Dear Anita,

The draft minutes are almost complete. I am waiting for clarification on a couple of points, before I circulate them to Excom. Now that you have lost your “mole”, you will not be able to see the draft before thursday. The AGM minutes, of course, have no standing until they are submitted for members’ approval at the following AGM.

I am not aware that Excom is obliged to provide access to the draft before then..Nevertheless, I see no harm in distributing them as soon as they are available.

The distribution will be made to all members at the same time, as I think you will agree, Excom should treat all members equally, rather than simply oil the creaking hinge.

I thought you would find the reference to legal advice interesting, since you tried to invoke the Freedom of Access to Informtion Act, to obtain a copy of our database.We have been advised that should a formal approach be made, Excom should determine, in its opinion, what information may or must not be disclosed to the applicant.

It seems to me that the classification would broadly follow these lines;

1) Public information, automatically available to members

AGM minutes/ Constitution/Design Manual
Copies of any rule/regulations

2) Information avaiable as a matter of Excom policy

Our reconstruction of the history of the Association
The history of the subdivision to form San Marina.
The Documents reating to the Council hearing
Generally, any document likely to be of interest to the membership, not falling into a restricted category.

3) Restricted information

Excom minutes except where the elapse of time lessens the importance of protecting the confidentiality of named individuals.
Documents and correspondence with named individuals.
Commercially sensitive information and personal details of members, eg the database used for accounting purposes.
Third party correspondence on a private basis between the Association and those parties.
Correspondence between the Association and its lawyers.

4) Other

From time to time, the Association may correspond with departments of Council, other organs of Government, or Public bodies, in relation to changes in the Law, Planning appeals, or Traffic management. Whether that information should be made generally availabe can only be decided on a case-by-case basis. An example might be the application by “Spar” for a liquor licence, where we felt the members should have all the facts to enable individuals to decide whether to lodge an objection.
There may be other cases where some form of negotiation is in progress, and where embarrassment might be caused to the other party by premature exposure.

The Act is designed to enable individuals to obtain information needed to protect their rights. It does not authorise “fishing expeditions” and I am advised that an applicant should be required to provide motivation for any such application.

I know the subject is of interest to you, which is why I have taken the trouble to explain Excom’s likely position at some length. I would welcome any input you might wish to offer; but I trust you will respect my confidence in you ( and not immediately post the ncorrespondence on some website) whilst policy is evolving.

Regards

Peter Harrison.

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Anita’s Reply:

Dear Mr. Harrison.

It is unreasonable of you request of me not to have this correspondence placed on the website as I have made it abundantly clear that ALL relevant communication with ExCom will be published. My loyalty lies with Marina Da Gama, and not with you and I certainly do not respect the fact that you are, once again, keeping vital information from other members. ExCom’s policy on publicly available information is a matter which concerns not only me, but the entire Marina.

Excom’s total lack of transparency (which is again highlighted in your e-mail) would indeed have made it very convenient to have had a “mole” in ExCom, but alas, your secrets do seem to be safe. One does wonder though - what have you got to hide?

I believe that ExCom’s minutes on general business concerning Marina da Gama should be open to any member of this Association and that personal and private issues should be dealt with on a separate agenda.

Please note that any and all information I have ever requested from you was only in order to protect my (and others’) rights and can certainly not be seen as a “fishing expedition” or unreasonable. The only reason why I did not pursue my application via the Freedom of Access to Information Act, is because Council had supplied me with the relevant information and it was no longer necessary for me to obtain the information from you.

In conclusion, your reference to me as a “creaking hinge” is offensive and insulting. I would suggest that you learn some manners as your name-calling is becoming old and is unworthy of your “elevated” position within this community.

Yours faithfully

Anita Koetsier

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Peter Harrison replies:

Dear Anita,

In that case, our correspondence is concluded herewith, to my immense relief. I can now get on with Marina business.

Goodbye

Peter Harrison

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Anita Replies

Dear Mr. Harrison.

I am sorry to disappoint you, but our dealings are far from over. There are still many issues to be resolved. I too see no point in conducting personal chit-chats, as the only possible gain to be had from personal correspondence could be friendship. The odds of this happening are very slim, so I suggest we keep our communications formal.

I approached you as the Chairman of the Marina da Gama Association. My request for copies of the minutes of the Marina Da Gama Association’s AGMs was an official request for what should clearly be freely available information. In your capacity as Chairman you have no right to deny me access thereto, nor do you have the right to cease communications with me. I therefore repeat the request first made on 13 December 2007:

Kindly could you let me have a copy of the draft minutes of the 2007 AGM of the Marina Da Gama Association.

In addition, I would like copies of all minutes of past Annual General Meetings, or at least those which are still in your possession.

Please let me know how and were I will be able to collect them and the costs involved.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Anita Koetsier