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MINUTES OF THE LONEHILL RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON THE 20th OF JULY 2010 AT CRAWFORD HIGH SCHOOL, LONEHILL BOULEVARD, LONEHILL

Present:

50 members as per attendance register

37 non-members

Total: 87

Apologies: None

Proxies received:None

The Chief Executive Officer, Rob Gillespie, welcomed all LRA members and residents to the 10th Annual General Meeting. He noted that this was in fact the 27th year of LRA activity; its inception year being 1983 with the first AGM being held on 13th June 1984. At that stage it was purely an Association and only became a registered company in 1996. He then commenced with the agenda as set out in accordance with the notice of meeting.

1. The CEO introduced Professor Rudolph Zinn who presented a study of residential criminal statistics and trends, based upon his book, “Home Invasion”. His presentation which was followed by a question and answer session lasted close to one hour and was very well received.

2. The Chairman, Hamish McBain, was introduced and he presented his report. A copy of the report is available on the LRA website.

3. The CEO, Rob Gillespie, then presented his report on the operational aspects of the LRA. A copy of the report is available on the LRA website.

4. The CEO, Rob Gillespie, presented a brief report on the 2010 Audited Annual Financial Statements of the LRA. The report had been prepared by Roger McKee who had resigned from the LRA Board to retire at a coastal village. Roger was thanked for his invaluable contribution and constant diligence. There were no questions on the financials and they were proposed, seconded and adopted.

5. Members were advised that the board of directors was satisfied with the services provided by the auditor, Clive Dryden, and saw no valid reason to change to another auditor. It was proposed that the LRA continue with the services of the auditor. There were no objections. The re-appointment of Clive Dryden was proposed, seconded and adopted.

6. The CEO proceeded with the election of the Board of Directors in terms of clause 26 of the Association’s Articles of Association. Messrs Edwards and McKee resigned from the board during the year and were not available for re-election. In accordance with the Directors rotation as required by the Articles of Association, no further resignations were required and each of the remaining Directors were still serving within their three year term. It was noted that a Financial Director would be appointed by way of co-option post the AGM. No other nominations or letters of Acceptance of Nomination had reached the LRA’s offices before the meeting and none were proposed at the AGM itself. The re-election of the new Board of Directors was proposed, seconded and adopted unanimously. The directors of the Lonehill Residents Association Section 21 Company are: Jean Berdou, Simon Bradshaw, Rob Gillespie, Michael Goodwin, Hamish McBain, Roger McKee, Sally Pearson and Ray Stride.

7. The CEO noted that no items for discussion had been received by the LRA, but nevertheless open the floor for questions and discussion. None were forthcoming and the 2010 AGM was closed.

CEO’S REPORT

The chairman has done my job! Thank you Hamish for your succinct précis of the Lonehill Residents Association’s position and challenges during the last 12 months. The one good thing about this position is that I can now cut straight to the core and present the nitty gritty details of what we have been up to in the period under review.

Financials will be covered under the next agenda item so I’ll move straight into covering our situational analysis.

We need to understand, or at least get a better picture of who, what and where we are, the Greater Lonehill that is, in the bigger picture of our world class host city of Johannesburg. We fall into Region A of the Joburg City Council. To be more precise, we fall into this tiny little corner of Region A. In short, we are a spec in the greater scheme of Joburg Council things. The same applies to our area of occupation on the law enforcement authority’s map. What I’m leading up to is that you can see from these pictures that our expectations indeed dramatically outweigh the Joburg Council’s ability to deliver accordingly.

Quick summary – we have to do it ourselves – something that we’ve been preaching for years. The time has now come and we simply cannot rely on the current Council and Governmental services and structures to service our requirements. We have to begin doing it ourselves – something that Lonehillers are not shy of or strangers to. The task is just getting bigger and more serious. We began this process some years ago and have managed to put more than the basics into place. In effect, we are almost operating as a mini-municipality now. Other areas are starting to go down the same road, with a long way to go, but what is starting to happen is the decentralisation of the City Council – into smaller more manageable silos. And in deference to the current council’s direction, we are not about to stop here. Council’s functions and infrastructure have to become completely apolitical and non-partisan.

In terms of the SAPS community policing sectorisation, we form two thirds of the Douglasdale Sector 3 precinct. The other third is the Magaliessig Montecasino Design Quarter area. As this is now a legal dissection of the region, it doesn’t take much to see that we should look towards combining this into one manageable section, at least from a security point of view. The benefits here are simply economies of scale. However, this is not yet a reality or even a policy or mandated direction – merely an idea being floated.

Speaking of security...for the record, during the AGM of 1985, security was only item number 24 on the agenda, and consisted of a few short paragraphs!

Safety and security within our area continues to be better than 10x safer than any other region around us. Yes, there are incidents and there will continue to be incidents, although few and far between, and we will most certainly strive for that magic zero number. Having expressed this requirement, we often go through weeks without an incident, such as during the SWC, although one or two individuals, who will be caught, are trying their best to upset this statistic. We have one or two hot spots, the most noticeable of which is the notorious old Clay Oven squatter camp. Despite our constant efforts and that of the JMPD and SAPS, the camp continues to grow and criminal activities emanating from there continue to increase. That community is also being actively supported by some local churches who, whilst attending to the human rights issues, seem to be studiously avoiding the criminal issues. These “refugees” are also actively being supported by you, every time you help them out at a traffic light or intersection. They must be avoided and chased at every opportunity.

Recently there was an accidental fire at this settlement during a raid by the JMPD and half of area 2 was burnt down. The following sequence of pictures will give you a true exposure to the problem. Area 1 is and always has been under control, but area 2 is not.

Council has for all intents and purposes turned a blind eye to this expansion as have the Sandton SAPS, but we have not, and planning is currently under way to come up with a solution.

The crime statistics for our area have not changed dramatically from last year, but do show an improvement. The numbers have decreased a little and the types of criminal activities have changed as well, and continue to change and adapt to the new measures that we put into place. The criminals are most definitely more resourceful and smarter than before, and are becoming more difficult to recognise and repulse. The petty crime remains the same with the emphasis being on burglarising for fast moving goods for the purposes of acquiring food, alcohol, drugs and women.

The year on year percentages from January to December 2009 show a reasonable decrease, but the rolling percentage from July 2009 to June 2010 shows an even better decrease. An interesting statistic based purely on the incidents that we are aware of, shows that 48% of the registered criminal activities in our area during the rolling period have occurred with non-LRA members. These are people in our area using our services but not contributing to our infrastructure – quite shocking. The real number of Non-LRA victims is more likely closer to 75%.

Looking at last year’s monthly incident chart we see that the expected decrease trend in fact happened. This year’s chart looks very similar so far, and clearly shows the SWC hiatus. Looking at the last five years, the year on year comparisons with trends look like this.

This suppression of criminal activities in our area has not happened by accident. It is entirely due to the constant surveillance, presence and activities of our security service provider – Fidelity, as well as the increased presence of the South African Police Services thanks to our donation to them of a dedicated patrol vehicle for the Greater Lonehill. They have done an excellent job under the most trying conditions – mostly imposed by the LRA management. Ian Loubser and his team work very closely with us and have managed to streamline and turn around their local operation. There is much that needs to be done still, but this will take a lot of time, effort and mostly, money.

Enforcement of By-Laws remains a serious pitfall. We have recently been engaging with JMPD at high level and are looking at a number of options to improve their effectiveness and visibility in our area. This may also involve the provision of a dedicated JMPD vehicle as we did with the SAPS.

We need to increase the number of street patrollers by at least 6, and we need to urgently improve the grade of the reaction officer post. This will add another almost R1.5 million per annum to our security cost. The only way to achieve this is by increasing the number of subscribers to the LRA services.

We have learned a rather belated lesson during this last year. This related to our previous selling skills – we have now employed our own dedicated sales person – Tom Parry, and Ian Bell is also selling LRA services. This has resulted in a dramatic improvement in sales, and this year alone so far has produced at least 130 new subscribers, in comparison to an average 10 per year previously. They were assisted in their efforts by the restructuring of our services price list, which for the most part was a decrease in the subscription fees, of around 39%! Guarding costs increased marginally due to industry controlled rates, and will do so again next year this time. The decrease in fee structure had a detrimental effect on the finances of both the LRA and Fidelity, but with effort from all, especially you the residents, this will be overcome and we’ll ultimately be able to improve the services beyond what is currently being delivered through our ability to be able to afford increased and improved services.

Our technical services department has also come along in leaps and bounds. Apart from a few people who believe that this service should be offered at no charge, we have largely managed to grow it to around 140 service calls per month, keeping one and a half teams busy for a full five days per week. We have entered into an agreement with Crest Fencing for any fence related work. They are absolute consummate experts in this field and have a reputation to be proud of. The owner, Craig Joyce, is also a Lonehill resident. Our technical co-ordinator, Joy Lerena, does an absolutely superb job at ensuring that the technicians are scheduled correctly and that your concerns are dealt with efficiently.

One of the problems that we have encountered is that many of the alarm systems that are installed are in excess of ten years old. Many just do not work. Spares are simply not available, and technology has marched on at a blistering pace. We are about to release a number of standard option kits from extremely reputable suppliers, with the express purpose of allowing residents to upgrade or repair their alarm systems with reliable equipment for which spares are readily available. This will also ensure that our technicians have the highest levels of training.

Before moving on from security, I’d like to bring you up to steam on our Camera Project. Last year we gave the go ahead for a pilot project to be installed and tested. We are still busy with the testing and trial phase – particularly on the actual camera technology itself. We also had to make changes to the wireless network due to topology challenges. I was personally surprised at the state of this industry during our investigation period, and we are now even more wary of the players in this industry and their so-called “best of breed” offerings. There is no easy answer or simple solution, and cheap definitely does not work! We managed to limit the scope and cost of our PoC from R500k down to just over R250K.

There are four test sites and we now appear to be moving forward quickly. The cameras being installed are dual lens, high compression, megapixel day / night units. They are each individually solar powered. We tried to cover intersections with only one camera but the resolution on these units is not up to requirements. The images are sent directly to our control room where they are monitored, reacted upon, and stored.

The single biggest and scariest problem that the cameras have highlighted so far is the absolute flagrant disregard by motorists of the stop streets and speed restrictions. We knew that the taxis hardly ever stopped, but they are by far the minority. We have residents and through flow traffic going through the stop streets at speeds in excess of 100km/h, particularly at night and early morning. JMPD would not believe us when we told them, so they came and looked for themselves, and were shocked. So beware, big hidings are about to be dished out!

Environmentally, we are doing quite well. Under the guidance of Doug Black, our famous Legavaan catcher, the plus minus half a million square meters of grass in Lonehill and now Beverley as well, are being regularly cut and pavements cleaned. We have employed another three gardeners to boost the team, thanks to the efforts of Des Gower by signing up another three complexes in Beverley to support our EnviroFund. Last year we had 300 contributors. We now have just over 500. Our target is 2000, so there is still a way to go. This fund is crucial to our ability to be able to keep our area neat and tidy, as well as the odd beautification project.

As usual, City Parks leave most of the work to us, but have of late started coming to the party with some infrastructural work. The fountains will hopefully be restored into the dam within the next two months.

Speaking of the dam, our EM project has kept it relatively clean and dosing will start again within a week or so. There has been an enormous deposit of silt over the last rainy season and this will need to be excavated. We have finally obtained permission to do this, but now we need to source a contractor at little or no cost for this exercise. The main dam inlet needs to be cleared and the bottom two dams need to be excavated as well. We are appealing to you as residents to come forward with some assistance in this regard.

We still have a serious problem with unleashed dogs in the main park area. There have been numerous injuries and threats, yet some selfish individuals persist in allowing their unruly and dangerous dogs to run free in an area frequented by little kids and elderly people. We are well along the road to creating a leash free zone between Lanzerac and Boschendal, as well as the area below the bottom two dams.

