Federation Planning Day Minutes

Friday, 17^th November, KITS, Brighouse

1. Introductions & outline for the day

Val welcomed everyone and outlined the structure for the day.

2. How the new structure will work

Val handed round copies of a diagram showing the new structure of the Federation, including the new Management Team consisting of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer as well as four working groups. Val said the working groups would share the load of the work and would meet as and when necessary between the Full Federation. The working groups will feedback to the Federation through the Management Committee.

Sheffield

It was agreed that tenant representatives from Sheffield should be included on the Federation mailing list once transfer is completed so they could be included if they wanted to get involved.

Link with Area Committees

It was agreed that in the New Year the Area Committee Chairs will meet with the Management Team prior to Area Committee meetings to discuss agenda items.

Board Observers

Bert & Ken are listed as Board Observers. It was noted that Ken was unwell and would not be returning to this position so Val suggested that members should think about how to progress this further.

3. Role of the Tenant Involvement Team

The Following was agreed:

• the Tenant Involvement Team will take on the administration side for the next couple of years.

• the Secretary will be responsible for checking the minutes before the Management Team accept them as a true record.

• The Management Team will set the agenda but the Tenant Involvement Team will distribute with the rest of the papers

• To review this arrangement at a later date to see if it is working.

• Each Tenant Involvement Worker will be designated to one working group to act as a mentor, offering advice and support

Val - Management Team

Richard - The Big Picture

Jo - Training Group

Beverley - TRA Support

4. Working together as a team

The group agreed the following guidelines to ensure members could work together as a team:

i. No back biting

The group said there was a need to break the cycle of discussing items after meetings. All issues should be discussed thoroughly in the meeting.

ii. Clear communication between the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary & Treasurer

iii. The Management Team need to be clear that any issues raised should be placed as an agenda item

Any agenda items should be brought to the Chair or Secretary prior to the meeting.

iv. Need to be understanding, open & honest

Members need to be clear about what they are able and unable to do and should not be afraid to ask for help.

v. Respect

Members need to be understanding and accept the different levels of time each person can commit to. People can only give what they can so don't be judgemental.

The group also spoke about good Chairing skills and said it was up to the Chair to ensure there was only one person speaking at one time at meetings and time limits should be placed on all agenda items.

5. Frequency of meetings

Val reminded members that it had been agreed at the last Federation meeting that the next Full Federation meeting would be held on 12^th December 2006 and then every two months after that (with the next one being in February).

The group agreed that Full Federation meetings would be held on the last Wednesday of every other month.

It was also agreed that the Management Team and the four Working groups would meet in between Full Federation meetings.

6. Website

- Change of domain name

Val explained that the Federation website needed to be updated now that the Federations' name had changed and informed the group that the cost for this would be £24.50 for two years. The group agreed the cost was reasonable and they should go ahead with the change. Val then gave members some options for a domain name and they agreed the following were the best options:

www.penninefederation.org.uk

or

www.penninefed.org.uk

- Contact Person

It was agreed that the Tenant Involvement Team would ensure Mike receives any updates to add to the Website.

- Mug Shots

Members had their photos taken for the Website.

7.i) Service Level Agreement

Val handed round copies of the Compact and drew attention to Section 6, the Federation service level agreement. She explained that this section set out the partnership between the Federation and Pennine and said members needed to be aware of the commitments between both organisations. Val said The Federation and Pennine needed to work together to review these undertakings to see if they work.

It was noted that the Federation's name needed updating in this section.

Val said it was important that the Federation were aware of the Compact as it gave clear guidance to advise tenant groups with their queries and challenge Pennine if needed.

ii) Funding

There was a discussion about the Federation becoming privately funded. Val said it would be a struggle to find external funding to cover running costs and also the Federation would have to constantly fill in applications to apply for funding. Some members said this discussion had come about by a few people who thought Pennine were actually running the Federation. Val pointed out that the Government specified that Landlords should fund Federations and added that Federations would never be totally independent as they were in a partnership with their landlord and both needed to work together to solve any issues.

Val explained the history behind how the Federation had previously been funded and said this had led to a substantial amount of surplus money which needed to be dealt with. She gave the group the following options of how they would like to move forward:

1. Keep the surplus and continue to receive a grant from Pennine.

2. Compromise over funding - keep back sufficient running costs, then identify the spending needs for each of the working groups for the following year then calculate what grant would be required.

3. Return the reserve, keeping some running costs and start a fresh with the full amount of funding each year.

The group agreed that they would hang fire until April, keep a reasonable reserve and then calculate their funding needs for each of the working groups for that year.

8. Office Opening

It was agreed as part of the review that there would be no office rota. Bert will continue to open up on Thursdays.

The group agreed that it was a good idea if Tenant Involvement Team checked the office for answer phone messages and post. They will record all messages and distribute these and any post to the relevant person.

It was noted that the printers are not working and some post is being delivered to the wrong flat. Jo will ask IT to look at the printers again and also check there is a No. 5 on the office door.

9. Information for Tenant Association & Tenants Conference

Val handed round copies of the Federation newsletter. The group agreed it would be a good idea to produce a newsletter after each meeting to share information with their members.

The group agreed to have a stall at the Tenants Conference. Jo will produce a leaflet from Ken's Federation report on the website and print this for the stall along with copies of the newsletter.

Val drew attention to the Federation logo and said this would need altering because of the change of name. She said the logo on the newsletter had just been overtyped with the new name and asked if this was ok or did members want to pay for a new logo to be produced. Members agreed that the new name should be overtyped over the old logo.

10. Expenses

A copy of the guidelines for claiming expenses and a claim form will be circulated with the minutes.

It was agreed that any reasonable expenses should be paid and all receipts should be retained and passed in to the Treasurer with a filled in claim form.

11. New Year Party

Val confirmed that the Maurice Jagger Centre was available on Saturday, 13^th January 2006. The group agreed they wanted this booking. Val will confirm with the Maurice Jagger Centre.

The following arrangements were agreed:

Entertainment

Beverley will speak with Frank Gledhill from Barker Close who plays the organ. Jo will speak with her friend who sings and plays guitar. Mary will contact Sarah who sings. It was noted that the Federation paid out £100.00 for the singer at last years' party.

Party Organiser

Sue Molinuex was nominated as the lead contact person.

Key Holder

Richard Guillot will be responsible for the locking up of the Maurice Jagger Centre.

Food

Sue Molineux will organise the buffet. It was noted that Barbara Hatto provided the food at £3.50 per head for the party last year.

Sue will also sort out the punch!

Tickets

The Tenant Involvement Team will send out invites to all tenant groups. Starting time agreed 7.30pm - 8.00pm. Price agreed at £3.00 per ticket.

Raffle prizes

Tenant Involvement Team will ask Pennine and tenants groups if they would like to donate any prizes for the raffle.

Ruth will provide a prize of real Belgium chocolates.

Flyers

Jo to produce flyers to be placed on notice boards

Compare

Sue will contact Andrew Mitchell. The group agreed to offer the raffle money raised as a donation towards the Boys Brigade.

Afternoon Session

1. Workshops - getting organised.

2. Any Other Business