In accordance with Rule 33, please be advised that the Annual General Meeting of Elwood Sailing Club Inc. will be held –
At Elwood Sailing Club
Friday 17th Aug
Commencing 7.00pm
1.  Notice of AGM & Agenda (attached)
2.   AGM Proxy vote (click for link)
3.   ESC General Committee Nomination forms (click for link)
To attend and vote at the AGM you must be a current financial member.

A member may appoint another member as a proxy for the meeting see point 2 for proxy form.

Currently we have the following nominations for GC
Commodore: Ross Lloyd, Vice-Commodore: Dan Osinga,  Rear-Commodore: Miles Millward, Treasurer: Rob Anderson, Secretary: David Wilkinson
Ordinary Committee Members: Croften Dawson
Martin Grant, Freek Wetzels, Adrian Rowe, Lucy Bueno

The makeup of GC is to be a total of 10 Committee members (3 Flags, Treasurer & Secretary & 5 Ordinary Committee members)

Opportunity to join GC
If you would like to be a member of GC you are quite welcome to nominate for any position. If there are 2 or more nominations for the positions of  Flag Officer, Treasurer & Secretary there will be a secret ballot at the AGM to decide the matter. If there are more than 5 nominations for Ordinary Committee Member there will be a secret ballot at the AGM to decide the matter.

Please note that if you nominate to join the General Committee, you must meet the requirements in the club rules and you must be able to commit to monthly meetings and a work load for the club.

Agenda
Confirm minutes of the 2017 AGM
Receive committee reports.
Receive and consider the annual financial statements.
Motions: In accordance to Club Rule 53.1
Motion 1 – In addition to the five officer positions of the Association, this meeting approves the election of five ordinary members to the General Committee for the next year.
Motion 2 (Moved by J Pyers)– That life membership be awarded to the Commodore J. Picone in view of his substantial contributions to the club.
Special Resolution (attached)
General Business.
Election of General Committee for 2018 – 2019.
Life Member nominations and approvals.
Close of meeting.

Special Resolution
Summary
It is proposed to revise the Policies and Procedures on Membership to include a policy on which members are required to have a Working With Children check as a condition of their membership. This requires approval of a Special Resolution by the AGM.
Background
Changes to the Working With Children Act effective August 1st, 2017 directly affected our club’s operations. Under the Act, a person involved in yachting is considered to be engaging in child-related work and must apply for the WWC if they:
 work or volunteer in a role that brings them into direct contact with children under 18; and
 volunteer or do this work on a regular basis; and
 do not qualify for one of the exemptions in the legislation.
All members over the age of 18 are required to hold a valid WWCC when “working with children”. In addition to the Committee and staff and anyone assisting in training, this requirement includes any adult who has a designated role doing sailing or other duties or volunteering for an event where children may be present. This is a legal requirement, and supports the Club’s commitment to child safety, to preventing child abuse, to identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
In the interim we have been operating by ensuring that all adults either have WWCC or are exempt if they are doing duty or having a role in events. Non-compliant members have been directed not to communicate directly with children during the duty or event.
For membership renewal and new member applications, it is proposed that having a WWC or legal exemption be a condition of membership for adult members who are expected to do sailing duties or who volunteer for events in a role where children may be present. This requirement will not include members who only windsurf or paddle board and do not volunteer for duty or for other events where children may be present, however over time we would like to move in the direction of all adult members having WWC
The special resolution to be voted on is:
The Elwood Sailing Club Membership Policies and Procedures are to be revised to include the following policy:
Members who are expected or volunteer to participate in sailing duties, or who volunteer for a role in other events where children may be present, or who nominate for General Committee or other positions within the club are required to have a current WWC if not legally exempt. Evidence of the WWC or WWC application or legal exemption will be required for all such adults applying for membership renewal or for new membership. For membership renewals a signed commitment to apply and provide details of the WWC application within 4 weeks of the membership application will be acceptable.

Thanks & Regards
Joseph Picone
Elwood Sailing Club Commodore