International Spill Control Organisation 2022 – NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
20:00 GMT. 15:00 EST. Thursday 15th December 2022
A “face-to-face” Meeting will not be possible this year because of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The 2022 AGM will therefore be held remotely.
Members will be given information later how to join the meeting
A downloadable PDF version of the AGENDA and APPENDIX 1 – MINUTES OF THE ISCO 2021 AGM is available here
AGENDA
Agenda Item 1
Introduction to the 2022 AGM
Welcoming remarks from the Secretary-General.
Guidance from the meeting host (ISCO VP Mary Ann Dalgleish) on remote meeting participation and etiquette.
Agenda Item 2
Retrospective approval of holding a remote AGM
The Secretariat proposes that Members be asked to retrospectively approve the holding of a remote AGM in 2022 and, if necessary, use a remote meeting format at a future time.
In voting in favour of this proposal, Members agree to instruct the Secretariat to make necessary amendments to the ISCO Constitution (download) and the ISCO Byelaws, Guidelines and Reference Information (download) to address the option to hold remote meetings.
Agenda Item 3
Approval of the Minutes of the ISCO 2021 AGM
The Minutes of the 2021 AGM are attached – See Appendix 1
Agenda Item 4
General Secretary’s Report
The year as seen a period of re-adjustment following the easing of COVID 19 restrictions, and a return to the new normal, in the way we work , many organisations would have revaluated the way they operate as a result of COVID-19, and ISCO is no different in this respect.
ISCO members received sad news during the year with the death of our long-term President and co-founding member at the age of 92. David made a major contribution to ISCO and along with John McMurtie was the driving force within ISCO, David was well respected within his industry field and, and highly knowledgeable, and was always near hand to provide advice and guidance on matters relating to ISCO, TO David I say thank you everything you did in making ISCO the organisation it is today.
Operationally ISCO have being, and continues to do so, work on an Action Plan to re-vitalise ISCO in meeting the demands of the day. The foundation to this work was carried out by John Wardrop (Australia) who was instrumental in modernising the Constitution, and creating the Action Plan, an immense amount of work, which ISCO are very grateful to John for his contribution. ISCO are now seeking to establish a number of Working Groups to start to deliver the tasks within the Action Plan, and for that I am appealing to the membership to provide this support, and volunteer to engage in delivery of the Plan, together we can achieve the changes required, so if you can devote some time to participating within a Working Group, then please come forward, we are looking forward to you participating in laying the foundation to a strong future for ISCO.
Our student programme goes from strength to strength with more than 60 students world-wide, this continues to be managed by Mary Ann Dalglish and Marc Shayle who are the driving force behind the success of this programme. Our students are the professional of tomorrow, they will have the ability to shape the way our environment is managed, our programme is there to provide a two-way process with the students having access to the vast wealth of knowledge our members hold, and for he students bring to attention the new ways of working, or new concepts for the preservation of our environmental. Several students are regular participants in ISCO’s monthly online members meeting, we would welcome, and encourage more students to join this valuable resource, by having the opportunity to network with other professionals and fellow students.
Accessing modern communications is going to be the key for ISCO to advance within current times, Mike Watson who is taking the lead on the Communications Working Group, working closely with Jane Delgado and Helen Rowlands in the developments of ways that ISCO can communicate more effectively with its members, in addition ISCO are seeking a suitable communications platform to enable information to be stored and accessible by its members.
I would also wish to take this opportunity in thanking Jane Rowlands and Mary Ann Dalglish for their tremendous support in ensuring that ISCO are represented at the international shows and Exhibitions, I would also wish to thank Capt Bill Boyle for attending Interspill in Amsterdam as the Secretary-Generals representative
One of the most difficult tasks within ISCO is maintaining the weekly ISCO Newsletter, this mammoth task continues to be the responsibility of our VP John McMurtrie, who continues to produce an extensive newsletter every Sunday Night. Has we all known John is maturing in age and is now keen to take a step-back from producing the newsletters diligently every Sunday evening. ISCO, therefore are desperately seeking to appoint another Editor for the newsletter, who can work with John in the transferring of the Editor baton, once again I appeal to any member who could take on this role, with the pending change it may provide the opportunity to review the structure of the newsletter and how it is produced and circulated
ISCO continues to liaise with its external partners ensuring that our members voices are heard and counted. I am grateful to our ambassadors and other appointed representatives of ISCO who have taken the time to attend these external meetings, ensuring ISCO remains a contributing body to new and changing policies. Looking forward to the next twelve months and the new challenges for ISCO, with the help of our members we can ensure that ISCO remains a key player in affecting policies and delivering innovation through it membership. Thank you to everyone for your support of ISCO during the last year, please consider volunteering for our Working Groups.
