STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Minutes: 079 – 090
Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 7 May 2016 at 4:30pm at Ventnor Marina
Present:
Ken Barnes (KB) Chairman
Michelle Barnes (MB)
Peter Barnes (PeB)
Phil Boswell (PhB)
Sue Boswell (SB)
Gillian Chapple (GAC) Secretary
Sylvia Jimminson (SJ)
Mo Kennedy (MK) Treasurer
Roger Kennedy (RK)
In attendance:
Roy Jimminson nb Avontrader
079 Quorum
As more than four members of the Committee were personally present, the Chairman declared the meeting quorate.
080 Minutes of Meetings
The Minutes of the Committee Meetings held on 8 November 2015 and 5 March 2016 and of the AGM held on 5 March 2016, having been circulated, were approved and signed by the Chairman.
081 Matters Arising
Min 066 – Newsletter for Members & Moorers – This had not been taken forward.
Min 072 – Marina Approach Road – The Marina advised that the road isn’t a private road – so the property owners do not own it, the Council still do but are choosing not to maintain it. If a car was damaged by the state of the road then driver should take matters up with the Council. The repairs to the road were not being funded by the Council – a number of the property owners will be funding the cost.
There is a 50mph speed limit marked at the top of the road but, apparently, it only applies to the first part of the road which is council adopted. The rest of the road used to be adopted, but the Council unadopted it. Some of the property owners are now beginning to take a note of car registration numbers where they consider the car to be travelling too fast for the road as they are concerned that some people are driving too fast both for the road conditions and for the potential traffic coming the other way, in particular the horses. The property owners are considering putting up signs on the unadopted part to indicate that a speed of around 25mph is appropriate.
Min 073 – Recycling – Bottle banks were now on site and had been emptied for the first time. Despite notices on the bottle banks, people had put non-glass items in – if this continues, it could result in the Bottle Banks being removed.
With regard to dog poo bins, dedicated dog poo bins need to be emptied by specialist contractors (either from the Council or private contractors) and that the Marina did not feel the additional costs could be be justified. The existing arrangements were working satisfactorily as far as the Marina is concerned and there are no plans to change.
Min 074 – Water Health & Safety – The Marina advised that a specialist Health & Safety consultant is used and the subject of water supply and Legionnaires’ Disease had been discussed with him. The guidance is that during the summer months (May to September) all taps should be run fortnightly, which is what the Marina are doing.
However, the consultant did mention that leaving water in boat water tanks whilst the boats were unoccupied might have the potential to cause a problem due to the boats themselves heating and cooling with the weather; Legionella bacteria is commonly found in water. The bacteria multiply where temperatures are between 20-45°C and nutrients are available. The bacteria are dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C.
Min 076b – Collapsible Gazebo – 2 had been purchased for a total cost of £194.38. Roger said that he would like to purchase some securing straps, etc for greater stability and safety and this was approved by the Meeting. Action: RK
Min 077 – Paws for Tea – This had not been progressed.
Min 078 – Kitchen Access – The doorway from the Woodland Lounge to the kitchen had been created completed by Roger and Peter. They were congratulated on a job well done.
082 Arrangements for Moorers’ Breakfast 08/05/2016
It was agreed that the Breakfast should be held in Sunrise and, given the weather forecast, the marquees would not be needed.
Mo and Michelle reported that arrangements were in hand for purchasing supplies, including food suitable for the dietary requirements of coeliacs and vegan. 32 people had advised that they would be coming.
Sheila Bell had offered to help with the cooking and Lee C-B had organised for Canal Watch police officers to be present. It was agreed that the 2 police officers should not be charged for breakfast.
Ken confirmed that he would prepare the risk assessment Action: KB
Of the 87 people who joined VMMA in 2015, 58 had renewed, 9 had advised that they would not be renewing and nothing had been heard from the remaining 20. There have, however, been 27 new members since 1 January 2016 bringing the total current membership to 85. It was hoped that we might get some more members at tomorrow’s Moorers Breakfast.
Gillian said that she would remove access to the Members’ Area of the website for the 2015 members who had not renewed. Action: GAC
084 Finance Update
Mo reported that there was just under £370 in the Association’s account, this was before paying for the food for tomorrow’s Breakfast and the pegs/ratchet straps for the gazebos.
