WATERWAYS WATCH SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

DATE: 15 October 2011

VENUE: Waterways Watch Society

TIME: 1530-1800 hrs

ATTENDEES

Eugene Heng, Annie Young Giri, Lee Peck Khee, Wilson Yap, Victoria Lee, Ng Kak Ling, Kai Vearn, Lim Renyi, Ng Shiang Nee, Edward John, Ivan Teo, Eddie Lee, Siti Farhana, John Tan, Johnson Ong, Ng Swee Shoon, Bryan Lim, Deborah Sia, Joe K C Low, Chen Yihui, Lim Renhui, Raihan, Esther Neo, Bernatt Tan, Benedict Tan, Serena Tan, Richard Lim, Cheng Chaoyi, Leong Hon Wai, Daisy Wee, Bryan Peh, Harley, Fariz, Uncle Chiang

10 unable to attend with apology, 96 members replied unable to attend, 25 members overseas. We are still in the process of checking for the balance of Members who have not replied as we like to ensure contact with all members updated. We suspect many of the student volunteers are preparing their year-end exams hence, no response.

Confirmation of 2009/2010 minutes

Ben Tan proposed the passing of minutes, and Serena Tan seconded.

Confirmation of Constitutional Change

 The following constitutional change has to be confirmed by members during the AGM:

8.12

a)Whenever a member of the Committee in any way, directly or indirectly, has an interest in a transaction or project or other matter to be discussed at a meeting, the member shall disclose the nature of his interest before the discussion on the matter begins.

b)The member concerned should not participate in the discussion or vote on the matter, and should also offer to withdraw from the meeting and the Committee shall decide if this should be accepted. This is to ensure that proper procedures are in place to declare, prevent and address conflict of interest issues by the members of the Committee.

All members present confirmed above constitutional change. There were none against and no abstention.

Confirmation of proposal made in 2010 (EGM). The society changes the constitution so that the committee could have more flexibility in the signing of cheques. Double signatures are still required, but to allow more flexibility between the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Asst Treasurer now.

No one had any issue with the above constitutional change proposed in 2010 EGM. Changes were confirmed again by everyone present.

Approval to change auditor to KK Lim and Company for next financial year

Change in auditor as the current auditor fees has increased substantially. 33 members approved above change. 1 abstained. None against.

Annual Report for programs completed in the year

45 River Monster Programs with over 3,100 participants. Programs included on-site beach clean- ups to offsite locations at Changi, Pasir Ris beach. More schools are approaching WWS for such programs.

At least 5 assembly talks at schools with participants totalling more than 4,000 and there are new schools like Raffles Institution.

Youth Bike Patrol continued with more students being involved. Students from AJC, Catholic High, ACJC, St. Hilda's Girls Brigade, Bartley Secondary NCC Land etc. A total of 26 such programs were organised with over 253 youths participating.

Camp Enviro-Awareness with schools in June and December remains popular although manpower support becomes more challenging. More members are encouraged to get involved where they can for our future camps.

Our annual event, the Asian Water Symposium in June 2010 attracted over 150 students and we also participated in another primary school program catering for 100 students during the Singapore International Water Week.

In August 2010, Waterways Watch Society was given the privilege to play its part in their Cultural Education Program. We were one of the few NGO's given this honor. For those who helped, it was a really interesting and unforgettable experience throughout the whole 12 Days while being stationed at Marina Barrage. Thank you members for supporting and representing Waterways Watch.

Corporate Programs are on an increase and we managed over 31 corporate programs for over 500 working participants with organisations like Hitachi, Dell, SIF, Edwards Life Sciences, CH2M and of course not forgetting our regular friends from Fairmont Swissotel the Stamford and IRAS.

We expect this trend to continue in the years ahead. The year brought us in touch with some foreign media from the Philippines, Taiwan as well.

Safety Boat duties for other events in the Marina Reservoir continues and we supported some major programs like the opening of the Marina Bay Sands, I Light Marina, Bottle Tree Park, Turf Club's Gallop, Chingay, Countdown, etc. This is a good source of sponsorship income for WWS and we hope to increase such partnerships as more water activities are planned for the Marina Reservoir.

Member duties for the year total over 2000 duties amounting to almost 8,000 hours. A good reflection of our members’ commitment and dedication. Congratulations to all those who were part of this achievement. For those who have been not so active, we like to encourage each and every one of you to come join us more often. New duties introduced lately include not only Nite

Bicycle Patrol but also Sunrise Bike Patrol and Kayak patrol. Don’t forget to join us as an active

Movement 364 (Facebook). During the year we also did visits up Sungei Kallang with Minister and the opening of the Marina Reservoir by the then Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The year would not be complete without our participation in the International Coastal Clean-Up (Gay Beach), World Water Day (with PUB) and World Water Monitoring Day (with SP).

