Meeting House Management Committee Agenda 2025-10-20
Monday 20 October, 5.15 p.m., in 7 Victoria Terrace

* Attendance Draft minute: JP Ascher (via Zoom), Eliza Giles (observing), Rachael Fitzgerald
  (from ???), Chris
  Jardine, Katrina McCrea (via Zoom), Jackie Noltingk, Laragh Quinney,
  Sammi Searle, Henry S. Thompson, Andy Tucker, Duncan Wallace

* Convenor's report
  * Change of representative from Treasury Team

    Draft minute: We welcome Chris Jardine, the new AM Assistant
    Treasurer, and say goodbye to Jackie Noltingk, with a very warm
    'Thank You!'  for your long service and many contributions to the
    work of this committee and your frequent help for its convenor.

  * Suggestions from Local Meeting

    Turns out HST misunderstood the suggestion from LM Co-Clerk Juliet
    Henderson regarding the provision of something to help keep folk
    warm in the Meeting Room: it was _blankets_, not gillets.

    Draft minute: We welcome the offer from Central Edinburgh Local
    Meeting to purchase a number of blankets to be made available for
    people attending Meeting for Worship as the temperature drops and
    ask them to liaise with the Managers about practical details such
    as storage, signage and cleaning.

  * Unpaid leave for Eliza Giles 3 months in August-November 2026: EAPPI

    Draft minute: We are happy to agree to Eliza Giles taking three
    months of unpaid leave August--November 2026 to be a volunteer
    with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and
    Israel and wish her well in that very important and challenging
    activity.

  * Computing infrastructure
    * New domain and storage

    Jonathan Riddell (the AM Treasurer) and David Sterratt have begun
    a restructuring of various aspects of the Area Meeting's computing
    infrastructure, in part in response to the creation of a new
    domain (quaker.scot), including new email addresses and a move
    from Dropbox to Google Drive.  AT and HST met with them to discuss
    changes this requires and/or enables changes in the Meeting House
    computing setup.

    * Windows 10 support

    HST and AT have worked together successfully to extend the
    provision of security updates to our Windows 10 PCs for a further
    year to 1 October 2026.  *Action* HST to check with User 2 about
    the newest machine vs. Windows 11.

  * Dundee Friends Property Trust

    HST did this.  Share info on DFPT management plan.  Relationship
    with a peer Meeting House.

* Managers' report

  * Defend our Juries

  Didn't need us.  

  * Area Meeting 10 September

  AT and how the Warm Spaces had gone (well), but it's not
   going ahead this year.  EG and AT about answered some things about
   the Fringe.  We were reminded that in 2024 we put up the programme
   in the Foyer ahead of time.  We were asked to make it more obvious
   that this was a Quaker space.  Invite old Friends to get in touch
   with Hartley?

  * New Casual Staff

    Two new starting as we speak, shadowing three times 

  * 2026 Room Hire pricing

    At least as much as RLW goes up.  RF helped in 2024.  Already
    enquiries for 2026.  HST and Managers to share a proposal with RF
    and DW by 10 NOvember.  RLW might be 7%.  *Action* RF to share the
    local comparators info.

  * CVenues 2026

  MS has been doing some follow-up.  Greenside are off the table
  (Alcohol).  CVenues are keen, Momentum will need a venue in 2026,
  supposed to meet around now.  They would allow us to do some normal
  lettings, maybe some rehearsal spaces.  They would presumably be
  gone in a year, and we would have lost Hartley.  Hartley wants a
  3-year contract.  Two reasons to do that: save time each year;
  justify investment on Hartley's part: sound-proofing, network
  cabling/architecture.  *Agreed* To ask Managers to go ahead and
  offer Hartley a 3-year deal, details to be negotiated.  HST to tell
  Trustees

  * Mid-Week Meeting

  Will try to re-house in one of the big rooms if the Library is not
  available.  We could ask them to identify a point of contact.
  *Action* HST to have a chat with Alison and Margaret about how we
  could make communication a bit easier (Whats App; E-mail; phone
  tree).

  * Probation Meetings

  Ellie and Majk's went well.  MS might take his months (already
  agreed) after EG returns.  We might be able to get one of the Casual
  Staff applicants who would suit very well to get a temporary
  replacement.

* Upper Bow report
  * Rent increase

   JP no longer proposes income increase.  Market rates and %-yield
   basis suggests.  "Honest job as a decent landlord".  Small regular
   increases are fairer than nothing for a while and then bouncing a
   lot.  We're in good shape wrt value, Southside is our best source
   of advice wrt market rates.  So we *Agreed* to go with their
   advice.  But the market itself is not necessarily fair, but the
   proposed raise from £900 to £918/mo, is not extortionate.

  * Vacancy management

   They're back.

* Finance report

  C? presented a very well set-out summary of monthly- and
  year-to-date figures, which show a very good month in September, for
  which HST thanked staff, and 

  AT feels that the 'overrun' on the staff budget makes him think the
  budget itself is unreasonable.  The question of what the budget
  should be based on should be sorted with Trustees as a matter of
  urgency.  Contract staff costs are fixed.  Casual staff hours pay
  for themself.  The complexity arises when we get to the need for
  cover throughout each weekday.

  *Action* on staff (and JN) to bring what they can about
  understanding where our income comes from to the next meeting.

* Heating/Insulation/Energy...
  * Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES)
  
  DW points out that there's a local CARES person (Energy Adviser) for
  this part of Scotland who we should cultivate in time for the next
  opportunity.  *Action* to DW to work with MS find out who, if the
  person we were given to liaise with over the previous application,
  is in that.

  Two heaters have been fixed.  Library heater under investigation.

* Works to be undertaken Upper Bow
  * Report from Majk Stokes

  Quotes for windows, flooring.  Accessibility is an issue.  *ACTION*
  on AT and MS to give HST somethign for Trustees on 28 Oct.


* Quinquennial review/News from Trustees

* Staff escalation route if they need backup

  Trustees wrote to us about this, following up on the meeting in
  July where SCALP (Scottish Community and Activist Legal Project)
  gave Meeting House staff a training session on _Working Well with
  the Police_.

  "we need ... an assurance from [MHMC] that staff have an
   escalation route whenever they need backup. ... We are happy for
   trustees to be on a reserve backup list in case no-one from MHMC
   is available."

  Phone tree: MHM -> MHMC via HST -> Trustees via MW

  What SCALP gave us was also/more in the direction of how to behave
  towards the police in a less than full-cooperation way.  But was not
  really quite what we expected/hoped for for _building staff_.

  De-escalation training!  RF to let us know.

  We will come back to this.

* Date of next meeting

  17th 1715 in the Meeting House

* Any other business

ht