The open area next to the fire station is still in the process of hand over for Crawford to build their Pre-Primary school. The delays are purely governmental intransigence related and any assistance in this regard would be welcomed.

The Beverley Park area down Mulbarton is a step closer towards becoming a park, with the alienation process of the bottom two properties being authorised by Council this week. One more state owned property to go....!

Naturally, the promises made to us by City Parks and Council of beautification grants came to naught, so we got busy ourselves, using some of the EnviroFund money to start the projects. These include the Mulbarton Circle and the palisade fencing around the kiddies play park. We will also be starting some paving parking at the bottom dams, some pavement work around Otters Corner, and tarring of the main parking area at the dam.

We have managed to renew enthusiasm with the JRA. You will have noticed some significant repair work on the go in the Cheyney / Dennis Rd areas, and more will follow.

Event wise, we have had a great run, the most recent of which was the annual Fun Run sponsored by the Otter family. There was a slightly smaller turnout this year due to late returns to schools, the SWC burnout, etc, but overall it was very successful. There was an enjoyable Art in the Park session, a great Camp Out at the Koppie, and of course the highly successful Carols by Candlelight just before Christmas. We now have a well attended Bird Club, hosted by Ian Bell, and the latest to the club scene is the Lonehill Camera Club hosted by Hamish McBain and Simon Bradshaw. Both promise to be very enjoyable and successful.

Our domestic forum meetings are becoming very popular. The attendees receive good information about what is going on in the area, they pass back intelligence to us about unwanted elements, and they are also treated to different sets of learning skills at each meeting.

A drive was started to recruit and start a new Cub Pack in Lonehill, and this too has been successful. We understand that it is almost fully subscribed already.

Communication wise, we have produced two great magazines, and have started a new mini-Lonehill News broadsheet with lots of pictures and interesting news...and only ONE advert! Our weekly electronic newsletter just goes from strength to strength and is read by approximately 1800 recipients each weekend. Again, these things don’t just happen by themselves, so many thanks to Elmari Dell, Shelley Millar and Kelly Braum who all make it happen.

The financial ladies, Dorica Eatwell and Karina Taylor are as to be expected, right on top of their game. Both do a stunning job as you will see and hear in the financial report.

I would also like to thank my fellow directors for their absolute support and commitment and look forward to being of service in the future.

Here endeth this reading!

Rob Gillespie

20th July 2010.

MINUTES OF THE LONEHILL RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON THE 20th OF JULY 2009 AT CRAWFORD PREPARATORY SCHOOL, SCEALES ROAD, LONEHILL

Present:           46 members as per attendance register
       41 non-members, Total: 87
Apologies:           Sally Pearson, Hamish McBain, John Mendelsohn
Proxies received: Karina Taylor appointing Dorica Eatwell

The Chairman, Rob Gillespie, welcomed all LRA members and residents to the 9th Annual General Meeting and commenced with the agenda as set out and distributed with the financial statements to all members in June 2009. 

1.  The Chairman’s report was read by Rob Gillespie.  No items or matters for discussion of a general nature had been received by the 13th of July 2009.

2.  The Chairman introduced the Financial Director, Roger McKee, who presented the Audited Financial Statements for the year ending on the 31st of March 2009.  The financials had been circulated to all members for their perusal.  Roger also provided some insight on the budget for the forthcoming year.  It was noted that the financials were prepared under the stringent International Financial Reporting Standards which required significant extra effort and time. Acceptance of the Annual Financial Statements was proposed by Hermann Erdmann and seconded by Nick Fredericksz.  The motion was accepted unanimously.

3.  Members were advised that the board of directors was satisfied with the services provided by the auditor, Clive Dryden, and saw no valid reason to change to another auditor.  It was proposed that the LRA continue with the services of the auditor.  There were no objections.  The re-appointment of Clive Dryden was proposed by Ray Stride and seconded by Hermann Erdmann.

The LRA has received five notices concerning the financials and Roger McKee proceeded with the replies.

Question 1: Why has the leave pay provision increased from R 9-10 000 to R 50 000?
Roger McKee explained that the amount was determined by:
a) How many members of staff have not taken leave by year-end (end March 2009); and
b) How many members of staff at the LRA.

Question 2:  How is the chairman remunerated?
Roger replied that the chairman invoices the LRA for hours spent per month.  It has been agreed by the board of directors that this will be disclosed at every meeting.

Question 3:  How are the hours monitored and what controls are there?
No logbook is required.  The hours are long and unpredictable and the Financial Director signs off all reasonable claims.  It is a matter of judgment.

Question 4:  Re: Penalties imposed on security service provider.  Residents would prefer a service provider who required no penalties.
Roger explained that the directors were also not in favour of penalties and they are trying their best to avoid them. Penalties are not imposed lightly and they are based on the failure to perform in certain areas, such as vehicles leaving Lonehill, guards not on duty etc.  The service is however improving.

Question 5:  How are the gross profits from security activities applied?
Roger confirmed that he has prepared a lengthy reply to the question of which a written response is available to interested parties.

The Financial Statements were passed unanimously.  No objections received.

4.  The Chairman requested that the four resolutions distributed to the members were re-presented.  Due to delinquency on the part of a contracted law firm the documentation had not been completed on time and the period to submit the special resolutions had lapsed. 

4.1 Members were requested to consider and if deemed fit, pass with or without modification, Special Resolution number 1 regarding the Main Business of the Articles of Association.

Proposed: Hermann Erdmann
Seconded: Hans Cochlovius
No objections were received

4.2 Members were requested to consider and if deemed fit, pass with or without modification, Special Resolution number 24.2 regarding the Main Object of the Articles of Association.

Proposed: Herman Erdmann
Seconded: Ray Stride
No objections were received

4.3 Members were requested to consider and if deemed fit, pass with or without modification, Special Resolution number 34.3 regarding the number of Directors that must retire each year.

Proposed: Ray Stride
Seconded Herman Erdmann
No objections were received

4.4 Members were requested to consider and if deemed fit, pass with or without modification, Special Resolution number 44.4 regarding additions to the methods of giving notice of meetings.

Proposed: Nick Fredericksz
Seconded: Hermann Erdmann
No objections were received

5.  The Chairman proceeded with the election of the Board of Directors in terms of clause 26 of the Association’s Articles of Association.
Mr. Perry resigned from the board during the year and is not available for re-election.
Messrs Berdou, Gillespie, Goodwin, McBain and Stride are retiring in accordance with the Articles and are making themselves available for re-election.
Mr. Edwards and Ms Pearson, who were co-opted to the board, will retire and will make themselves available for re-election.
No other nominations or letters of Acceptance of Nomination have reached the LRA’s offices before the meeting.

The re-election of the new Board of Directors was proposed by Agi Rolando and seconded by Ross Truelock.  The Chairman then asked for the acceptance of the Board of Directors by way of show of hands.  The Board was unanimously accepted.
The directors of the Lonehill Residents Association Section 21 Company are: Jean Berdou, Simon Bradshaw, Mark Edwards, Rob Gillespie, Michael Goodwin, Hamish McBain, Roger McKee, Sally Pearson and Ray Stride.

6.  Next on the agenda was the discussion of the merits or negatives of a dual role of Chairperson and CEO in the LRA.  The Chairman handed this item on the agenda to Roger McKee for discussion with the members.  He noted that the board had already debated views for and against this and is always conscious of the need for transparency.  The board knows what they want to do and would prefer to air the topic at the AGM before any decision is made.  The board would consider any serious views for or against the decision.
Willem Hazewindus said that the question to be addressed is who would review/discipline the GM.  Roger explained that the board oversees the performance of the chairman in the capacity of GM.  Willem continued to question if the board members would take a different view if the chairman and GM were different people.
Herman Erdmann added his concern that the chairman’s view of the residents could be in conflict with that of the GM.  He feels that members’ views/wishes would be better represented by an independent chair.  It would be a more objective situation if there are separate positions.  He questioned what would be different if you have a chairman that is not paid and a GM that is paid.  The board would simply elect a chairman and recruit a new suitable person as a GM. This will be more compliant. 
Nic Fredericksz said the GM must have status.
Herman Erdmann disagreed that a title for a person representing the LRA was important. The question is whether there was someone available if the roles were separated?  The chairman must be elected from the board.
Hans Cochlovius proposed to let it run as it is now.
Nic Fredericksz wanted to find out what Rob’s view was on the issue.
Rob explained that there is always the question of governance.  As for the question of what is right, it could go either way. The peer review mechanism on the board is very strong, but there is an argument for both.
Roger McKee confirmed that there is a structure for formal feedback meetings.
Agi Rolando asked if there has ever been a point of conflict or if one is anticipated.
The Chairman confirmed that there has never been any conflict and none are anticipated.
Ray Stride continued that there is never a passive agreement of any proposal. It is not easy to rubberstamp any future decision.
Willem Hazewindus suggested that if the assumption is that the situation is working well, then we should continue with it until the next AGM.  Situations change and a point should be made to review this at the next AGM.
Roger McKee stressed that the matter was important enough to invite input from the members before any decision was made.

The Chairman concluded that the general items for discussion that were submitted to the LRA were all addressed by Roger McKee.  He asked if there were any further questions for general discussion. 
 
He continued with the requirement for the Sector Policing Forum that information be sent to the SAPS.  This information is available from the LRA’s database.
Ray Stride proposed that the LRA should retain control of the circulation of any information. If addresses are passed through it must never be used for any other purpose.  It can be arranged that the LRA distribute information and are therefore in control.  Cooperation is extremely important.

Question:  What is the progress with the application of boomed off streets?
Rob confirmed that no applications have been forwarded.  The LRA wants to put technology and other mechanisms in place before they continue with that option.

Question:  Request for another speed bump on Crestwood Drive.
The Chairman agreed that this is necessary to implement. The bumps on Crestwood are passive and it can be increased.
Ray Stride suggests that we find out who the perpetrators are before speed bumps are considered.
Ian Bell explained that a moratorium had been placed on speed bumps.

Question:  What is the annual increase for the security service?
The Chairman confirmed 12,5 %.

The Chairman closed the AGM for 2009. 

2008 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The twelve months under review have been somewhat difficult and trying, but thankfully, we South Africans are not a bunch of sissies.  We will always weather the storm despite its ferocity.  Currently, the mood and condition barometer is a little confusing to say the least. On the one hand we are told that crime is under control and decreasing; that leaders are leading, and that 2010 will be the springboard year for South Africa!  In reality… our economy, whilst being ably managed is in a fragile condition, our country’s governmental and municipal services are not what they should or could be, politicians are leaderless, crime is not yet under control, xenophobia is no longer a word that you look up in the dictionary, and there are long queues for foreign residence permits!  Heard this before have you?  Of course you have - 1994 - “last one out of Jan Smuts please turn off the lights”…. Well, it didn’t happen then and it won’t happen now!

Yes, there are truths, half truths, lies and distortions everywhere, but there is also a massive amount of good will, good intention and strong desire trying to gain ground.  South Africa is a great country. We need to change our attitude with regards to our future, to look at things differently, for sanity’s sake and for the sake of our children’s mindsets.  Our kids are becoming extremely vocal about our constant negative and depressing attitudes towards this country and the place in which we live.  It has gone so far that the schools are organising outlets for the children’s feelings – at the kids’ request!  Come on people – if you’re here, then be here fully!  South Africans don’t give up easily.  We’re resilient and resourceful, we like who we are, and for the most part, we’re patriotic and proud of it.  So let’s show it!

Responsibility, reliability and accountability – none of these are new to us.  These are basic tenets of any solid society, and it’s now time again for them to be practised loudly and proudly.

