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annotate MHMC/2025-10-20/notes.txt @ 647:92b252b1e3bb
meeting finished
| author | Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk> |
|---|---|
| date | Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:31:35 +0100 |
| parents | 6e490a674d68 |
| children | 4fa8cf4e7240 |
| rev | line source |
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| 642 | 1 Meeting House Management Committee Agenda 2025-10-20 |
| 2 Monday 20 October, 5.15 p.m., in 7 Victoria Terrace | |
| 3 | |
| 647 | 4 * Attendance Draft minute: JP Ascher (via Zoom), Eliza Giles (observing), Rachael Fitzgerald |
| 5 (from ???), Chris | |
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6 Jardine, Katrina McCrea (via Zoom), Jackie Noltingk, Laragh Quinney, |
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7 Sammi Searle, Henry S. Thompson, Andy Tucker, Duncan Wallace |
| 642 | 8 |
| 9 * Convenor's report | |
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10 * Change of representative from Treasury Team |
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11 |
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12 Draft minute: We welcome Chris Jardine, the new AM Assistant |
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13 Treasurer, and say goodbye to Jackie Noltingk, with a very warm |
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14 'Thank You!' for your long service and many contributions to the |
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15 work of this committee and your frequent help for its convenor. |
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| 642 | 17 * Suggestions from Local Meeting |
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18 |
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19 Turns out HST misunderstood the suggestion from LM Co-Clerk Juliet |
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20 Henderson regarding the provision of something to help keep folk |
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21 warm in the Meeting Room: it was _blankets_, not gillets. |
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22 |
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23 Draft minute: We welcome the offer from Central Edinburgh Local |
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24 Meeting to purchase a number of blankets to be made available for |
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25 people attending Meeting for Worship as the temperature drops and |
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26 ask them to liaise with the Managers about practical details such |
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27 as storage, signage and cleaning. |
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28 |
| 642 | 29 * Unpaid leave for Eliza Giles 3 months in August-November 2026: EAPPI |
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30 |
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31 Draft minute: We are happy to agree to Eliza Giles taking three |
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32 months of unpaid leave August--November 2026 to be a volunteer |
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33 with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and |
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34 Israel and wish her well in that very important and challenging |
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35 activity. |
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36 |
| 642 | 37 * Computing infrastructure |
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38 * New domain and storage |
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39 |
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40 Jonathan Riddell (the AM Treasurer) and David Sterratt have begun |
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41 a restructuring of various aspects of the Area Meeting's computing |
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42 infrastructure, in part in response to the creation of a new |
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43 domain (quaker.scot), including new email addresses and a move |
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44 from Dropbox to Google Drive. AT and HST met with them to discuss |
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45 changes this requires and/or enables changes in the Meeting House |
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46 computing setup. |
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47 |
| 642 | 48 * Windows 10 support |
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49 |
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50 HST and AT have worked together successfully to extend the |
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51 provision of security updates to our Windows 10 PCs for a further |
| 647 | 52 year to 1 October 2026. *Action* HST to check with User 2 about |
| 53 the newest machine vs. Windows 11. | |
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54 |
| 643 | 55 * Dundee Friends Property Trust |
| 642 | 56 |
| 647 | 57 HST did this. Share info on DFPT management plan. Relationship |
| 58 with a peer Meeting House. | |
| 59 | |
| 642 | 60 * Managers' report |
| 647 | 61 |
| 642 | 62 * Defend our Juries |
| 647 | 63 |
| 64 Didn't need us. | |
| 65 | |
| 642 | 66 * Area Meeting 10 September |
| 647 | 67 |
| 68 AT and how the Warm Spaces had gone (well), but it's not | |
| 69 going ahead this year. EG and AT about answered some things about | |
| 70 the Fringe. We were reminded that in 2024 we put up the programme | |
| 71 in the Foyer ahead of time. We were asked to make it more obvious | |
| 72 that this was a Quaker space. Invite old Friends to get in touch | |
| 73 with Hartley? | |
| 74 | |
| 642 | 75 * New Casual Staff |
| 647 | 76 |
