Hazelhurst CSA Committee 2010-03-07

Hazelhurst CSA > Co-operative Committee > Committee Meeting 7th March 2010

Time and Venue

2000 start at Alison’s house

Apologies

Agenda

Matters arising from the last meeting: See the meeting notes.
Rules: Outstanding issues from Alison.
Action for Involvement Meeting Invite: See the email from David and the date change email — it's now on 8th April 2010.
Business planning process: See also the Business Plan wiki page and the email from Gareth at CMS.
Deciding our Objects: See the Heeley-Meersbrook_CSA_Steering_Group#Principles_and_Purpose and the proposal from Gareth, the proposal from Heather and Chris, the revised proposal from Heather and the Somerset Rules version of Heather's revised proposal from Chris.
Moss Valley Events: Sat March 6th. 10.30 to 5.30 Industrials past of Moss Valley. Meet Ford Bridge Inn car park 10.30.; 20th March 2pm Norton country club History of farming in the Moss Valley.
Future meetings: Committee meetings and public meetings.
Masters in Environmental Management Dissertation: Email from Donna about her dissertation involving research into Hazelhurst CSA.
Point Blank Conservation Offer: Email from Paddy regarding "Nature Conservation workers may be able to help you at the Hazelhurst site. This will be completely free of charge as it will be a good experience for them and in return for the work they do they can learn about organic growing and biodiversity."

Notes

In attendance: Alison (Minutes), Chris, Heather, Kerri, Marion, Ronin, Yvonne (Facilitator) Apologies: None

1. Group Agreement

Following the Consensus Decision-Making Workshop on 26 February 2010, Heather reported that a number of Committee Members had met to consider a draft Group Agreement for meeting conduct, and to clarify the purpose of the Committee.

Heather, Marion, Ronin and Yvonne had met, and also discussed inputs and outputs with Chris. Other members gave their apologies.

Heather presented a draft proposal which was discussed and subsequently amended. The following summarises the agreed first version of a Group Agreement, which is subject to further development over the life of the Committee:

Meeting Conduct

Criticize ideas, not people
Recognize our different abilities to contribute
Think of the good of the Committee and the project
Be courteous, be open, participate
Accept constructive criticism
Respect one another’s confidentiality
All members are responsible for active listening
The facilitator can check for understanding at any time

Meeting Procedure

Members should raise hands to speak
Minutes will be circulated within one week of the meeting.

A discussion on communication around Minutes and other outputs of the Committee, the circulation to private or public email lists, etc. would be welcomed at a future meeting.

2. Matters Arising from the Last Minutes (Meeting held on 26 January 2010)

It was agreed that the section relating to a discussion and agreement of the Rules to be used for the organisation should be amended. It was also agreed that the section relating to Gareth’s resignation should be clarified.

Any other outstanding items form part of the agenda for this meeting.

ACTION: Chris to edit minutes as agreed, and publish.

3. Rules – Outstanding Issues

Alison reported that she had contacted Alex Lawrie at Somerset Co-operative Services CIC regarding the adoption of the Somerset Rules. As a result, there are procedural matters to clarify and resolve, as follows:

Confirmation of name: agreed to be Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative Limited
Registered address of the organisation: confirmed as Alison’s address. The Committee noted that it would be desirable to get a formal address for the land at some point.

ACTION: Kerri to look into the process for this with the Post Office.

Cost of registration: previous indications from CMS were that they would cover this cost, as noted at this link.

Chris has notified Alex of this, and CMS have confirmed they will do this, with an invoice being sent directly to CMS from Somerset Co-operative Services CIC.

ACTION: Alison to confirm with Alex whether this has been done.

Mission Statement: the Committee agreed that no mission statement currently existed but that the Objects (see item 6 below) could fulfill this request.