New initiatives introduced that year include the MacRitchie Learning Trail (Dec. 2010) in partnership with PUB and new Water Testing programs. A new Bicycle Route #3

(to City Gallery) was introduced for the year. In the year ahead, we hope to introduce a new bicycle route -Route #4 (Kolam Ayer) and boat patrol up Sungei Kallang (presently in final stages for approval. Kayak patrol upstream Sungei Kallang and Singapore River will be worked out for sometime next year.

Passing of the Accounts

Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts presented for review and discussion. Although we will be in deficit for the year, we are still expecting a final late payment from PUB of about S$25K which will reduce the loss number to one similar to last year.

We are looking to bring in more sponsors to defray operational cost and will further review our expenses to see where we can further reduce. New corporate sponsors for some of our specific education and awareness programs are being worked upon.

For general information update, we have purchased an additional boat- WWS # 4 which is sponsored by Glorious and Board Member Abhijit Patwardhan. This is to prepare ourselves for a replacement boat from our present fleet due to old age while at the same time caters to our increased boat programs.

Query was raised by member Swee Shoon on our “Other expenses” and he wanted to know what they were for. Chairman replied that this was mainly made up of bicycle and boat repair costs besides the usual annual insurance expense, pest control cost and utilities.

Cash flow statement is available in the official financial statements for perusal. Copy of the full financial statements to be made available at the next AGM.

Swee Shoon proposed the accounts and Fariz Muhammad seconded.

There were no objections, no abstentions. All present voted in favour of passing the accounts.

Election of new Office Bearers

Chairman: Eugene Heng

Vice-Chairman: Ivan Teo

Treasurer: Victoria Lee

Asst. Treasurer: Xing Juan

Secretary: Kak Ling

Asst. Secretary: Bryan Lim

All members present voted in favour of above new Office Bearers as one block.

There were no objections and no abstentions. Officer Bearers will hold office for two years.

Future Plans for 2011/2012

•Leadership Course/Training Course (under the Leadership Training Committee)

•Structured Boat Patrol Upstream (under the Operational Committee)

•Structured Kayak Patrols (2012) (under the Operational Committee)

•Rollout of update River Monster Program (Shell) (under the Education Committee)

•Rollout of more Water Testing Program (SWCDC/SMRT) (under the Educational Committee)

•Enhance Youth Bike Patrol (UPS) (under the Educational Committee)

•Garden by the Waters (SP - 2012) (under the Admin/Housekeeping Committee)

•Working with others and members to establish or mentoring new WWS Groups Offsite in Yishun, Bishan, Punggol – (2012) (under Management Committee)

•Expanded role of Waterways Watch (letter to CEO PUB). Members present approved a letter to be sent to the new CEO outlining members’ vision and goals in partnership with PUB.

It was generally strongly felt that PUB could do more specific action in recognising and working

“together” in a more sustainable action plan on a day-to-day basis. The assignment of “Water Ranger” status to team leaders of the Society, the influence in establishing a more comprehensive positive plan for WWS to be involved with all other Water Users (e.g. Kayaking, Dragon Boating, Water Event Organisers) would definitely be a step in the right direction to help encourage and help spread more awareness to users about our waters and its importance. More

regular dialogue and sharing of important information with WWS would go a long way in projecting the right message to its members. Today we appear to be an NGO of convenience only and not quite one of true sustainable partnership. While Waterways Watch would like its work and its members to be better profile throughout the whole island, sustainable and tangible assistance must be forthcoming. Even volunteers have expectations and feelings. Two recent observations mentioned was the lack of publicity during the launch of Rochor ABC and the Annual Report of PUB with hardly any reference to Waterways Watch and its work.

Any Other Business

Members are encouraged to share their ideas and artwork for the Environmental Messages on bin covers at Kallang Riverside Park. We would like to share a few catchy messages and designs with NParks for their approval.

Banner to be displayed at the entrance of the Kallang Riverside Park with a message to target the Thai visitors at the park. This is a collaboration between WWS, Thai Embassy and NParks.

WWS groups offsite at Yishun Pond, Punggol and Bishan. Members who are interested can approach Eugene. Ultimate aim for WWS is to expand our presence too other parts of Singapore other than the Marina Reservoir. We will work with any agency and any other public group or individuals if those involved are sincere and passionate. Passion must be sustainable.

For the present, members are welcomed to donate to WWS. An official receipt will be issued. Richard suggested that for donors, there could perhaps be certain privileges. This suggestion will be considered. The committee under Ivan is still working on the proposal whether we should have or how we should implement membership fee going forward.

Members are encouraged to proactively share new opportunities with Eugene so that we can have new chances to engage different groups of people. All eligible members who are very passionate and able to commit time should consider putting their name up for election- even for the Chairman position.

Leadership training will resume soon. It is not just for new members but also existing members. This is to ensure that all members have the basic knowledge and skills to handle and maintain the equipments used during the course of activities at WWS. Potential leaders will also be trained to lead the other members in WWS duties and activities.