NZLARPS National Committee quarterly summary April 2017.
The NZLARPS National Committee doesn’t formally meet, and instead conducts business through its Diatribe forum. As a result, we don’t publish formal minutes. Instead, we have decided to provide a quarterly summary of business.
Matters discussed
Since January the National Committee has:
- Discussed the upcoming need for NZLARPS to register for GST. We will need to register in the near future because we look likely to exceed the $60,000 annual turnover threshold later in the year. At present we are still working through the consequences, but the biggest one will be that projects charging over $50 will need to issue tax invoices, and smaller projects will need to issue them on request. There is a possibility that we may be able to have each branch treated separately for GST purposes, which should restrict the administrative burden to the Auckland region. The Treasurer is currently seeking quotes from professional accountants to help us do this properly.
- Discussed meeting arrangements. The president raised the possibility of meeting via Google hangouts. The majority of the committee opposed this stating a preference to continue using Diatribe or other text-based communication.
- A month later the president exercised his powers under section 26 of the constitution to suspend Diatribe as a committee meeting and declared that meetings would happen monthly by Google hangout. The majority of the committee opposed this decision and the manner in which it was made. Committee business was effectively suspended for two weeks until a compromise could be reached.
- Continued to discuss safety issues and how NZLARPS can promote safety. The NZLARPS website has a new “Safety” page, with information for event organisers, participants, and larpers in general. We will add to this as required.
- Discussed adopting a formal disciplinary process for handling complaints under the code of conduct.
- Adopted a formal policy for which membership applications will be reviewed by the committee under section 5 of the constitution. Full details are in the motion below. This is primarily to prevent such a decision being arbitrary.
- Received an update on Cerberus, the Dunedin larp con, South Island membership numbers, and future steps to create a South Island region. We expect to move forward on this after Cerberus.
- Discussed the process for appointing a replacement Christchurch representative when Lee moves North, and interaction with South Island region plans.
- Discussed the NZLARPS Facebook group and its links with NZLARPS after an attempt to use the committee as a forum to re-litigate a moderation decision. At present, NZLARPS has no formal relationship with the Facebook group, despite its name. The committee is concerned that this poses reputational risks to NZLARPS and are discussing alternative models. The final choice on what to do will be up to the group’s owner.
- Reviewed data on Diatribe usage. The IT officer has made several changes to the layout of Diatribe to make it more user-friendly.
- Continued to discuss the use of online ticketing systems. Reports from the GMs using them so far are positive.
- Received an update on membership numbers from the Secretary. For those interested, long-term membership statistics are [here]
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GF11BVAQtgrBT3PtkCfCQktzz3u30qqackAVcOT5xm4/edit#gid=0). - Discussed membership attrition and reasons why people fail to rejoin.
Motions passed
- 2017-2 (4 April 2017): That the following membership application policy be accepted:
Membership applications should be referred to the committee for a decision where the applicant:
- has been the subject of a complaint under the NZLARPS Code of Conduct or of a formal NZLARPS disciplinary process;
- appears to be a serious risk to safety (e.g. by having relevant criminal convictions);
- seems likely to bring NZLARPS into disrepute.
Membership applications from any other person will automatically be accepted. For the avoidance of doubt, applications from past members whose membership has expired within the last year shall be accepted, the above referral criteria notwithstanding, except where said member is already subject to a pre-existing, current, ban on membership.
5 in favour (James, Naomi, Malcolm, Phillip, Brad).