Any required amendments to the Rules for our organisation: it was agreed that Yvonne, Chris and Alison would take this work forward as a subgroup, with the expectation that the Committee would feed back to Alex what is wanted, and ask him to assist with the drafting of any amendments. These would then be discussed and endorsed by the Committee as a formal proposal, before being put formally to a public meeting for agreement and ratification, and onward transmission to the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

ACTION: Yvonne, Chris and Alison to take this work forward as soon as possible through a subgroup.

4. Business Planning Process

Yvonne reported that she had sent round a basic template for a business plan.

She has also shared some proposed objectives for this Committee (not the CSA as a whole), to take forward necessary work up to the first Annual General Meeting of the formally-constituted body. It was agreed that a date in late September 2010 for the AGM should be planned for.

The initial list of objectives is attached as Appendix 1.

Yvonne explained that the list proposes that work should be delegated to task-groups in a number of instances, with a ‘checker’ (i.e. a ‘buddy’ or ‘shadow’) being available to support the lead person identified. The list also identifies that in some cases, formal documents will be produced as a result of the work.

Discussion followed around the overall time-line and also the need for individual time-lines for some of the objectives, which are quite substantial in their own right. There are outstanding questions which will need to be fully considered due to the associated resource implications, e.g. Chris raised consideration of distribution of produce.

The overall content was also discussed, and it was agreed that the following items should be added:

Communications, including IT infrastructure (Chris volunteered to lead on this)
Engaging and utilizing volunteers
Working Group liaison
Development and publication of policies for use of the land, e.g. Health and Safety, Child Protection.

In the course of discussing the work of the Task Groups, it was clarified that Darrell’s consultancy time is offered for free up to the point of requiring formal input on using employees to undertake tasks. This has been formally agreed with Heeley City Farm.

It was noted that not all Objectives have a lead or a checker identified at this point, and that it is likely that people external to this Committee will be co-opted to lead or support some areas. In the meantime, Members agreed to reflect on the list, and provide feedback on what help they could offer.

ACTION: All members to review the list, and confirm their contribution and/or suggested nominations, by 15 March 2010.

ACTION: Yvonne to redraft the list once that feedback has been received.

5. Clarification on the Purpose of the Committee

Members reviewed the draft Terms of Reference and purpose provided by Yvonne. The following amendments were agreed:

The remit of the Committee was not formally agreed at a public meeting, and therefore the introduction should be redrafted to read ‘We understand our purpose to be…’
The agreement of an Options paper with Huw (regarding the purchase of the land from Huw’s company in due course) must be subject to ratification at a public meeting and/or through public consultation
The phrase ‘To work with Huw and the Property Company with regard to the land purchase’ should be redrafted to read ‘To work with Huw to develop the land’.

ACTION: Yvonne to redraft the Terms of Reference and purpose to reflect these amendments.

6. Deciding on the Objects of the Organisation

Heather summarised for the Committee that there had been three proposals put forward for Objects for the CSA in the past, and no final position had yet been agreed. Objects are intended to capture the principles and purpose of the CSA in a couple of sentences.

Following discussion, it was agreed that Heather’s earlier proposal, with certain key amendments from Chris, should be accepted in principle. Heather agreed to circulate the Objects, Principles and Purpose for comment from members before the next meeting.

The current proposed Objects read as follows:

“The objects of the cooperative shall be community supported agriculture which aims to grow and distribute organic, healthy, affordable food for the benefit of the community using ecological and cooperative principles and renewable energy and through this contribute to a more resilient and inclusive food system for Sheffield and surrounding area.”

ACTION: Heather to circulate information.

ACTION: All members to review and feedback before 30 March 2010.

7. Dates of Future Meetings

The following meetings were tentatively agreed, subject to availability of appropriate venue(s) and formal notification of date, time and place.

Public meetings

Monday 10 May 2010 Monday 5 July 2010 Monday 20 September 2010 (Annual General Meeting of the Co-operative)

Committee meetings

Tuesday 30 March 2010 Tuesday 20 April 2010 Tuesday 4 May 2010 Tuesday 1 June 2010 Tuesday 29 June 2010

All Committee meetings will take place at 7.45pm for 8.00pm, venues to be confirmed.

