Barrhead Housing Association Limited

Barrhead Housing Association Limited Minute of Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday, 26th August 2014 at 7.30 p.m. Main Foyer, Voluntary Action Undercover Westbourne Centre, Barrhead

Present Rena McGuire, Chairperson Doris Sweeney Brian Connelly, MBE, Secretary Margaret Tait Rita Connelly Douglas Yates James Geddes Margaret McIntyre Elizabeth Graham Agnes McLeish John Hamilton Josephine McShane Elizabeth Hendry Michael Mukhtar David McCready Councillor Reilly, ERC

In Attendance Shirley Robison, Managing Director Helen Sutherland, Director of Corporate Services Dougie McIntyre, Director of Property Services Jim Munro, Director of Customer Services Tony Sinclair, Auditor, French Duncan Karen Nutt, Minute Secretary Siobhan Cannon, Receptionist Anne Hughes, Tenant non-member Carol Riddell, Tenant non-member Sharon Alford, Tenant non-member

The Chief Executive welcomed members to the AGM and introduced the top table and staff members present. The Secretary opened the meeting.

Apologies received from 1. Helen Core David Sartin William Core Stephen Sweeney William Graham Elizabeth Winser Ms A Hamilton John Logue Moira Ralston Donald MacInness John Ralston Derek Richardson Brenda Richardson

2. Chairperson’s Report The Chairperson welcomed members to the AGM and took this opportunity to note thanks to all staff at BHA for their hard work over the last year, particularly with the implementation of the new IT system.

The Chairperson highlighted some of the Associations achievements throughout the year;

1  BHA won the award for ‘Outstanding Performing Business – less than 25 employees’  IT implementation – to improve service  No Annual Report this year, it will be replaced by Performance Report on the Charter  Welfare Reform, rising fuel costs, employment  New website and social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube  New contractor Atlas Maintenance for day-to-day repairs

The Chairperson thanked the current Board members for their hard work and noted that 83% attendance was achieved last year. Jack Tait had retired from the Governing Board earlier this year and the Chairperson would like to extend her thanks to Jack for his input over the last 12 years. 3. Approval of Minutes - Annual General Meeting 20th August 2013 It was proposed by Douglas Yates and seconded by Rita Connelly that the minute be approved. 4. Director’s Report The Chief Executive welcomed members to the Annual General Meeting and started by congratulating Rena McGuire, Chairperson on receiving East Renfrewshire Council’s first ever Provost Award, which was presented to her in December 2013. It was noted that she had been nominated by Councillor Reilly.

The Chief Executive presented the report to the meeting and from a detailed presentation, took members through the key highlights for the last year. The main focus, achievements and investments throughout the year were summarised;  Investment and growth - 900 properties  Achievement of value for money and efficiencies where possible  Review of staff pensions – introduction of cheaper schemes due to requirement to meet a funding shortfall  Still considered ‘low engagement’ by Scottish Housing Regulator  Customer Satisfaction Survey 2013 with overall satisfaction of BHA as a landlord at 95%. However, 59% of customers said they were satisfied with the opportunities to participate and this would be considered further by the Association. Should be noted that 40% stated ‘no opinion’ meaning only 1% were dissatisfied.  Scottish Social Housing Charter 2013/14 – Performance Report will compare BHA with Scottish average. The report will be circulated in October 2014.  Large surplus due to new accounting requirements – this does not include our capitalised planned investment of £350k. Cash growth to allow further investment in our properties.

On the Charter outcomes, the Association currently compares our results with 32 other Scottish Housing Associations. A detailed report was provided on the following areas – growth; customers services staff re-structure and outcomes for 2013/14; detailed information of the £1m investment and £700k of external funding; welfare reform updates on new and significant partnerships in the local area including the local food bank and anticipated universal credit implementation for 2016. Successful application to the Big Lottery was now providing 4 new posts for welfare and energy advice – examples of benefits from the project were reported to members.

