WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA

Western Australian Division

Minutes of Annual General Meeting 17th. April 2004
Held at CWA House, Hay St., West Perth

Printer version VK6 2004 AGM Minutes.pdf - 7pages
Prior to the meeting, the following handouts were distributed:
(a)    Treasurer’s Report - to which the Treasurer spoke.
(b)    Three Pages of  Notes on National WIA by Trevor VK6HTW - to which he spoke.
(c)    Eight Pages from the Draft National COLLATERAL Agreement (those pages
directly affecting VK6) - these contained suggested additions and deletions by VK6LZ
to protect VK6 interests to which he spoke.
(d)    One page of alternative financial strategy by VK6LZ - to which he spoke.

The meeting commenced at 1010 with the President, Neil VK6NE in the chair.

(1)    MINUTES:
The minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting, were read by the President and accepted (VK6XV/VK6TVI)

Business arising:
1a    Bruce VK6OO noted a correction to the Treasurer’s report concerning the minilink item

1b    Trevor VK6HTW pointed out that the proposed new Foundation License was waiting on the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) it was estimated that it would be at least another 6
months before new systems and exams could be set up.

The current agreement for the examination service between the ACA and the WIA was ongoing
and was subject to a six month provision of a written notification of cancellation giving another six months notice.
   
1c    Christine VK6ZLZ reported that the Video “The world at their fingertips” had been
professionally copied and a copy is to be sent to the the Federal Video Libruary which is in the
custody of the Gladesville Amateur Radio Club.
Action VK6XV

(2)    SECRETARY’S REPORT - Roy VK6XV
Roy reported that the annual WICEN report had been received.
Otherwise there were no problems of any great importance over the year, matters being
attended to as they arose.

(3)    TREASURER'S REPORT - Bruce VK6OO
Bruce spoke to his report attached which had already been handed out;
He expressed his thanks to the efforts of Roy VK6XV and Tony VK6TS (who did the work)
concerning the Minilink removal and sale of Equipment which raised $11,000 towards
divisional funds.

Council had decided to continue to subsidise divisional membership subscriptions from capital.

As can be seen from the report the Accumulated Funds as at 31.12.03 were $58,867 which
included approximately $2000 in interest from invested capital.

Terry VK6ZLT queried the increase in educational costs for the year, to which Bruce
explained that Council had agreed to subsidise the divisional courses by funding the rent
of the classroom ($480 p.a.) and to also underwrite the cost of the courses where not self
sufficient. (NB Course participants must also be members of the Institute)

Malcolm VK6LC queried the balance difference between income and the suspense accounts
which Bruce explained was due to the accrued interest not yet received.

Clive VK6CSW pointed out that it appeared that divisional subscriptions had dropped by a
third (whilst numbers had increased).

Bruce explained that due to considerable delays in receiving the divisional component from
the Federal Office in 2001, the figures for last year  (2002) had been inflated thus reflecting
in the 2003 report.

The report was accepted (VK6NE/VK6LZ)

(4)    BROADCAST OFFICERS REPORT - Dennis VK6KAD
Dennis Reported that not much had changed during the year. The relay on the CB band had
changed to channel 25 LSB with the loss of channel 7 and interest was still there, Dennis
noted that some VK callsigns appeared in the call backs, it also appeared  (from comments
at the recent BBQ) that a lot listened but did not call back.

Dennis also commented that it was not clear at this stage if VK6 Newswest broadcast would
continue if the Nationalisation proposal went ahead.

The VK6WIA callsign for the news will shortly change to VK6WI.

The news link on Echolink has been discontinued due to lack of use, this was originally set up
to enable the Albany repeater to obtain a clear relay. (Robyn  VK6XRE,  who was providing
the link, said that it appears to have fallen into disuse due to complaints from some Albany
users that it was not AR.)

The President commented on the number of hours of voluntary work required of the
Broadcast Officer and the relays to provide the news broadcast

The report was accepted with acclaim (VK6NE/VK6LZ)
 
(5)    MEMBERSHIP REPORT - Christine VK6ZLZ
Christine reported that the current membership of the division was 413, and announced
that she was standing down from the position. She apologised for the delay in sending out
Membership Certificates, which would shortly be attended to.
The new Membership Secretary would be Kathi VK6HKR.

The report was accepted (VK6NE/VK6LZ)

(6)    EDUCATION REPORT - Neil VK6BDO
Neil reported that there had been five new licensees, and eighteen upgrades achieved during
the year from the VK6 divisional courses and that the morse segments were well attended.

This year there should be another eight novices from the current course which also uses
computer aided teaching methods and will be completed in June/July

Unfortunately the regular Morse instructor had been ill but should be back soon.
Bob VK6CG has also offered assistance  with the course this year.
The class had recently changed location to cheaper premises.

