Note: This meeting has now been deferred to Monday 16th July

Special General Meeting

On Monday Megan Rouse in her role as the secretary of the EDJBA will be sending out the agenda and motion for the Special General Meeting scheduled for Monday 18^th June.

The business of the meeting relates to the change of constitution for the EDJBA.

 The draft constitution has seen many hours of considered debate by a sub-committee and by the Executive of the EDJBA and the result of this debate will be included as part of the motion for the meeting.

In addition the Collingwood Basketball Club has contributed meaningful suggestions for inclusion.

 I have written a preamble to the motion outlining the key issues in relation to the draft constitution to guide delegates at the meeting and in discussion they may want to have at their respective clubs.

 This is a pivotal and watershed moment in the history of the EDJBA. The draft constitution has been framed to reflect the wishes of the clubs when they met prior to the Annual General Meeting last year and decided that for the first time the constitution of the EDJBA should give the clubs the power to determine the operating principles of the association.

 Hopefully the meeting will address the issues involved in the change from the existing constitution to the draft. I have sought advice from two people in regard to administering the meeting.  Phil Mithen, husband of life member Kay Mithen, and former Clerk of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and Gerry Glennen, legal advisor to Basketball Victoria, have both stated that it is possible to make amendments at the meeting on the original motion.  These amendments require a simple majority to become part of the original motion which when put must have a seventy five percent (75%) majority to be passed.   

 It is hoped that Phil will attend to help us through what could be a difficult constitutional debate.  At the time of writing this was his intention.

 We have been very fortunate that so many people have been willing to volunteer their time to assist us in the many facets of administration of the EDJBA and Phil’s offer is another of example of this generous donation of time and expertise.  I personally look forward to the Special General Meeting and hopefully the adoption of a new constitution that will open up a new way of doing things for the EDJBA.

 One of the key changes recommended is the lowering of the Executive from fifteen to nine with the people elected to the committee positions taking on the role of chairing a sub-committee to oversee various facets of the association’s activities including competition, governance and development.  The sub-committees would be made up of club representatives with special skills or interests in various areas of basketball administration and their role would be to make operational or administrative recommendations to the Executive for adoption.

Should this change to the composition of the committee be passed, and I hope it will, then clubs should be thinking of people with the skills required to work in the above environment.

Once again I ask personnel in all clubs to address the issues related to the draft constitution and ensure that their club’s representatives be well informed when they attend the Special General Meeting.

 

Until next week,

 

Happy Hoops

 

Ron Carlton

President