8. Any Other Business

1) Future Meetings and Facilitation:

Darrell should be invited to the next meeting of the Committee (30 March 2010), to report on his plans for the land (e.g. green manuring)
Huw should be invited to the following meeting (20 April 2010), for mutual updates on progress
Ronin agreed to facilitate the next 3 meetings of the Committee.

ACTION: Ronin (as facilitator) to issue invitations to Darrell and Huw.

2) Keeping Huw in the loop:

Yvonne agreed to email Huw regarding the legal responsibilities to go into the Heads of Terms, what the Committee is assuming will be agreed. It was noted that the Committee is acting as if the Terms are currently in place, and this should be formalised.

ACTION: Yvonne to email Huw regarding Heads of Terms.

3) Offer of volunteer support from Point Blank:

This offer was welcomed, whilst it was acknowledged that there was still planning to be done with Huw on what activities might take place in the near future.

ACTION: Chris to pass Point Blank offer on to Huw for his information.

ACTION: Marion to talk to Huw about what activities might take place in the next few weeks (e.g. small mammal survey) and which the volunteers might be able to support.

4) Masters Dissertation:

The Committee has been contacted with a view to providing input to a student’s Masters dissertation. Whilst the interest was welcomed, it was agreed that the Committee was not currently in a position to support the request.

ACTION: Yvonne to respond formally to the request.

5) Oral History project:

Heather reported briefly on the development of this project, and requested that it be set up as a working group of the Committee. Details of its work will be circulated to the wider group of interested people. She wants to discuss ways of feeding in information, and how others might take part. Heather also reported that there is a Moss Valley History of Farming meeting on 20 March 2010.

6) Library Showcase to provide information on Transition Project:

Yvonne reported that she had met with Susannah (Transition Burngreave) and they had agreed a basic display for the central library showcase. The display covers:

issues
Transition Sheffield information
how to get involved.

Cards and leaflets are also being produced, and it is hoped that the display can be made in such a way that it is reusable (e.g. mount on foam board). Alison reported that the CSA does still hold a small budget, if some finance is required for this purpose.

9. Date of Next Meeting

Tuesday 30 March 2010, 7.45pm for 8.00pm Directors’ meeting Venue to be confirmed

Appendix 1 – Draft Objectives for Directors’ Group


Objectives	Tasks	By When	By Who (Name)
1.To formalise the Mission and Key Aims of the CSA	Draft Agree	March 2010	Mgt.C’tee Lead: Heather
2. To agree the legal name of the CSA	Propose, agree	January 2010	Mgt.C’tee
3. To produce an Options position on the various ways to take the CSA proposition forward	TBC	June 2010	MC
4. To explore and formalise the various legal structures appropriate for the CSA	Research Advisors Proposals Cost/Ben Recommend	April 2010	MC
5. To constitute the CSA	TBC	April 2010	MC
6. To work with Huw and the Property Company with regard to the land purchase	Title deeds; Finances Land registry	June 2010	MC
7. To agree a draft Options agreement and legals	Legal advice Options agreement	July 2010	Task group Lead Alison
8. To redevelop the land and look at issues regarding energy, permaculture, water, soil etc.	Surveys Valuation Design Soil development	Ongoing	Task group Lead tbc
9. To participate and advise on events and promotion of the CSA	Programme of events	Ongoing	Task group Lead Liz
10. To develop prospectus for share issue	Legal document	Sept. 2010
11. To draft business plan	Research Market plan Financials Plans	Sept. 2010	Task group Lead tbc

Next meeting: Hazelhurst CSA Committee 2010-03-30

Previous meeting: Hazelhurst CSA Committee 2010-02-25

Hazelhurst CSA Committee 2010-03-07

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