RNZFB Board Chair’s Newsletter – August 2024

Clive Lansink

Here is my latest newsletter, following the Board’s May and July meetings. I’m sorry that the time between May and July rather slipped away from me. First I was at conferences in Perth, and then in Auckland, then I had some time off with friends, and then I was focused on helping my mother move into a rest home. That’s why I couldn’t attend the July Board meeting. So there’s a lot to cover in this issue.

We met in Palmerston North on 4 May and in Hamilton on 6 July. With our new Chief Executive Andrea Midgen now very much up to speed in her role, the Board has gone back to meeting every two months. So these are our scheduled face to face meetings, but we are no longer meeting on Zoom in between those meetings. So now I’ll go through all the main outcomes.

We approved the new Strategic Plan that will set the priorities and guide the work of BLVNZ over the next four years. Thank you to all of you who, towards the end of last year, contributed your thoughts through submissions, completing the survey and attending focus group meetings. We circulated the full document and invited people to submit any questions and attend a question and answer session with us on Friday 5 July. You can read the strategic plan, also the questions and answers, and a document that summarises the comments we received and how these were factored into the final document. Check this out on our website at blindlowvision.org.nz/about-us/strategic-plan-2024-2028/, on TIS at option 316, or by phoning the Contact Centre on 0800 243-333 to ask for what you want in your choice of accessible format.

Last time I said the Board was working with staff to brief the Government on what BLVNZ plans to do and how we can best work together with them to best help blind, deafblind and low vision people reach their full potential. That briefing document has now been completed, and with the Strategic Plan also now in place, Andrea and her staff are now seeking to meet with relevant Cabinet Ministers to promote better understanding of BLVNZ and what we do.

The decision has been made to bring the individual advocacy service to an end. This service began only last year, and it has helped a number of clients tackle problems that they might otherwise have given up on. But after a management review, the Board accepted the recommendation that the service should be closed, in favour of working more collaboratively with other advocacy services in the community.

In the same vein, it was agreed that BLVNZ will bring its relationship with Access Matters Aotearoa to an end. The intention of Access Matters Aotearoa was to bring together a wide range of disability organisations, including consumer organisations, into a unified movement in support of a fully accessible Aotearoa New Zealand. But with only a few organisations involved, and others conspicuous by their absence, we decided that we must find other ways to work collaboratively with the disability sector as a whole, including our own consumer organisations, DPA, and other disabled people’s organisations.

We approved a plan to install new technology and where necessary upgrade existing technology to provide a better audio experience for clients attending meetings at BLVNZ premises, including attending virtually through Zoom and other similar technologies.

We signed off on proposed changes to the Constitution that will now be voted on by members in a postal ballot and at a special meeting to be held on Saturday 16 November, prior to the Annual General Meeting. These proposed changes should be straightforward, and most are needed to bring the RNZFB into line with the new Incorporated Societies Act. An initial announcement of these proposed changes went out on 2 August, as required by the Constitution. You can find all the details at blindlowvision.org.nz/about-us/governance/, on TIS at option 315, or by phoning the Contact Centre on 0800 24 33 33 and asking for it in your choice of accessible format. The Board approved Diana Chandler, Board Secretary, to be the Returning Officer for this vote. I do want to be clear though that this is not related to the external review of the Constitution that the Board has committed to and which is still being planned.

We approved the budget for the 2024/2025 financial year. In doing this, the Board noted the tight financial situation that is now playing out. In particular the Board expressed its support to the Chief Executive and Management for having to make some tough decisions, including forgoing across-the-board pay increases, removing the wellbeing allowance, moving to a pay-for-performance remuneration system and eliminating the 4-day working week.

We received personal presentations from three consumer organisations. These included Dr Jonathan Godfrey, President of Blind Citizens NZ, Dr Rebekah Graham, Chief Executive of Parents of Vision Impaired, and Mr Mike Smith, President of Retina NZ. As we move our meetings around the country, the Board hopes to create such opportunities to meet in person with local leaders of consumer organisations.

We attended a training session on good governance with Richard Westlake of Westlake Governance Limited. This was a very interactive session that covered such topics as what governance is and isn’t, the distinction between governance and management, and being clear about the role of the Board and responsibilities of directors.

We approved the sale of the holiday home in Tauranga. It was noted that this was purchased nearly thirty years ago out of general funds, but costs to maintain it are steadily increasing and unfortunately it is not used enough and only by a relatively small number of clients.

We received a paper outlining strategies for the future direction of the library service. The Board wants to be sure the library service continues to meet the needs of our clients in today’s world of rapidly changing technology. With this in mind, the Client Services Committee will be working closely with Management to examine this service in more detail, including consultation with clients and consumer organisations.

We also received an update on the equipment store, now that the arrangement with Vision Australia has been in place for a year. Overall, the Board feels this arrangement has really been very successful, leading to a much wider range of equipment being available through a user friendly website, with the support of local staff for those people who prefer to talk in person or over the phone. But at the same time, the Board is working closely with the Chief Executive to address concerns we are aware of, including freight costs and the high cost of some items.

I will round off this newsletter by briefly mentioning other things we did during these meetings:

• We approved the business plan and budget for Foundation Properties Limited for the 2025 financial year.
• We received and discussed updates on the guide dog kennels building project.
• We adopted a reserves and distribution policy and a policy giving various delegated authorities to the Chief Executive and senior staff.
• We approved a new conflicts of interest policy for directors, after receiving advice on this from Bell Gully. As this is a mandatory policy, the next step is for this to be circulated for comment. This will happen soon and the finalised policy should be adopted later this year.
• We also adopted a policy on client services. Please be aware that Board policies are available so you are welcome to contact the Board Secretary if you would like to review a particular policy or the full policy manual.
• We received and discussed the latest quarterly report on the communications strategy.
• We noted the successful completion of the graduate intern programme and wished the interns every success in their future careers.
• We noted that work is under way on a new volunteer strategy.
• We received an update on the “voice of the customer” results, which again shows a high degree of satisfaction from our clients.
• The employee engagement survey results were discussed, focusing in particular on four key themes being leadership, communication, professional development/training and remuneration and benefits.
• We appointed Leeanne Wojtowicz to continue as a trustee of the Braille Authority of New Zealand Aotearoa Trust (BANZAT), and we appointed Joy Martin-Holm as a new trustee, replacing David Smith.
• We approved the dates and locations for our Board meetings for next year.
• We approved The RNZFB’s insurance cover for next year.
• We formally expressed our appreciation for the helpful support of the staff for our meetings in Palmerston North and Hamilton and requested that this be conveyed.
• We approved allocations of funding to various consumer organisations for the 2025 financial year.

That brings you right up to date, and as you can see, we covered a lot of ground in these two meetings. Gosh, our September meeting in Wellington is fast approaching. Please keep your ears, eyes and fingers alert for our announcements so you can always be up to speed with what’s going on. I’ll be back with another update after our September meeting.