2006 AGM

Rangatira Alpine Sports Club (Inc)

Minutes for the 48th Annual General Meeting

Held at Remuera Golf Club, on the 7th April 2006

Present

43 members as per the attendance register.

Life members: B McGivern D MacPherson, J MacPherson, P Farrell,

B Chambers, B Strevens.

Members: B Sullivan, R Yallop, S Stewart, P Oosterbaan, T Oosterbaan, V Papesch, R Wimsett, J McCurran, J Baker, L Baker, D Weavers,

G Montgomery, J Wimsett, D Papesch, B Herbert, M Hyams, A Esdaile,

I Howard, N Howard, S Young, B Wiseman, K Wiseman, D Crawford,

L Montgomery, T Oosterbaan, J Philo, G Rees, M Urquhart, D Tabakas,

M Fairley, R Fairley, S Tabakas, R Sisam, D Pressley, P Bowden,

R Gould, K Oconnor,

Apologies

Chris Burton, Brent Worthington, Tracey Worthington, Don Yallop, Michele Scott, Ian MacPherson, Bridget MacPherson, Ashleigh Haynes,

Andrew Haynes, Paul Boberg, Pru Boberg, Rachael Gibson, Grant Nicolson, Anthony Strevens, Chris Smith, Paul Irving, Noel Price, Mark Helliwell, Phil Clemow, Malcolm MacDougall

Obituries:    Patricia Clemow, Leo Pierik

Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting 14th April 2005

Taken as read and accepted as a true account of the meeting.

Moved I Howard           Seconded B Wiseman

Carried unanimously.

Matters Arising

None

Presidents Report

Taken as read with the addition of these further points.

Pieter expressed his thanks to Phil Clemow for his support and encouragement during the year. Phil has done a great deal for the club and has always worked hard to promote and strengthen our club. Phil is standing down from the committee this year after many years of involvement. Pieter wished him all the best.

He also thanked Gary Breed who is leaving the committee for his help in the past year. Gary is resigning from the club as his family have other interests which he would like to pursue.

Moved B Strevens           Seconded M Hyams

Carried unanimously.

Treasurers Report and Annual Accounts

Taken as read.

Moved B Wiseman         Seconded G Rees

Carried unanimously.

Vincent showed a detailed visual financial presentation to all members.

Club revenue – Increase of $4000 over previous year due to the increase to subscription charges. Had we have had the occupancy rate as the 2004 season we would have seen a further increase of $4000.

Cost of operating the club – These were also down.

Both power and food were down.

Interest charges increased due to the by product of debt.

Clubs financial position - End 2004 was ($120,000) – Position as at end 2005 ($100,000). Cash position in the club improved by $20,000 over 2005.

Big area of expense – Sewage scheme - Paid $30,500 toward the scheme in 2005. The scheme at Whakapapa cost 4 million to produce. Scheme costs spilt between various clubs. Our total contribution to this scheme over the next 20years will be in excess of $75,000 plus ongoing costs.

Future expenses – The club has acknowledged future costs at both Whakapapa and Turoa and budgeted for these expenses.

Questions put to Vincent Papesch:

Q. Grant Montgomery – What are our ongoing costs to the sewage scheme.

A. We have an ongoing annual commitment of $6,500 diminishing over the next 17years.The $30,500 included $21,500 for an additional line for Whakapapa. We are also in for an approx $8,000 this year for the removal of the septic tanks plus a further $3,500 per annum for the on going costs of our share of the total scheme cost. The government has also introduced capital charge on the outstanding balance.

Q. Ian Howard – Are the charges of $6,500 to go on for 17years.

A. The scheme was to run for a 20year term and we are into the 3rd year so yes we will have a further 17years at $6,500 to run.

Q. Bruce Chambers - Are we required to remove the septic tanks now.

A. It is a requirement by DOC to have the tanks removed by 2007.this is a condition of us to occupy.

Q. Malcolm Urquhart – How are going to get on taking the tomo out.

A. Can not answer that.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – Some feed back on the septic tanks would be useful as we understand that the club has two. Obviously the tomo is not going to be removed. The concrete and the sludge will be required to be removed.

Q. Bruce chambers - That I accept. Most county councils have accepted the punching of a whole in the bottom. We should be looking at the possibility of punching out, pump them out and then filling the tank with rubble and they then remain as a concrete block as per the developments in the Coromandel.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – It has been discussed with Doc and they are pretty hard lined. A contractor is in at the moment and as the job is a pretty big one and the time frame so tight we have opted to go with the removal.

Vincent displayed a presentation on the reason for the increase in fees.

The two lodges combined have a total capacity of 25,000 nights. In winter the number is reduced to 7500 available bed nights or 30% of the total capacity. In 2005 we achieved only 3089 or 45% occupancy. In 2006 we are looking at a predicted occupancy of 3907 or 52% occupancy.  This represents 14% & 16% of the total occupancy. Our fiscal position is dictated to by the amount of use we have of our existing facilities. The sewage scheme and all of our fixed costs occur all year whether we are there or not. That is one of the reason why we are shifting the emphases from selling the room that you occupy to total impacted cost into the subscriptions. The gaps in our occupancy are in the mid week. Weekends and holidays are used well. Our new tariff rates for mid week indicate that we looking at trying to increase the occupancy during the low period. Our subscriptions and tariff rates compare well with other clubs. We are the only club that offers an intermediate rate.

