Minutes October 2008
Minutes of the annual assembly of representatives 2008
1: Opening of the meeting
The president of NordAN, Gabriel Romanus welcomed all to the meeting and asked for a moment of silence to honour the memory of Tórbjørn Mikkelsen, board member from the Faroe Islands, who died in may 2008.
At the beginning of the meeting he presented some of the results from the past and the challenges facing the Nordic and Baltic network, mentioned in the annual report. He underlined that all materials for the meeting had been presented both in Scandinavian and English language on the conference web-site and to the meeting.
2: Adoption of the agenda
Gabriel Romanus suggested that the proposal from the member organisation Actis on future priorities for NordAN, which had been circulated before the meeting, be discussed under point 20, Other business. The Assembly adopted the Agenda with this comment.
3:Election of presidium for the meeting
a) Chairman:
Vertti Kiukas, Association for Healthy Lifestyles, Finland
b) Secretary:
Hasse Schneidermann, Secretary General of NordAN
c) Two persons to sign the minutes of the meeting
Thorleif Jensen, IOGT, Norway
Christina Pettersson, KSAN, Sweden
d) Two persons to count votes
(To be elected if needed)
4: Decision if the meeting is called in a proper manner
Hasse Schneidermann pointed out that the Meeting was called by e-mail in due time. The meeting found that it had been called according to the statutes.
5: Adoption of the list of members with voting rights at the meeting
Hasse Schneidermann listed the 23 organisations with voting rights represented at the meeting.
6: Annual report from the board
The annual report from the board was presented by Gabriel Romanus.
7: Economic report 2007
Johan Damgaard Jensen, NordAN’s treasurer, went trough the economic report.
8: Auditor’s report 2007
Johan Damgaard Jensen, NordAN secretariat, read the Auditor’s report.
9:Decision on annual report, economic report and auditor’s report
The Assembly accepted the annual report, the economic report and the auditor’s report.
10:Decision on membership dues for 2009
Johan Damgaard Jensen explained the background for the decision and procedure regarding membership dues for 2008 and proposed the same procedure and amount (100,300,500 and above that voluntary contributions) in 2009. The assembly agreed.
11: Adoption of new members
The assembly agreed to accept two new members in NordAN, presented by Hasse Schneidermann, and endorsed by the board:
1) MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Sweden
2) NSO, Nykterhetsrørelsens SamOrganisation i Stockholm, Sweden.
12: Proposal from the board to change the statues to shorten the time limit for sending new items for the annual meeting to the board to two months, and to change the time limit for sending the items to the members to one month
The proposal was presented by Kjell-Ove Oscarsson and accepted unanimously by the Assembly.
13:Proposal from the board to change the statutes to strike out the clause about a permanent research committee
The proposal was presented by Kjell-Ove Oscarsson and accepted unanimously by the Assembly.
14: Discussion about the procedure for electing the board
Gabriel Romanus explained why the board had no written and formal proposal and presented orally the board’s stand on this issue:
“Actis, Norway has proposed that our internal democracy should be improved.
The board has on its last meeting agreed to propose the following to the assembly of representatives:
In the future the NordAN board will consist of one representative from each member country, elected by the member organisations from that country, plus a president elected by the whole assembly, separately from the national representatives.
As member countries we regard the Nordic Countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faeroe Islands, plus the Baltic Countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Accordingly the working language in the board and the assembly will in the future be English.
If the assembly of representatives agrees to this proposal, the board will work out the formal changes of the statutes, distribute them to all member organisations and call for an extraordinary assembly of representatives, so that the new statutes can come into effect at the next annual assembly of representatives in Helsinki in October 2009,according to this timetable:
8. December 2008: The board will meet and adopt a proposal for statute changes.
December 2008 - January 2009: The proposal will be sent out to member organisations for comments.
February 2009: A board meeting and an extraordinary assembly of representatives will adopt the new statutes.
October 2009: The annual assembly of representatives will meet in Helsinki where the board can be elected, according to the new statutes.”
There was no formal decision, but there were no objections to the proposal or the timetable.
15: Resolution
The board proposed a resolution on the theme of the conference, “alcohol, drugs and harm to others”. It was presented by Gabriel Romanus. The resolution was adopted.
16: Election of president for the coming year
The board had decided to nominate Gabriel Romanus as president for the coming year. The nomination was presented by Kjell-Ove Oscarsson. Gabriel Romanus was elected.
Gabriel Romanus accepted the nomination, stating that he still found the presidency of NordAN a both challenging and demanding task, and that he was thankful for the cooperation with the board and the confidence given by the assembly.
17: Report on the names of the other board members
Hasse Schneidermann presented the other board members, all present at the Assembly: Árni Einarsson, Iceland, Anne-Karin Kolstad, Norway, Johan Damgaard Jensen, Denmark, Kjell-Ove Oscarsson, Sweden, Ritva Varamäki, Finland, and the associated member Åke Lindgren, from the International Institute for Alcohol Policy (IIAP), Sweden
18: Report on the auditor
Johan Damgaard Jensen reported that Niels Harder will be the auditor also for 2008.
19: Invitation to the annual meeting of representatives in October 2009 in Helsinki
Ritva Varamäki invited, on behalf of the Finish Centre for Health Promotion, all members of NordAN to hold the annual assembly of representatives and the NordAN conference in Helsinki in October 2009, and hoped that all would work together to make it a success.
20: Other business
Anders Ulstein, Actis, presented the distributed proposal from Actis on the future priorities for NordAN. After a short discussion, where different opinions where voiced, the chairman, Vertti Kiukas, suggested that the assembly should forward the Actis proposal and the statements made in the discussion to the board for consideration in the work with the plan of action for the coming year, in an attempt to reach consensus. The plan of action should be circulated to the member organisations before the extraordinary assembly of representatives in February 2009. The proposal of the chair was accepted by everyone.
21: Closing of the meeting
Gabriel Romanus expressed the thanks of the assembly to the presidium of the meeting. The meeting was closed.
