl Pizzey seconded, the vote for was all, with one abstention.   

 It was proposed that Marcus Lankford as second Vice President becomes first Vice President by Karl Pizzey and seconded by Mark Lockie.  Vote was unanimous.

 Applicants for the post of Vice President were invited. There were no proposals, so Stuart Gladwell suggested that the decision for potential new candidates be discussed in the next council meeting in July 2019. There were no objections to this.

 6.     President’s report

Stuart Gladwell gave the outgoing report regarding Nick Gladwell’s term as president since the previous AGM as Nick was unable to attend.

 Allan Larsen gave his speech as the new president.  He thanked the Society for allowing him to become the president.  He thanked the past president for his work and the new Vice for his future support.  Allan stated that it was a shame that no future 2nd Vice President had been found yet.  He highlighted that the CA side of SCMS is in its 25th year this year and in order to maintain the Society further members need to be encouraged to join and these members should be canvased on how to keep them within the society.  He discussed the numbers of members that are incoming and how these have been brought to the membership.  He touched on changes within the regulations to encourage all members to become involved in the council and potentially lead to change in the organisation.  Allan stated that members of the council give much of their own time in order to ensure that SCMS is well run and also thanked the office paid staff who provide a good service. 

 Stuart Gladwell was asked who the current Council members are and he listed Norman Finlay, Robert Barnes, Nick Gladwell, Ross Hunter, Mark Lockie, Allan Larsen, Marcus Lankford, Paul Johnson, Simon Oakes (co-opted with no voting rights), Graham Slack (co-opted with no voting rights), Stuart Gladwell attends as CEO with no voting rights. Mike Eckles has recently retired from the Council.   

 7.     Any Other Business

Paul Owen stated that he sometimes has enquiries for membership in his role within FEMAS and he highlights SCMS.  He also expressed his concern with the changing rules within SCMS, enabling the benevolent fund to be used to support outside maritime charities as he believes the money will be difficult to recover.  If money is to be donated, then he suggested it would be more appropriate to donate any Benevolent Fund monies to international maritime organisations, rather than to UK based organisations.

Ed Geary stated that he believes there will be a move in the future to have all surveyors to have ‘Chartered’ status.  He also warned of a looming financial crisis. 

 Mark Lockie highlighted that the future RIB training in October 19 would be conducted on the IoW and that there will be limited places on the course. 

Mark also asked if the accounts for the Benevolent fund were being independently audited, Stuart responded that yes SCMS are due to the fund being above £250,000.

Mark Lockie stated that the Articles and Byelaws have been amended to update them.  The previous amendment that was undertaken in 2011 had not been completed and lodged with Companies House.  The current amendments are with the solicitor and will then be lodged with the Charities Commission before finally going to Companies house after SCMS approval processes. 

 Chris Gladish raised MLC training and asked when the next round of MLC training would be.  Stuart Gladwell highlighted that SCMS had delivered MLC training for the last three years and the next training dates would be undertaken by the MCA.  The MCA MLC training was raised in the 27 Feb 2019 CABCC meeting.

 Robert Barnes stated that the SCMS process for approval for the new Articles and Byelaws will be to call an EGM.  In order to enable this there have been previous discussions about using electronic voting. The previous agreements were discussed in 2014 so Robert Barnes suggested looking back through previous minutes to trace the conversations.  The new versions of Articles and Byelaws will be presented to all for at least 28 days.

The AGM was closed at 1845 hrs.