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Pride WA wrapped up a rough year and elected a new Pride committee at their Special General Meeting and Annual General Meeting on April 29.
At Pride’s fourth SGM of the year, the motion ‘that the committee convene a SGM… and include a special resolution in there to wind the organisation up,’ was rescinded. When the motion was first moved at the December 19 SGM, Pride was in over $36,000 of debt. However, after a generous unsecured, interest-free loan of $35,000 from Pride member Charles Denham, Pride found its financial feet and forward momentum.
‘That was the biggest concern – could we pay our debts. And we have,’ 2007 Pride Treasurer Iosefa Tapusoa said at the meeting.
At the AGM, Pride provided audited finances for 2006 and 2007 and an updated profit and loss statement for 2008 to the approximately 40 members in attendance. According to the figures, Pride currently has $5,976.68 in the bank with $6,914.90 still owing to creditors.
In addition to the financial figures, Pride members discussed strategies for maintaining solvency and securing the organisation’s future. Long-term strategies discussed included: stricter budgeting, a new web strategy, better business planning and skilled working committees and subcommittees.
The Pride 2007 committee finished the year with just three committee members – Dean Cahill, Iosefa Tapusoa and Sharlene Dixon – and recent discussions have consistently pointed to low committee members as a weakness of the organisation. The recent AGM, however, marked an opportunity for Pride to increase committee numbers, with seven men and two women putting their names forward for consideration.
Under the Pride Constitution, Pride can elect a maximum of six male and six female committee members. As a result, the two women – Sharlene Dixon and Lee Jacobs – as well as Iosefa Tapusoa, who will serve the second year of a two-year term, were automatically placed on the 2008 committee. An election was then held to determine which five of the six remaining male candidates would join the Pride committee.
When the votes were counted, Charles Denham (46 votes), Andrew Baietta (47 votes), Colin Beeck (46 votes), Bevan Marwick (43 votes) and Kieran Bycroft (32 votes) were named to the 2008 Pride committee.
Seven year Pride committee member and 2007 Male Co-President Dean Cahill, who received 30 votes, was the male candidate not elected to the committee, though members present at the AGM encouraged Mr Cahill to continue his work as a volunteer on a subcommittee.
The new Pride committee members bring skills – most notably IT, marketing and accounting experience – to Pride that have been lacking in the past. The new committee members also represent a shifted focus toward the youth, with two committee members – Bevan, age 19, and Lee, age 17 – still in their teens.
Newly elected Pride committee member Charles Denham summed up the new direction of Pride, saying, ‘People are now talking about a future – that’s the most important thing.’
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OUTinPerth apologizes to Kieran Bycroft for the incorrect spelling of his name in the print version of this story.
