GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

VENUE:Bungendore Council Chambers

6.30pm –8.30pm
Monday 3April2017

WELCOME and FORMAL BUSINESS

  1. Welcome(President)

Following nibblies and networking, the President, as Chair, formally opened the meeting at 7:10pm and welcomed all members. She praised David’s “Pre-Google maps version of Bungendore” which had been laid out on all the tables for attendees to enjoy.

  1. Attendance and apologies(Assistant Secretary)

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Present:

  • Petria Sutton (Chair)
  • David Mac Laren
  • Jeanette Holness
  • Linda Brown
  • Murray Gough
  • Jennie Curtis
  • Juliet Dowling
  • Alan Longhurst
  • Beth Tyerman
  • Penny Kothe
  • Sharon Rasker

Apologies:

  • Sharon Baxter-Judge
  • Andrew Riley
  • Anne Fairhurst
  • The Gregoires from Le Tres Bon
  • Colin Elder
  • Scott Preston
  • Martin Darcy
  • Linda Williams

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  1. Conflict of Interest Register(President)
  • None to declare.
  1. Minutes of previous General Meeting and Matters Arising(President)
  • Minutes of the last General Meeting, held Monday 6th February2017,were emailed to members before the meeting. Copies were also available at the meeting for attendees.
  • Business arising:None

Motion: that the Minutes be accepted. Moved byJennie Curtis; seconded byJeanette Holness. Carried.

  1. Prominent Correspondence(Assistant Secretary)
  • Correspondence In:
  • Various – Adviceand/or Invitations from QPRC re various Workshops
  • 16 February – Coffee with a Cop Invitation
  • Feb & March – Advice from QPRC re Town Centre Improvements Workshops
  • 7 March – Information on Bungendore Harvest Festival 28 to 30 April
  • 14 March – Request from Club to speak at a community meeting on possibility of building a stadium to race speedway
  • 15 March – Suggestion to use MailChimp for newsletters
  • 28 March – Acceptance by Tim Overall to Invitation to attend the next General Meeting
  • 1 April – Apology from Tim Overall re attendance on Monday
  • Correspondence out:
  • 9 February – Advice to all businesses re QPRC Marketing Workshops
  • 15 February – Information on Meet + Make Expo
  • 1 March – Advice on Bungendore and Braidwood Town Centre Improvements Workshops
  • 8 March – Information on Bungendore Harvest Festival 28 to 30 April
  • 13 March – 25 new members added to the NSWBC list
  • 14 March – BCCI March 2017 newsletter
  • 15 March – Endorsement of Alan Longhurst as second BCCI rep on BTCEC
  • 16 March – Feedback to John Walker re Speedway

REPORTS IN BRIEF

  1. Treasurer’s report (Treasurer)

March balance sheet, P&L attached.

Directory Advertising income currently at $23,436.39

Current bank balance $26,342.85

Term deposit: $26,770.07

Nett profitoverall for this year: $4,628.84

Motion: that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.Moved byLinda Brown; Seconded byAlan Longhurst. Carried.

GENERAL BUSINESS

  1. BCCI Planning and Administration
  • Constitution Update(Murray Gough)

Murray noted that we have once again updated theConstitution to reflect feedback from members. Version 2.1 is now ready to betakento the next General Meeting in June, which will commence with a Special General Meeting to pass the changes to the Constitution.

Action Item: The Assistant Secretary is to send notice to all members at least21 days prior to the next General Meeting, to be held on Monday 5th June, advising that a Special General Meeting will be held immediately prior to the General Meeting, to accept the proposed amendments to the Constitution. (Updated Constitution to be attached.)

He emphasised changes to Appendix 3 on membership renewals. It was agreed by an Executive sub-committee that worked on the final changes, that sending out renewals in the first week of June for payment by the end of July means that businesses have a choice as to which financial year this cost is incurred. Those who renew by the end of July automatically have voting rights at the AGM. Members still have an additional three months (until 31 October) to pay before membership lapses, but they will lose their AGM voting rights if they don’t pay before the AGM.

It was also suggested that, in the future, work on the Bungendore Directory might take place in the second half of the year as well, so that members can obtain discounted prices for Directory advertising, and have the Directory become based on calendar year rather than financial year. In other words, work on the Directory might start in September with the Directory completed by the end of December. This means that members renew rather than having to rejoin the Chamber in order to gain member discounts. This idea is to be raised at an appropriate future meeting, and discussed with the Directory team in advance of that meeting.