On new developments, plans for 15 new build properties were continuing at Darnley Road

2 site, these will be one and two bedroom apartments. We hope to be on-site by January 2015. For employment training initiatives, the Chief Executive confirmed the posts offered over the last year including the community jobs fund trainee, IT intern, and a new modern apprenticeship training post to be advertised soon. On the partnership funding for arts based company Impact Arts, 11 young people on the first of two 18 week training programmes at Skills Academy – 50% funding from Scottish Government

Open Event The Chief Executive also confirmed that the Association working with Impact Arts had organised an Open Day that will take place on Thursday 4th September 2014 at St John’s Church Hall. Flyers have been made and distributed and all members are most welcome. The theme is ‘Tea Dance with a twist’ and will consist of a live band, dancing, vintage tea, face painting and caricaturist, stalls and the Barrhead staff bake off . All members welcome.

The Future The Chief executive outlined the main challenges ahead for Barrhead Housing Association being the uncertainty around the independence referendum, the new affordable housing at Darnley Road and the expansion of the office to accommodate increasing staff numbers – we would purchase the flat above the office.

LPS – Subsidiary Company The Chief Executive concluded the presentation with a short report on the subsidiary company and highlighted the following;

 A separate company which has an independent board chaired by Eddie Tweedie  LPS delivers factoring services to 250 owners and 2 commercial properties  Looking to assist with private letting  Gifts profits back to BHA – profits are small at the moment

5. Auditor’s Report & Presentation of Financial Statements for year ending 31st March, 2014

The Director of Corporate Services presented an overview of the financial accounts ending March 2014. The main points highlighted were;

 An increase on overall turnover  Increase in operating costs  Loan interest payments remain high though slightly down from last year.  Interest received increased due to additional cash reserves throughout the year  A significant surplus although it didn’t reflect our capitalised planned expenditure  Capital payments affecting the balance sheet and that do not impact on the surplus were explained.  Cash reserves increased  Current ratio 2.2:1 indicates there is no issue meeting our short term liabilities  Net rent arrears decreased At this point in the meeting, Tony Sinclair, Auditor at French Duncan gave a short presentation of their findings from the external audit;

3  A complete audit for the year was carried out and there were no issues arising  The Association is looking after the assets and being run well.  The financial statements had been presented as a true and accurate reflection of the Associations financial position.  A clean audit report has been presented in line with all requirements of the Scottish Housing Regulator.

The Auditor stated they were happy to take any questions regarding the accounts and audit. There were no questions from members. 6. Approval to Appoint Auditor under Rules 74 and 76: Recommendation is to re-appoint French Duncan The Chief Executive stated it was the recommendation of the Management Committee that French Duncan be re-appointed as auditors for the Association. It was proposed Laura Hendry and seconded by Douglas Yates that the recommendation be approved.

7. Election of Management Committee under Rule 41 The Chief Executive highlighted that under the Association’s Rules, one third of the Committee is required stand down and automatically standing for re-election. Those standing down were, Laura Hendry, Gavin McVicar and Claire Boyd. There were two new nominations for the Management Committee – John Hamilton from Neilston and Liz Winser from Barrhead. There were no further nominations and no requirement for an election, however as there are still places, new members would be welcome. All members noted were duly elected.

8. Vote of Thanks At this point in the meeting, Douglas Yates asked if he could speak before the vote of thanks. Douglas wanted to congratulate Barrhead Housing Association for all their good work and made reference to the Association being in a good financial position.

Councillor Tommy Reilly gave a vote of thanks and expressed thanks to the Chief Executive, Committee members and staff for their hard work and commitment throughout the year.

9. Members Questions Jim Geddes aske the Chief Executive about properties he thought may be vacant and had concerns about this. The Chief Executive informed him that the Association did not have any vacant properties, to her knowledge but the Director of Customer Services would be happy to answer any questions relating to this after the meeting.

10. Awards presentation – Garden Competition and ‘John McIntyre’ Good Neighbour The Director of Property Services announced the winners of the Good Neighbour Award and Garden Completion. There were 6 nominations for the good neighbour award with all 6 receiving a certificate and shopping voucher. The overall winner was Mr and Mrs Core from Barrhead. The garden winners were announced and overall winner noted as Mrs McDougal from Neilston. A new garden improvement category had been announced and 4 winners of £100 each awarded to Auchenback Court, Lowndes Court, Rankin Way and the sheltered complex. All winners present received their trophy from the Chairperson.

4 The winner of prize draw was announced by Tony Sinclair of French Duncan. 11. Closure of Meeting The Secretary closed the meeting and thanked members for attending. Members were invited to stay to speak with staff and committee. Tea, coffee and cakes would be available.

Chairperson’s signature: ______