The same is true for Lonehill and the LRA.  Yes, we still have a long way to go, and for every step forward we have to recover the two steps backwards that are foisted upon us by the detractors in any society, not to forget of course, those plain and simple free-loaders, those people or residents who have little or no community related responsibility or moral fibre, that are happy to live off and make use of other people’s good will and in this case, hard earned money and solid commitment.  Too many people appear to be too happy to use someone else’s effort and resources.  They will look the other way and even chastise you, in order not to be bothered or asked to participate in their own well being, in the area in which they live.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

It is now becoming common practice in many communities around the world, to enforce participation in community efforts by the resident or would be population, just in order to obtain a residents permit, or to purchase a house and live in that community.  Should we be doing this as well?  I say yes.  It should be a mandatory function of every letting agent, estate agent or landlord in the Greater Lonehill area, to ensure that each resident or potentially new resident or business owner contributes to the security and environment schemes, as well as participating on a ‘when able’ basis in community functions, such as the observers, or clean-up parades, or making their particular skill set available to the holistic community effort.

The time for being polite in this respect has passed.  Are you happy to let your neighbour sponge off you?  You shouldn’t be.  We want our community to sparkle and shine.  We want honest, committed people who can be relied upon.  We want to know that our neighbours will help us when needed, and will offer their help willingly as true team players, in whatever form they are able to, otherwise they shouldn’t be neighbours or perhaps not even welcome in this community.  Our government and municipal officials, looking after the supposed ‘bigger picture’, do not have the time, inclination or resources to take care of our ‘little issues’.  My father taught me the expression – “Look after your pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.  So true.

We have to restart by placing importance on the little things.  Littering, general tidiness, obeying the traffic laws – yes, they do exist, extending common courtesies, and ensuring peace and safety for our loved ones.  Take the time to talk to others, and more importantly, to listen to them.

Lonehill is such a great place for these things to happen.  It is a beautiful suburb full of people who use the wide streets, parks and paths for walking, running or cycling pleasure, and they talk up a storm in the process.  They’re happy!  Just take a look at the everyday photos in the latest Lonehill News magazine.  We really do have a great community.  The people are generally very willing, once engaged.  Often they say we should advertise more, talk more, etc.  You, members of this community, are the ones that have to do that – don’t leave it up to someone else, because there is no-one else.  You are that someone else.

Your elected Board of Directors of the LRA has done a sterling job during this past year and I applaud and thank them each for their individual contributions.  The responsibilities and expectations are enormous, sometimes even scary.  The scope of what we still hope and dream to achieve is huge.  The dedicated and committed staff of the LRA have been unbelievable.  What champions we have here, and you should all be proud of them.

The LRA is not a little two bit operation any longer.  It is a demanding and growing business with some very serious responsibilities and targets.  There are members of the community who believe that the LRA is overstaffed and under worked, and that what it does should be done solely by volunteers.  This is simply not possible nor even feasible, and a few hours spent in the office will open their eyes.  I regularly receive calls from other communities, asking us what we do and how we get it right, because they can’t.  It all boils down to commitment and management.  Without the management structure that we have in place, the LRA and the entire security initiative would collapse in a heap.

During this past year we reviewed our security services and provider.  We put together a team of consultants, whose job it was to recreate the security specification for the area, identify the possible organisations that would be able to fulfil the role, call for tenders, evaluate the responses, eliminate to a short list and finally choose a successful company.  This process took longer than six months, and was handled with complete transparency and fairness.  We re-awarded the contract to Fidelity, and are currently busy implementing many of the new controls.  We are very happy to re-assure you that the LRA has the most capable and resilient security services organisation in the country.  We may not have the best technology or desired numbers of staff yet, but we are well on the way to achieving this.  It does however require the community’s support.  The more subscribers we have, the more we will be able to achieve.

Fidelity Lonehill now reports directly into the Bryanston head office, and is backed up and managed by their highly successful and efficient banking division.  A brand new control room with state-of-the-art equipment is about to be installed in our Studio Park premises.  Some of the new functionality will include video and camera monitoring of booms, streets and perimeter areas.  This will include links into licence plate and vehicle recognition systems.  We are piloting remote, real time camera and monitoring equipment for our street patrollers.  This technology is very new to this industry internationally.  We would also like to increase the number of street patrollers in the area from 12 to at least 24, some of these being mobile on scooters, creating a lot more visibility and covering a lot more of our area more often.  However, this comes at an additional cost of approximately R100,000-00 per month excluding vehicles, so it may be some time before the increased numbers are seen on the streets.  An alternative to this would be to motorise the current patrollers as well as upgrade them.

How are we going to achieve this you ask!  We have already begun more active marketing and selling programs, on the part of both the LRA and Fidelity.  The LRA recently appointed a dedicated marketing and communications lady.  Elmari Dell has taken this role by the horns and certainly has her work cut out for her.  Fidelity now has 2 sales people in the area and their sales effort is a high priority project with dedicated and specific areas of focus.  Their combined target at this stage is 40 new subscribers each month.

The increased security section activity has also resulted in more technical service calls as well as new installations, or upgrading of existing ones.  The administration surrounding this function has also received attention.  This aspect alone is one of the main reasons for the success of our operation.  It is a personalised approach with understanding, care and attention.  

Whilst on the subject of security, now would be a good time to reveal the statistics for the past year.  The number of incidents of any form of criminal activity in Lonehill still remains very low when compared to any of the surrounding areas in this policing region.  To be more precise, there were 157 incidents in the Greater Lonehill area over the 12 month period under review compared to 1503 in our policing region, which equates to 10% of the region’s crime whilst we occupy roughly 20% of the area and house approximately 16% of the region’s population.

We have established an excellent working relationship with the SAPS units in both Douglasdale and Sandton, with their members now attending our weekly security operations meetings.  We have unfortunately not had the same degree of success with the Metro Police, despite one of their most senior staffers living in Lonehill.

Striving for a zero crime statistic in our area is the goal, but it is easier off the tongue than in practice.  Nevertheless, our efforts will not cease.  Criminals have become far more sophisticated over the last 12 months. For example, they are using up market vehicles such as new Mercedes Benz’s and Volvo’s.  They are well dressed, follow the rules of a gated area, and generally attract no suspicion until the moment of the event.  On the other hand, due to the number of displaced vagrants and illegal immigrants increasing in certain surrounding areas, there has been a marked increase in unattended or chance housebreakings.  The majority of these have been in the Lonehill East area, alongside the spruit which is easily accessible from the old Clay Oven complex, a bone of major contention.  Regular raids have been conducted, with many arrests, but without any decrease in the criminal activity.  Overall, many arrests were made by our security operatives during this last year, but successful convictions or incarcerations were few due to what is now a standard excuse that the dockets were lost or no shows by complainants at court time.  

Our Control Room, aside from being rebuilt, is now being enhanced with the introduction of new guard monitoring systems, using wireless camera and GPS technology.  We are very excited about the development as it goes a long way towards resolving the age old problem of keeping the guard awake and motivated.  Boom guards will be able to photograph both the vehicle and the driver and other occupants without any extra effort, or the occupants even being aware that a photo has been taken.  This photo will appear on a screen in the control room within seconds.

During the last year, many organisations were invited to install their surveillance products for a trial period so that we could accurately assess whether they will work for us or not.  To our not unexpected dismay, not one made good on their offer.  We have been in contact with many other places that have significant camera installations, and most of them expressed disappointment or dissatisfaction with their products, installation or support.  Their costs were all huge.  We, touch wood, hope not to make the same mistakes.  Camera technology has improved dramatically over the last year.  We are looking at installing 3Mp smart low lux units, with robust and highly usable software systems, which will alert the operators to exceptional or suspicious events.  The same system will enable us to ensure that available vehicle and reaction resources are placed optimally, to facilitate rapid response times to events.  This infrastructure will also allow us to monitor the popular entrance, exit and possible escape paths.  As soon as an event occurs, which could be as simple as a person walking through a demarcated zone or crossing a line, we will be able to dispatch a reaction officer or street patroller to that point immediately.

Our Observer group, led by Ros Truelock, has been operational during the year, but unfortunately not to the extent that we would’ve liked.  There are a number of volunteers who regularly arrive to do their rounds, providing us with invaluable information from the complexes and guards.  It is another one of those vital links that are required in order to have eyes everywhere.  Please volunteer your services for this very important function, and thank you Ros for your dedication and effort. We sincerely hope to do better this year.

Another method of increasing our information gathering net, will be to re-establish a Domestic Worker’s Forum.  We used to run these morning events once a quarter at the Fire Station, and there will be someone to talk to the members on an interesting topic – learning a new skill, and a security element whereby problems are highlighted and ideas are propagated.

Residents of the Greater Lonehill area, we are orders of magnitude better than anyone else in terms of pro-active security.  Despite this, we still have crime, and we are actively looking at ways to reach that magical zero number.  To be fair and honest, we often have weeks where no incidents are reported.

Moving onto matters environmental.  My congratulations go to Ian Bell, Hans Cochlovius, Doug Black, and their team of gardeners.  We’re looking better each day.  We purchased a new mean, yellow, grass cutting machine during this year.  It has enabled us to cut three times as much in the same time, using only one operator!  We are now able to spend more time on other aesthetics around the suburb, all of which translate into better values and area utilisation.  The parks and paths are always populated with residents making great use of these facilities.  Now, if only we could get the doggy people to pick up their beloved pet’s mess!  Please carry a bag and leave the environment in at least as pleasant a condition as you found it.  It’s a mindset that we have to learn to embrace.  As you walk along and see litter, please pick it up and deposit it into the next bin.  We have even ordered a number of new bins to cope with the ever increasing volume of rubbish being left around.  Littering is an offence, people, and it is punishable by a hefty fine.  Inspectors do monitor this and fines are issued.   Our cameras will also assist in this regard.  Don’t hesitate to shout at someone who is littering either.  If you tolerate that, you’re just as guilty.

We have started to clean up the stream beds and are planning to de-reed and de-silt the bottom two dams just off Concourse.  The main dam will also be receiving some attention to retard the constant inflow of sand and silt.  Some ad hoc cleaning has occurred on the Lonehill East side, but this is a mammoth task that requires the assistance of City Parks, who as you know, are not readily available, and often just do not have the resources or the budgets.  On the positive side, we enjoy a good relationship with them and know that they are grateful for our efforts in looking after our own areas.

A lot of work has been done on the koppie, thanks to Don Perry and his helpers.  The invader scrub is slowly being eradicated, allowing the indigenous vegetation to reclaim its rightful place.  It’s a wonderful place to visit and take in the scenery and views.  Some new benches have been installed, and watering holes have been provided for the resident wildlife.  

Unfortunately, all dogs are now permanently banned from the koppie enclosure, due to a number of residents allowing their animals to openly chase and attack the wildlife, and in a few instances, other dogs and even people.  Repetitive warnings and fines came to no good, so the final regrettable step of banning dogs from the area was taken

The pumps in our main dam have given up the ghost, again, and we are actively seeking a reliable supplier with relevant expertise for this project.  The constant testing and dosing of the water has definitely yielded a good result so far, and we will continue with this line of treatment.  A few experts in this field have made their knowledge available to us, and some of their ideas are already being implemented - such as the algae-eating grass raft that you may have noticed floating around.  Its claim to fame is a 3m long root which has a high algal attraction and destruction rate.  We are still awaiting the results of this test.  With the slow down or completion of building projects in the catchment area, we also hope to see more stable levels of water purity and cleanliness going forward.

Furthermore, we are looking at redoing the lighting in the park areas, to replace the old sleeper columns which are now rotting.  A number of new durable benches have also been installed around the main dam.

