Board Meetings
About Board Meetings
The board meets a minimum of 12 times a year. The date of board meetings are set by the Chairperson and are shown in the meeting schedule, part of VHMC annual plan.
Objectives of Board Meetings
The objectives of board meetings are broadly:
- To agree a strategy for VHMC and assess its effectiveness. To do this, the board must understand:
- The key ‘drivers’ for the business (e.g.: cost efficiency).
- The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relevant to the business (e.g.: competing developments)
- The changes occurring beyond VHMC that may influence it’s future success (e.g.: housing market trends).
- To make sure that VHMCs actions are in line with its strategy.
- To monitor the financial performance of VHMC against its approved budget.
- To make sure procedural and compliance issues are properly dealt with. These include:
- Legislation, such as the Companies Acts and health and safety law.
- Declaration by directors of possible conflicts of interest.
- Codes of conduct (e.g: RICS).
- To ensure relevant member forums are leveraged as sounding boards for new ideas.
Composition of the Board
Board members are elected to the board by members of VHMC. Board membership is reconfirmed by members on an annual basis. For the board to remain effective requires a broad mix of individuals with differing skills, knowledge and experience. During elections, VHMC members are encouraged to appoint board members on merit. Members of VHMC are actively encouraged to resist pressure to appoint unsuitable people to the board.
Every board member must be able to:
- Think strategically, with a long-term view and a level-headed, realistic approach.
- Work well with the rest of the board.
- Contribute to discussions outside their main area of expertise.
- Put VHMCs best interests ahead of their personal best interests.
Board Roles
A number of specific board roles have been defined to facilitate effective governance. See our roles and responsibilities for a description of each of the current roles on the board.
Board Papers
To ensure board members are well briefed, a board briefing pack is made available to board members (on-line) 7 days prior to each scheduled board meeting. The pack typically includes:
- A full agenda that:
- Fits the agreed objectives of the board meetings
- Is not be too long
- Has specific items to discuss, rather than just a list of general areas
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- A summary of management accounts
- Any papers relating to specific agenda items
Board packs are published on-line, with draft minutes of the board meeting, typically within 7 days of the meeting being held. Note that on occasions, the board may choose to withhold some board papers where the untimely publication of information may adversely impact members interests.
To see information relating to past meetings click here. For the schedule of up-coming board meetings click here.