Agenda Item 5
Revenue for the year ending 31st March 2022, wholly represented by the membership fees received from Members, was £23,830.
Financial Report
Statement of financial position
31st March 2022
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| £ | £ | |
| Current assets | 23,830 | 17,096 |
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | (19,416) | (13,756) |
| Net current liabilities | 4,414 | 3,340 |
| Total assets Less current liabilities | 4,414 | 3,340 |
| Accruals and deferred income | (600) | (1,171) |
| Net liabilities | 3,814 | 2,169 |
| Capital and reserves | 3,814 | 2,169 |
Agenda Item 6
Appointments to Executive Committee and Council
Notwithstanding the usual provisions regarding rotation of members of the Executive Committee, the Secretariat recommends that, at this time, the existing members be re-elected.
However, the Secretariat asks that all members of the ISCO Executive Committee and ISCO Council to confirm that they are willing to continue in their roles.
Anyone wishing to stand down should make this known at the meeting or after the meeting by email to the Secretariat.
Agenda Item 7 – For information
Membership Fees
It is not intended to recommend any changes in membership fees for the coming twelve months, therefore fees will remain as per 2021-22.
Agenda Item 8
Increasing Membership
ISCO receives no subsidies from governments and bodies such as the UNEP, IMO, Industry Organizations, etc.
Currently the organization’s only source of income is the annual membership fees received from Members.
It is therefore a priority to redouble our efforts to increase the number of paying members. All Members, and especially Members of ISCO Council, are asked to help in this effort. The Secretariat will continue to look at other possibilities for generating funds and suggestions from Members will be welcomed.
Agenda Item 10
Website
The website along with Linkedin and the weekly newsletter form the main stay of ISCO’s communications to both its membership and the wider market. The website is being maintained and developed to provide a broader range of information and data, reflecting our global operations. ISCO are always seeking productive suggestions to the way that our information is presented on the web and looking at opportunities to increase it’s area of interest. Mike Watson is overseeing the development of the website, with Jane Delgado administrating the LinkedIn site. Both of these would welcome contributions in the form of news and articles of interest, from our wider membership.
Agenda Item 10
Any other business
Members are invited to submit suggestions, ideas, and comments for discussion at the AGM.
Items to be discussed should be submitted in advance of the meeting by email to [email protected] – this to allow for circulation to members and to give time for their consideration.
Agenda Item 11
Next Meeting
We very much hope that a face-to-face AGM will be possible for the 2023 AGM but at this time there is too much uncertainty to identify a venue and date.
APPENDIX 1 – MINUTES OF THE ISCO 2021 AGM
This meeting was held remotely using the Zoom platform.
Date & Time – Thursday 9th December 2021 at 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT
- Attendees
Mary Ann Dalgleish (VP Membership), John McMurtrie (VP Newsletter), Committee Members – Marc Shaye, Dan Sheehan, Captain Bill Boyle, and Council Members – Dr Merv Fingas (Canada), John Wardrop (Australia).
Other attendees included, Carlos Sagrera (Ambassador), Ed Levine, Rupert Bravery, Graham Edgeley, Kurt Hansen, Vedran Martinic, Anja Pilepic, Helena Rowland, Pham Van Son, Mike Watson. Please note that this list is not complete as names of some attendees who did not speak will not have been recorded.
- Apologies
David Usher; M. Kerem Kemerli; Matthew Somerville. Capt Bill Boyle
- Chairperson
Secretary General Neil Marson who chaired the meeting, opened it up by welcoming everything and thanking them for their support throughout the year. The meeting duration was 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Agenda Voting Items
Agreement was sort for the acceptance of Item 2 and 3 of the agenda, namely approval to hold a remote meeting, and adoption of minutes of 2020 AGM. Both Items were approved. In addition, members were requested to vote on the changes to the ISCO constitution, which was duly passed. The submitted voting forms unanimously approved the motions on which Members were asked to vote, a table showing results of ballot is reproduced below: –
| ITEM | FOR | AGAINST | ABSTAINED |
| To Approve the Minutes of the 2020 AGM | 16 | ||
| To Accept the Secretary General’s Report | 16 | ||
| To Accept the Financial Report | 16 | ||
| To Confirm Kleim Graham – Independent Auditors | 16 | ||
| To Re-Elect Members of the Executive Committee | 13 | 1 | 1 |
| To Retrospectively Approval the Remote Meeting | 15 | 1 | |
| To Adopt the Revised Constitution | 15 | 1 |
- Highlights of the Discussions
- MW gave an update on the work he and the Communications Working Group were undertaking; JMc asked the question if it were MW’ intention to setup a media platform for the Working Group, MW said no, as the Working Group is only small, and the simplest method would be to us emails. MA commented that we could always communicate using WhatsApp, Mike replied by saying that we could establish a WhatsApp Working Group. MW also confirmed that he was discussing with MS about establishing a POD-Cast series.