Cashflow – Turoa extension - Vincent detailed the clubs forecast of the impact of building the Turoa extension within the current financial resources and producing a forecast over the next four to five years. We looked at various options of funding this extension and decided that in fact we can meet the capital commitment within our current financial resources through the up and down nature of our cashflow. The total cost of borrowing the Turoa extension works out to be $19.50 per person over the entire life of the project.

Q. Steven Stewart – Does this mean that if every member paid $19.50 the cost of the extension would be paid.

A. No the $19.50 covers the interest.

Demographics – The reason we looked at extending the intermediate age group categories we see as a committee that this area here is of a great concern to us in the next 5 – 10 years as this group moves on. We would like to make it affordable for them to stay and grow with the club.

Q. Mark Fairley – Does the figure displayed reflect the membership or club usage.

A. Membership.

Q. Mark Fairley – Does this also reflect that the usage for this intermediate age is low.

A. Yes you are correct.

Q. Sandy Tabakas – Can you please explain the difference between the categories displayed.

A. Yes it is the split between male and female. Green represents female – orange represents male.

Q. Jim MacPherson – Can you please explain how you intend to attract the existing members to stay and new to join.

A. We have in place a two tiered approach. Age 18-22 subs of $80.00. Age 23-24 subs of $120.00. We are hoping that this will also attract new members in this age group by making it affordable to all.

Regions – Our membership base in primarily situated in Auckland. We need to attract members from other regions

Q. Jim MacPherson – Can we please have clarification on the Foundation membership.

A. A member needs to have been in the club for 35years and aged 70years. In respect of a couple the first to reach foundation member will breakaway and have a nil subscription whilst the partner will revert to an adult subscription until he or she catches up.

Comment - Adrian Esdaile – Thanked the committee for an excellent set of documents and analysis. In previous years the members have suffered from the lack of data available but not so this year.

Q. Adrian Esdaile – The magazine on page 10 contains a typo error re the adult age category.

A. Correction has been made on the website

Q. Bruce Wiseman – Does the same age apply to midweek membership.

a. Midweek membership is a stand alone membership. The age is 18+. This membership only entitles you to use the club mid week outside of school holidays. A mid week member may stay on weekends but would pay the non member rate.

Q. Bruce Chambers – Excellent presentation that you have given us and I would like to comment on this gap that you are trying to fill. Is the issue the dollar or is that age group satisfied with what we give them or are they requiring something different.

A. We take your point. This is one of the reasons why we are looking at the Turoa extension and why we are upgrading the clubs facilities.

Comment: Ian Howard –Impressed with the club analysis and commended the committee for recognizing where the money lies.

Comment; Vincent Papesch – One of the points I would like to pick up from that is where the money comes from and the committee debated at length as to whether we should be reducing the cost of the youth, junior or child rates because they appear to be a little high as we have cranked them up quite significantly in the last couple of years but the reality is that we need a certain bucket of money to run the club and who is actually going to pay into that bucket of money – the adults – We can reduce the child rate but we are then going to have to crank the adult rate up to $40.00 per tariff night stay. We decided that a similar scenario to hotels and airline where the child rate is 60% of the adult rate. A child takes up the same bed space and consumes almost the same food as an adult. We decided that it was not fair to penalize a single adult over a family so we decided that these were the fairest rates to go on.

Q. Malcolm Urquhart - Can you please clarify what the senior couple rate is.

A. we don’t have one at present. We have a committee meeting on Monday night and we will place it on the agenda.

Q. Peter Farrell – I commend you on your presentation it would appear that the club over the next few years has a fair financial burden to get through. I would like the club to look at deferring the Turoa extensions for a couple of years so that we would be better placed. I feel that you are putting that burden in when you don’t really need it as there is nothing wrong with Turoa at the moment. I feel that when the bucket is empty you do not keep on borrowing.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – We have discussed this in great detail. The age group we are concerned about also needs the Turoa extensions urgently. I believe that we do have a problem with Turoa, it doesn’t cope very well with the numbers we get in the club and we need the extra space. It is just the living space we are increasing not the bunk space.

Comment: Roger Wimsett – Its like living at Iwikau without the quiet room.

Comment: Peter Farrell – I don’t have a problem with any of that.

Q. Peter Farrell - My problem is that I believe the club is taking on a burden of considerable debt. It now has a debt of $100,000 and is planning on increasing this by another $100,000 along with carrying the sewage scheme. Where is the money going to come from.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – If you look at the graphs you will note that we do not intend to go into anymore debt than we have had.

Q .Peter Farrell - Will you not then owe $200,000.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – No; we will not have a debt higher than $150,000 at one time.

A. Vincent Papesch – As you will see from the table on the screen the cashflow for 2007. We are not looking at building the extension until Feb/Mar 2007 being a full 12 month away. This will leave us a buffer of a year and the forecast shows the existing O/D will drop down to $70,000 at the end of 2006 and will increase up to $126,000 after the extension build. The forecast shows that the O/D will be down to $84,000 by the end of 2007. The total debt we were exposed to should be cleared by June 2008.

