Meeting notes - 16 July 2008

Notes from our monthly meeting on July 16 at the Point Chevalier Community Centre

Present: Ruth, Anne, Adele, Heidi, Logan, Sarah, Keith, Finn, Dushko, Craig, Yolanda, Valerie, Margaret, Catherine, Jenny, Cherry, Niki, Jo, Guido, Deryn, Geoff

Apologies: Beverley

After a round of introductions, we put an agenda on the whiteboard and worked through the items.

1. Proposal presented by Niki, put together with input from Ruth, Finn, Tony, Keith, Jo and Guido

The proposal involved suggestions for the monthly meeting and for subgroups. Below is a summary of the key ideas and the meeting’s reaction to them. Note that everything is only provisional, as the newly formed steering group (see below) will come up with a more formal set of guidelines to bring to a monthly meeting.

a. Monthly meeting. The proposal suggested it be scheduled for the year, is always open, sub-groups send a representative, and a note taker is appointed at the beginning of the meeting – this person undertakes to type up the notes and post them (or pass them to someone who will post them) on the website by the end of the week. These ideas were generally agreed to.

b. Sub-groups. The proposal was that sub-groups be set-up and officially endorsed as part of Transition Point Chevalier at a monthly meeting. To be endorsed a sub-group needs to have a statement of purpose. This will be posted on the website. This idea was generally agreed to.

The proposal also suggested sub-groups be open to anyone who wants to join at any time. There was some controversy over that and exactly how (and if) it could work – this will be considered by the steering group.  Other ideas about the structure of the sub-groups were:

a. That one or more people be named in connection to a sub-group

b. That the sub-groups ‘statement of purpose’ must link to the overall Transition Point Chevalier vision (more on the vision below)

c. That sub-groups sit under a larger umbrella grouping of key Transition Pointt Chevalier themes: e.g. groups that are about how the organisation functions (steering group, communications group, website group), awareness raising, transport, public utilities/infrastructure, energy, food etc

d. That sub-groups be informed/trained in communication techniques, such as de Bono’s thinking caps

Vision

It was agreed that Transition Point Chevalier needs a vision and to this end Finn has volunteered to run a visioning session at the next meeting.

Steering Group

The steering group was set-up and currently includes: Finn, Ruth, Heidi, Guido/Jo and Niki. The first meeting is on Saturday, July 26th at 2pm. If you are interested in joining, please contact Niki, nikiharre@xtra.co.nz, 8456525.

This group will put forward proposals to the monthly meeting for how Transition Point Chevalier will be organised. It will dissolve by the end of the year. It was agreed that whatever guidelines are put in place, these will be regularly reviewed.

Sub-groups

A number of sub-groups were offered at the meeting. If you are keen to join any sub-group please email Ruth ruth@polyphony.co.nz, who will pass your contact details on to the group coordinator. Please note these groups will only become ‘official’ once their statement of purpose  is endorsed at a monthly meeting.

Gardening (Keith)

Food security (Keith)

Recreational cycling (Sarah)

Carpooling (Guido)

Cleaning the waterways (Ruth)

Other sub-groups people are thinking about for the future include:

Library, Bees, Energy, Local economics, Street reclaiming, Fruit and nut, Audit of community groups, Tools and resource sharing, Plastic bags, Preseving fruit and vegetables, Composting toilet, Green waste, Advocacy, DVD night, Local carpooling.

Other issues raised

1. Point Chevalier Community Centre Committee is in need of new members. Next meeting is Monday 21 July, 7.30pm at the Community Centre, 18 Huia Rd

2. We need to work out a media contact person and strategy for how to respond to outside requests.

3. There are funding opportunities that Transition Point Chevalier may wish to consider and/or that could be useful for subgroups.

<back to TPC home page>