Discussion paper prepared for ARMA International Wellington Chapter on future affiliation

Submitted by ARMA International Wellington Chapter Committee for discussion at a Special General Meeting held on Friday November 30th 2001

Introduction

Attendees at the 2001 ARMA International Wellington Chapter Annual General Meeting held on the 14^th July 2001 approved the investigation by the Committee of future affiliation options – specifically closer ties or possible affiliation with the Records Management Association of Australia (RMAA). The purpose of this discussion paper is to outline progress to date, and document the options and issues that the Chapter Committee and Subcommittee have raised.

All Chapter members are encouraged to attend the Special General Meeting to discuss the points raised in this paper and approve the next phases of the investigation. If you are unable to attend the Special General Meeting, yet wish to make comments about the paper or your preferred way forward, please email them directly to the Chapter President, Trish O’Kane, at trish@swim.co.nz

Background

Outlined below is a summary of our current status.

Legal Status and Funding Facts

· We are currently an unincorporated association

· We are currently a Chapter of ARMA International (since 1988)

· Full Members currently pay annual membership fee to ARMA headquarters of US$155

· Full Members also currently pay NZ$25 Chapter fee

· We also have a number of Associate Members who pay NZ$25 per annum (this is an ‘unofficial’ membership category which essentially gives the Associate Chapter membership only)

· Wellington Chapter collects NZ$250 to cover both the ARMA International and Chapter membership costs. However, the current exchange rate means it costs more than NZ $250 to cover both. Effectively Wellington Chapter has been subsidising ARMA International membership for the last year and receiving nothing for Chapter level membership

· The Committee feels that we can not increase the membership fees (as they are already considered high by members)

Pluses, minuses and interesting aspects of changing affiliation from ARMA to RMAA

Pluses

· It’s cheaper to join RMAA – AU$137.50 per individual annually.

· Administration of ARMA membership has been consistently difficult.

· Corporate membership available, as well as individual

· Stratified membership offers recognition of an individual’s professional standing

· Australian recordkeeping community is very influential, e.g. its standard AS4390 formed the basis of the ISO15489 Standard.

· New Zealand recordkeeping professionals can and do maintain contact with Australian recordkeeping professionals.

· Travel to Australia for conferences is much cheaper than travel to the U.S.

· In NZ Government and private organizations, it is usually easy to obtain permission to travel to Australia for conferences, etc.

· Branch membership of RMAA brings with it a budget proportional to the membership numbers so the membership fee is partly returned to the chapter.

· Annual conference.

· Annual conference rotates around branches - we could host one in NZ.

· Active inter-branch special committees, such as Education Committee.

· Active interaction between branches and HQ.

· RMAA recognition of records and archives management courses.

· Australians know we exist.

· Regular magazine

· RMAA website – branch website hosted on that website

· Mature, well organized and administered organization

· Large, nearby membership of recordkeeping professionals.

· Could share speakers from other Branch activities

· Could share expertise with other Branches.

Minuses

· Limits our affiliation focus to Australasia

· Don’t get ARMA International magazines, (but could pay for Branch President, for example, to be a member to get magazines for Branch Library)

· ARMA conferences would cost slightly more because we wouldn’t be members (although very few NZ people go).

· Separate affiliation to Auckland chapter of ARMA

· Interim process required to exit ARMA International

Interesting

· Requires some travel for committee members to Australia (but funding from Hq should support this).

· Can set up committees and Chapters within a Branch

Progress of Affiliation Investigation to date

Following the AGM a subcommittee was formed to investigate future affiliation options of what is currently known as the Wellington Chapter of ARMA International. The subcommittee consisted of Trish O’Kane, Jackie Jean, Deirdre Wogan, Helen Hancox with assistance from other Committee members as required.

Actions of subcommittee to date

· Fact finding on present status of chapter. This included looking at both the financial and legal/constitutional status and what would legally be necessary if we were to dissolve the Chapter (for which we have received legal advice)

· Identification of probable process required and issues to resolve to disestablish the Wellington Chapter of ARMA

· Fact finding about RMAA. This has included: membership options, structure of organisation, benefits of joining, transfer process, discussions are underway with RMAA Council about creating a NZ branch of RMAA to work out what would be involved

· Develop a decision making process for members so a formal vote can be held

Findings and decisions to date

· We have confirmed that at present we have unincorporated status and therefore are not covered by the Incorporate Societies Act 1908

· We have confirmed that ARMA International has no rights over funds or assets owned by the Chapter. This currently includes funds of c. $15,000 and a library collection. This means that it is up to the Chapter members to decide how the funds and assets are distributed if we cease to become an ARMA Chapter. Please see section below about the voting process and the options that will be put to vote

· We have decided that individual voting by all members is ideal and fairest decision making process (the Committee would recommend that the vote included both full and associate members)

· We have done some fact finding about RMAA. Results outlined below:

o Under the current RMAA structure we can become a branch of RMAA - but we still need to establish how this would work with NZ legislation as RMAA is set up in a company type structure

o Membership is managed centrally – we would need to establish how to manage exchange rate issues, possibly try to negotiate a flat NZ rate for members which was independent of the NZ/AUS exchange rate. NZ members of RMAA are not charged Australian GST and the RMAA membership database is already set up to recognize this difference when producing invoices.