Q. Ian Howard – Has the clubs explored any other avenues to borrow money at a less rate than the existing O/D

A. Yes I have. At present we are currently paying 10.5 %. Again because of the flow of funds there is an eighteen month period after the build phase when we should lock up our interest rate. This will save us $3000 and we have not built this into our forecast. Due to our high and low cashflow it is more advantageous for us not to fix our loan.

Comment: John Philo – I would like to commend the committee on its decision to borrow the money and go ahead with Turoa. Over the many years the club has been running; various committees have borrowed money and there have always been people who have stood up and said it would not be prudent to borrow it. I do think that what you have shown the members is a better breakdown of costs than may have been displayed in years gone by. We all have a better ability to understand costs now. When you look at what it is going to cost each of the individuals if the club got into trouble the $120 it would cost each member is nothing in the scheme of things. If you look at where the club came from and where it’s gone to with a club round at Turoa now and the great extension at Iwikau which put all the ablution blocks underneath. If we had stood back and said it’s too much money then we would not have the facilities that we have now. I think that we have too look at new members and moving on and the only way we are going to make money in the future in the club is using it more so by changing the facility which is what Pieter is taking about makes the Turoa facility more usable in the summer and that’s when we are losing out on occupancy. Iwikau is a much more difficult club to open in the summer due to the nature of the facility. With Turoa the site is much more accessible and with all the activities that are now available in the Ohakune area makes this a good investment. If we got stuck I am sure that members would put up the money. Look at what you are all borrowing on your on houses.

Comment: Jan Baker – We also need to look at storage for bikes for summer use.

A.    Malcolm Urquhart – Could we use a galvanized shed.

A.    Pieter Oosterbaan – no we would need something larger.

Vincent Papesch wound up the discussion with the comment that we may have to do a little more tweaking on the subs over the next few years to cover our fixed costs should we have a very bad season.
Motion put by Pieter Oosterbaan

That we proceed with the building of the stage two Turoa to make the lodge functional for all round use

For 42                         Against 1

Motion carried.

Appointment of Auditor

                Mr M I Holland be re appointed as auditor for the ensuing year.

Moved R Wimsett           Seconded B Sullivan

Carried unanimously.

Club Captains Report

Taken as read.

Moved D Pressley           Seconded J Philo

Carried unanimously.

                                       
Maintenance Report

Taken as read.

Moved M Hyams             Seconded J MacPherson

Carried Unanimously

Election of Officers and committee

Nominations received:

Pieter Oosterbaan – President

Barney Sullivan – Vice President

Trish Oosterbaan - Club Captain

Vincent Papesch - Treasurer – Vice President

Secretary – no appointment

Committee nominees:

Chris Smith, Jan Baker, Noel Price, Rob Yallop, Steven Stewart, Mike Hyams, John McCurran, Roger Wimsett, Linda Baker

Booking Officer:

Linda Baker

General Business

Food Costs

Q. Bruce Ferguson - Were the lodges cheaper on food last season?

A. Yes they were.

Phone Line

Q. Dot Weavers – Why are the phone lines at Turoa more expensive than Iwikau.

A.  Pieter Oosterbaan -Turoa have two lines. One for internet use in the study and one being the main club phone/ fax line. – Iwikau has only one phone line.

Bulk Food

Are we planning on looking at ordering food in bulk food supplies this season.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan -This may be something we would look at for Iwikau but we would need to have a larger freezer at the club to accommodate the food. It is too late in the season to take bulk food up the back road. Bulk food is not necessary for Turoa as we have the convenience of New World.

Insurance

Q. Dianna MacPherson – Why was the insurance at Turoa higher than Iwikau.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – the Turoa insurance included the building insurance for the extension.

Fire Drills

Q. Peter Bowden – Whilst staying at xmas at Turoa we had a problem with the smoke detectors in the kitchen going off. Also the fire engines went up to Iwikau and not Turoa. Is this something that needs to be addressed.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan - Yes we have looked into this problem and plan to change the smoke detector for a heat detector. This will be installed by an electrician as soon as our custodian is in residence.

Q. Adrian Esdaile – We had a fire drill at iwikau last season and I noticed that some of our members did not take the drill seriously.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan - We plan to have more training this season on fire drills with our custodians. Fire drills will also be held throughout the season at both lodges. It is a requirement that all our members will participate on a serious level.

Motion put by Ian Howard

Compliment as to the quality of disclosure of reporting in this AGM report by the committee.

Moved Ian Howard                         Seconded Charles Dempsey

Accepted unanimously

Q. Jane Wimsett – Summer Promotion – could the club not look at leasing the Turoa lodge out on a long term basis.

A. Pieter Oosterbaan – This could cause a tax problem. We are better educating our members to the activities that can be found in the area over the summer months.

Pieter Oosterbaan declared the meeting closed.

       

The meeting closed at 9.20 pm

Posted by Rob Yallop on 05 June 2006 at 07:48 AM