Reps: Voting Results
Joshua Smith, National SSAGO Chair
Wednesday 19th of July 2017
A record number of clubs voted on the issues discussed at our most recent Reps meeting at Leeds Rally in June. Here are the voting results and what they mean going forward.
Hello SSAGO,
Thank you to every club that voted on the issues discussed in our most recent Reps meeting. In total 33 clubs voted which is the largest ever turnout on record. We are well on our way to making Reps representative.
It was fantastic to see how different clubs engaged with their membership on the issues discussed. Some held club votes, others did surveys and some discussed the issues with their members at club meetings. If your club did something that worked well please do let us know!
A breakdown of the voting results is now available on the SSAGO website for every member to see with how every club voted. This is linked to below along with the meeting minutes and other referenced materials.
The key outcomes are:
The campfire policy will be formalised and added to the ‘Activity Guidelines Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures’ policy document (53% for, 22% against, 25% abstained). Rally organisers will also be able to change the timings of the campfire song watershed with National Exec approval (83% for, 11% Against, 6% abstained).
Ball and Witan will have a recommended cost for participants of £35 and £370 respectively based on the results of the full membership survey. These costs will be guidelines which will give the event organisers overall flexibility on the final participant cost.
Clubs voted to increase the base cost of Rally from £25 to £27 (61% for, 19% against, 19% abstained) and to introduce a minimum amount of budget that has to be spent on Rally catering per person (54% for, 37% against, 9% abstained). This cost increase will take effect at Plymouth 90s Rally (17th-19th November). A revised ‘Running National Events’ policy document will be brought to the next Reps meeting for approval and will include proposals for what the minimum catering budget should be.
SSAGO will proceed with becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (89% for, 6% against, 6% abstained). The National Exec will work with the Scout Association, Girlguiding and the Full Committee (Reps) to update our constitution and get SSAGO ready to register with the Charity Commission.
The amount of engagement we have seen both from clubs who could and could not attend the meeting in person has really highlighted the true benefits of this form of voting. Overall we've had a positive response to the new Reps voting system with some useful feedback that will be used to continue developing and improving the process. We are a looking at ways to better reflect the discussion that takes place during the actual meeting part of Reps for clubs which could not attend. If anyone has any further suggestions or feedback on the process please do get in contact.
The National Exec can always be contacted on: exec@ssago.org
Best Regards,
Joshua Smith
SSAGO Chair 2017/18