The LRA is in the process of signing up leases with Johannesburg Property (the council’s division that has ownership of the pavements etc) for the main entrance corners, four-way stop corners, Mulbarton Circle and the large park area in Beverley off Mulbarton Drive.  These are areas that really need attention and they are part of the beautification project that we have been talking about for some time.  It will cost money to complete these projects – hence the EnviroFund and other initiatives, as well as the possibility of a Council grant, so we are ensuring that we have ownership and control of these areas before going ahead with the work.  So far all is on track, but the process is not short or easy.  We are expecting to receive the final documentation during August.

Potholes…what potholes?  Road resurfacing is another focus of attention, but this is dependant upon the availability of funds and equipment from the JRA.  We managed to sort out the worst area of Mulbarton Drive, albeit temporarily, and this along with the remainder will be permanently addressed once all construction in the area is complete.  The same applies to the Dennis / Cheney Road areas.

Cutting back of high growth foliage areas has commenced and is a mammoth task – often requiring the assistance of City Parks.  Removal of the cuttings and debris is always an issue, so to ease this problem we are in the process of acquiring a large trailer, purpose built, to ensure that the rubbish does not lie around for long.  It will also be used to take our equipment to cut and maintain the outlying areas.  Naturally, the work load is increasing in this department as the demands or expectations rise, so we will be looking at increasing our gardening and cleaning staff complement. One particular area of focus here is the removal of paper and rubbish in the parks, on the roadside and pavements, and now during the summer rain season, the sweeping up of soil, sand and stones in the gutters, streets and intersections.  This is a simple task, employing two, three or four casual labourers, but has an enormous benefit in terms of aesthetics, impressions, values, and general ‘feel good’.

Our gardening team has also taken on a few maintenance contracts and is available for more of the same, and we are also talking to a resident about a garden refuse collection and recycling service.

With regard to our Finances and Administration; we have been under the able and eagle-eyed care of Roger McKee and Clive Dryden – two Chartered Accountants who take nothing at face value and leave no paper unturned.  The 2008 Annual Financial Statements, prepared in accordance with the new stringent International Financial Reporting Standards, reflect the healthy state of your company.  In the current environment of rapidly increasing fuel and food prices, rising interest rates and a CPI, regardless of miscalculation or not, running into double figures, we have managed to hold our head clearly above water, and still produce a decent surplus for infrastructural projects around security and environment.  Our office administration staff, being Dorica, Kelley and Elmari, have been through some tough times since Karina Taylor’s departure – highlighting the massive load and responsibility that she actually shouldered whilst in the hot seat.  We are extremely thankful and grateful for all the support that Karina provided, and indeed still does, albeit remotely when required.  We have come through with flying colours, and are now looking at putting belt and braces in place, engaging with a number of people with the view of putting them into cross-over positions, ensuring that we will never be without the required expertise to deal with the day to day activities and responsibilities of a R16m p.a. operation.  

The Board took a decision two years back, not to re-employ a general manager in the short to medium term, as the current Board members would apply themselves to the task.  This worked well for the first year.  Your Chairman was required to spend an inordinate amount of time attending to the various requirements and responsibilities of the position, in addition to the daily management of the business, and the active management and guidance of the security service provider.  This became something way beyond the donation of social responsibility and voluntary time.  He did not run or shy away from this, but tabled a workable solution with the board, also discussed openly at one of the public feedback meetings, which enabled him to be reimbursed for his time spent managing the business.  It was discussed at two full Board meetings, minuted, and a low hourly rate was agreed to.  The position of an Executive Chairman is by no means out of the ordinary and is a functional and practical way to save costs, especially in a small operation, provided that the incumbent is prepared to take on the role, and its attendant responsibilities.  This is currently working very well, and after due governance and diligence, monitored by our auditors, there appears to be no good reason to change or modify this modus operandi as long as the incumbent is willing and able, unless the Board decides otherwise.  From my part as this Executive Chairman, it is one of the most stressful positions that I have occupied during my career, but is also extremely satisfying in terms of serving a community and achieving results that are appreciated by most.  And yes, given your acceptance, I am most willing to continue serving this community.

We have made some significant changes to the Studio Park offices during the last six months.  The LRA offices have now moved upstairs from the dungeon into far more pleasant digs.  We have a functional and spacious Board Room that can also be hired out to other potential users.  Roger and Clive, along with the rest of the Board, also kept an eye on property prices, bond and interest rates, and ensured that your investment is in fine shape, almost bond free, and increasing in value significantly, from a purchase price of R2.2m to a current value of around R4m.
 
We have unfortunately not been able to stem the tide of increases and inflation, and the ones that affect us most are those to do with our security service.  This industry is governed by unionised wage negotiations which take place every three years.  It is not a cost that can be absorbed or hidden or ignored – we have to face it.  Fidelity, as always, has been challenged to lay their costs on the table for our scrutiny.  They have tabled a general increase across the board to all of their clients, of 12.5%.  We found ourselves unable to accept this, and have agreed to an increase in their costs to ourselves of 9.25%, which is the statutory labour cost increase for this year.  Notice of this will be sent out at this month end.  Whilst this does not sit comfortably on anyone’s palate, it is entirely acceptable given our vision of providing and securing a safe and pristine environment for the best value added cost, in which we wish to live.  In spite of this increase, our services and product pricing remains close to par for the exceptional deliverable.

Last year I mentioned that we had pushed for an initiative involving the youth of Lonehill, in terms of a Junior LRA Council or Board.  Each of the schools were approached on this but unfortunately nothing has yet come of it, although there is renewed interest from Crawford High.  We will continue promoting the concept but are reliant upon the schools to promote it and for the youth themselves to take an interest.

The Lonehill Cub and Scout group initiative has garnered some interest, but the stumbling block here is the availability of some property where these worthy activities can be housed.  Any ideas on this would be welcome.

Event wise, we are doing just fine.  Shelley Miller, who has been helping out on the event management side has done a great job and she has our appreciation and thanks.  This and other functions will from now on fall under the marketing and communications person - Elmari Dell.  I’m sure that they will make a great team and that the community will be richly rewarded with well planned and run events under Elmari’s guidance.  The main reason for holding the functions and activities is for the benefit of the community, to give them pride of ownership and participation, to bring the community together.  Although funds are raised at these events, the amounts are small, and they are donated to a worthy charitable institution.  This last year, we supported the Witkoppen Clinic by way of providing them with infrastructure to the value of the donation, rather than the cash itself.  We are now looking for other deserving charities in our immediate vicinity, and will make a decision on this year’s donations during the next two months.  All suggestions are welcome.

The 2008 Fun Run held last week was a great success.  Our thanks and appreciation go out to all the sponsors, helpers and participants, particularly Otter Estates for their very generous sponsorship.  Last year, we were overwhelmed by an increase of participants from 400 to 700.  We ran out of T-shirts and medals.  This year we ordered 1000 T-shirts and medals, and yes, you guessed it, we ran out again.  Another remarkable increase from 700 to just over 1000 participants!  And the interest is still growing.  Great fun was had by all.  A preliminary net profit of R25800 should be available for infrastructural donations to a worthy cause.  For the record and those interested, the cost of this event was R70000.

Earlier this month, a Hijack prevention evening was held in this Crawford School Hall.  It was a great success and widely appreciated, to the extent that a repeat will be held later in the year during the summer months.

The Father / Son Camp-Out, an idea long touted by Ian Bell finally came to fruition.  This too was a great success with a guarantee of many more to be held in the future.  The camaraderie between adult kids and real kids was amazing, and I’m not really sure who had more fun!

The Christmas Carols event held at the end of last year was another very successful occasion.  It was a co-operative project with all three Lonehill based churches participating.  This year end, we will repeat the event again, but this time will have a lot more audience and children participation, and a lot more carol singing to really get you into the Christmas spirit.

Our annual Fun Day event was slated to happen on 7th September, but sponsorships for this size of event at the moment are extremely hard to find and in fact non-existent.  It may just be necessary to replace this event with a crafts / art in the park day, and then run the Fun Day during next year around March.  The format of this event also requires rethinking, with a return to the traditional old “village fun festival”.

The Garden Competition has certainly cultivated serious interest from within our community and even from outside, with a tremendously successful introductory event.  This year it will be held during October and promises to be a growing and colourful highlight.

In conclusion, I once again thank my colleagues and staff for their hard work and dedication, sometimes in the face of severe adversity, in providing our community with a great service, and sincerely hope that they will continue to do so going forward.

Rob Gillespie
Chairman - 2008 

2007 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Let me begin by paying tribute to, and offering a debt of gratitude to my predecessor(s) and his colleagues.  To mention individual names would be unfair.  Suffice to say that they achieved much against enormous odds, in the face of adversity, apathy and sometimes even hostility.  This is typically the norm for residents associations.  However, Lonehill is different, very different.  We have a community that has been expertly motivated, driven and guided, and one that has responded well to the call.  These Lonehill residents, although no longer members of the Board, are still members and pillars of our community.  Let me be clear on the fact that their knowledge and experience will always be used and called upon, with gratitude.

The Lonehill of 2007 is somewhat different to the Lonehill Village of 1999, and vastly different to the original Lonehill Estate as depicted on the 1980’s developer’s map.  The area now referred to as Greater Lonehill for our purposes, is almost three times the original size.  To be more accurate, the size or expanse has always been there, but the area is now largely populated, and the development has not yet come to an end.  There are now almost 6500 households in the area, housing more than 15000 people.  

Every Chairman’s Report talks about how things have changed during the past year.  This past year in Lonehill was not necessarily one for growth as far as the LRA was concerned, but rather for reflection, identification and consolidation.  Most of the infrastructural changes that have occurred in Lonehill have been mentioned in preceding reports.  This year however, we have had to deal with the initial results of the preceding year’s changes and growth.  We have also had to prepare for some serious decisions that will have to be made during the forthcoming year.  In short, we have had to do a lot of housekeeping.  

A certain amount of aggression and hostility had crept into the woodwork during the previous year.  We had to first identify the causes, deal with it, and finally engage all parties with the view of getting them all to pull in the same direction once again.  I believe that we have largely succeeded in this task, but still have a long way to go to achieve a consistently harmonious environment for all.

Your elected Board Members, who function as directors of a company are subject to the same rules of corporate governance and all the other stresses and strains associated with running a business.  What is different is that these individuals are volunteers with their own jobs or businesses to run.  The Directors remain nevertheless, mindful of the fact that they represent others who possibly have diverse ideas about Lonehill and its management, who may also be extremely passionate about the suburb, yet prefer to sit on the sidelines.  As members, each Director is effectively also a “shareholder” in Lonehill, and I can assure you that no personal or private agenda’s are tolerated by your Board.  We have all placed some significant investment into this place of quality, and have every intention of enjoying that investment to the maximum.

The knowledge required to be a Director of a venture of this magnitude, is vast, and takes a reasonable time to assimilate.  The result is that you have Directors with extensive knowledge, contacts, and the ability to make clear and educated decisions regarding Lonehill, on your behalf.  To be available for election to a Board is one thing.  To be constantly available to carry out the required duties without bias and prejudice is quite another.  

South Africa, post 1994, is very different than before.  This encompasses both good and bad.  The net result however, is that individual municipalities and community service mechanisms have changed forever.  In a lot of cases this change has been for the worse, and has resulted in the degradation and devaluation of entire regions.  In some cases though, community members have stepped up to the plate and have risen to the challenge of improving their status quo, for both themselves and their neighbours.  Having said this, wheels do go round and scenarios do repeat themselves in time.  I believe that one such cycle will be that the successful present day residents associations will once again become the de facto controlling municipalities of their respective areas.  One can only hope that they will receive Provincial or Government recognition in terms of muscle and financial support.  The Lonehill Residents Association is one such organisation, but one with some fundamental differences.  It is staffed by passionate residents and it is supported financially by a significant portion of the local population.  This alone is not enough, but it is a great start, and we are streets ahead of the rest.  The CID model referred to last year is an early adoption of this scenario.  It may still be the best long term option for Lonehill, but much investigation and marketing still needs to be done.

