THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

AGM TYPICAL AGENDA
            Weeping
            Gnashing of Teeth
            Election of New Executive
           Vote of Thanks to the Out-Going Chair
           (with a card and a gift, preferably a plant for the Communal Garden)

As a Residents' Association, you must have at least one Annual General Meeting a year, where you have your books audited officially and elect the Executive for the next year. At least two months before, start thinking about possible suitable people for the following posts:

co:chair (tenant)
co-chair (lease-holder)
treasurer
secretary

All these people will have signing power on the Tenants and Residents Association cheque book (two signatures are needed for each cheque) so choose your people carefully. remember, private tenants have the same right to hold executive office as any other resident.

In an ideal world, the only person to repeat the position should be one of your co-chairs (although it isn't always possible, try to have people who will accept the idea of a two-year term, so there is some sort of continuity. The first year the inexperienced co-chair is the junior co-chair, the next year the senior co-chair resigns and the co-chair becomes the senior co-chair; the next year, the junior co-chair from the year before becomes the senior co-chair. Always try to have a tenant and a lease-holder as co-chairs, to avoid the them-us split most Council buildings seem to foster. You are working for the good of everyone, not just tenants, not just lease-holders.A leae-holder is just a long-term private tenant, and you are all residents in the same building.

Also, don't let just a few people keep doing all the work. You should have a constant change-over of people taking the executive positions in your TRA. If you don't have enough people to volunteer to take the executive positions, you obviously don't have a wide enough base within your community and you should think very hard about whether you ought to continue as a TRA
(if you have people who are supportive, but lazy, use the bring a friend technique - everyone bring a friend to the AGM, which should make reaching your quorum easy).

Using the 'heir and a spare' theory - try to find people who will agree to be executive members and also have someone who will agree to do it, if no one else volunteers (make sure they will come to the meeting - people can't be elected if they are absent).

Whether you continue or not, you are legally required to hold an AGM, to present the treasurer's report and to have an independent observer to witness the AGM.

Contact the Camden Federation of Tenants and Residents Association, and ask for them to send somone who will act as an observer, who will also act as secretary and chair for you (they will see that the meeting is legal, move it along quickly but politely and also mediate if the meeting becomes fraught).  

Posting the dates of meetings a year in advance makes things very simple (the  first Wednesday  in February, May, August, November is a simple formula). If you haven't posted the dates a year in advance, put a notice of the next meeting's date up on the Notice Board at least three weeks before the meeting.

You need a quorum to make any decisions (check your constitution to find out what number of people you need to make the meeting legal). Use the buddy system: try to bring along somone to the meeting who wouldn't usually go. Arrange to meet them and go with them to the meeting. A quorum is set out in your constitution and you should have the number of flats engraved in your dreams (it's usually 20% of the number of flats - you have flats which are empty, re-calculate and change your quorum level).

Make the meeting as simple and quick as possible:Co-Chairs report (5 minutes). Treasurer's report (five minutes). Election of Officers. Close of Meeting. Party to Celebrate In-Coming and Out-Going Executive.

IN THE MEANTIME:

By the time you are into your second year of being a Residents' Association:

You should know all the people who work for Camden who have anything to do with the maintenance of your building.

You should be on good terms with your local councillor,  your local police community worker, your District Housing managers and possibly the Camden New Journal staff.

You should have established the tradition of co-chairs (one tenant, one lease-holder) so that everyone's concerns are being discussed at meetings.

You should have a complete year's report of maintenance problems.

You should be moving towards an agreed caretaker's checklist.

You should be insisting on four walkabouts a year with management (and asking someone from Health & Safety on one of the Walkabouts, a Fire Inspector on another, a Caretaking Expert on the third and your Ward Councillor on the fourth).

You should be thinking about establishing a newsletter or applying for arts grants or a garden grant (planning a major communal project brings the community together)

You should have established some sort of history of your building and made contact with your local archives library to donate interesting photographs and oral accounts to them (walkabout videos make wonderful social documents).

NOW YOU ARE ONE:

If you are living in a Council Building, you have a responsibility to make things better, not just for the people in your building, but for people in all buildings. It's now time to stop scrubbing stairs and start thinking about the cultural , as well as the political and ecological concerns of your building.



CULTURAL CONCERNS
You've established a book exchange and a communal notice board, and encouraged a full and frank exchange of opinions on the board, so that everyone has a chance to contribute to the life of the building. If you have any established or emerging artists, you should be encouraging them to apply for grants, and supporting their applications.

SMALL GRANTS
Camden offers various individual grants for artists several times a year, and they are usually for £300. They also offer a £300 for a building to produce their own newsletter. They often have a special grant for International Womens Day projects.

LARGE GRANTS: (circa 2002)
Camden is also piloting an Artists-in-Residence Fund for 2003/2004. This can be applied for by the individual, or with the support of the Tenants and Residents Association. Ask to be put on the mailing list, so that your TRA will automatically receive details of other grants for artists in the coming years. Post these details on the notice board (there may be people with hidden talents in your building who will be interested in applying). 

Therese Havery
Arts Administration Officer
Camden Arts & Tourism
Crowndale Centre
218 Eversholt Street
London NW1 1BD
Tel: 020 7974 1647
If you have any queries about the Scheme, please contact Therese.

There are also Local Heritage Initiative Grants
which can be applied for by local groups
website: http:// www.lhi.org.uk
LHI Information
The Acorn centre
51 High Street
Grimethorpe
Barnsley
S72 7BB
01226 719019

The scheme runs for ten years (starting May 2000) and applications will reopen each autumn.

circa 2002

If you are unfamiliar with applying for grants, contact
Voluntary Action Camden. They are holding workshops
Friday June 6, 2003
Friends House

173 Euston Road
(in front of Euston Station)
or contact:

Marian Farrugia
Camden Funders Forum
Voluntary Action Camden
293-299 Kentish Town Road
London NW5 2TJ

020-7284 6551

2. Appoint a chair to research DMC bids.

3. If you have a leaseholder's subcommittee, make sure they discuss DMC bids in their November meeting and do research into various bids and projects, so that everyone can discuss it properly at the January meeting.

4. The January meeting should be about DMC bids. if you have a quorum, you can decide on the bids then, if not, then you must call another meeting closer to the DMC deadlines in April-May.

5. Appoint people to go to the DMC bid meeting.

ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS
Camden will give you free worms, cheap compost (some of it from the police stables at King's Cross) and various grants to establish or maintain your garden areas. If you have a roof, you might want to think about a roof garden as well (and think about alternative power sources). contact your District Housing Manager for details of grants, as well as The Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chest, and Groundwork. (e-mail@camden-islington@groundwork.org.uk).

HOW TO MAKE YOUR BUILDING A COMMUNITY creating an effective Residents' Association