Meruka Child Care CooperativeCommittee of Management

Committee Meeting MinutesMeeting held: Monday 24th April 2017, 7:30pm at Meruka CCC

Attendance – Steve Hogan, Terri Psiakis, April Anderson, Christie McVeigh, Paige Macdonald, Kylie Hammon, Sarah Muir, Peta-Lynne Potts, Nikki Wynn, Rebecca Brown, Lynda Muscat, Victoria Metherall, Kristy Wong, Bruce & Mandy Mao-Wei

Apologies – Kaye Meynell, Jane Fraser, Jo Stevens, Jamie McNamee, Danielle Kamolins, Lucinda Matthews

Minutes of Previous Meeting: Accepted; Christie McVeigh, 2nd; Rebecca Brown

Assignment Log1. Marketing of Meruka

Actions Arising1. Skillset profiling of Committee Members – Nikki to move forward and organize a short profile of each Committee Member2. Response from Meruka families regarding Centre vacancies – Some extra days have been allocated, one family requested their child move up a room but no permanent days were secured through that email.3. Committee code of conduct – deferred until May 2017 meeting.

CorrespondenceIn:

23.03.2017 – Letter from Nadia Mercante, Area Manager, Quality Assessment and Regulation Division, Eastern Metropolitan Area Team, Department of Education and Training, regarding the final notice and rating of Meruka.

05.04.2017 – Letter from Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP regarding a series of discussions to foster community engagement.

Out: None.

Reports:

Finance: Written report prepared by S. Hogan. Report can be distributed upon request.The following was discussed:

- March – profit of $9400, $2000 up on budget. Audit fee presented in March. Payroll expenses accounted for 87% of total expenses for the month.

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- YTD analysis – $16,000 up on budget. Well done Kylie for continuing to avoid Agency Fees. $25,000 up on budget revenue.

- March 2017 YTD vs. March 2016. $32,000 ahead against last year’s March YTD.- Question regarding breakdown of income? Total fees (invoice fees, parents fee, Government

rebate, CCR & CCB, Kindergarten fees, waiting list fees)- Question regarding overrun - what’s the cause? Something we need to keep an eye on. It has

improved over the last few years. Continue to keep discipline within the room allocations. Sometimes the variance can be due to internal staff picking up extra hours/shifts etc.

- Question regarding Workcover credit? Why doesn’t it come under income? It’s how the system is designed. We receive a payable adjustment credit. Because it’s Workcover it doesn’t fall under income as we feel income should only represent money coming into the Centre through families rather than credit notes received from an external source.

- Do we have any staff receiving workcover claims? Not at present. - Agency payments – there is a third party who receives payment.- A suggestion was put forward for the financial report to be forwarded to the Committee before the

meeting, in order for Committee members to be able to reflect before meeting. Steve expressed concern that the reports stay within the Committee and is hesitant to have the financial reports circulated outside of the evening of the Committee meeting. Part of the proposed Committee Code of Conduct (to be put forward at the May meeting) will state that if you are a member of the Committee there is a level of confidentiality and it is proposed that all members will sign off with the new Code of Conduct. It was agreed that the Committee should sign off on the Code of Conduct before the financials are released before the meetings. Steve will provide the Committee with some dot points prior to the meeting on what matters/changes are present in the financials and will be presented at each meeting.

- A general discussion surrounding what surrounds the Code of Conduct, and having strict guidelines around what Committee Members and families who attend (one off) meetings sign off on the confidentiality of financial reports etc. – these guidelines will be discussed in greater detail when our Code of Conduct is discussed further in May.

- It was queried why there is a need for such confidentiality around the financials when we are a co-operative and all financial reports/general reports should be available to the wider Meruka community/shareholders.

- Steve presented a cost comparison of fees with other Centres in the area. We are not making $42,000 in revenue for not charging public holidays. Steve is concerned that if we increase our fees by 3-5% without charging public holidays we blow ourselves out of the water in terms of daily rates. These figures are being presented in April so we can be completely transparent when re-enrolment occurs in October. It was agreed that this document stands as a regular agenda item until a decision has been made in the lead up to enrolment. A decision will need to be reached at August RGM on the fee structure for 2018.

- It was proposed that a survey is circulated around the Meruka community around which fee structure they would prefer for 2018. It was aimed for this survey to be sent in June, discussion on results in July and final decision in August. Paige to follow this up.

Co-ordinator: Written report prepared by K. Hammon. Report can be distributed upon request.The following was discussed:

- Currently have 89 families attending. Our vacancies have decreased from 11 to 5.- We have had several children absent with coughs/colds.- Kylie is currently on long service leave and will return 13 June. Peta and Leanne are ready to step

into Kylie’s role. Sarah is available for the next 3 weeks if they require assistance.- Anaphylaxis and Asthma training is tonight and the PD day has been planned. - We have recently had cars driving up the driveway and parking in the carpark, without having any

affiliation with the Centre. Kylie has raised this issue with Council but their response indicated it is public property and these members of the community are entitled to park where they like. On the weekend staff arrived at Meruka to find all the fly wire screens had been removed. Actions arising - April will write to Stephanie from Council on behalf of the Committee and Sarah will contact local police to report screens and raise awareness of our issue of safety.

Maintenance & Safety: Verbal report by J. McNamee.The following was discussed:

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- At the last meeting Maintenance were asked to look for red back spiders within the yard. At the last working bee the worm farm and building were scanned. No red backs were sited near the worm farm but a handful were found within the eaves of the building. The staff are aware they’re within the area and will monitor and as a natural remedy for removing the spiders is to create a lemon based spray which will be offered as a maintenance task as a way to keep the general upkeep of the building. Jamie to follow this up.

Staff Rep: Verbal report by C. McVeigh.The following was discussed:

- The staff are very grateful for their new uniforms and the dinner received for exceeding NQS.

Staff Liaison: Verbal report by J. StevensThe following was discussed:

- Jo will present engagement survey at the next meeting

Parent Liaison: Verbal report by P. MacdonaldThe following was discussed:

- Nothing to report

Fundraising: Verbal report by J. Morrison & V. MetherallThe following was discussed:

- $260 from candles, down from $820 last mother’s day. Candles didn’t run as smoothly as usual. There were some problems with the Kinder children doing their artwork from home. The picture plates need to be done in Centre.

- Rare Bears play centre Easter egg hunt – successful and happy with numbers. Approx. $200 raised. We aimed for 30 children and had close to 45 attend. Attendance was from Kinder room only. The only babies in attendance were siblings. Forward planning – running a “Welcome to new families” event in early 2018, or structuring the first working bee to have a designated activity to entice new families to attend and meet other members of the Meruka community. Action arising – Jamie organizes a sausage sizzle/coffee event for future working bees/June working bee.

- The next event is chocolates – looking to order them for June.

General Business:1. Policies - mid year we need to review the current policies. Lynda is seeking guidance on how to present the policies. A smaller group has been created to manage and review the policies. They will present their actions at the next meeting.

Meeting closed – 9.20pm

Next Meeting: Regular General Meeting, Monday 15th May 2017, 7:30pm at Meruka CCC

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