Now on to some detail of what has been achieved during this year.


Security

By far the largest chunk of effort and energy was spent on the security portfolio.  Our service provider had been allowed to slip into a mode of “below-expectation” delivery, which is typical of a poor management environment.  They were doing their job, just not to our standards or levels of expectation.  This trend has been reversed and corrected, and we believe that the service levels are at least on par with our base level expectations.  There is still much room for further improvement, but they are at least on the right road.  This may however also be tempered by the fact that their five year contract with the LRA is coming up for renewal.  On one hand, we have built up a good relationship with our supplier, but on the other, we would be remiss if we did not investigate alternative sources and opportunities.  This process has already been kicked into motion.  

In as far as reported and documented crime events in our area are concerned, we remain orders of magnitude better than any other region in the country in terms of actual events per area per capita. Crime statistics in Lonehill continue to improve quite satisfactorily, with actual incidents declining significantly.  Given the increased presence and visibility of our security officers and vehicles, including proactive and co-operative efforts with the SAPS and Metro Police, the traditional types of criminal activity have declined.  There have been new modii operandi being attempted at random, with the most significant of these being ‘follow-in’ driveway robberies.  Members and residents are requested to be observant and if they suspect anything, to head for a central location instead of the remoteness of their garage.  Any of the roving security patrols can also assist, mobilising the entire force by means of our centralised radio network.  Graphical representation of the crime statistics can be viewed on the LRA website.

My earlier reference to a poor management environment was aimed at both ourselves and our service provider.  From our side, we had undertaken to constantly monitor, assist and advise both our service provider and membership of deficiencies in the actual service being provided.  This function was not performed in the manner that we would have liked, for many reasons, and it resulted in the service provider’s standards and controls being allowed to deteriorate over a period of about 12 months.  From their side, on-site management had become ineffective and bureaucratic.  Attention and focus from the LRA security committee and our volunteer observer program soon rectified this, and changes within the service provider’s structure and personnel were brought about, and are still in the process of implementation.  The benefits of this are also now being seen by the members.

New technology is also being embraced.  All vehicles and patrolling guards are being equipped with specialised GPS tracking units, providing constant levels of monitoring and control.  Control room systems software has also been replaced with some of the most sophisticated product available in the world today.  Despite the enormous functionality now available to us, we are still hamstrung by the numbers and levels of operators who use and monitor these facilities.  This is now one of our priority focus areas, and we expect to be able to report favourably in this regard in the near future.

Although we are proud of what we have achieved with regard to safety and security in Lonehill, there is still much more that can be done.  Strategic workshops in this regard are being planned.  They will involve interested members of the community, consultants and service providers, with a view to finalising a feasible and real game plan.  This process has been underway for at least 6 months already.  A number of organisations, including local vendors, have been asked to participate, but unfortunately to date, none of them have come up with any new ideas or concrete proposals than what we already have on our table.  We are certain though, that the contract renewal period will herald some interesting responses.


Environment

Our environment portfolio has been somewhat of a poor cousin during this year, although it is as much an equal in terms of stature and importance as security.  We very unfortunately lost two stalwarts in this area from the Board due to personal and business reasons at the beginning of the year.  The active sub-committee still continued valiantly, but definitely lacked the drive and focus it needed from the Board.  This hole has hopefully now been plugged, and we can look forward to some highly visible activity in this area.

Having said that, we have not quite been delinquent in this area.  There has been some significant engagement with the City Council and a faithful private consultancy, who have come to the party in many ways already.  We also took the step of re-employing our previous estate manager of 17 years.  This alone brought us back up to speed.  His efforts are being specifically focussed and channelled into the environment portfolio, and this has allowed us to reap many benefits and expose many other opportunities.

Our environment not only consists of 37 parks totalling 440,000 m2 of grass, gardens, trees and wild vegetation, but also 2 dams, a soon-to-be declared conservancy area around the koppie, a 2km river frontage and a large road and services reticulation network.

The main dam in the middle of Lonehill has been subjected to many illegal and unsavoury additives during the course of the last four years.  This has now started to take its toll and show the effects by way of fish mortalities and various kinds of algal growth.  The reduction in the number of open areas in the region has also resulted in an ever increasing bird population attempting to make this dam their home.  This alone has caused many problems and steps are being taken to ameliorate the effects by reducing the available habitat for certain types of bird species only – specifically those causing the problems.  Treatment of the dam still has to happen on a monthly basis, and this costs the LRA a good chunk of its resources.  Solutions and sponsorships are being sought and asked for, in terms of knowledge, equipment and funding.  City Council has extremely limited resources and funding in this area, so it is almost entirely up to us and our community to support this effort.

Recently we launched our EnviroFund campaign.  The express purpose of this is to create a win-win project for the residents of the Greater Lonehill area, whereby they can for a small monthly contribution, put themselves in line to win a monthly prize of R10,000 in Lonehill Shopping Vouchers that can be spent at any Lonehill based business, putting the prize money back into local business pockets, and most importantly, provide the LRA with a regular and sizeable income stream to address Lonehill’s environmental needs, such as pavements, lighting, beautification, community services, and ultimately perhaps to even span over to additional security support.  This project is in its inception phase and still requires a lot of publicity and support before it becomes meaningful to the LRA and ultimately to the community.


Community Services

It has long been a goal to have a Lonehill community centre.  The acquisition of our own building in Studio Office Park partly realised some of these requirements, but has not turned out to be ideal for all.  To this end, we are actively communicating with the local school organisation and municipal facilities to come up with an acceptable solution.  We are not yet however in a position to be able to comment or make any promises in this regard.

We have also started the ball rolling in the following areas;
Re-commencing the River Ranger project
Re-starting a Lonehill Cub and Scout group
Establishing a ‘Junior LRA Council’ to focus on our area’s youth requirements
Forming a coalition of support councillors through the area’s church groups


Finance and Administration

This portfolio has unfortunately borne the brunt of some very unfair public criticism.  The fact that it was unwarranted and undeserved is irrelevant, as perception is indeed reality.  It has received some serious attention from the Board, and is currently undergoing some changes in terms of structure and responsibilities.

There was a time when this function included a large sales and marketing expectation, but that had been removed by the time that this Board took office.  The perception however, remained.  In reality, it is simply not possible for the current small team to carry out their day to day functions as well as deliver on a much larger and differently skilled requirement that is the sales and marketing of the LRA.  They can assist in the process but they cannot drive it.  This function is now being investigated by the Board in conjunction with the service providers and a number of external consultants.  At least two of the presently co-opted Board members as well as a number of our residential members have extensive marketing experience, and we hope to be able to draw on this expertise in the future.  Previous forays into this field have unfortunately not been handled well by the LRA, so we will now tread very carefully.

A complete and unabridged set of our Annual Financial Statements has been sent out to all currently registered members of the LRA, and copies have been made available for other LRA clients who have not yet completed their membership application forms.  As such, I will not elaborate on the 2007 financials in this report.

Allegations of improprieties were levelled at the 2006 financials.  They were subsequently subjected to an independent audit and scrutiny, and proved to be 100% sound.

The 2007 financials depict and show a substantial improvement over 2006.  The reasons for this were the implementation of tighter controls, reduction in expenditure, savings on a general manager’s salary, imposition of penalty rebates on our security service provider, a positive rental cash flow, and an increased valuation on the building asset.  2007’s net profit is almost three times that of 2006.

However, a fiscal lag trend is currently being observed with respect to some of the guarding contracts, we suspect as a result of the lax controls.  We believe that trend has been altered for the better, and hope to report positively on this in the future.  


Lonehill Shopping Centre

The centre is a fact of life in Lonehill.  It is not going to go away, so we need to engage and deal with the issues at hand in a positive and constructive manner.  The City Council has now taken a firm stance on a number of the alleged infringements and infractions.  This has resulted in firm court action against the owners of the centre.  Their Council rezoning application was also withdrawn after Council made it known that it would not support their application under the current circumstances.  It is not clear at present what the next steps will be, but it is certain that concerted and serious Council action will continue.

Objections and complaints lodged by concerned and affected residents are currently being dealt with and are at varying stages of legal procedures.  Some of the issues have already been successfully dealt with, but there are still a number at hand and we expect that they will soon be subject to successful outcomes as well.

We can only hope that these matters are resolved quickly for the benefit of the residents and the area as a whole.  The LRA will be playing a more active role in such matters in the future, but its resources are extremely limited and volunteer Directors who are prepared to be thrown into the legal fray are amongst the scarcest commodities on earth.  Furthermore, support from the entire community in matters such as this, is extremely paramount, and unless this is the case, the LRA’s role will remain firm but minor.


Other Property Developments

An oft bandied around saying of late is the systematic rape of our area by property developers.  Without referring to any particular company, members perhaps need to be given a little more insight as to what is actually now expected and indeed demanded from these developers.  The old days of taking an acre property and putting two or three houses or clusters on it are gone.  Council now dictates that certain minimum levels of densification take place.  If not adhered to, they simply do not allocate or issue the building approvals.  It must be said that there is some sense in this, given the requirement and mandate to stop urban sprawl and to create an environment where a public transport system will be able to be put into place with successful utilisation, thereby hopefully reducing the volume of traffic on our already overburdened infrastructure.  Johannesburg is a major city no different to any other like it around the world, with the exception of the densification and transport mechanisms.  

To this end, higher density developments are here to stay.  What we can do, is ensure that they are tasteful and well supported in terms of the surrounding and attendant infrastructure.


Support for the Lonehill Initiative

This is one area that deserves and requires constant exposure.  The common adage about getting only what you pay for is far from the truth or reality in Lonehill.  The LRA gives all Lonehill residents so much more.  Many of the benefits and advantages are just simply unquantifiable.  How can one put a price on their family’s or their own safety and security?  How does one measure the value of peace and tranquillity, of happy and safe children, of a clean and pristine environment, of desirability, of increasing property values and surety of investment?  Lonehill is the envy of most, and this has only come about through the efforts of the Lonehill Initiative and the LRA.  We are the ones who have raised the bar in terms of security service provision, we have put the security officers on the street corners for the benefit of all, we are the ones who demand and receive a response on site within 90 seconds.  We are the ones who have made it safe to walk, run or stroll through the entire suburb at any time of the day or night.  We are the ones who regularly pick up the rubbish, remove the graffiti, cut the grass and keep the gardens neat and tidy.

In short, it is the Lonehill Residents Association and its members or contributors who are responsible for this feat of magnificence.  There are many residents out there who are not members, yet they still enjoy the benefits that have been created by others for the community.  I find it difficult to comprehend that there are still significant numbers of residents out there who are just prepared to live off the goodwill of others, but would prefer to believe that it is simply a case of them just not knowing about what we are asking for.  Given more effective and broad based communication, I am sure that our number of supporters will grow tremendously.  Hopefully, the teaser campaigns of low cost high value services such as Lonehill.net internet, reduced Lonehill based insurance premiums, more affordable security options and the EnviroFund’s monthly R10,000 prize draw, will help to attract more supporters to our cause.  It is also incumbent on our estate and letting agents to inform their buyers and clients of the benefits that the LRA provides, and that they should ensure that new entrants to the suburb become members.

The best way to do this is however, for you, our loyal member and supporter, to speak to your neighbours about our initiative – not just once, but again and again.  The more people that talk about it, the better it will be for all.

The LRA will be commencing a new awareness and recruiting drive campaign shortly, whereby volunteers will spend a few hours manning a table at a shopping centre on a Saturday morning, once or twice a month.


Community Events and Outreach Programs

One way of galvanising a community is to hold events that are fun to participate in or attend.  When these events can be combined with an outreach benefit program, then we have achieved much.  The LRA hosts a number of these each year, and we are looking at including a few new and exciting events during the forthcoming year.

