AGM and accounts

The Annual General Meeting is where members elect the committee, hold the Association to account, and vote on the charge. It is the one meeting in the year that belongs to everybody rather than to the committee.

Under the constitution, notice of the AGM, the agenda and the reports must go out fourteen days beforehand.

Which charge the meeting actually votes on

This catches people out, so it is worth being exact.

The AGM votes on the fixed element only, the part every property pays. The constitution calls it the Estate Management Charge and says it “shall be such sum as shall be decided upon at a General Meeting”. Current figures are provided to members.

The AGM does not vote on road charges. Those are set road by road, by your Road Representative or road committee, from what your own road needs. Five road groups, five different answers, none of them decided at the AGM. See what you pay.

So a member arriving expecting to vote on the whole bill will only be voting on part of it. The other part is settled closer to home, which is where to raise it.

Who can vote

Every member present in person or by proxy, with two limits the constitution sets out plainly:

• One vote per address. Where two or more members live at the same address, only one of them may vote (Rule 25b).
• Arrears remove the vote. Rule 25c: “No member shall vote at any general meeting either in person or by proxy unless all monies owing by him to the Association have been paid.”

That second one is worth knowing before the meeting rather than at the door. If you think there is a question over your account, your Road Representative or the Secretary can check it beforehand, and would much rather do that than turn anybody away.

Minutes

Accounts

The Treasurer prepares an income and expenditure account and a balance sheet at each calendar year end. These are audited by a qualified accountant elected annually at the AGM, who confirms that the accounts give a true and fair view.

The Association holds audited accounts that have never been published on this website. Putting them online is a decision for the committee rather than for whoever maintains the site, and it has been asked. In the meantime, members can request a copy from the Secretary.

What the 2024 AGM decided

Worth knowing, because these are the decisions that turn up elsewhere on this site:

• The Association charge was increased, agreed unanimously.
• The revised Driveway Widening and Verge Crossing Policy was ratified, including a returnable bond and, at a member’s request, arbitration by an external surveyor if a dispute arises.
• The case for becoming an incorporated company was put to members. The reason is that the Trustees, who own MOSA land, are not fully covered for personal liability by the Association’s insurance.

Papers marked draft

Minutes stay in draft until they are confirmed at the following meeting, so a draft is not the record and should not be relied on as one.