Inaccuracies in the MQA-G 2020 AGM minutes
As we await the 2021 AGM, it is worth taking stock of some serious inadequacies of the minutes from recent AGMs. These miss important things that were raised, distort things that were said, and record things that were not said at all. The overall effect is to play down legitimate concerns about the actions of the board, which were expressed but not satisfactorily answered. Each year the board has chosen not to correct these inaccuracies.
Some of the main inaccuracies in the last AGM minutes are:
Tendering: a question was asked about tendering which pointed out that the Company’s Corporate Governance (GC) document states “all on going contracts should as a minimum be rigorously market tested on a regular basis at least every five years”with a schedule for this. The Chairman expounded on what good value for money (VFM) MQ is with a service charge of £2,900 compared to Kidbrooke Village (KV) with a service charge of £4,688. He did not mention that KV has 24 hr. concierge, gym, swimming pool, cinema room, meeting rooms… so is not comparable. Nor that comparing a one bed rather than a three bed flat produces a very different result. He went on to say “We could adopt a mercenary cheapest trumps all approach… switch contracts in rapid succession like corporates do”. Neither the question nor Mr Lang’s answer, which indicates the board have failed to follow its own governance, is minuted. Clearly tendering need not align to the caricature provided by Mr Lang, it is, after all, undertaken by large parts of the not for profit sector as the best way to improve quality, control costs and safeguard against cronyism.
Captive risk: for background to this issue see the blog “Possible MQ insurance concerns…” During the AGM, R&R were asked if the risk of their captive (Artex) was capped. In the meeting Mr Ritter said “yes of course it is” he then declined to state the cap’s level. The minutes fail to record this but instead state “This is irrelevant at this juncture”.
Corporate Governance: amendments to tighten the company’s corporate governance were proposed. These have not been recorded in the published minutes. The board subsequently weakened its governance, see “MQA-G board weakens its corporate governance (CG)”.
R&R’s Legal cost from small claims court case: the Chairman told the AGM that provision had been made in the accounts for these costs (apparently p6 “professional fees” – £21,923). This is not minuted. He did not inform the meeting of the Ombudsman’s decision in Feb 2018 that Zurich should meet these cost, nor why the provision is necessary in light of this.
Unanswered questions: several questions, submitted in advance of the meeting, were ignored and were not minuted. They include:
– Questions to the AGM – seeking confirmation that questions can be raised during the AGM regardless of advanced submission
– The Chairman’s interest in MQS – asking the Chairman to disclose the extent of his previously declared interest in MQS
– Legal advice following the Feb 2019 AGM – whether the Chairman sought this as indicated at the meeting, its content and how much it cost.
Full amended minutes together with comments on the background to the inaccuracies can be requested via admin@imqra.com (include the address of the property you own at MQ).
If you are concerned about issues raised in this item and want to try to change things, or wish to express your support to those organising the site then contact: admin@imqra.com. Likewise if there are issues you would like to raise. Note: Views in this blog and on this site are the honest opinion of the author & are made available in the interest of residents at MQ.