Meeting highlights
PRESENT
Ruby Sycamore-Smith (Chair), Ryan Edgar, Paul Hunt, Hamish Barker, Payal Ramritu, Henri Faulkner, Laura Harris, Jess McLean, Kurt Purdon and Mariana Te Pou
IN ATTENDANCE
Laura Munro (Critic Chief Reporter), Zane Pocock (Critic Editor), Darel Hall (General Manager) and Donna Jones (Minute Secretary)
APOLOGIES
Payal Ramritu
Hamish Barker for leaving early
Moved from the Chair
188/14 THAT the above apologies be accepted.
CARRIED U
MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
Laura Harris left at 5.45pm
Moved from the Chair
189/14 THAT the minutes of the executive meeting held on 12 August 2014 be accepted as a true and correct record with the above amendment.
CARRIED U
SPEAKING RIGHTS
Moved from the Chair
190/14 THAT Darel Hall, Laura Munro, Zane Pocock and Donna Jones be granted speaking rights for the duration of this meeting.
CARRIED U
HEALTH AND SAFETY UPDATE
Refer to the General Manager's July Operational report pages 26 and 27 for full details.
AFFILIATION
McLean/Barker
191/14 THAT Students for Justice in Palestine Club be affiliated to OUSA.
CARRIED
BLUES AND GOLDS POLICY AMENDMENTS
Last year it was agreed that a Te Roopu Maori representative would sit on both the Blues and the Golds Panels. The policies were amended to reflect this but the process didn't get finalised through an executive meeting.
It was pointed out that if the executive wanted these policies to be amended without notice the vote would require unanimity.
McLean/Faulkner
192/14 THAT the Blues Policy be amended and set.
CARRIED U
McLean/Faulkner
193/14 THAT the Golds Policy be amended and set.
CARRIED U
Payal arrived at 5.35pm
Payal left at 5.37pm
BLUES AND GOLDS PANEL APPOINTMENT FOR 2014
McLean/Faulkner
194/14 THAT Matt McFadyen, Henri Faulkner, Ruby Sycamore-Smith, Mariana Te Pou, Ron Palenski, David Gerrard and Paul Hessian be appointed to the Blues Panel for 2014.
CARRIED
McLean/Faulkner
195/14 THAT Matt McFadyen, George McLenaghen, Payal Ramritu, Ruby Sycamore-Smith, Mariana Te Pou, Lisa Wilkinson, Lorraine Isaacs and Nicholas McBryde be appointed to the Golds Panel for 2014.
CARRIED
EXECUTIVE MEMBER ON THE HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE
Jess McLean has had previous health and safety experience and would like to be involved in the health and safety at OUSA and offer her knowledge. It was agreed she should attend the meetings and be involved.
ELECTIONS POLICY TO BE SET
The Secretary explained the process for setting policy as per the constitution section 11.
McLean/Edgar
196/14 THAT the Elections Policy be set.
CARRIED
GENERAL MANAGERS' OPERATIONAL REPORT FOR JULY
Darel invited questions as he highlighted some of his report.
Darel was advised by AJ - Marketing & Communications Coordinator that the promotional costs for environment week would be more than budgeted.
McLean/Barker
197/14 THAT the OUSA Executive agrees to an extra $500 (total now $1,000) for promotion of environment week to come from the Executive campaign line.
CARRIED
McLean/Edgar
198/14 THAT the General Manager's July Operational Report be received.
CARRIED
PROPOSED DUNEDIN CITY COUNCIL REGULATIONS
The DCC are proposing to change alcohol regulations, their aim at reducing alcohol-related harm as attached document explains.
Below is OUSA's stance:
"Dunedin night life, which bars form an important part of, is enjoyed by many students and local residents. Students often choose to attend Otago University due to Dunedin's vibrant and diverse social scene.
OUSA accepts excessive alcohol consumption can cause significant harm. OUSA supports programs and education encouraging responsible drinking habits.
The majority who visit bars without causing trouble are penalised by the proposed changes. The changes pushes people into less regulated environments. This raises safety concerns and has the perverse effect of encouraging excessive alcohol consumption. Also, more alcohol consumption will occur in residential locations, disturbing those who want peace and quiet.
Many people are in town at the 3am proposed close time. This, combined with the one-way door policy (encourages people to remain in one bar), might put constraints on safe methods of transport.
