Committee Meeting Minutes

[Lee]

I hope Roly doesn't mind me posting this here but I feel it's important information for those that are interested. Copied below is Roly's response on UKV to the question of committee meeting minutes being made available.


An explanation of committee meetings and their minutes
I have never heard of a national association or company that has open public committee meetings or board meetings. Perhaps some do exist but they would be in a tiny minority. All committee meetings are private, have to be private, and always will be private. If a meeting is private then so are the minutes, for committee members only.


General meetings of any kind are open, and the minutes are published. General meetings are where all decisions are taken. A committee does not and cannot make any important decisions.

There are two relevant points here:

1. If you think about it, committee meetings have to be private or nothing of any significance can be discussed. We could not talk about our plans to counter government agencies' attacks, or what we should do about the pharma industry trying to kill off ecigs, or how we propose to proceed in Europe, or give personal details about people we want to work with or don't want to work with, or give reports on what has been achieved and why it worked or failed - or anything really, apart from discuss the weather. Just about all topics up for discussion are sensitive in one way or another. It doesn't make much sense to make our discussions or plans public.

2. The committee cannot make any decisions of importance - what it does is basically two things:
a. Discuss the options for decisions to be made by the members, and therefore which options to present to the membership.
b. Manage the work of the Association, which normally means run of the mill jobs and larger projects.



So anything of importance is presented to the membership for their decision. Apart from that, a committee mainly just does work, which is why so few people ever volunteer to be on one.

[Perpetua]

I'm actually betwixt and between here Lee if I'm honest, although I appreciate the sentiments for not publishing minutes, I also do understand the need for transparency to avoid this feeling from some quarters that a 'secret' group is at work.

Our local Councils, once minutes have been approved by the relevant Committee are published on-line as a matter of course, similarly any resident can call into the office and request to see them . . . we do discuss some sensitive issues, not just that a doggy bin hasn't been emptied for a week.

I also wonder, if anyone made an application under the Freedom of Information Act, if they could be so bothered, how this ECCA policy would stand up.

[Lee]

I understand both sides too but can assure anyone reading this that the committee is not some sort of Illuminate secret society. The committee just discusses mainly administrative duties at the moment and I'm sure the minutes are not the most exciting read. Also I'm sure this may be a point raised at the next meeting as not having them available could prove a thorny issue.

The biggest problem here is if they are available to anyone then that includes any MHRA people that may have joined ECCA.

[Perpetua]

Having typed them, I can confirm they're not the most exciting read, with absolutely no disrepect to ECCA's Steering Committee, most minutes are pretty dry affairs. . . . but I do think the transparency issue is something that needs to be seriously considered by the SC.

If you're wanting participation from a wider audience, you do need to give them something tangible to particiapte in.

[roachieuk (aka eciggery2011)]

Im on both sides of the bench for this one i mean i dont know how diffrent it is but i was ona committee many moons ago.I always thought that if one requested to see the miniutes you had to share them with them?

am i wrong in saying this if so i do apoligise as i know if someone asked for the minuites at the meetings we used to hold we would have to give them a copy.

Also there was some issue with them being recorded on tape im not sure of the sotry but i know there was?

Sorry if im just gabbing on its just my two bobs thought,

I just i thought i could go to the head of the ECCA and ask for the copy.

[Lee]

Totally agree and hopefully something will be sorted out. I think ECCA generally is something a lot of people are reluctant to get involved in, there is no WOW factor involved. Just a lot of work to be done with no pay and the possibility of no result. However it's something I feel is extremely important and wish more volunteers would pitch in. At the moment we're a minority amongst a minority.

Sorry Roachie, didn't see you there! Like I say this should be on the agenda of the next meeting, in fact I'll post about it now.

And done.

[roachieuk (aka eciggery2011)]

NP mate i would join but i rember the last committee i was oh boy i dont even wanna go there.

I was on our local community one for just over 2years and from that day forth i promised myself that i would never go on one again i may seem a bit thick and what not sometimes but i do know quiet a bit about politics and committees.

You wouldn't believe the amount of arguments our committee had.

Now if you wanted someone to arrange events fund raising for the committee then i would willingly lay myself out as its the one part i love doing.

Ive arranged many events

from the committee i was to the care homes ive worked in mate so if you ever need anyone for that side of things let me know.

[Lee]

The following have been discussed at the two ECCA meetings so far;

The position of temporary treasurer has been taken by Rusty and his accountant after the resignation of Katfish. An ECCA bank account has been set up and will be linked to a PayPal account for possible donations in the future.
Overseas members from UK-administered areas are eligible to join ECCA UK.
JennyH has been co-opted to represent Ireland on the steering committee until AGM.
Membership only allowed to over 18s.
A privacy statement has been decided upon.
A constitution and mission statement is close to being decided upon.
The roles of committee members (for the standing committee) are close to being finalised.
A sub-committee is being formed to give ECCA a corporate image.
A sub-committee is being formed to provide News and Articles for the ECCA website.
A sub-committee is being formed to liaise with other European forums in order to have a unified European Consumer voice.
The format of the AGM has been discussed and whether or not it should coincide with VapeFest in October.

All pretty dull stuff so far BUT if you would like to get involved in any of the sub-committees, please get in touch with Sam Munro, Rolygate, Rusty or myself.