This proposal will be put to the Executive Committee for their next meeting on the 24th April. This will allow ample time for the three weeks’ notice to members before the Special General Meeting in June.

Action Item: A meeting is to be arranged with the Directory team to discuss this proposal prior to the next Executive Meeting on the 24th April.

Action Item: Dependent on outcomes of the meeting with the Directory Team, this item to be added to the next Executive Meeting agenda for discussion.

Petria thanked Murray, David and Beth for their work in completing the updates.

  1. Bungendore Directory (Sharon Rasker)

Sharon thanked David for bringing in the old town photos and copies of the Bungendore Directory. David noted that the Chamber was set up in 1989 to provide businesses with a voice in relation to town signage. The first meeting was initiated by Milton Simms to oppose the introduction of the proposed Yarralumla Signs Policy. Over the next few years, the newly formed Chamber supported a signs policy.

The inaugural colour 2017-2018 Directory is now available – the Directory’s 21st edition. Thanks to Sharon for her hard work and to John Salmond, Linda Williams and Juliet Dowling for their contributions.

  • There was just over $34,000 of advertising revenue this year with around $18,500 total costs including printing (6000 copies for around $10,000), type setting ($2000), management ($4500), brochure distribution services ($200), delivery to households (4000 copies, $800), delivery to mailboxes ($184) and advertising ($648). Total profit is expected to be around $15,500, the biggest profit to date.
  • The front cover was taken by the Bendigo Bank, with Infigen sponsoring the full page back cover. 204 packages were sent out to potential advertisers. 181 businesses advertised in the Directory. There were 16 new advertisers, 10 new categories and only 1 category removed (data cabling). 21 previous advertisers did not advertise for various reasons, mainly closure or retirement, but in some cases previous advertising proved so effective that they were now too busy and therefore required no additional advertising.
  • Going colour meant a LOT of work. John Salmond was amazing. He charged $2000 for typesetting and made over $3000 (at a very cost-effective rate) assisting businesses with new coloured artwork. Virtually every business needed help with changing over.
  • Sharon also acknowledged Linda Williams efforts in producing the Community Pages. She has been doing this since 1990, starting out with an A4 piece of paper that was photocopied and distributed to the businesses in town, to now collating 35 pages of information. And she does this for free!
  • Quotes inside the back cover show how effective advertising has been for advertisers.
  • Canprint have been wonderful to deal with.
  • Sharon Baxter-Judge took photos for the front and assisted via the newspaper.

There was discussion on ways that the Directory can be used for additional promotion, such as distribution to people who stay at the Show. Copies have been given to the new care takers, but attendees considered different approaches that may work including the possibility of leaving copies in the bathrooms.

It is worthwhile having businesses ask their customers “Where did you find me?” as it is good to gather statistics on just how useful the Directory is as advertising material.

There was spontaneous applause on completion of Sharon’s presentation. A job well done. A Press Release has gone to the paper, a blurb is on the BCCI Facebook page, and an electronic copy of the Directory has been posted to the front page of Bungendore.com.au.

  1. Bungendore Village Guide(Sharon Rasker)

The Village Guide is also prepared by Sharon. She sent out packages to more than 30 advertisers. Only 4 wineries were included this year. 30,000 guides have been produced. They have been distributed all around town.

  1. BTCEC / Beautification Workshop Update (David Mac Laren / Alan Longhurst)

Alan was recently nominated as the BCCI’s second member of the BTCEC, along with David Mac Laren. The March meeting was Alan’s first meeting.

Issues discussed included:

  • A car park design brief has been issued to build the Central car park this calendar year. Initial funding has been allocated, along with funds for a landscape plan. The BTCEC is ensuring that their research is put to Council to ensure all the work completed comes to fruition.
  • Connectivity with the new supermarket is an important issue and is currently being considered.
  • There has been good news in relation to the plannedGibraltar St trees. Tim Geyer, Director of Parks and Gardens with the QPRC is fast tracking that work. $500,000 has been allocated to Bungendore Town Centre Improvements. Footpaths and trees were highlighted by the community as the most important updates required in the town. Efforts are now underway to make sure something happens as quickly as possible.
  • With regard to the Beautification workshop, Jennie thought that it worked quite well regarding development of priorities. $500,000 won’t do everything, so trees and paths being defined as the most important priorities is good. Details are now to be considered. With Malbon St changes and the supermarket car park, it sounds like money should be going to the right place.
  • Jennie has emailed Martin Darcy and Tracey Lamont concerning the lack of road parking affecting the businesses in the Village Square. Perhaps the Chamber can write to Council to note that these changes have had noticeable consequences? There is now insufficient parking on that side of the road, and the road is hard to cross, particularly in busy times.

