Cycling UK Forum

It's a slow work morning, with two cancelled meetings, so I've read this thread from end to end.

It seems to me the Club's income from membership subscriptions is simply being used as a milk cow to shore up the activities of the Trust. It was once said of Lloyd's 'names' that ''If God had not meant them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep.'' and the same appears to be true of members like myself whose behaviour is often ovine. I'm shocked by the data communicated by the pie charts above. The relative proportions of our club's expenditure does not meet my expectations as an annual member and the governance model and accounting practices/controls for Club and Trust sound as if they fall a long, long, way short of best practise within the not-for-profit sector, where I work btw. (Please don't refer me reassuringly to auditors and lawyers and management consultants opinions of financial health and fitness-for-purpose; these opinions are bought and sold according to what the buyer wants to hear.)

Even without a possibly change in government to one with, perhaps, less interest in cycling related activities the financial outlook is bleak in respect of government funding for projects, and bleaker still if the Trust can't even manage these contracts today in such a way as to break even.

Now is clearly NOT the time for the change being proposed. Surely the CTC house(s) needs to be put in order, transparent and detailed project management accounting practises need to be put in place for the Trust, and a decent 21st century governance model developed and established for both Trust and Club before any further changes are considered. In other words the patient needs to be taken to an emergency room and their condition stabilised before more drastic re-constructive surgery takes place.

Who will be proposing such a "Third Way" at the AGM I wonder? I guess that will be a case of 'watch this space' for now. Who will be attending the AGM to whom I can entrust my proxy vote? Simon Legg? Regulator(Greg)?

What a depressing thread.

I will be attending the AGM. Can anyone tell me (I know it has probably been mentioned up-thread, but can't recall and think it may be tedious to read the whole thing again), are amendments to motions still going to be allowed at the AGM? I'm asking as I'm often the only member of our group to go to the AGM and I will probably be given proxy votes from there. Also, is there a linit to the number of proxy votes one member can present?

Karen Sutton wrote:I will be attending the AGM. Can anyone tell me (I know it has probably been mentioned up-thread, but can't recall and think it may be tedious to read the whole thing again), are amendments to motions still going to be allowed at the AGM? I'm asking as I'm often the only member of our group to go to the AGM and I will probably be given proxy votes from there.

I'm not sure. Strictly speaking, if they are not substantive changes (e.g. just spelling or wording that doesn't affect the meaning and intent of the motion) then they are allowable. If they are substantive changes then they shouldn't be allowed.

However, I canot be confident that this is the advice that Councl will receive. I know this has been an issue in the past.

Also, is there a linit to the number of proxy votes one member can present?

No - but they all have to be recieved and registered at National Office 48 hours before the meeting.

OK. So I presume I just send a list showing vote, name and membership number?

Karen Sutton wrote:OK. So I presume I just send a list showing vote, name and membership number?

I'd tend take a photocopy of the actual proxy forms...

You never know who might want to challenge the votes

I filled in a proxy form for Nationwide Building Society (I think) and it had the option of giving your vote to the proxy to cast as they see fit.
This may appear a good idea when considering how we can assure that our votes are cast in the way we want despite minor changes in the actual wording. A sort of informed trust in your proxy.
In the case of the building society it was being used as a tool for collecting votes for the headman and based on blind faith.

I'd be happy to give such an "as you think fit" proxy vote to Simon, after all I've entrusted my health and well being to him down very dark country lanes on several occasions.

I'd be less than happy to give anyone my proxy vote on a motion if it is applied to that motion regardless of whether or not the motion is amended during the meeting. Outside the CTC I've been there, done that, and had the T-shirt taken off my back as a result.

All I'd suggest is that people may want to think twice about giving their proxy to the Chairman to cast at his discretion...

If there is a conspiracy out there, then that will be the default option on the form!!

I think the building society form actually had your votes filled in for you, ready to sign and if you wanted to vote against the change you had to fill in a seperate form yourself.

There are ways of helping to get a motion passed with an apathetic/uninformed membership.

If as I understand here, there is an expectance that wording or proposals will be changed in order to deflect proxy votes. I can't help thinking how bad this reflects on the integity of the Director and Council. If they are prepared to sink that low, in my opinion they all should resign immediately.

I doubt that they would do that as they are in the position to manipulate the vast majority of proxy votes if they chose to do so.
However I dont think that is the case but I will change my mind on that if something like i just described appears included in each copy of the CTC magazine.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5028

That's the CTC's take on proxy voting. As I understand it, an official CTC proxy form will take the form of a legally worded instruction to the proxy (the chair or another named person) how to vote and although proxies may vote on an amended motion*, they must respect the spirit of the original instruction. The Council has decided to support becoming a charity so it's only to be expected that they will recommend it to the membership with the voting forms. That will probably include highlighting which box they want members to tick. Speaking generally, I think it's widely accepted that the "don't really know" and "it's all cut and dried" elements of an electorate are also the "don't really bother" element for whom even ticking a box and posting the form are unlikely. The ability of the Council to mobilise this group into voting will presumably be decisive. I've no idea of the level of proxy voting at CTC meetings. If there were to be a single figurehead "no" proxy, who turned up at the meeting with a substantial number of valid proxy forms, it would put the Chairman into an impossible personal position.

* I presume this is to allow an amended motion to go to a vote, rather than an EGM.

thirdcrank wrote:http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5028

That's the CTC's take on proxy voting. As I understand it, an official CTC proxy form will take the form of a legally worded instruction to the proxy (the chair or another named person) how to vote and although proxies may vote on an amended motion*, they must respect the spirit of the original instruction. The Council has decided to support becoming a charity so it's only to be expected that they will recommend it to the membership with the voting forms. That will probably include highlighting which box they want members to tick. Speaking generally, I think it's widely accepted that the "don't really know" and "it's all cut and dried" elements of an electorate are also the "don't really bother" element for whom even ticking a box and posting the form are unlikely. The ability of the Council to mobilise this group into voting will presumably be decisive. I've no idea of the level of proxy voting at CTC meetings. If there were to be a single figurehead "no" proxy, who turned up at the meeting with a substantial number of valid proxy forms, it would put the Chairman into an impossible personal position.

* I presume this is to allow an amended motion to go to a vote, rather than an EGM.

There may well be...

Plans are being made...

TC
I was at the Belfast AGM and for every motion the number of votes cast by proxy far outweighed the number of delegates present. This was, in part, the reason that procedures for subsequent meetings was discussed by individuals after the AGM as some felt that attendance in future could be a waste of time, if you were there mainly to have your vote counted.

This brings me back to an earlier post where I stated that far too much hangs on one article to go in the magazine. I again ask the critical question:- how do the "no votes" lobby educate, enthuse and mobilise the majority entitled to vote who do not read this thread?

manybikes wrote:TC
I
This brings me back to an earlier post where I stated that far too much hangs on one article to go in the magazine. I again ask the critical question:- how do the "no votes" lobby educate, enthuse and mobilise the majority entitled to vote who do not read this thread?

They don't because the Director and Council have decreed they cannot. What would be the point of them taking an anti-member stance if they were to spoil it all be allowing members to know the truth?