Trustee elections 2017

Steady rider
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by Steady rider »

Gaz wrote;


Steady rider wrote:
Plus they have added the option for motions to be classified as 'Out of order', a provision not included in the old AoA.
I'm sure you are aware that it was already within the powers of the Trustees to classify Motions as "Out of order" before this year's changes to the AoA.

Putting it into the AoA provides greater clarity on the matter.


In 2016 I had 5 motions submitted and all accepted, in some previous years motions also, all accepted, never any discussion or details referring of 'out of order'.
http://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/ ... inutes.pdf
In 2017 13 motions submitted, about half rejected as 'out of order'. So I was not aware of the 'out of order' requirement, as it was not in the AoA, that simply stated a motion can be put by one member and seconded by another, they did not include subject to approval.

It was raised last year at the AGM and no good reason was provided for leaving it out of the new AoA. Even if was provided for in some legal framework, it does not tell the members about their rights to put motions. It needs to be included in the AoA for clarity.
wessexone
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Re: Trustee elections 2017 - you MUST vote for 4 candidates.

Post by wessexone »

Have you noticed (on voting paper "how to vote" section 3) that it is required that you MUST vote for 4 candidates. With this requirement you potentially have to vote for 3 candidates you don’t support in order to vote for a candidate you do support or not vote at all. Rather unusual to say the least…..

Feels like an error or someone has not thought through the implications of the requirement.
PH
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Re: Trustee elections 2017 - you MUST vote for 4 candidates.

Post by PH »

wessexone wrote:Have you noticed (on voting paper "how to vote" section 3) that it is required that you MUST vote for 4 candidates. With this requirement you potentially have to vote for 3 candidates you don’t support in order to vote for a candidate you do support or not vote at all. Rather unusual to say the least…..

Feels like an error or someone has not thought through the implications of the requirement.

Yes it was noticed, subject has it's own thread
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=117611
yann
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by yann »

CUK HQ have confirmed that voting for anything other than 4 candidates renders the votes void - so i either have to vote for candidates that i remain unconvinced are suitable or withhold my votes from the one definite and second possible candidates that i wish to endorse. Or i dont vote- so no say OR deliberately spoil ballot to record a generic"against" opinion - but no guarantee that this will achieve desired intent. From a democratic point of view - a situation that is severely wanting . I have always wanted to try and express a positive position via voting ( in every context)....but it does seem that the pressures to vote "against" what you DONT want become every more overwhelming. We appear to have changed to an inferior constitution and mode of operation ....yet there seems no mechanism for making this heard
Steady rider
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by Steady rider »

You could try an AGM motion. 'We deplore the voting requirements/arrangements for the elections in 2017'

You could find it classed as 'out of order' or covered by some other move. It would in effect be saying they are doing a bad job, so the Chair and Ch Exe would use moves to try and deter such a motion. It would be against the clubs best interests as they define it.

On a brighter side, they may well change the procedure for the next election, but no guarantee. People who think they are right but are actually wrong, as in this case, may have problems seeing their own mistakes.
yann
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by yann »

By the way ... anyone know how to access the Articles of Association?
Sherlock here is feeling more like Watson!
Steady rider
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by Steady rider »

Last years AGM motion 'passed' required all details on how the club is run to be on the web in one place.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/about-ctc/policies-procedures
AndyK
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by AndyK »

For what it's worth, if by some miracle I get elected as a trustee I will do my best to press the board - and the executive - to become more open and engage properly with the membership - and to run elections and AGMs in an honest, even-handed way. (I can't guarantee I'll get anywhere but I'll give it my best shot.)

A well-run membership charity should welcome members' involvement in setting the charity's direction and engage with them on major decisions wherever it's practical. Unfortunately at the moment we seem to be seeing the opposite. It is quite astonishing how badly the relationship with the members has been handled over the past few years, and there's no good reason for it. I fear that some current trustees see the members as an obstacle to their own personal aims, rather than as an asset that can be used to advance Cycling UK's charitable goals. I hope I'm wrong, but that's how it looks out here on the outside.

As I'm standing on the basis of my technology strategy expertise, I would also expect to get involved in improving access to information on the website. Despite the recent relaunch it's obvious that a lot more work is needed there.

Obviously I would like you all to vote for me; also for three other people so that your vote counts as valid! I don't know any of the other candidates but from their statements they all sound like rational people that I could have a sensible debate with.

However I feel that the current Chair of Trustees must bear some responsibility for the secretive, inward-facing attitude of the Board, purely because of his position. I would therefore find it hard to vote for him myself. I would, of course, be happy to discuss that with him.

Don't forget you can vote online at http://www.ersvotes.com/cyclinguk17 . You will need the unique security codes from your paper voting form. If you've lost your voting form, I gather that it's possible to contact membership@cyclinguk.org (phone 01483 238301) and ask for your codes.

Andy Key
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gaz
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by gaz »

Steady rider wrote:Last years AGM motion 'passed' required all details on how the club is run to be on the web in one place.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/about-ctc/policies-procedures

AFAICT that page and it's associated links on the revamped website are the response. I do not consider that a comprehensive response and hope further work is intended, not least because the linked Articles of Association are the 2012 edition :roll: . I left feedback on that point shortly after the page was lauched, neither reply nor correction as yet so I'll try again.

yann wrote:By the way ... anyone know how to access the Articles of Association?
Sherlock here is feeling more like Watson!