Otago's bars and clubs provide jobs. Income from part-time jobs is useful for students coping with rent and education costs. The proposals reduce the sales revenue of bars and thus their profit. A reduction in work hours, or job losses, will result. Moreover, bars struggle to generate high profit margins. Common student bars like the Cook, (The Captain Cook tavern) Gardies (The Gardens Tavern) and Monkey (The Monkey bar) have closed of late (admittedly not profit concerns in all cases). Reduced sales will continue to threaten some bars survival, further reducing options students and residents can enjoy.
There are other reasons why the proposed regulations are counter-productive and harmful. This simply outlines OUSA initial stance and will be refined throughout the submission process."
Paul explained the submission period is one month and the DCC will listen to oral submissions at their discretion therefore our submission needs to be well developed.
Hunt/Harris
199/14 THAT OUSA adopt a stance (as above) to oppose the changes to the alcohol regulations in relation to the Dunedin City Council (DCC) Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) proposals released on 18 August 2014.
CARRIED
Hamish left at 5.57pm
CRITICAL PUBLICATIONS LIMITED STRIKE OFF/PERMISSION TO WIND UP
Critical Publications Limited is a 100% subsidiary of the OUSA with no assets and no operation, beyond the name it has no connection with Planet Media Dunedin Limited (PMDL).
In the past it may have been viewed as a vehicle to ensure editorial independence of Critic. It doesn't do that now.
In the past it may have been viewed as a vehicle to protect intellectual property including a trade mark of Critic. Trade Marks have to be registered. Critic is not a registered trade mark.
It appears that Critical Publications Limited has no function at present.
Te Pou/Purdon
200/14 THAT the meeting move into Committee of the Whole for reasons of commercial sensitivity at 6.00pm
CARRIED
Te Pou/Purdon
201/14 THAT the meeting move out of Committee of the Whole at 6.02pm
CARRIED
Faulkner/Purdon
202/14 THAT OUSA approves to strike off Critical Publications Limited from the Companies register forthwith.
CARRIED
OUSA is required to seek permission from the Inland Revenue Department to wind up Critical Publications Limited, when granted OUSA needs to apply to the companies off to wind up the company.
EXPENDITURE BY EXECUTIVE
OUSA is spending $28,000 on an enrolment and voting campaign.
This consists of $2,000 voted in Budget 2014 for enrolment, $1,500 from a general fund called Executive initiatives, and two project funds voted by the Exec as per s23.7 of the constitution earlier this year.
Project Budget Description Budget amount
2014 political but non-partisan Election Campaign to support student issues of fees, loan and allowances 15,000
Executive campaign to increase student knowledge of and involvement in the OUSA 10,000
A calculation of what might broadly be considered election advertising spending has been done. This is estimated to be $10,000 which is below the threshold for registration. We are investigating registration just to be sure.
Hunt/Edgar
203/14 THAT the Executive approves $1,500 to be spent on enrolments for the National Elections.
CARRIED
Hunt/Edgar
204/14 THAT the OUSA President is the budget holder of the enrolment and voting campaign of $28,000.
CARRIED
EXECUTIVE QUICK ROUND UP
The Executive gave a brief report on what they had been working on to date.
GENERAL BUSINESS
OUSA/Tertiary Education Union (TEU) - 3 Sept, all staff and executive are invited to early vote.
Free breakfasts with a BBQ- owing to there being sausages and bread left over from a recent event it was agreed to include them with the breakfast on Friday morning at the Recreation Centre. Henri offered to manage this.
Executive training - there is another training session on Wednesday at 4pm in the Bull-pen office.
Squash Club incident - The University Squash Racquet Club Open Tournament was held on 9 August in the Squash Club. Following this tournament OUSA received a complaint which involved poor behavior involving alcohol.
McLean/Ramritu
205/14 THAT the meeting move into committee of the whole for reasons of personal privacy at 6.26pm.
CARRIED
Payal arrived at 6.27pm
McLean/Faulkner
206/14 THAT the meeting move out of committee of the whole.
CARRIED
There has been several written statements and discussions between OUSA and the Squash Racquet Club President and Bar Manager about this incident and it was mentioned there had been other incidents prior.
It was agreed by the executive there should be consequences for this behavior. Henri Faulkner will advise Debbie Coulter the Manager of the Recreation Centre of this suggestion.
National Brand Challenge Champions - a team consisting of a Critic reporter, an OUSA Executive member, a former OUSA President and a Lecturer from the University of Otago were up against seven other teams from throughout New Zealand in this prestigious competition.
McLean/Faulkner
207/14 THAT OUSA wholeheartedly congratulates Josie Cochrane, Ryan Edgar, Taylor Wheeler and Logan Edgar for winning the National Brand Challenge Championship held in Auckland recently.
CARRIED
Meeting closed at 6.35pm