Special General Meeting has been called for 28th April.
The Notts County Supporters’ Trust have notified members of an SGM. Full details below.
Special General Meeting of Notts County Supporters Limited on 28th April 2009
I am writing to invite you to a Special General Meeting of the Trust to be held on 28 April 2009. The formal notice of the meeting, which includes its agenda, is enclosed. You will note that there are a number of motions to go before the meeting.
On 23rd March 2009, the Trust Board resolved to hold a Special General Meeting to discuss and vote on the motions that John Armstrong-Holmes and Eric Kerry continue in office as Directors of Blenheim 1862 Ltd. (Notts County Football Club) for their current terms of office.
On 4th April 2009 the Trust Board received a petition signed by over 10% of the Members of the Trust requesting that an SGM be held to debate and vote on motions of no confidence in John Armstrong-Holmes and Eric Kerry and that they be removed from the Trust Board and Club Board.
You will note from the above that part of the business proposed to be discussed at the Special General Meeting called by the Trust board is effectively the same as part of the business proposed to be discussed at the meeting called by the petition of Members of the Trust (namely the questions of whether John Armstrong-Holmes and Eric Kerry remain on the board of Blenheim 1862 Limited). As a result, rather than hold two separate meetings to discuss the same question, the Trust Board believes that it is in the interests of the Society for all matters proposed to be discussed at the two proposed meetings to be discussed and voted upon at a single meeting on 28th April. For the avoidance of doubt, the meeting on 28th April is being held at the request of the petitioning members.
The members that have called the meeting, the Trust Board, John Armstrong-Holmes and Eric Kerry will all have the option to submit statements to the membership in advance of the meeting. Should the respective parties opt to do this, their statements will be circulated in advance of the meeting by email, and by post to those who those who do not receive Trust material by email and will be posted on www.nottscotrust.org.uk.
If you are unable to attend the meeting, you may appoint a proxy to attend and vote on your behalf. The Trust`s rules in relation to proxies are set out in more detail in the notes to the enclosed notice. The Trust`s rules require that proxy forms must be received two clear days before the meeting. Ordinarily this would mean that proxy forms would have to be received by Saturday 25th April. However, it is proposed that proxy forms be returned to the London offices of Supporters Direct, which do not receive a postal delivery on Saturdays. The deadline for receipt of proxy forms is therefore to be extended until Monday 27th April.
In order to ensure that the meeting is (and is acknowledged as having been) conducted fairly, we are endeavouring to find an independent Chair for the meeting, nominated by Supporters Direct and acceptable to both the Trust Board and the requisitioners.
As a result, we believe it would be extremely counter-productive to give “blank” proxy votes to the Chair of the meeting to cast as they saw fit, as this would immediately undermine their independence. As such, an independent Chair will abstain from casting any “blank” proxies given to them that do not indicate how the person appointing him or her wishes him or her to vote, and so members giving the Chair their proxies that do not indicate how the chair should vote would effectively be wasting them.
Therefore, if you wish to ensure your preferences count, we strongly urge you to either:
a) ensure that on your proxy form you direct the Chair how to vote on each of the motions; or
b) name someone else as proxy who will attend on your behalf and vote accordingly (subject to the rule of the Trust that no-one apart from the Chair of the meeting can act as proxy for more than three members).
