No Late fee 5SGTE

Membership is still $20

Eric,
What you have proposed is plausible, sensible and the way forward.
I support it fully. 
Bits of paper, membership lists and receipt books can be misplaced (as some of us would be aware). Further it means more work for the Treasurer.
A couple of alternatives have been offered. if a member doesn't want to or can't do an EFT deposit, you can visit a BOQ branch and make a deposit into the Club's Account, the Bank issues you a receipt and the Treasurer is alerted to your membership renewal by BOQ.
This is the 21st century everyone. Participate.
cheers
Steve
 

If we are paying the membership fee to protect event organisers from litagation in the event of an accident my question is.
A new member wants to join after the cut off date, they are not required to pay anything until the next payment "window" opens.
If they were to be involved in an accident at a club event they would not be a paid up member and therefore not a club member as they have not paid the membership fee. Therefore able to sue,
I feel new members should be required to pay a pro rata fee the day they join. Surely this would not be too difficult to administer, how many new members does the club get a year?
If you are not a paid up member you should not be allowed to attend a club event.
Looking forward to the discussions at the AGM.
ENKEI's are the best rims LOL.

Queensland Chapter appoints new membership fees collections officer. Solves all problems for Eric.

Having read everyone's comments I thought it would be a good idea to clarify a few points for people before the AGM so we don't spend too much time going over old ground.
 
1. The Club in Queensland is an Incorporated Association under the "Associations Incorporation Act 1981" and the "Association Incorporation Regulations 1999", and has been for over four years.
 
2. What this means simply is that our Club is a legally separate body. It has the same powers, benefits and responsibilities as a person. These include:

• owning land
• signing a lease
• appearing in court.

3. An incorporated association is legally separate from its members. This means that:

• the committee makes decisions
• the association becomes legally liable for these decisions
• individuals on the committee aren’t personally liable (as long as they acted in good faith).

This was not the case when the so-called old "Club" operated prior to incorporation and just transacted its business solely via this Forum without any Club Rules. 
 
Any person prior to incorporation who claimed a position on the "Club" Committee, organised a Run, or any other activity was personally liable for the outcome, including if anything happened like an accident. This personal liability hasn't ceased just because the Club was incorporated, and so to quote an old legal adage anyone who says that they did things better in the "good old days" should maybe put their house ownership in their wife's name.
 
For those who follow local news it was and is effectively the same situation as these two people in Queensland who are suing the organiser of a birthday party for not organising safety issues properly where accelerant was thrown on the fire. The amounts involved in this law suit now total 12 million dollars (that's right, 12 million dollars!!).
 
Think what this would possibly mean to you if you had organised an MR2 event without the protection of the incorporation legislation or you are still holding out the previous non-formal arrangements as a better way than how things are being managed now. Car accident (of course we don't have these on our Runs ), organiser gets sued personally, huge legal bills up front, bye-bye house, bye-bye car, hello bankruptcy, possibly gaol.
 
Three of the huge practical benefits incorporation has also given us are firstly the ability to run events like the Nationals last year, secondly to be able to certify older cars as fit for historical registration (we have one now and expect more), and thirdly have enough funds to be able to book venues like Queensland Raceway for MR2 events in advance before money is collected from members.
 
4. As an incorporated association our Club must:

• comply with the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 and the Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999
• review its financial affairs every year
• lodge copies of your rules, annual returns and financial statements with us.

5. There are certain annual costs associated with running an Incorporated Association which are mandated by government and therefore fees have to be collected. The original aim was to keep the fees as low as possible - $20.00 per year - and the intention was to make the collection and banking as simple as possible.
 
6. Now that the Club has been incorporated for over four years I feel that it needs to go through a growth period and possibly make some changes, just as all worthwhile organisations should.
 
Eric's suggestions about moving to electronic fees collection is a great example of such changes and I for one fully support it. However, the best forum for the discussion on this and other issues is the AGM at which paid-up members of the Club can vote on the motion. I would strongly recommend that members come to the AGM and be prepared to have some robust conversations about issues if they want to see change happen.
 
If anyone wants to comment on the finer points of what has been stated here then before electrons are released the following website contains all the answers you may need.
https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/associations-charities-and-non-for-profits/incorporated-associations/set-up-an-incorporated-association/
 
Walter

I agree that discussion on these proposals should occur at the AGM.  It is very easy to misinterpret a forum post - as appears to have happened here.  At no point did I disagree with adding electronic banking as an option, or even question the rationale of having a members subscription.  And thanks to those who pointed out this is the 21st century, at my age it is easy to forget.
 
What I did disagree with was the imposition of a late payment fee without member discussion, and the apparent removal of cash as a method of payment.
 
"and the Treasurer is alerted to your membership renewal by BOQ."
 
 I'm also a little unsure about the bank notifying the Treasurer that a particular member has paid their membership sub, but I am willing to accept that if the Bank can provide this service it will certainly ease the work load.

I hate apple lol