Summary of the Executive Minutes

 Minutes of the Executive Committee held by Teleconference on Tuesday 27 November 2007 at 7.45pm

Present:

Margaret Edwards, Mark Heard, Alastair Bridge, Margaret Edwards, Steve Clark, Andrew Taylor, Ed Scott, Graham Keen

Apologies:

• Ian Manson
• Margaret asked for a moment of silence to acknowledge the sudden death of Exec member David Huggins
• The Executive recorded their condolences to David’s wife, Rona, and family.
• Alastair has sent flowers to the family from Olives New Zealand

Minutes of Previous Meeting:

Margaret moved that they were a true and accurate record  
               Seconded: Graham     CARRIED

Matters arising:

• Margaret acknowledged that, due to work commitments, job descriptions for the Executive members had not been drawn up but would be done by herself and Alastair
• Alastair noted that another batch of 5000 brochures had been ordered.

Financial report.

• Balances : Alastair reported account balances of: Main account c$46,324; IOP account c$12,509; Conference account c$39,002; Term Deposit c$53,413
• Graham is flying to Wellington next week to uplift all the financial records
• Capitation payments to regions are being sent out 28 November

Regional Competitions

• Margaret has been approached by Hawkes Bay to travel down there to “train” judges from the area so that Hawkes Bay can run their own recognised Awards
• It was acknowledged that some time ago the Executive had decided that Olives New Zealand would not endorse local competitions because they were “judged” on entirely different standards to the national Awards with the result that the credibility of national Awards was being questioned.
• Margaret stated that it took up to 5 years to properly train as a competent judge and Ed agreed
• Andrew was of the opinion that regional Awards were an opportunity for growers to interact with each other and to promote their oil and it’s quality. He stressed that if ONZ didn’t get alongside the regions they would have their competitions anyway and it was far better for ONZ to support the regions to run competitions in a manner that would be acceptable to all and would enhance the reputation of New Zealand EVOO.
• Andrew suggested that ONZ should develop a protocol for such competitions
• Alastair moved that “ONZ develop a protocol for regional competitions that doesn’t compromise the integrity of the annual New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards”
              Seconded : Andrew      CARRIED (Margaret & Ed abstained)

Commodity Levy

• An amended discussion paper from Ian Turk has been circulated to regions and the Exec by Ian with the main change being the establishment of a 50 litre threshold
• Steve said this is a good idea but there is a danger where producers of under 50 litres individually (and therefore under the threshold) would band together with other similar sized producers to market their and none of them would pay a levy
• Graham reported that the Canterbury meeting to consider the levy was very well supported
• Steve was of the opinion that, although a budget couldn’t be prepared, we should have examples of how a levy may be spent
• Andrew stated that the Strategic Plan MUST be developed and this would illustrate where and how the levy would be utilised
• The question of proxy voting was also discussed with Andrew being hesitant to encourage it – we should instead be encouraging people to physically attend meetings, especially the AGM

Spanish Exhibition

• Margaret has sent oils, photos and brochures to Spain for the exhibition to be held on March 22.
• Alastair reported that NZTE had turned down a funding application for Margaret to attend the exhibition to promote N Z oils and to carry out tastings. As such the Executive will vote on ONZ funding Margaret flights to and from Spain once the airfare costs are known – the organisers are meeting the costs of accommodation
• Andrew said that the Strategic Plan should be pointing us in the direction as to where we should be spending our “marketing” as promoting NZ EVOO in Europe may not be the best way to spend our funds
• Margaret said that the emphasis in the Strategic Plan for marketing was on marketing the generic New Zealand EVOO brand
• Steve said that if that’s what the Plan says then we need to do it
• Margaret then suggested we wait until the new President is elected so he/she can drive the Strategic Plan – we have lacked abilities to do this in the past and it’s most important that a new President can do this

General Business:

There was no General Business

Next Meeting:

• it was suggested that the Exec and regional chairs should nmeet face-to-face with the new President in the first meeting of 2008.
• Alastair to come up with suggestions