NZPI has eleven branches, ten of which are within NZ and one based in the United Kingdom. The Branches have a unique role to play within the NZPI family.

Relationship of Branch to National Body

The branches are set up under the auspices of the Institute and are officially recognised by the Institute under the Constitution where stipulated by the Board.

Branches therefore report back to the Institute on their financials etc to ensure that their activities are accounted for with respect to any tax issues.

Roles within the Branch

The Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary, and then the branch committee members typically run each branch.

All positions are typically held for a year.  Elections are usually held annually at the branch Annual General Meeting.

In brief, the roles and what they involve are below:

Chairperson: runs the branch meetings, provides leadership for the branch, is the point-of-contact for people who wish to join the branch or have queries, is the usually point-of-contact on issues (other than financial) for the Institute.  The Chair is typically the branch representative on the Policy Advisory Committee.

Deputy Chairperson: back up for the Chairperson in event of illness, business.  Another point-of-contact if the Chairperson is not available.

Note: both the Chairperson of the branch and Deputy Chairperson must be current Full Members of the NZPI® and are both usually cheque signatories.

Treasurer: the Treasurer is responsible for keeping financial records, ensuring bills are paid, reporting creditor payments to the Committee, ensuring the financial side of a CPD event is run properly and transparently, and ensuring the banking is done and up-to-date and that two monthly financial statements are produced for the Institute office.

Secretary: the Secretary is responsible for producing minutes at each meeting, setting agendas and ensuring these are circulated to all Committee members and the Secretariat.

Student Representatives

Where a branch has a University in town that offers a recognised Planning Degree, it is a good idea to have a student representative on the branch.  This provides a liaison point back with the student and it may bring out things that can feed through to the main Institute as to needs of students, things that could help the branch and the students etc.

The best way to get a representative is to ask the class representative from the overall programme to join the branch.  This can be done through the course Head of Department.

NZPI® Constitution & Regulations

The Institute's guiding principals are laid out in its Constitution/Regulations.  Part of this pertains to the running of branches.

As discussed in another part of this manual branches set up by-laws to operate underneath the auspices of the Constitution and Regulations.

By-laws

Each branch under the NZPI® Constitution need to have their own by-laws.

These need to be signed off by the Institute Board.

The by-laws are to dictate how the branch is to run, (eg. election of officials etc).

It is worth the branches looking at their by-laws every three to four years just to see whether anything needs to be updated, moved etc.  Note any updates need to go through the NZPI® Board.

Any queries on the by-laws please contact the CEO.  Note that the Institute's CEO needs to have a copy of the branch by-laws.

Branch Meetings

Most branches hold their meetings on a monthly basis but this is determined by the location of the branch and the area it is covering.

There is no specific requirement on a branch to have a meeting within a certain period.  However, in the interests of the Treasurer being able to report activity (eg, listing creditors paid) it would be ideal that a meeting happens at least once every three months.

Elections

Elections are typically held annually and the process in which this is done is stipulated under branch by-laws.

Once an election has happened, and it is all confirmed, please contact the Institute office with the names and contact details of the new Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Events

Each branch organises their own CPD events in conjunction with, and in addition to, those organise by the national body.

The branch CPD events are designed for those people who live within the branch area to have usually a 1-2 hour get-together and a speaker.  A panel discussion may be chosen or you may chose to have a speaker talk for a certain amount of time on a particular issue.

When holding a CPD event for which you are charging money, ensure:

a)   that there are at least two people on the desk when money is being received;

b)  that everyone who pays money is issued with a GST receipt (see receipts);

c)  that the Treasurer provides float for change and the amount of float is recorded;

d)  that two people count the money and verify how much is there at the end of the night;

e)  that a slightly different price is charged between members and non-members of the Institute.  The reason for this is that you need to provide in your two monthly reports how many people at an event were members versus non-members. If you make a slight differential, (even if it is $1) it makes it much easier to count up.  The reason the Secretariat needs to know this is for annual income tax purposes.