The President commented on the number of hours of voluntary work required to provide courses.

The report was accepted with acclaim (VK6NE/VK6LZ

(7)    FEDERAL AWARDS MANAGER - MalcolmVK6LC
Malcolm commented on the generosity of the division, and the assistance given him by Christine VK6ZLZ (VK6 Web Master) in assisting him by hosting the Federal Awards Internet web pages
on the division’s web site.

The whole project had taken hundreds of hours to put together and to get it right and he would
like to thank our division for financing the web page.

The report was accepted (VK6NE/VK6LZ

(8)    QSL BUREAU - Neil VK6NE
Neil said that the VK6 Bureau operated on the Post in/Post out concept, with members
maintaining a cash balance with the bureau to cover forwarding costs of postage and packing.

There had been no complaints over the charges for outgoing of 7.5 cents a card with incoming
being free. Cards for JA and other frequently used destinations were retained until sufficient
number of cards for economic postage had accumulated and were then sent direct, whilst
cards for other less frequent destinations were bulk forwarded to the VK2 bureau for despatch
with their cards.

Incoming were generally received in boxes through the divisional post office box
(PO Box 10 West Perth). Cards can also be picked up by appointment at home address.

Will VK6UU asked if there was a move towards Electronic QSLing (E-QSL)?
Neil replied that E-QSL had not been accepted by the awards people as yet.

Malcolm VK6LC (F/Awards Manager) said that he had produced a report in 2001.
The ARRL have an electronic map of the world and exchange QSL by encrypted cards.
It will come but at this stage the WIA do not accept it yet.

There are five million hams world wide pushing cardboard around! If members want it
they should contact their Federal Councillor to raise it at the Federal AGM.

We do currently have the system to run it. We do presently accept a scanned QSL card
by E-mail which Malcolm can verify if difficulty getting others to verify it.

The report was accepted (VK6LZ/VK6XV)

(9)    WICEN - Jim VK6JP
Jim spoke to his report (attached)

Roy VK6XV asked if there was much interest from the official emergency services
management in VK6,  as his contacts with the “workers” in the WA SES would like to
see more WICEN involvement.

Jim replied that the last contact was five years ago (with management)  and they had
commented that “we have you on our list and will let you know when required”.
The management links are just not there at present.

Tony VK6TS commented that he had recently joined the SES Communications Support
Group a new group which is mainly self sufficient and is different to the Eastern States.

Roy VK6XV asked if WICEN wanted to be involved, and Jim replied that membership
had been falling  away, but that he was sure that if an emergency arose, then the general
Amateur population would come out.

The report was accepted (VK6NE/VK6LZ

(10)    PRESIDENTS REPORT - Neil VK6NE

Report is attached

Peter VK6TVI asked that in view of the upcoming  WARG exams on May 1st, could
Neil guarantee that someone would be present to mark the results? 

Currently only the President is authorised to mark exams in VK6, However council
had approved VK6LZ and VK6LC as markers and the Secretary had informed Federal
Office at least two months ago.

ACTION: The Secretary to write to Federal Office requesting written authority and written
instructions for VK6LZ and VK6LC to mark examination sheets prior to despatch to Federal
Office.

(11)    FEDERAL COUNCILLOR’S REPORT - Trevor VK6HTW
11.1    Trevor Reported on his attendance at the Federal Convention held in Brisbane over
the weekend of 2nd to 4th of April 2004.The most important item on the agenda was the move
rom a Divisional based WIA towards a National body

On Friday the 2nd., Michael Owen developed the National WIA proposal.

Trevor knew that VK6 did a lot for members but was not sure of the details at the time.
From the discussion, Michael Owen typed up the amendments on Friday Night.

On Saturday, there was a white board session on the National Model and mainly Legal stuff.
   
There was a new document that no one in VK6 had seen as yet. This was the Legal Document
called the COLLATERAL AGREEMENT, that all Divisions were expected to sign (to create the National WIA) It contained far reaching ramifications. Trevor was not impressed with the late
presentation of the National WIA documentation and being expected to accept it (without
reference to the divisional council).

Having spent eight hours on the subject over the three days at the AGM it was decided to
postpone any decisions to the adjourned meeting to be held in Sydney on the 1st of May.
For a fuller report see the VK6 Council Minutes for the 6th of April.

11.2    The Federal AGM then continued with the main agenda, for details read the next AR.

The meeting then adjourned for a short lunch.

The Federal Councillor’s Report continued with a detailed explanation of the WIA
Nationalisation Proposal with the intention of getting an informed decision from the meeting
as to what the division was prepared to agree to.

Trevor said that it would have helped to see more members at the meeting as there were very
important decisions to be made.