085 Review of AGM arrangements
It was agreed that the AGM had gone smoothly but noted that some members had wanted to raise topics at the AGM which had not been notified in sufficient time or which were not matters that the VMMA could/should deal with. It was felt that having an open Committee Meeting after the AGM had given Members the opportunity to raise matters with the Committee.
086 Review of Wine, Cheese & Stars evening
It was felt by the Committee Members who attended that this had been a successful event. Feedback in the evening and subsequently from members who attended had been positive. There had been no charge to anyone attending and the total cost of the event was £27.41, including a bottle of wine as a thank you to the Astronomical Society.
087 Discussions with Marina regarding mooring fees and terms and conditions
Mo and Gillian reported that they had had a meeting lasting several hours with Lee C-B. Following the last Committee Meeting on 5 March, Lee had been made formally aware of concerns raised by Members – see Mins 070 & 071. She (and the Harbourmasters) had been upset by the perception that service standards were slipping and that Wigrams was drawing staff away from Ventnor, given that Castle Marinas were now paying for more man hours at Ventnor than had been the case a couple of years ago. Lee shared the concern of some VMMA Members that the new Terms and Conditions did not encompass the Ventnor Marina specific terms and conditions which were believed to apply due to the original planning application and under the Sale & Purchase agreement between Paul Flude and Castle Marinas and had said that she had problems ‘enforcing’ some of the terms because of the differences.
Following the meeting, a formal note had been sent to Lee regarding the changes to Mooring Terms and Conditions asking her to forward it to the appropriate person within Castle Marinas. However, in the meantime, Lee and Harbourmaster Steve had a meeting with Castle Marinas management and raised similar points. At that meeting, Castle Marinas had asked Lee to work with VMMA to look at the new mooring terms and conditions and highlight areas which were felt to be at odds with the previous terms and conditions; to report back to Castle Marinas on changes which were thought to be needed and Castle Marinas would then consider whether any marina specific terms and conditions could or should be issued.
Gillian reported that, as a result, she had been working through the mooring terms and conditions that had been issued at various times since March 2003 (01/03/2003, 12/09/2008, 01/03/2011, 01/01/2015, April 2016) comparing the changes and looking at compliance with the planning consents, Sale & Purchase Agreement. This wasn’t completed yet but points to not so far were that the April 2016 T&Cs had actually been published around October 2015 on the Castle Marinas website, that the Castle Marinas T&Cs contained more restrictions than the original Paul Flude T&Cs and that the new T&Cs had not been issued in compliance with the terms of the old T&Cs. Lee had been given a copy of the work done so far.
There was a general discussion about how this should be taken forward, with the Committee expressing concern that it seemed as though the Committee were being asked to decide what were acceptable T&Cs for all moorers. It was thought that was inappropriate and that, before putting anything to Castle Marinas, all moorers should be consulted. The logistics and costs of doing this were considered and it was felt that possibly asking Lee to include a letter from VMMA in her next mailing would be the way forward. Action: KB/GAC
Gillian commented that, apart from the comparison with previous terms and conditions, on reading through the new T&Cs she had noted several typos and referencing mistakes, but had not finished working through them.
Phil offered to take a look at the T&Cs as well as Gillian. Action: GAC/Phil B
088 Results from Member Survey
Gillian reported that a relatively few Members had completed the survey. Generally they were happy with what the Association was doing – there had been a few requests for facilities on the website (which already existed), suggestions for social events (most of which had already been considered by the Committee) and nearly all people responding had said that ‘Regular Visual Boat Checks’ has been defined to them as once a day. One Member had commented that none of the VMMA Committee had introduced themselves to people at the Marina barbecue. Name labels have been produced for tomorrow’s Breakfast.
089 Discounts for VMMA members
Sue had produced a pro-forma for use when talking to organisations about discounts for VMMA Members and agreed to co-ordinate the approaches and results. To help stop the same organisation being asked several times, she suggested setting up a closed Facebook group and this was agreed. Action: SB
In discussion, it was also agreed that organisations should not be offered exclusivity.
090 Future social events
It was agreed that we would not pursue the visit to Helidon Vineyard this year but would look to organise it next year around grape harvest time. Numbers were low for the Cake and Alpacas on 8 July but there was still the potential for numbers to increase. It was agreed to continue with this. The Moorers’ Breakfast on 18 September and Soup & Sparklers on 5 November were confirmed.
Lee had asked for volunteers to help with the Marina barbecue on 9 July.
There being no further business, the meeting was closed.