MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE MISTY CLIFFS VILLAGE ASSOCIATION HELD IN THE SCARBOROUGH COMMUNITY HALL, ON 27 APRIL 2008.

1. Welcome: The Chairman, Doug Tunbridge, welcomed all present and in particular Councillor Nicki Holderness as the invited speaker, and three representatives from the CPUT B.Tech. environmental management course.

2. Present: Ivan & Danielle Harris (Erf 3), Greg Shaw (11 & 12), Tim & Maureen Anderson (22 & 78), Barbara & Doug Tunbridge (28), John & Leigh Hendrikse (29), Leon Morris (32), Robin Frew (42), John Hill (48), David & Hilda Paterson (54), Dennis & Anita Williams (58), Tony & Shirley Turner (70), Cal Bruns (77).

3. Apologies: Estienne du Toit (Erf 5), Brian Marsh (7), Jacki Parsonson (9), Tim Southey (15), Jeff Spencer (20), Jon Kerr (33), Lyn Mossop (41), Van Zyl Le Grange & Stan Cohen (66), Schalk Visser & Jose Gorgulho (68), Mike Bosman (74).

4. Voting proxies received: Jeff Spencer (20), Lyn Mossop (41), Stan Cohen (66), Schalk Visser (68).

5. Quorum: Including proxies, 24 paid-up members were present which satisfies Clause 10.6 of the MCVA Constitution requiring a minimum of 25 per cent of paid-up members/proxies to be present.

6. Approval of previous AGM Minutes (22-4-07): Proposed Doug Tunbridge; seconded Tim Anderson.

7. Approval of Special AGM Minutes (11-9-07): Proposed Robin Frew; seconded Greg Shaw. This meeting amended Clause 7.1 of the Constitution to meet the requirement of SARS that an independent qualified accounting officer should review the MCVA's annual financial statements. The amendment was supported by the requisite number of paid-up members voting electronically as provided for in the Constitution.

8. Matters not covered herein: Shirley Turner had suggested at the previous AGM that Newsletter distribution should be restricted to paid-up members. Resolved to consider this at the next ordinary (new) committee meeting.

9. Chairman's Report: The chairman's Annual Report is attached. No questions were raised.

10. Treasurer's Report: Attached hereto. Tribute was paid to Lyn Mossop who had resigned from committee work after 10 years of energetic contribution. Tony Turner, a professional accountant, was welcomed as incoming Treasurer. Brendan O'Shea was reappointed as Accounting Officer. These appointments satisfy SARS requirements related to MCVA's PBO status. The Chairman noted that the record number of subscriptions received was attributable to the efforts of Greg Shaw. It was also noted that owners gave more readily and generously to financial support of specifically identified causes than to subscriptions into general revenue.

11. Councillor Holderness's address - ranged across several relevant items of interest summarized as follows:
11.1 All owners should keep a full set of their house plans in case the City's copies should go missing.
11.2 Steady incremental progress is being made to have all municipal electricity cables put underground in our area, therefore frequency of outages should become minimal.
11.3 Our information that municipal work at the Crayfish Factory had led to TV reception troubles was incorrect. The problem lay with Vodacom having increased the power of its relay station there. A new "improved" mast would be provided soon.
11.4 A celtel relay mast is to be erected at Theeberg (approx 168 m) which would provide coverage for Redhill. A planning glitch is that SANParks want authority over its power supply, supposedly in connection with poaching.
11.5 The Redhill 8-Feb fire victims are still in need of utensils and particularly school materials. A shipping container has been provided for storage of donations.
11.6 The impasse centred around fire prevention and management at Redhill is likely to continue. The suggestion to buy the land from the private owner is certain to be opposed by SANParks on the same grounds that have held up the proposal to establish the "squatters" in Dido valley.
11.7 Detailed guidelines for urban edge development and management had been drawn up by the City in 2004 and soon forgotten about as Mayco had only "noted" them but never adopted them. Assisted by Val Charlton of Ukuvuka, Cllr Holderness has resurrected the matter because the proposed guidelines potentially would have a large influence on the IZS and also related closely to the south peninsula fire zone.
11.8 Regarding the draft IZS the principal issues relate to building on slopes, height restrictions and densification. There are currently 27 zoning schemes in the Unicity and although many factors in them are no longer relevant there are pertinent new factors such as the already-apparent effects of climate change on sea levels and fauna and flora. There would be, for instance, a huge impact on sewerage and stormwater outfalls presently dependent on gravity. A difficulty with any newly-proposed overlay zone would be to make it legally secure through compatibility with provisions of the Nat. Environmental and Management Act.
11.9 The City had acknowledged the magnitude of the baboon problem and was aware of the various proposals put forward to solve or minimise it. The City had therefore agreed to increase funding, hopefully to a level that would allow an appropriate number of monitors to be permanently employed - monitors so far having proved the best strategy for management. The funding would continue to be administered through the BMT.