Our annual Fun Run has raised funds for a number of deserving charities.  This year we hope to have raised R10,000 to be used to improve infrastructure for an unwanted children’s charity.  Our Ladies Day Breakfast raised funds for cancer victims.  The Fun Day will once again be full of surprises and great value for all age groups, and we hope that this year, our Christmas Carols evening will be nothing less than a wonderful family and community experience.  Currently in planning phase are events such as a Marathon / Mountain Bike biathlon around the Greater Lonehill area, cricket and baseball games, and a home-made pedal-powered go-cart race, just to mention a few.

These events do not just happen without some tremendous planning and support.  Your LRA staffers, along with Shelley Miller, are the ones who manage to pull off this massive effort for the benefit and enjoyment of the community at large.

In conclusion, I would like to thank my colleagues for their hard work and tireless efforts.  The volunteer groups and individuals who also put in many hours of spadework are to be lauded for their devotion and dedication.  My thanks also go out to the critics out there.  Your mere existence is a firm indication that we are doing something right.

Together, we are a team.  Together, we will succeed.  Together, we will live and enjoy life in Lonehill.

Rob Gillespie
Chairman - 2007

Lonehill Residents’ Association
Annual General Meeting
22 July 2006
Chairman’s Report
The Year of the Swan
I’d like to call the last 12 months the Year of the Swan. Swans glide across the water, apparently effortlessly, while all the work is happening under the water, out of sight. The placid waters of Lonehill have however been more than rippled on several occasions, with far too many crimes, a tropical wet season, and a three-month security guards strike, which spoils the serenity of the image but reflects reality better.
Lonehill continues to be a trailblazer, with many changes happening under the surface that will soon start to make a big difference, but also the one very visible step of buying our own building, 81 Studio Office Park.
Some of the problems – challenges – we have are similar to the ones we had last year, some have changed. Crime remains top of the agenda, and we have seen a significant general escalation in the broader area, and a modest but definite uptick in Lonehill incidents. Unfortunately, the relatively low crime in Lonehill is working against us. Many current residents arrived after the bloody years of the late 90s, and time is dulling the impact for those who were here then. Complacency and apathy are our enemy, as much or more than the criminals. It took a spate of Wild West violence to get the LRA Security Initiative started, and it’s a constant battle to maintain the momentum and ensure we don’t slide back into those terrible days.
I make no apology for showing once more the list of incidents that led directly to the current, proactive security operation:
* 12 May 2000 - 72 bullets fired at resident in his car in his driveway in a hi-jack attempt. Resident spent months in hospital recovering
* 26 May 2000 - armed robbery at Lonehill Dispensary.
* 9 June 2000 - resident murdered in armed robbery.
* 10 June 2000 - Lonehill shop targeted, owner fatally shot in armed robbery.
* 14 June 2000 - resident targeted in armed robbery
* 30 June 2000 - resident targeted in armed robbery
* 24 July 2000 - resident and family held hostage by 7 armed robbers
* 31 July 2000 - hijack in Lonehill
This was a particularly bad spell, but for several years we had had one to two murders a year. Over the last six years there has been one murder: we can confidently say that somewhere between 6 and 12 lives have been saved. It could have been yours or a member of your family.
The Mission
An upmarket Village community where ALL residents are free to live, shop and exercise in pristine surroundings with total peace of mind in their personal safety and security.
The LRA membership is all who live, work or own property in Greater Lonehill. Greater Lonehill is bounded by William Nicol, Witkoppen and Main, plus Upper East.
Structure

Two big changes were made in the last year. The first was the appointment of a General Manager, Rob Childs, who will be reporting to you separately. I have spoken at previous AGMs of the fact that the LRA has become a business managing significant funds, and of the need to manage it appropriately. Rob’s appointment represents a raising of the bar in the level of professionalism of the LRA, and is enabling fundamental changes in the management of the LRA.
The second big change was the purchase of our own building, Unit 81 Studio Park, which is, as of this month, now fully operational.
Studio Park
I think the LRA did remarkably well to achieve what it did with resources scattered around Lonehill. In February this year we offered to purchase unit 81, which was where the Fidelity control room was (and still is) based. Now we have one building which houses the security control room, Fidelity operational management, our administration and sales team and the General Manager, and provides a base for operations for the Acting Environment Manager.
The building was purchased for R2.25m, funded half from the Capital Fund and retained income, and half through a bond. We understand that we could already sell the building at a profit.
We are now re-looking at which functions can be outsourced and which are core. Having a full-time General Manager and our own building with everyone in one place enables us to bring some core functions, such as marketing, back in house, which we are doing. Most important of all for the coming year, though, is the possibility of creating a Lonehill Civic Improvement District (CID).
The Lonehill CID
A CID (Civic Improvement District) is established when a majority of property owners in an area decide to improve the area through provision of services such as security, environmental maintenance and enhancement, marketing, emergency care, and in any other way the community determines. This is pretty much what the LRA has been doing for years. The difference is that under a CID, once the community have agreed on a business plan detailing the services and functions to be performed, and a basis for funding that plan, contributions to the CID are levied according to some formula agreed by the community. The contributions are compulsory, just as municipal rates are. The basis for calculating levies is whatever the community decides is fair, and may for example include differentiating between business and residential property, and offering discounts to pensioners.
Spreading the load evenly across the community eliminates the “free-rider” element, whilst keeping the cost to the individuals down. A stable income stream allows long-term and more ambitious plans to be put in place.
If we vote to establish a CID, then every property owner in Lonehill will be obliged to pay the CID levies. This means that the Lonehill CID will have a guaranteed income, and because all property owners, both residential and business, contributes, a modest levy would generate a significant income, allowing major improvements and innovations in security and other services. Rob will present some early thinking on what we could do.
I and the rest of the current Board are 100% convinced that a CID is the way forward for Lonehill. There is much work to be done, and the establishment of a CID requires a great deal of community participation, so watch this space for further developments, and if you have ideas and comments and input, please: get involved.
Security
Security is always top of our agenda, and occupies the greatest part of the LRA’s time and efforts. In the last year, we have more or less held our position, gaining on the non-violent crime, and losing a bit on violent crime.
Violent includes murder, rape, armed robbery, hijacking.
Serions Non-Violent includes robbery, house breaking, theft from motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle.
Our figures for the last 2 years are plotted below:


For a comparative plot showing our figures for the last twelve months against those of the general area, see below:


Note that the area figures a plotted on a scale 10 times more compressed than the Lonehill figures. This graph is designed to show the relative trends in crime.
On a long-term trend, we have a decline in violent and non-violent crime. Over the last year, the picture is mixed. Non-violent crime has dropped dramatically, but violent crime is showing an upward trend.
The figures for violent crime are very volatile because the base is so low. If we had had zero events in June, we would have had a completely flat trend. However, we did not, and the rise in very worrying. There is cold comfort to be had from the fact that the Lonehill trend line is still much less steep than the area trend.
There is a new measure plotted in these figures termed Engagements. Engagements are situations where Fidelity have prevented a crime occurring, and we believe that the rise in engagements is a significant factor in the decrease of non-violent crime.
As last year, we still have a lot of building going on, and many crimes concentrate around building sites.
We believe that to achieve a significant improvement now, we need to up our game, and this is the biggest motivation for wanting to form a CID. Rob will shortly take you through some of the plans we have for the CID, in which security plays a leading role.
Administration and Finance
Financial Accounts
Full copies of the Financial Statements are available. An overview follows.



     2005    2006
Revenue    12,147,950    14,390,836
Expenditure    11,748,935    14,148,143
Profit/(Loss)    399,015    242,693
Cash Resources    1,900,352    2,087,036
The financials are audited by Clive Dryden CA(SA), and also checked by Clive Beaver, recently retired from Deloitte & Touche, who is on the board.
Expenditure rose with significant new costs:
    2005    2006
Marketing    22,360    310,123
Salaries & Wages    280,234    458,224
Technical Services    -    242,693
Some of these increases are higher than they appear, as there were some offsets on the positive side. Over R90,000 was earned through contributions from the technical services provider to marketing and administration, and approximately half of the marketing costs were contributed by our Security service provider in the form of deferred and reduced increases.
The increase in salaries and wages is largely due to the appointment of our General Manager, Rob Childs.
The nett cost increases represent an investment in the future of the LRA which the Board believes to be fully justified, and I hope you will see some of the fruits of that in the General Manager’s report which follows.
Capital Fund
When the security initiative was launched, it was determined that we had to have a sound financial underpinning, and so the Capital Fund was created. All households were asked to contribute R1500.
To date, a total of R787,000 has been contributed – a disappointing increase of R25,000 in the year. I repeat what I said last year:
“The faith and vision of those who have contributed made it possible to get where we are today. The interest from the capital fund was been vital in keeping the LRA going in the first years of the new initiative, and will be vital in letting us take the next steps.
“To those who have contributed, on behalf of the entire community I thank you. I hope you share some pride in what has been achieved with your help.”
This year, as mentioned already, we have finally applied the funds to the acquisition of our premises in Studio Park, which represents a huge step forward for the LRA.
The Shopping Centre
The Lonehill shopping centre remains controversial. Some like the development and think it’s coming on nicely; others, especially those immediately adjacent to it, are very unhappy; and the whole development is mired in controversy.
We would like to integrate the Centre closely into the Lonehill security environment, and work positively with them, because it is there and a fact of life. Our responsibility as a resident’s association is to represent the wishes of the community and look for the best outcome for as many people as possible, but to be frank we receive little direction from our constituency.
The Centre is a key point with regard to security, and we believe it represents a hole in our defences. We also know it is a gathering point for unsavoury characters including drug dealers. There is uncertainty over the stance the municipality is going to adopt over alleged infractions of building regulations and zoning permission.
Rob Childs has been working on looking for the best win-win possible in the circumstances.
Upper East – Prison Development
It’s very nice to have an undiluted good news story, and this is it: the threatened extension of Lonehill Boulevard across the river as a temporary construction road has been called off. The LRA supported an Upper East action group morally, financially and administratively, and they prevailed.
Your Community Needs You
When in a darker mood, I think of this year as the Year of the Willing Horses, because the Board members and the few other volunteers are indeed the willing horses who get flogged to death.
A perennial threat in an organisation such as ours is volunteer fatigue. We are developing a solid infrastructure of employed personnel to handle the operational matters, but nonetheless without volunteers the LRA would fall apart. We have roughly 10,000 adults in Lonehill. Of these 10,000 people, we have:
* 7 board members who meet monthly for two to four hours, and outside of that will put in anything from 4 to 40 hours a month on LRA business
* 40-odd Observers who put in 4 hours a month monitoring guarding standards, and the co-ordinators and special interest observers who will contribute many hours more
* A half-dozen committee members and a score or so of helpers organising the Fun Day
* A handful of other volunteers attending security operations meetings (every Thursday morning), developing standards, and providing ad hoc assistance on various projects.
In all, well under 1% of the residents are carrying the load. It is not enough.
There is a misconception in many people’s minds that the LRA is business run on business lines: i.e. if you subscribe to the LRA security, you are getting what you pay for. You are not: the level of security and general maintenance the LRA manages to provide is exceptional value for money. You are getting a great deal more than you pay for (some pay nothing at all), and the surplus comes from your friends and neighbours donating their time and skills. That doesn’t mean there are no security breaches, or that everything is perfect, but the glass is 90% full although some just see the 10% empty.
We have nowhere near enough of an “I see a problem, how can I help fix it?” attitude, and too much load on too few people.
Your community needs you!
Thanks
The roll-call of thank-yous is never a complete one, and it’s difficult to do justice to all the contributors. May those I have omitted pardon me, as I mention:
* The current committee: Dave Barker, Clive Beaver, Debbie Caplin, Nick Fredericksz, Mike Laubscher, Betty Otter; and a board member who left during the year, Hermann Erdmann, who for years was the prime mover behind the security and many innovations in the running of the LRA.
* The Observers
* The Marketing Committee & volunteers, with a special mention of Shelley Miller who has done some amazing project management for us
* The LRA supporters
* Crawford Preparatory, for providing the venue

