Annual General Meeting 2020-10-17

The 2020 Annual General Meeting of OpenStreetMap United Kingdom C.I.C, online.

Chaired by: Rob Nickerson, a Director.

Minutes: Gareth Ling, a Director

Meeting opened at 13:04

1. Welcome

Those present are welcomed to the AGM and the online space. The running order for the meeting was published on the osmuk.org website where the monthly meeting minutes are normally published. This link is was posted in the chat box.

Voting procedures were explained, noting that votes against a proposal will be counted first.

The meeting will end with a presentation about the HOT Audacious Project from Rebecca Firth. There will be opportunity to ask questions at the end.

Members attended: Adam Hoyle, Alexis Markwick, Brian Prangle, Cj Malone, Gareth Rubyan-Ling, Jez Nicholson, John Stanworth, Jon Harley, Paul Williams, Philip Barnes, Rebecca Firth, Rob Nickerson, Robert Whittaker, Stuart Ward, Tony Shield

Guests present: None

2. Apologies

No apologies were received by the Directors ahead of the AGM.

3. To accept the attendance of any non-members present and to allow the Chair to call them to speak at his discretion.

Following proper procedure we asked whether anyone objects to having non-members present.

We proposed to do this without an official vote.

There were no objections to accepting this without a vote.

4. To approve the minutes of the previous AGM and matters arising (link).

The Minutes for Annual general meeting 2019 were posted to the website soon after the last AGM. They are fairly straightforward.

It was proposed to accept this without a formal vote.

There were no objections to accepting this without a vote.

5. To receive the annual Directors’ Report on activities for 2019-2020 which will be submitted to the Office of the Regulator of CICs.

The Annual Report of the Directors 2020 is available on the website. It’s been a long year, nearly a year-and-a-half since last AGM. We have had some good successes with connecting with other companies and organisations such as the Open Data Institute (ODI) and Transport for London. We’ve introduced service providers with people who want paid work done. And we’ve issued our first microgrant.

It was proposed to accept this without a formal vote.

There were no objections to accepting this without a vote.

6. To receive the annual Accounts for the period ending 31st March 2020.

The annual accounts are available on the website.

A request to summarise the main figures showed approximately £1000 balance, an income of £800 and an operational expenditure of £500.

It was proposed to accept this without a formal vote.

There were no objections to accepting this without a vote.

7. To accept the resignation of the following Directors: B. Prangle and R. Nickerson; and to thank them for their services.

Our articles of association state we change at least two Directors each year. This is so that we get input from more people and don’t go stale. B. Prangle was directly appointed director after the 2019 AGM and, as described in the articles of association for this situation, is mandated to step down or seek re-election. At this AGM, They have chosen to step down.

It was proposed to accept this without a formal vote.

There were no objections to accepting this without a vote.

Several members reaffirmed their thanks to the work of the outgoing directors.

8. To elect new Directors.

CJ Malone and John Harley were the candidates standing. There are 2 vacancies with STV used for voting, meaning that the positions were filled without votes needing to be counted.

We proposed to accept this without a formal vote.

This was explained with no objections.

CJ and John were elected as directors and welcomed to the board.

9. To increase the annual corporate membership fee for SMEs and non-profits for the coming year 2020-2021 to £75 (up from £50), proposed by the Board.

10. To set individual membership fees for the coming year 2020-2021 at £7.50 (up from £5), proposed by the Board. 

The proposals 9 and 10 were discussed in parallel.

Jez, Gareth and Rob tabled the reasons for the proposed increase.

It is our intention that the CIC be at minimum self-sufficient, with 1 years’ membership fees covering all minimum operating costs without freebies. These costs include: web hosting; accountancy fees; Loomio; minimal travel expenses.

During 2020, additional costs were introduced as Loomio dropped their free tier and at the end of 2020, the CIC will take over the cost of the web hosting which has been generously donated to us to date.

Accountancy costs may increase if we have to move to another accountant.

Membership of OSMUK does not convey tangible benefits. We felt that the CIC should resemble the altruism of the members: you map with no expectation of personal gain.

Money in excess of minimal operating costs will go toward things like microgrants which are used to encourage the take-up and public image of mapping in the UK.

Membership gives you and other UK mappers a voice to talk to the government and corporations.

We looked at other Local Chapters and noted the following comparisons:

OSM Ireland, €15 for ordinary members (€5 concession), €300 for corporate.
Swiss OSM, £17 for ordinary members, and about £125 for corporate.
OSM France, €20 euro for ordinary members with a €10 concession.

Initial membership fees for corporates and individuals, when the CIC was founded, were set very low as we had no track record.

The increased amount will be charged to a member the next time they renew after the implementation date. A minimum of 28 days notice before an increase is implemented will be provided.

Members present were invited to table a counter argument or comment on the proposals ahead of the vote.

Comments included the future re-evaluation of SME/Corporate rates, with a suggested ‘gold’ tier.

A show of hands were held for each proposal:

9. [Votes for: 14. Votes against: 0. Votes to abstain: 1.]

10. [Votes for: 14. Votes against: 0. Votes to abstain: 1.]

11. AOB notified during the AGM

No other business requests were received.

Meeting closed at 13:40.