It was confirmed that these spaces have been permanently lost to allow creation of a slip lane around traffic turning into the supermarket. As a business owner in the Village Square, Linda confirmed that the loss of car parks has had a substantial effect on patronage at her business. She was also concerned that there is now nowhere to park a caravan in the main street, so drivers are likely to continue through towards Canberra rather than to stop. Attendees agreed that a review and upgrade of parking signage within the town is essential to help drivers safely find appropriate parking.

Motion: That the Chamber Secretary draft a letter for Tim Overall expressing concern about the lack of parking on the southern side of Malbon St. Moved by Jennie Curtis, Seconded by Linda Brown. Carried.

Action Item: Secretary to draft a letter for Tim Overall regarding this issue.

  1. May 1st Special Event

A Super Dinner is being arranged by the BCCI for next month, with Justin Herald, entrepreneur, to be the speaker. Petria passed out profile information on Justin and noted that he is an entertaining professional speaker. Businesses from Bungendore, Braidwood and Queanbeyan will be invited. Invitations will be sent out shortly, with bookings to be made online via EventBrite. The venue at The Carrington allows for up to 130 attendees. There will be discounts available for Chamber members and for bookings for tables of 10. This should prove to be a great networking event.

  1. Other Business
  • Leaflets on the upcoming Harvest Festival were passed around. Penny thanked the Chamber for their support and noted that the event is shaping up well. Among the events will be a parade giving people the opportunity to dress up their dachshunds and their kids.
  • Murray noted that he attended a “digitally ready for business” workshop last week. It involved a two hour presentation and was offered by the Southern Region and Canberra Business Enterprise Centre (BEC). It proved to be very useful and includes a two hour one-on-one follow-up within the cost.

We have more than 100 businesses in the Chamber. Is there interest in running such a workshop here, as it was really worthwhile? Information will be sent to the Assistant Secretary to be sent out to members.

Action Item: Murray to send information to the Assistant Secretary to be sent out.

  • With regard to the Marketing workshop held earlier this year, follow-up sessions will be held on April 11th.
  1. How to Prepare your Business for the End of Financial Year(Juliet Dowling)

Juliet, of Bungendore Bookkeeping, introduced herself to attendees and gave us a rundown of her 18 years’ experience in the financial sector. Her talk tonight focussed on a series of dot points for businesses to ease the strain of the end of financial year.

  • NOW is the time to plan. Setting up pertinent action items with dates will lead to success. Don’t forget to check in with your accountant to make sure you’re on track.
  • Reconcile receivables (get your money in the Bank, talk to your debtors, write off what can’t be retrieved.)
  • Reconcile payables (pay as much as you can before the end of financial year.)
  • Payroll needs to be up-to-date and in the right spot. Reconcile back to your General Ledger. Check that what’s lodged with the ATO matches what you think should be there.
  • Superannuation – ditto
  • PAYG summaries – do a dummy run and make sure everything is where it should be. Do I have all correct details for my staff?
  • If you need to do a Stocktake, do it. It’s important to know what you have on hand, and what might have gotten lost.
  • At the end of the March quarter, check in with your accountant in case there’s something you can do better.
  • FBT obligations need to be reviewed. Is everything in the right place?
  • Check insurances and workers compensation policies. Do you have the right cover?
  • The Asset Register should also be checked. Your accountant will need to know what’s been disposed of for example.
  • Also review your business plans and budgets. Have you met your goals? How did you go against your budget? What about next year’s budget?
  • Check important dates – the 28th April and the 28th July for BAS and Superannuation guarantees, and the 14th July for issuing PAYG withholding payment summaries.

Petria (and attendees) thanked Juliet for her helpful hints. The information could form part of the next Chamber newsletter.

Action Item: Secretary to publish this information, either as part of a newsletter, or on Facebook or on the Chamber’s webpage.

MEETING CLOSE

  1. Meeting Close (President)

Petria thanked everyone for their attendance and noted that invitations for the Super Dinner will be emailed to all members soon. The Chair closed the meeting at 8:28pm.

  1. Next Meeting (President)

The next General Meeting will be at6:30pm Monday 5June, and will include a Special General Meeting to approve changes to the Constitution. It will be held inthe Bungendore Council Chambers.

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