Lonehill Residents’ Association
Annual General Meeting
23 July 2005
Chairman’s Report
Retrospective
Last year’s chairman’s report started with the observation that looking back over a year brings home how much has changed. That observation is equally valid this year, as it has been another year of significant change for the Lonehill Residents’ Association.
The LRA is now probably the most active and organised volunteer Residents’ Association in the country, a state it has reached in the last five years after 20 or so years of being like most other RAs. I believe it’s necessary to remind ourselves – or inform newer residents – of the reasons the LRA in its current form came about.
Times have changed. The social and political structure of the country has been transformed. The changes have had their positive and negative sides, which we are not about to debate, but the very local impact on Lonehill residents was felt as the consequences of the diversion of municipal resources to under-serviced areas and the consequent drop-off in maintenance services in our area, and the general rise in crime, particularly violent crime.
Crime, and the threat to our personal security and peace of mind, was the biggest driver of a complete restructuring of the LRA, and remains our first priority. As a reminder of what it was like 5 years ago, here is a summary of major events in the months prior to the formation of the Lonehill Security Initiative:
* 12 May 2000 - 72 bullets fired at resident in his car in his driveway in a hi-jack attempt. Resident spent months in hospital recovering
* 26 May 2000 - armed robbery at Lonehill Dispensary.
* 9 June 2000 - resident murdered in armed robbery.
* 10 June 2000 - Lonehill shop targeted, owner fatally shot in armed robbery.
* 14 June 2000 - resident targeted in armed robbery
* 30 June 2000 - resident targeted in armed robbery
* 24 July 2000 - resident and family held hostage by 7 armed robbers
* 31 July 2000 - hijack in Lonehill
This was a bad spell, but it was not very much worse than the preceding few years. We were averaging two to three murders a year. It was, however, the catalyst for a resident, Trevor Nel, to start an aggressive, in-your-face campaign to do something about it. Trevor’s initiative led directly to the LRA in its current form, and there is no doubt that through the efforts of the LRA over the last five years as many as 10 or 12 lives have been saved.
The LRA Today
Trevor set out a vision for Lonehill, which has become the vision of the LRA:
An upmarket Village community where ALL residents are free to live, shop and exercise in pristine surroundings with total peace of mind in their personal safety and security.
We are edging closer to that goal. Today, the LRA is a R15m per annum business, directly employing 6 people, and through contracts with service providers employs nearly 300 people providing security, administration, technical support, and most recently, marketing services.
The LRA membership is all who live, work or own property in Greater Lonehill. Greater Lonehill is bounded by William Nicol, Witkoppen and Main, plus Upper East. Late last year the Beverley Ratepayers’ Association voted to dissolve and incorporate themselves into the LRA.



The success of the LRA flows from two primary factors:
1. Combining the purchasing power of so many residents gave the LRA enormous muscle to set the standards and objectives that we want, not what the suppliers chose to offer. Primarily, this has resulted in a proacative, co-ordinated approach to fighting crime, instead of reacting to it when it is too late.
2. Appointing paid service providers to handle the myriad tasks and administration requirements avoided the inevitable volunteer fatigue that so often causes similar projects to fail. We have only to look at the Lonehill Blockwatch initiative of around 10 years ago as an example of a laudable effort that withered after a couple of years.
There are dangers and complications that arise from the increasing success of the LRA, which I need to address as they could threaten the existence of the Association in its current form.
The first threat is complacency, apathy, and short memories leading to support falling off. The kick-start to the LRA as it is today was a spate of horrific incidents, a pattern seen in many places. Everyone vaguely thinks that something ought to be done but nobody feels that they should be the ones to act, until something shakes them into action. Our suburb today is clean, well-kept, and relatively free from crime, and has been for some years. So, in the minds of some, an attitude of “What’s the problem? Why do you need money/time/effort from me?” arises.
The current board of the LRA is, I should add, aware that there is room for improvement on all counts, and we think we have some way to go yet.
The second threat arises from the fact that the LRA is dealing with a great deal of money and making decisions that will affect our security, quality of life, and property values. This is very different from the typical RA. I think few will dispute that the LRA has wrought improvements on all fronts, but the downside of this is that we now have more to lose. The responsibilities of the board are therefore much heavier than they were two or three years ago, and the pressures arising from outside are that much stronger. We are running a R15m a year business that is still growing, with two or three million in the bank at any one time. We have a database of a couple of thousand people in an upmarket suburb, which has considerable commercial value. In short, we manage assets that many would like to get a slice of, and mismanagement would represent a significant loss to the community.
I think it fair to say that by and large the positives are taken for granted, but if violent crime returned to the levels of 5 years ago, property values slipped as a consequence by 20%, and residents were bombarded with junk mail and sales pitches, the LRA board would be in the firing line.
As a consequence, we have had to become more formal in our proceedings. The LRA is a business now, and needs to be run on business lines. One implication is that decisions have to be made by the board acting in what they believe to be the best interests of the community, taking into account far more background and information than can be put across in a meeting such as this; and some of the decision-making has to involve degrees of confidentiality. The directors are accountable to the residents and indeed the primary function of the AGM is to give the residents the opportunity to change the objectives of the LRA if they wish, and to hire and fire board members according to how well they have, or might in future, conduct the business of the LRA. (I use the term hire and fire not literally, of course, since the board members are not paid.)
I want to stress that the current board has, to the best of my knowledge, no personal interest or profit motive in the business of the LRA except insofar as all residents have, and when we come to nominations and elections I urge the residents to keep in mind that that should be a non-negotiable requirement for any nominees.
The third threat is that the LRA’s success as a business obscures its primary nature: we, all of us, are the LRA. The LRA is not a competing business vying for your custom, trying to get you to sign up. We are not the low-cost leader, and any profit we make is for the benefit of Lonehill. The fact is, the benefit the community as a whole derives from the LRA’s activities represents value for money that no-one else could hope to offer you. Unfortunately, it is based on the broad support we have. I say “unfortunately”, because it means that any individual or complex can opt not to support the residents, but still enjoy the benefits. It’s only when we lose critical mass that everything falls apart. So for example when an office complex like Studio Park or a cluster like Ravenshill terminates its contract with the LRA, they will continue to benefit from the overall scheme in spite of undermining it. The LRA security is not perfect – sit in on one of the many planning and management meetings and you will see that the LRA board and volunteers are only too aware of that – but it has brought us a long way and saved lives. If you see problems, pitch in and help solve them: it’s as much your problem as anyone else’s.
The final threat is volunteer fatigue. Much of the restructuring of the LRA has been aimed at providing a solid infrastructure of paid personnel to handle the mundane work. Nonetheless, without volunteers the LRA would fall apart. We have 3872 households in Lonehill, which equates to roughly 10,000 adults, plus those who work and conduct their businesses in Lonehill. Of these 10,000 people, we have:
* 5 board members who meet monthly for two to four hours, and outside of that will put in anything from 4 to 40 hours a month on LRA business
* 40-odd Observers who put in 4 hours a month monitoring guarding standards, and the co-ordinators and special interest observers who will contribute many hours more
* A half-dozen committee members and a score or so of helpers organising the Fun Day
* A handful of other volunteers attending security operations meetings (every Thursday morning),  developing standards, and providing ad hoc assistance on various projects.
In all, well under 1% of the residents are carrying the load. It is not enough.
One of the tasks of the Marketing service provider that has been recently appointed is to put in place programs to recognise and encourage volunteers.
Estate management
The Estate Management function headed by Ian Bell is basically everything to do with the running of Lonehill as a Village Estate. Potholes, burst pipes, overgrown servitude, rubbish, dead fish, graffiti, starving dassies on the Koppie, broken playground equipment and so on all fall under this.
We have a team of six gardeners who look after grass-cutting, litter control, and generally keeping the place tidy. In addition, we keep a watchful eye on developments: there is no holding back the tide and it is government policy to increase housing densities but we fight constantly to curb very high-density development with the attendant traffic, sewage and run-off problems.
Traffic density is increasing, and we are constantly trying to get road improvements done. Two of the biggest problem areas are the exit from Lonehill onto Main Road, and the traffic on the Boulevard itself which is dense, fast, and in some cases terribly ill-disciplined. Roadworks we are pressing for include:
* Widening the exit onto Main Road
* Traffic lights at the Fire Station/Shopping Centre
* Upgrading Cheyney Road
* Traffic calming measures, in areas like Turley and Lewis Roads.
The idea of a central barrier to stop U-turns on the Boulevard in Upper East has been firmly rejected by the Roads Department, despite many attempts.
Sad to say this list is much the same as it was last year. The eternal response is: no budget. However, we are told that the upgrading of Main Road and intersection with Lonehill Boulevard will start before the end of the year (a plan is on display in the hall).
The park around the dam is one of the more important areas in Lonehill, and although there are some areas still needing attention it is pretty respectable. There is often little cooperation from residents, though: last year we mentioned that dog owners are often irresponsible when it comes to cleaning up behind themselves, and that hasn’t changed.
Hawkers are a continuing nuisance, as well as a security threat (of which more later). We have several times had the SAPS in, confiscating goods and moving the hawkers on, but they keep returning. This is a continuing exercise.
Another scourge that is becoming an increasing nuisance is scramblers and 4-wheelers treating our parks and pavements as raceways, and two weeks ago a dog was hit by one. It could have been a child. A project for the coming months is to devise means of making the scrambler raceways unattractive to the scramblers whilst still allowing pedestrian and authorised vehicle access.
Administration and Finance
General Administration
To recap for newcomers, our administration is run by The Big Idea (TBI). TBI are responsible for:
* Contract administration
* Technical service administration
* Penalty monitoring, security and technical
* Sales of response and guarding contracts
* Ancillary functions such as the Christmas Hamper drive for the guards and assistance with Fun Day.
* Weekly email newsletter (1800 recipients)
* Web site, www.lonehill.za.com
* Regular paper newsletters (5000 print run)
There has been steady progress with building support, but there is room for improvement. The graph shows how the number of people who support the LRA, directly or indirectly, has climbed over the last 15 months:

Today, 3109 residents contribute through one or more of armed response/phone-in/panic button service, living in a complex or closure that subscribes to the LRA, or direct environment or infrastructure contributions. This means that approximately 80% of households in Lonehill support the LRA in one way or another.
The average subscription or contribution is R362.83, and ranges from R25 pm (in a complex making a generic contribution to the general security) to R1295 pm (small enclosure with guarding plus individual armed response).
Subscribers to security are currently at 1250 individuals and 64 complexes or road closures.


If we take out the security contracts, we have another picture:

Category
No.
% of Total
Capital Contributions
521
13%
Environment/Infrastructure, individuals
417
11%
Environment/Infrastructure, complexes
13
15%

(The Capital Fund, for those not familiar with it, was established in 2000 to provide a financial base to fund LRA projects, and residents were asked to contribute R1500, as a lump sum or in instalments. We will touch on this again later.)
What can be seen from this is that whilst we enjoy broad support, little of it is other than through security contracts, and security contracts provide little margin. It is the few who are contributing a little extra that are really supporting the LRA. It does not take much: if every household contributed R50 or R100 a month we would have R200,000 to R400,000 a month additional, which would fund the many projects we could start to benefit the community, some of which we will talk about later.