To accept the special resolution which is the instrument to implement the National WIA
proposal at the adjourned Federal AGM it requires six of the seven divisions to agree.

Trevor said he would try to present an unbiased view of the proposal, and spoke to his handout,
he discussed the problems associated with the current Federation of Divisions model.

He said that Federal office is staffed by June Fox a non amateur, with part time help from Rita
a VK3 and occasionally Rita’s daughter. This cost approximately $50,000 p/a.
Currently Federal had approximately $77k in the bank.

The divisions all have budgets of around $5,000 p/a. which generates only about$40,000 in total.
VK6 have the lowest subscription rate but do subsidise their members.

It is said by the initiators of Nationalisation that the current set up is a dinosaur and needs a
new company to be set up.

The National body would be unable to just take over the divisional memberships, it needs a
stat. dec. signed by members to transfer.

It is said that the new company would need at least eight staff at the national office this would
consist of; A paid professional manager paid $73K p/a (with overheads this equates to $105K)
Paid staff attracting $50K plus overheads (Plus presumably a number of unpaid volunteers)
This is a bit vague

So far there is no official nomination list of the founding Directors whose names have to appear (apparently) in the proposed new constitution.

As half are required to retire each year, (after the initial two years) the proposal is that half
serve for the first two years, and half serve for the first three years.

The new zones to be set up to replace the divisions, are shown on the handout, these will not be geographic and will elect Representatives to advise the Board on local matters (note advise).

It is proposed to have three reps for VK4, eight reps to cover VK1+VK2+VK3, four reps to
cover VK5+VK6, one rep for VK7 and one rep for VK8. There is no obvious connection to the
grass roots members. As proposed our zone will cover both VK5 and VK6 .

AGMs are  proposed to run over five days with one day devoted to clubs (difficult for VK6
clubs to attend). As shown on the Hand out (and written into the new constitution) our (VK6)
subs will increase (on the demise of the division) as follows:

Member                                 an increase of      $14      to $85 p/a     or 16.4%
Concession Member             an increase of      $  5      to $70 p/a     or   7.2%
Family Member (No AR)     an increase of       $17     to $56 p/a     or 30.4%

Up until the Friday of the AGM, we were led to believe that the division would continue to
exist (maybe as a club) and would keep it’s assets.   No way,  under the collateral agreement,
the division would cease to exist/must change its name, will have no National Representation
(federal councillor), no income and loose it’s assets.

We are told that this must all be rushed through because of some imagined ACA deadline.
Some times what we are told is not quite true and disagrees with what is in the detail of the documentation.

Trevor then took questions and comments from the floor;

Terry VK6ZLT; (Q) What are the benefits of the National WIA?

Peter VK6TVI: (Q) What happens to the club insurance cover after 1/7/04?
(Q) Membership subs. is this open for amendment?
(A) Yes we amend it and take it to the Sydney Meeting where it is voted upon and then
they expect us to sign.

Graham VK6RO, It is said that we have to change to get ACA sub-contract work, however
each state should get a fair go.

Clive VK6CSW;;  According to the proposed constitution, if the National WIA is wound up
there will be no divisions but members will be required to pay an additional $20 towards debts.
In addition he was concerned  about the financial viability on the figures provided for income
to cover paid staff and run the Institute.

The projected increase in membership won’t happen, he used a Union situation as an example
where membership was lost.

Will VK6UU; (Q) Was the diagram questioned at the AGM?
(A) No it was not available and not discussed.

Robyn VK6XRE; (Q) Is the VK6 Constitution separate and if so where do assets go (on wind up)?
(A) Assets can only go to a club/s with similar objectives.

Malcolm VK6LC;  Must have a vote of all members for dissolution of division , or must go to
the Supreme Court of WA, which after legal costs, would mean that there will be no assets left
to distribute.

Clive VK6CSW; VK2 can get around it by using Parramatta as club rooms, perhaps we should
buy a club room?
Under 5.2 (Membership) of the Constitution it is possible that with an influx of members with
other interests that the Amateur’s interests could be swamped.

VK6HTW said he also picked up the same point, however the Directors must be licensed
Amateurs.

Will VK6UU said it had not happened before,
Clive replied that these were changing circumstances.

Will VK6UU; (Q) When would the Director vacancies be decided,
(A) Current AGM is still open, the vacancies will be filled when reconvened in Sydney.

Malcolm VK6LC was worried about the appointment of Directors we have not been allowed
to nominate them. Trevor VK6HTW said that after first term it would be up to the members
to elect the Directors.

Tony VK6TS said that if the Division changed to a club (after transferring members to the
national body) he did not think anyone would want to join. Trevor said it could continue at
say $20 membership.

Will VK6UU said that at the end of the meeting we had to decide, but we still did not
understand the mechanism.