| 77 Two new starting as we speak, shadowing three times | |
| 78 | |
| 642 | 79 * 2026 Room Hire pricing |
| 647 | 80 |
| 81 At least as much as RLW goes up. RF helped in 2024. Already | |
| 82 enquiries for 2026. HST and Managers to share a proposal with RF | |
| 83 and DW by 10 NOvember. RLW might be 7%. *Action* RF to share the | |
| 84 local comparators info. | |
| 85 | |
| 642 | 86 * CVenues 2026 |
| 87 | |
| 647 | 88 MS has been doing some follow-up. Greenside are off the table |
| 89 (Alcohol). CVenues are keen, Momentum will need a venue in 2026, | |
| 90 supposed to meet around now. They would allow us to do some normal | |
| 91 lettings, maybe some rehearsal spaces. They would presumably be | |
| 92 gone in a year, and we would have lost Hartley. Hartley wants a | |
| 93 3-year contract. Two reasons to do that: save time each year; | |
| 94 justify investment on Hartley's part: sound-proofing, network | |
| 95 cabling/architecture. *Agreed* To ask Managers to go ahead and | |
| 96 offer Hartley a 3-year deal, details to be negotiated. HST to tell | |
| 97 Trustees | |
| 98 | |
| 99 * Mid-Week Meeting | |
| 100 | |
| 101 Will try to re-house in one of the big rooms if the Library is not | |
| 102 available. We could ask them to identify a point of contact. | |
| 103 *Action* HST to have a chat with Alison and Margaret about how we | |
| 104 could make communication a bit easier (Whats App; E-mail; phone | |
| 105 tree). | |
| 106 | |
| 107 * Probation Meetings | |
| 108 | |
| 109 Ellie and Majk's went well. MS might take his months (already | |
| 110 agreed) after EG returns. We might be able to get one of the Casual | |
| 111 Staff applicants who would suit very well to get a temporary | |
| 112 replacement. | |
| 113 | |
| 642 | 114 * Upper Bow report |
| 115 * Rent increase | |
| 647 | 116 |
| 117 JP no longer proposes income increase. Market rates and %-yield | |
| 118 basis suggests. "Honest job as a decent landlord". Small regular | |
| 119 increases are fairer than nothing for a while and then bouncing a | |
| 120 lot. We're in good shape wrt value, Southside is our best source | |
| 121 of advice wrt market rates. So we *Agreed* to go with their | |
| 122 advice. But the market itself is not necessarily fair, but the | |
| 123 proposed raise from £900 to £918/mo, is not extortionate. | |
| 124 | |
| 642 | 125 * Vacancy management |
| 126 | |
| 647 | 127 They're back. |
| 128 | |
| 642 | 129 * Finance report |
| 130 | |
| 647 | 131 C? presented a very well set-out summary of monthly- and |
| 132 year-to-date figures, which show a very good month in September, for | |
| 133 which HST thanked staff, and | |
| 134 | |
| 135 AT feels that the 'overrun' on the staff budget makes him think the | |
| 136 budget itself is unreasonable. The question of what the budget | |
| 137 should be based on should be sorted with Trustees as a matter of | |
| 138 urgency. Contract staff costs are fixed. Casual staff hours pay | |
| 139 for themself. The complexity arises when we get to the need for | |
| 140 cover throughout each weekday. | |
| 141 | |
| 142 *Action* on staff (and JN) to bring what they can about | |
| 143 understanding where our income comes from to the next meeting. | |
| 144 | |
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145 * Heating/Insulation/Energy... |
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146 * Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) |
| 647 | 147 |
| 148 DW points out that there's a local CARES person (Energy Adviser) for | |
| 149 this part of Scotland who we should cultivate in time for the next | |
| 150 opportunity. *Action* to DW to work with MS find out who, if the | |
| 151 person we were given to liaise with over the previous application, | |
| 152 is in that. | |
| 153 | |
| 154 Two heaters have been fixed. Library heater under investigation. | |
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155 |
| 642 | 156 * Works to be undertaken Upper Bow |
| 157 * Report from Majk Stokes | |
| 158 | |
| 647 | 159 Quotes for windows, flooring. Accessibility is an issue. *ACTION* |
| 160 on AT and MS to give HST somethign for Trustees on 28 Oct. | |
| 161 | |
| 162 | |
| 642 | 163 * Quinquennial review/News from Trustees |
| 164 | |
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165 * Staff escalation route if they need backup |
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166 |
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167 Trustees wrote to us about this, following up on the meeting in |
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168 July where SCALP (Scottish Community and Activist Legal Project) |
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169 gave Meeting House staff a training session on _Working Well with |
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170 the Police_. |
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171 |
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172 "we need ... an assurance from [MHMC] that staff have an |
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173 escalation route whenever they need backup. ... We are happy for |
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174 trustees to be on a reserve backup list in case no-one from MHMC |
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175 is available." |
| 642 | 176 |
| 647 | 177 Phone tree: MHM -> MHMC via HST -> Trustees via MW |
| 178 | |
| 179 What SCALP gave us was also/more in the direction of how to behave | |
| 180 towards the police in a less than full-cooperation way. But was not | |
| 181 really quite what we expected/hoped for for _building staff_. | |
| 182 | |
| 183 De-escalation training! RF to let us know. | |
| 184 | |
| 185 We will come back to this. | |
| 186 | |
| 642 | 187 * Date of next meeting |
| 188 | |
| 647 | 189 17th 1715 in the Meeting House |
| 190 | |
| 642 | 191 * Any other business |
| 192 | |
| 193 ht |