Andrew Martin was re-elected chairperson of the Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch at the organisation’s annual general meeting last week.
During the meeting at Riverside Estates on Wednesday May 3, Mr Martin, who was also recently made a director at Community Crime Prevention (CCP), explained that he wanted to achieve five goals during the past year; namely uniting HBNW and CCP in a co-operative relationship; implementing the governance structure as soon as possible, rebuilding Watchcon into a proper joint operations centre and ensuring there was a tactical responder or patroller to back up Watchcon; establishing world-class camera monitoring, that is event-driven; and overcoming funding limitations.
A joint safety strategic workshop for Hout Bay was held in July last year and the outcome of this workshop has formed the basis of a Hout Bay joint safety plan to “detect, alert and respond” to criminal activity.
“During this past year much progress has been made to improve and upgrade the technology that supports Watchcon,” he said.
HBNW has also signed an agreement with SA Digital Villages (SADV) wherein SADV will support the Hout Bay and Llandudno integrated community safety plans by carrying Hout Bay’s community safety CCTV and other project data free of charge on their fibre network as well as contributing funds towards expanding and implementing Hout Bay community safety projects.
To finance these initiatives, a new non-profit company has been formed with three initial directors, Brad Geyser, Keri Cross and Mr Martin.
Additional directors will come on board when the company becomes operational. The new company, the Hout Bay Community Improvement Association (HBCIA), will form the overall management and funding vehicle for all Hout Bay operations and supported programmes.
Member organisations, such as HBNW, will be taken on as individuals and associations. A memorandum of incorporation (MOI) and constitution will indicate how money is raised and distributed. All funding will be used to drive the operational arms of the association, which includes the neighbourhood watch, Watchcon and CCP as well as sustainability programme run by HBNW and CCP.
At the meeting, Rod Panagos, HBNW operations manager, was presented with the Bruce Taylor Memorial Trophy, having received the most votes from fellow members for his contribution to the watch over the past year. All documents pertaining to the AGM, including the 2016/2017 financials, are available on the “Documents page of www.houtbaywatch.com/
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