At this point, Cliff VK6LZ spoke to his hand outs, explaining his suggested additions and
deletions to the Collateral Agreement, and the alternative of protecting some of the services.

The Proposal was then put to the Vote:

Should the proposed Collateral agreement  in it’s present form be signed?

For 10%         Against 90%

Further Comments from the floor:

Will VK6UU; If we go against the nuts and bolts of the concept the proposers could get
disillusioned and  it could become dead in the water.

Clive VK6CSW; There is a large discrepancy over what has been presented in the AR
magazine and what is presented here.

Trevor VK6HTW said he had put it to Ernie the Federal President that with the fragmentation
and numbers, can’t we modify the current Federal Constitution and use the current funds to
sort out the office without risking the loss of the current membership.

Bruce VK6OO; There is not enough money (being provided) to run the Federal Office, all the dissatisfaction is with the office.

Neil VK6NE; There have been many attempts in the past by several people but unfortunately
not at the same time, eg Wally House, Bill Wardrop, John Loftus, and others, all have lacked
support and failed.

It was an efficient office when Bill Roper ran it but he failed to get his contract renewed.

Clive VK6CSW; The main problem is inter-divisional fighting.

Terry VK6ZLT; asked what difference is the new company going to make.

Neil VK6NE; asked if we had a Director to give time to make it work.

He suggested that if you were to ask the Victorian division  to see how the Federal Office
was going they would reply no way.

Trevor VK6HTW; It is very vague on how it is going to work.

Peter VK6TVI; Do we know if the ACA is going to allow us to issue the licenses?

Trevor VK6HTW: What if the ACA (subcontract) doesn’t happen and they cancel the
examination contract, are we allowed to tender. If exam costs go to $200 it won’t work.
The supplied financial spread sheets were developed on assumptions not real facts.

Malcolm VK6LC; Stated he was up to speed with the documentation, but thought there
was a long way to go, why are the subs set at $85, no one has done any maths, they are
 in a dream world, it is too serious for guessing games, all the documentation needs close
study and comprehension.

We should only accept the constitution subject to a feasibility study.    A Chartered
Accountant should be employed to interview the division to come up with true expenses.
Council should come up with a proposal to put to members.    Agree with Trevor that the
provided figures are a joke.   Council should put up $3K for a proper study.

Will VK6UU said that they (the initiators) would not have prepared the documentation on
the assumption that it would fail.

Roy VK6XV agreed that we should get rid of the current Federal Office.

Neil VK6NE: said he would like the discussion to stop at this point, and put forward that
Trevor should act on the feed back.

Bruce VK6OO said that the eastern states may have other information that they will get
the ACA contract.

Peter VK6TVI; Some one should write to ACA asking if we are to get Licensing, Neil VK6NE suggested that the ACA will put it out to tender, and unless we were in a position to tender that
would be it.

Trevor VK6HTW, said he could not understand why the Federal Office had been let to
run down there is money in the bank, it is the Directors responsibility.

Trevor VK6HTW; I have tried to give an unbiased view:
On your current understanding, do you accept the proposals as presented?

35% voted Yes        65% voted No

Will VK6UU; If it is obvious that the proposal is lost, is there a need to hold the adjourned
AGM planned for Sydney, other matters can be dealt with by postal vote and thus save the cost.

Malcolm VK6LC; It would not be the end of the world, something has to be done, but believe there should be a choice (of models) a lot like it, a lot don’t.

To sum up, the mood of the meeting was that we should support the concept of a National WIA
and not totally reject the proposals, but that the Collateral Agreement in it’s present form should
NOT be signed by the division until amendments have been made, and that the Constitution
requires some minor amendments..

(12)    ELECTION OF COUNCIL, PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
Bruce VK6OO having withdrawn his nomination, the President declared that as there were
exactly the same number of nominations for council as vacancies, there was no need for a
ballot for council, however there were two nominations for President namely, VK6NE Neil Penfold,
and VK6LC Malcolm Johnson,  therefor a ballot for President was required.

The result of the ballot was in favour of  VK6NE by one vote, with one informal.

Malcolm VK6LC then congratulated Neil on his election to the presidency, but said that as he
felt that things needed to be done differently he resigned from council, however he assured the
meeting that he was prepared to retain the position of Federal Awards Manager.

A vote to keep Malcolm as Vice President was unanimous, but Malcolm declined to accept.

The following were therefore duly elected to serve for the 2004/05 year
 
President     VK6NE  Neil Penfold
Vice President     Vacant (Nomination required)

Malcolm VK6LC in his role of Federal Awards Manager then presented Neil VK6NE with
a *new format* framed DX Century Club Certificate with endorsements.

The Meeting Closed at 1355

President VK6NE............................. Minute Secretary VK6LZ......................................
E & OE