- ISCO Student Group- This was a new initiative to attract young and up-and-coming talent to join ISCO. Students benefit from free membership for the duration of their studies, a WhatsApp Group as being established for the students, under the mentoring wing of Capt D.C. Saker.
- Newsletter – JMc confirmed that he has reduced the size of the newsletter from around eighteen pages down to twelve, some of the information previously published within the newsletter, as being transferred directly to the website. NM commented that JMc the newsletter was the sole work of JMc which calls for a high degree of effort each week, and he was also aware that JMc would like to start taking a step back from the prominent level of involvement. MA stated that use of Linkedin and Facebook. JMc said that he was not up to date for Linkedin and Facebook; MA said that JD would work Linkedin.
- IMO/Plastic’s Group – This is a developing area, MS is currently our link with IMO and will be speaking to them; MS said that if you look at the student group, there are several students who would be academically equipped to be involved, they could have some input into the IMO programme. Capt DC is intending to hold a conference call with the students, so he may well be noticing this point. MS commented that NM or JMc could sit in on that meeting.
- Ambassadors – NM stated that during the last year ISCO had created and introduced a new role, that of Ambassador; the Ambassadors, currently three in total, are members who can be called upon to officially represent ISCO at meetings or events, this can be either temporary for a particular event, or longer term for meetings. NM invited CS Ambassador for Spanish Speaking America is to give an overview of progress.
CS stated that he was actively pursuing both current and new members, the intention also will be to have a link on the ISCO website for Latin speaking Amecia’s, this will have all documentation in Spanish. MA commented that SG was doing an excellent job in promoting ISCO, this was endorsed by NM with thanks to SG from everyone.
- MA stated that she thought the volunteer group had done quite well, we have been maintaining around ten members at each of the monthly online meetings, Overall ISCO are progressing, but still have a lot of work to do, to get up to date. EL gave some feedback from a discussion he had with a representative of Total during a recent online webinar, he mentioned on the online seminar that he was under the impression that ISCO were no longer printing/publishing papers in the newsletter. JMc said that was not the case, a key reason for transferring some information from the newsletter onto the website, was to make more room in the newsletter for papers/documents.
- Financial Report update, at the end of March 2021 the bank balance stood at £17,096 ISCO have extremely limited expenditure, with the key source of income coming from membership fees. MA stated that another area we need to look at how we can keep our members interest is to give them something more than a newsletter for example we-updates and two of the points I have being working on is the updating of the Emergency Response information, and members area of the website. It was agreed that this is essential if we are going to demonstrate added value for corporate members.
- Adoption of draft Constitution – Significant changes in the constitution to bring it up to date, thanks to John Wardrop for all his challenging work. JW gave an overview of the new constitution saying that it is mainly a re-organisation of the document, rather than any major changes, it now includes the student benefits, a lot of the old constitution as being moved into schedules, which would make it easier to amend if required. Included within the new constitution is the creation of working groups to assist in the development of ISCO. The result of the vote was an acceptance of the changes
- Executive Committee – No member up for re-election, recommended adoption of current members as Executive Committee for 2021. It was also proposed and accepted that membership fees for the coming year remain static, with now increases..
6. Any Other Business – An appeal from MA to everyone regarding attending the monthly meetings and being actively involved in developing ISCO. Nothing further, therefore the Chairman declared the meeting closed, and thanked everyone for their support
APPENDIX 2 – VOTING FORM
The 2022 AGM Voting Form has been designed to allow Members to submit their votes electronically. Only Members in good standing (membership dues paid up to date) are entitled to vote. The closing date for submission of votes is the day after the date of the AGM.
