Windmill Towers yesterday afternoon for the monthly board meeting at 5pm. Minutes approved, and there are decisions made about Christmas cards. Short discussions on Remembrance Day, repairs to the leaking roof of the listed windmill (still leaking despite emergency repair) and punctuation on the Conservators Terms of Reference. At the Wimbledon Bookfest, 5 cars parked on the Common. Bookfest heads will roll.
The T of R are a new initiative, and Conservators will be obliged to sign them, and have a strict confidentiality clause. Nick asks what will happen if a Conservator refuses to sign up? Devons doesn't have an answer so says he will deal with it "if it happens". Simon Lee threatens the Charity Commission rules on Trustees behavior, which is ironic. Basically they Trustees discussed what is known as "fluff".
And that's it, 5:15 and the board meeting is over. We are asked to leave.
Given that the Trustees have inch thick board reports in front of them all nattily tabulated, surely not. I ask what about the RWGC's new gate effectively enclosing common, the lack of board papers or evidence of approvals for Wandsworth's land grab? Surely some debate? Or maybe my formal complaint about the obstruction of my FOI request, which I asked to be brought to the Boards's attention. Maybe some information on a couple of rather serious issues not in the public domain that are floating about, and causing the Conservators some sleepless nights. Nope. We are asked to leave.
So the real Board meeting can commence, the one with no transparency, no minutes published, where the Trustees of the publicly funded Charity debate the real issues.
We leave at 5:20, asking ourselves are the Conservators....
1. Transparent / open
2. Dysfunctional / secret
Here's a piccy of the RWGC car park gates, shiny and newly installed. If you want to picnic in the car park, (which is common according to Devons), I suggest you bring a tall ladder.
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