Financial Accounts
The financial structuring of the LRA has been carefully thought out. With few exceptions, we have no expenses that are not matched by income, and our contracts cannot go cash-flow negative. Major costs, including administration, technical services, and marketing, are funded out of variable income from security subscriptions. These are all costs that any security provider has to bear in any case, and we have negotiated our security costs based on the fact that we are directly handling these other costs through our own direct contractors. The difference is that by having direct control we can provide better levels of service geared directly to our needs.
Full copies of the Financial Statements have been distributed. An overview follows.


     2004    2005
Revenue    7 601 231    11 893 577
Expenditure    7 698 664    11 392 716
Profit/(Loss)    (39 073)    500 861
Cash Resources    1 377 465    1 911 692
The financials are audited by Clive Dryden CA(SA), and also checked by Clive Beaver, recently retired from Deloitte & Touche who is on the board.
The salient points to highlight are:
* Last year’s small loss, due to bad debts mostly acquired as we took over the administration of contracts and inherited uneconomical contracts where some complexes were paying very low rates, has been cleared. The excellent operating profit for this year is due to a combination of:
o Restructuring in anticipation of the marketing contract but costs not yet incurred; and
o Penalties exacted on the security service provider (R105 000).
Capital Fund
When the security initiative was launched, it was determined that we had to have a sound financial underpinning, and so the Capital Fund was created. All households were asked to contribute R1500.
To date, a total of 521 individual contributions have been received, a very disappointing increase of just 7 in the last year. The faith and vision of those who have contributed made it possible to get where we are today. The interest from the capital fund was been vital in keeping the LRA going in the first years of the new initiative, and will be vital in letting us take the next steps.
There are around 4000 households in Lonehill, not counting the businesses, with an aggregate value that of the order of R3bn. Various estate agents estimate that if the LRA ceased operating, property values would drop between 10% and 30% - that’s R300m to R900m being wiped off the property values in Lonehill. We think just in monetary terms, let alone in lives and trauma saved, it has been an outstanding investment by the community, albeit not equally shared.
We appreciate that not everyone can readily afford R1500 as a lump sum or even in instalments, but nonetheless the level of contributions from a community of 4000 households, ranging upwards from R500,000 in value, is very disappointing.
It has been proposed that the capital fund contributions should indeed be an annual levy, or a fixed monthly contribution of R125. If all those who could afford it volunteered this sum, Lonehill and all its residents would derive benefits far beyond the cost of the contributions.
To those who have contributed, on behalf of the entire community I thank you. I hope you share some pride in what has been achieved with your help.
Technical Services
Last year we reported that technical service was our biggest headache, which was high on the list of priorities to sort out. As you will have seen from the structure show earlier, we have appointed a preferred technical services provider, whose service may be booked through TBI. As an LRA security subscriber call-outs are free of charge for the first hour: in other words, minor repairs and simply checking out a suspect system will not cost you anything. Problems that require parts or extensive labour will be quoted for.
The technical services contractor is appointed on the same terms as all contractors to the LRA:
* Exclusivity: No work may be done in Lonehill other than through the LRA
* Restraint: should the contract be terminated, the supplier may not operate in Lonehill for 5 years.
* Ownership of customer base: all customer information, contracts etc are owned by the of the LRA
You are not in any way obliged to use the LRA for your technical services, of course. If you do, though, you are also supporting the LRA as a small percentage of materials costs goes to fund administration and marketing provided by the LRA.
Marketing
Most of you have received the Lonehill Prospectus: a short video and accompanying brochure telling residents, and would-be residents, something about the suburb. We still meet people who have lived in the area for years and don’t even know there is an LRA, and a general lack of awareness of what has been achieved and how it works must surely lie at the root of the relatively poor support, both financial and in time and effort, from the bulk of the community.
The purpose of the prospectus was to make people aware of what we have, and that it didn’t just happen by itself. And, of course, to drive up support. It was produced at remarkably little cost; much of it done residents who donated professional time and skills at no or highly reduced cost, and was partly sponsored by the companies whose logos you see in the brochure. Their support is greatly appreciated: believe it or not the video and brochure were produced at a cost, before sponsorship, of R40,000.
Effective the 1st July, we have appointed a marketing service provider whose job it will be to carry on where the prospectus leaves off, to build awareness and generate community spirit and wider support for the LRA, to put in place a volunteer appreciation programme, and to plan and manage quality of life functions such as events in the park. A presentation from Lifestyle Communications follows later.
The Shopping Centre
Last year I said: “The shopping centre is a mess.” This year, it is a bigger mess. I reported: “As far as our councillor, John Mendedlsohn, has been able to establish, there are no approved building plans for the recently completed or the under construction sections.” Little has changed. Higgledy-piggledy development continues unabated, in defiance of stop-building orders, with no regard for the needs of the community or the impact on nearby residents. Nothing that is built ever seems to be completed properly: there are broken tiles and unfinished or damaged items everywhere. Homes are being subjected to noise from air-conditioning systems, smells from restaurant vents, loud music till late at night, the stench of rubbish spilling out of dumpsters, trucks delivering at all hours of the night, and loss of privacy, all in contravention of zoning conditions or by-laws or health regulations.
Posters have appeared giving notice of intent to apply for permission for re-zoning in respect of work already completed. Express conditions of prior re-zonings, including installing traffic lights and widening a section of Lonehill Boulevard at the entrance to the centre have not been complied with.
Findings in a report highlighted areas of concern regarding the structure, forwarded to the Council before the last AGM, still have had no response.
The LRA is supporting an action being brought by residents of Boschendal against the centre to require compliance with prior conditions and curtail the current development
Upper East – Prison Development
During the year, contractors undertaking the Leeuwkop prison extensions started to build an access road across the river at the bottom of Lonehill Boulevard in Upper East. It was billed as a temporary (2-year lifespan) construction access road.
This would have meant two years of heavy construction vehicles 12 hours and more per day grinding up and down that section of Lonehill Boulevard, coupled with the threat of it becoming a permanent, and even the main, entrance to the prison. The threat to peace and quiet and the long-term impact on the residential nature of the area was considerable. Also, the area where the bridge was to be built is a protected wetland and home to endangered species.
By the curious quirks of modern government, the latter fact has been the most important for the affected residents.
An action committee formed by residents of Upper East and constituted as a sub-committee of the LRA and with the full backing of the LRA has gathered information and raised vociferous objections, aided by Paul Fairall, a well-known environmental activist. It’s too early to relax, but at this stage it looks as though the bridge has been stopped, and the damage done will be put right.
Projects
These are some of the projects on the LRA’s agenda.
Joint Operations Centre (JOC)
The JOC, formerly referred to as the Community Centre is a long-term project that is moving fitfully forward. We changed the name of it to make its intended purpose clearer.
We manage close to 300 people across four different functions, with each function in a different location. We need a proper home for the control centre, storage space for heavy-duty gardening equipment, changing facilities and ablutions, and a readily accessible place for our members to go for information, problem reporting and assistance.
We also want to set up a properly secured safe haven for motorists who feel threatened.
Negotiations on land and buildings have been on-again, off-again, and at present are undecided, but looking positive that we will in due course be able to finally secure land by the Mulbarton roundabout. We are in negotiations with the owners of the land, and with BP who had intended to build a petrol station on a portion of the land.
Car safety area
A safe haven, as mentioned above, will form part of the JOC, but we want to put something in place in the interim. We have had incidents where residents either feared a hijacking attempt or indeed were hijacked, and could find no safe place to drive to.
Clearing, Lighting and Monitoring high-risk areas
There are areas like the river frontage and some of the servitudes that could be cleared, illuminated at night, and monitored by surveillance cameras linked to the control room.
Bridle Paths
The parks and bridle paths are an under-used asset. With some money and imagination, they could be beautified and made into a feature for walkers and joggers, and further enhance the image of Lonehill.
Community Events
Our park around the dam is a wonderful venue that is under-used. Music events, mini-festivals and other activities could brighten up life for everyone.
Save the Dam
The dam project has been very successful, but there is an on-going cost of R4500 a month to maintain the treatment. This has been funded so far by sponsors, but that is not guaranteed beyond the first year.
Lonehill.Net
A community-oriented wireless Lonehill network is being investigated with pilot users already on the system. It would provide services to Lonehill residents such as free voice calls, camera monitoring, links to community services, links to Lonehill businesses, and Internet access.
Fun Day
The Fun Day has become a regular attraction, and plans are well under way for this year’s event, which will be held on Sunday, 4th Sepetmber. It’s a lot of fun, and a great way to meet your friends and neighbours from Lonehill. The emphasis is on family entertainment with lots for the kids, music, food and drink.
Security
As we will see, crime has been steadily reduced. Residents who have been here for more than a few years may recall that gunshots at night were not particularly remarkable, and that in the first two years of the current security initiative, 7 Fidelity staff were shot – none fatally – in the course of their duties.
Security accounts for 96% of our gross revenue, and takes up the lion’s share of the committee’s time. Apart from what you see in the reaction cars and the guards, there is also much behind the scenes activity, including undercover work.
Much of what was reported last year still holds good:
Our success in getting some control over crime in the area is due to many factors:
* Visible policing
o 12 Bobbies on the beat
o Mountain bike patrols
o 2 Motorcycle patrols
o Good reaction (5 cars)
* Radio link between ALL guards
* Undercover work
* Riverside and forest patrols
* Intelligence gathering
* Traffic monitoring points
* Liaison with SAPS and Metro
* Liaison with the Scorpions
One thing we have learnt from the undercover work and the other intelligence-gathering over the last couple of years is that a major source of information for the criminals is the collection of street vendors and hawkers. It is not a vendetta on poor people trying to make a living that makes us keep trying to move them on, it is self-protection.
A key element in the security scheme is the Observers, volunteers from the community who do inspection tours at all hours of the day and night to monitor the standards of the guards and vehicles. The aim of the Observer team is to do one day and one night inspection per day, done on a roster which means that an Observer does one tour every two weeks. The Observers check on everything from the guards’ equipment and uniforms being in order to the state of the vehicles. We check that they are given one hot or cold drink (depending on the weather) during the night shift and that the guard huts are respectable. The welfare of the guards is a matter of self-interest as well as humanity: we need them alert and operating with the right equipment under the best conditions we can manage. As you go to bed tonight, pause to think that one of your neighbours will be up in the middle of the night to look after your interests.
There are many security-related mini-projects on the go at present, too many to list in detail as there are over 30, ranging over subjects as diverse as the vehicle safe haven,  upgrading guard houses, vehicle deployment strategies, crime statistics monitoring, domestics’ forums, training requirements, uniforms, SAPS liaison, and so on.
There have been incidents, and some very serious, such as the murder at Fabz Estate in May.
To put the incidents we have had in perspective, we should look at the wider picture and at the trend in our figures.
First, for Douglasdale as a whole, the figures we have are:

Violent includes murder, rape, armed robbery, hijacking.
Serions Non-Violent includes robbery, house breaking, theft from motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle.
Our figures for the last 2 years are plotted below:

For a comparative plot showing our figures for the last seven months against those of the Douglasdale policing area, see below:

What emerges from these figures is that our crime, whilst still unacceptably high, is showing a declining trend in violent crime even though in the general area it is rising. Non-violent crime has increased, though at a lower rate than elsewhere.
The increase in non-violent and petty crime is probably at least partly due to these factors:
* A large number of building operations.
* Better reporting, as our subscriber base grows and we cover a higher proportion of the area.
* Spill-over from the generally higher crime levels around us.
Thanks
The roll-call of thank-yous is never a complete one, and it’s difficult to do justice to all the contributors. May those I have omitted pardon me, as I mention:
* The current committee: Clive Beaver, Herman Erdmann, Mike Laubscher, Nick Fredericksz; and members who left during the year: Tony Platt, Trevor Nel, Geoff Caplin
* The Observers
* The Fun Day Committee & volunteers
* The LRA supporters
* Crawford Preparatory, for providing the venue today and hosting the weekly security meetings 

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