Elementary: https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default ... gm2017.pdf They're still marked draft but those are our AOA as adopted by the Members at the AGM 2017.
High on a cocktail of flossy teacakes and marmalade
AndyK
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by AndyK »

gaz wrote:
Steady rider wrote:Last years AGM motion 'passed' required all details on how the club is run to be on the web in one place.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/about-ctc/policies-procedures

AFAICT that page and it's associated links on the revamped website are the response. I do not consider that a comprehensive response and hope further work is intended, not least because the linked Articles of Association are the 2012 edition :roll: . I left feedback on that point shortly after the page was lauched, neither reply nor correction as yet so I'll try again.

yann wrote:By the way ... anyone know how to access the Articles of Association?
Sherlock here is feeling more like Watson!

Elementary: https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default ... gm2017.pdf They're still marked draft but those are our AOA as adopted by the Members at the AGM 2017.

Here's another challenge: see if you can find a statement of the organisation's Charitable Aims anywhere on the site. It is there, but you have to dig into a PDF to find it. You'd think it would be front and centre on the "About us" page at the very least. It's easier to find the Aims on the Charities Commission website than it is on CUK's own website.

My first impression is that the revamped website is mostly the old one with a new coat of paint, a few things moved around and words like "Outreach" dropped in to make it look impressive. I can understand the temptation to do that rather than enter into the painful and complex process of restructuring the whole thing properly (I've done it myself), but I think it's long overdue for a proper review.

I have been testing out the revamped Local Group pages on the new website - specifically the admin side that lets groups enter their own information and publish their events and rides in the calendar - and giving a lot of feedback. I did eventually start getting replies, leading to some useful email exchanges. A lot of improvements have been made to those pages just in the past week to simplify the process of posting new events, though there's a lot more to do.

So keep sending the feedback, Gaz - they are reading it and may even be acting on it, though as usual with HQ they can be slow to respond.
PH
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by PH »

AndyK wrote:I have been testing out the revamped Local Group pages on the new website - specifically the admin side that lets groups enter their own information and publish their events and rides in the calendar - and giving a lot of feedback. I did eventually start getting replies, leading to some useful email exchanges. A lot of improvements have been made to those pages just in the past week to simplify the process of posting new events, though there's a lot more to do.

I also admin a local groups page and was testing before it went live - yes HQ can be slow to respond (Though some are better than others) and yes there's more to do, but to put it in some perspective, it's vastly better than what we were working with a few years ago. For whatever reason, there's also a load more referrals from that page to our groups website, up around 35% since the name change.
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gaz
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by gaz »

AndyK wrote:Here's another challenge: see if you can find a statement of the organisation's Charitable Aims anywhere on the site.

Hardly a challenge since the Charitable Objects are in the AoA but I take your point.

AndyK wrote:So keep sending the feedback, Gaz - they are reading it and may even be acting on it, though as usual with HQ they can be slow to respond.

I can confirm that they are reading and acting on feedback as I've had correspondence on other matters I've raised.

A few dead-end pages have been removed and the search options have been altered. Your lick of paint summary seems about right.

I also note that the quoted membership figure in numerous places on the revamped website is now "nearly 70,000".
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fionat
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by fionat »

AndyK wrote:As I'm standing on the basis of my technology strategy expertise, I would also expect to get involved in improving access to information on the website. Despite the recent relaunch it's obvious that a lot more work is needed there.


I voted for you Andy.

It's worth remembering that the role is non-exec - so you'll probably only be able to get involved with the website at a very distant level. As an IT techie and NED of another membership organisation I'm frequently frustrated that there isn't an opportunity to actually 'do' more. I settle for logging numerous tickets with the helpdesk :)
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fionat
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by fionat »

bertgrower wrote:CUK membership is going in the wrong direction but do not know why


http://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/ ... 010417.pdf



It's an interesting one. You'd have to compare to similar membership organisations (British Cycling?) to see if there is simply less of an interest in affiliating yourself with a cycling membership body, or whether it is something that is unique to CUK.

From my own experience, most of my local CUK group has a consistent core of members, and a few joining and leaving. In my view, the way to increase membership is to offer rides that appeal to a wide range of people - but those rides rely on the volunteers to publicise and lead them.

In my area, there is an informal facebook group which has a huge number of regular riders - people post up rides - distance/speed and they're usually well attended. I suspect that many people, especially younger than the typical CUK demographic, are more comfortable with informal social media arrangements than joining a group with regular rides.
AndyK
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Re: Trustee elections 2017

Post by AndyK »

fionat wrote:
AndyK wrote:As I'm standing on the basis of my technology strategy expertise, I would also expect to get involved in improving access to information on the website. Despite the recent relaunch it's obvious that a lot more work is needed there.


I voted for you Andy.

It's worth remembering that the role is non-exec - so you'll probably only be able to get involved with the website at a very distant level. As an IT techie and NED of another membership organisation I'm frequently frustrated that there isn't an opportunity to actually 'do' more. I settle for logging numerous tickets with the helpdesk :)

Thank you.
I've got enough websites of my own to fix. :-) However it's pretty clear that CUK management needs to take a step back and look at the website's overall purpose and structure - it's a bit of a mess because there's no clear plan behind it. That's where my IT and web strategy experience could come in useful: in nudging them in the right direction to address that. I'm not going to fix the website for them but I can help point them in the right direction.
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