12. Questions to Councillor:
12.1 Danielle Harris (Erf 3) inquired about rumours that private individuals were negotiating secretly with City to acquire land. Cllr replied that anyone is free to approach the Council to acquire land but in any such negotiations it was mandatory to consult also with the public, however, this requirement did not apply in the case of possible negotiations with SANParks. Any approach to the City would eventually come down to the affected sub-council for consideration, but, depending on the details of any proposal, not every councillor would be adequately informed or motivated, therefore it was imperative that potentially affected citizens were "vigorous" and watchful.
12.2 Ivan Harris expressed concern about the funding and creation of firebreaks in and around the Redhill area, as these had to be in place by 1 October, the start of the fire season. He felt pessimistic about achieving any improvement on the unsatisfactory arrangements currently in place for fire management in the area. Cllr said she had been "assured" that City would provide funding for SANParks to undertake the firebreak work timeously. Regarding fire fighting, Cllr mentioned that a difficulty had arisen regarding the authority of the FPA to call for helicopters in the event of a fire unless the fire was on Council land; this had yet to be resolved.

13. Misty website: Robin Frew, who would be managing the MCVA website locally, demonstrated its design by Jeff Spencer (Erf 20). He said it should be live within two months and recommended that the number and nature of hits thereafter should be logged before any approach is made to potential paying advertisers. He emphasized that it was largely up to owners and residents to provide input so that the site did not become stale.

14. Proposed environmental restoration/preservation: Introduced by Greg Shaw, Sian, Betha and Johan, three students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, presented an outline of their proposals for appropriately greening the road reserve and certain other areas. The task would be undertaken as a formal practical project towards completion of their B.Tech. qualification in environmental management. Greg Shaw would help the students co-ordinate in setting up a working (sub) committee of the MCVA to manage the project and determine a costing and budget. A problem was foreseen, especially in the provision of regular watering, in greening areas off the mountain, especially along the M65. Ivan Harris strongly recommended that input should be obtained from people experienced in establishing indigenous flora in the rocky low-nutrient soil of the Misty area.

15. DSTV: The DSTV project supervision would be devolved to an appropriate partnership to be set up by participants, whereafter its funding would no longer be overseen by the MCVA.

16. Executive Committee: The following members had offered themselves for re-election: Doug Tunbridge, Leon Morris, Tony Turner, Greg Shaw, and Tim Anderson. Three new members had offered for service: (Mrs) Jacki Parsonson (Erf 9), Robin Frew (42), and David Paterson (54). There being no objections these eight owners were accepted for the incoming committee and satisfied the relevant conditions of the Constitution. The Chairman made the point that each committee member would be assigned a specific portfolio. Date of first meeting of the new committee to be confirmed.

17. General: Leon Morris proposed a vote of thanks and appreciation for the Chairman, Doug Tunbridge, whom he said undertook most professionally an enormous amount of time-consuming work for the Association.

18. The Chairman declared the meeting closed at noon.