o Branches are allocated funds annually to run local activities – we still need to establish how much this would mean an NZ Branch would get if all current ARMA Wellington Chapter members transferred to a new RMAA branch.

o RMAA have various membership types recognising experience in the profession, with rules on claiming specific membership levels.

o There is an annual conference – rotated around RMAA branches in turn

o Branches can set up Chapters (which are the equivalent of special interest groups and have no funds allocated)

o There is an RMAA publication, Informaa Quarterly, published every three months.

o Branches are required to hold seminars/regular events for members

o There is an RMAA discussion listserv

o RMAA maintain a central website for all branches

o RMAA ‘recognizes’ records and information courses for accreditation - we would need to explore potential recognition of NZ courses.

o There are annual awards for nominated members

o Special committees have been established such as the Education committee that meet twice yearly and correspond over RMAA initiatives in that area

o Have synchronised membership renewals (i.e. all membership renewals are due on the same date)

o There is a branch in every Australian state and a Federal Board with 2 representatives from every state (if we became a Branch then we would effectively be treated as another state of Australia)

o Current membership fee is AU $137.50 for individual members. There are also rates for students or corporate membership

Recommended Process (to be discussed and approved at this SGM)

The purpose of this SGM is to:

· Provide members with the opportunity to have input on areas outlined below (discussion points 1-10)

· Gain approval of the next phases of this investigation

To achieve those two goals we have divided the issues to be discussed into three main areas:

1. Who should be allowed to vote on the final options presented

2. What the voting process should be

3. What options should be presented in the ballot

Who can vote

Discussion points –

1a. Should only full financial (current) members of ARMA international be allowed to vote?

1b. Should full financial (current) members and current associate members be allowed to vote?

The voting process

Discussion points –

2a. Should the voting process be conducted using a named ballot (where the scrutineer would need to know the identity of each person returning a vote and be able to mark off responses against a roll of current financial members)?

2b. Should the voting process be conducted using an unnamed ballot sent out and returned on ARMA letterhead to ensure only ARMA members voted (the scrutineer would then know the person was a financial ARMA members, but would not know who had voted for which options)?

3. The creation of a background document summarising and reiterating facts and options for inclusion with the ballot paper

4.How the scrutineering should be managed. For example, the Scrutineer could be a non-ARMA member (perhaps a JP) who reports on result and then destroys original ballot papers after 3 months

5.Planning needed for when the ballot should occur (possibly January/February) and when the scrutineering should be completed (possibly end of February)

6. How members should be informed of ballot results (most obvious options include via email and through For The Record)

7. If members vote for a change in affiliation how will this be managed? Set up of a steering committee to manage the transition process

8. Confirmation that the outcome of the vote will be decided by simple majority (as required by our constitution).

The options to include in ballot

Discussion about the options to include in the ballot is around two different themes:

1. Affiliation options

2. Net funds and assets options - dependent on the outcome of the affiliation options.

The Committee believes that we need to have members voting on these two areas within the one ballot.

Please note: one of the affiliation options provided is to dissolve/wind up the Wellington chapter of ARMA. The Committee does not wish this to happen but felt that it needs to be put forward to members as an option as our brief was to investigate future options so members should be given provided with all options to vote on.

Discussion points -

9. Affiliation options – are these all the viable options that should be included in the ballot?

A. Retain current affiliation as ARMA Chapter (implication: fee increase necessary)

B. Create a new branch of RMAA and transfer existing members from ARMA Wellington Chapter (implication: fee decrease, transfer process)

C. Dissolution/wind up of ARMA Wellington Chapter (no local RIM professional body)

10. Net funds and asset options – depending on the outcome of the affiliation option ballot it will be necessary for us to provide some options for members to vote on about how the chapter funds and assets are dealt with. Do the options provided below cover all possible options?

Options about how to dispose of ARMA International Wellington Chapters’ net funds and assets will only be relevant if affiliation options B or C are the winning options meaning that ARMA Wellington Chapter would be wound up (however they would be included in the same ballot paper to save time).

Do the options provided below cover all practicable options?

Where affiliation Option B is chosen:

If the affiliation majority vote is for affiliation option B then members need to vote on how to dispose of funds and assets. Options would be:

a) Our net funds and assets are transferred to the NZ Branch of RMAA (Committees preferred option) when it is established

b) Donate net funds to charity and the assets to NZ Branch of RMAA when it is established

c) Net funds are divided up amongst current members and the assets are donated to the NZ Branch of RMAA when it is established (this is an option that legally must be presented, however in the Committees opinion it could create problems about division of funds between full and associate members)

Where affiliation Option C is chosen:

If the affiliation majority vote is for option C then members need to vote on how to dispose of funds and assets: Options would be:

a) Our net funds and assets are transferred to ARANZ - as the most appropriate professional body (Committees preferred option)

b) Donate net funds to charity and the assets to ARANZ

c) Net funds are divided up amongst current members and the assets are donated to ARANZ (this is an option that legally must be presented, however in the Committees opinion it could create problems about division of funds between full and associate members)

The chapter Presidents' 2002 annual report may be seen here.

Chapter Members' questions, and the answers, before the move to reconstitute as an RMAA branch, may be seen here.