The following is in the minutes of the June 6th Council meeting. We note that it has taken nearly two weeks for these minutes to make an appearance! We congratulate councillors on their attempts to get to the bottom of the McKinnon Basketball application for court space and the contract awarding system. May we suggest however, that this is only the first step? It is a great pity that residents appear to get ‘action’ only when there is a major hue and cry and negative publicity. What would be really informative is a total review on ALL expressions of interest; on the full disclosure of criteria, allocations, costs, and contract details. That, we maintain would be open, transparent and responsible government!
Item 10 – URGENT BUSINESS
Crs Magee/Pilling
“That Officers report to Council on the awarding of the use of GESAC basketball courts. This report should include details of requests for Expressions of Interest letters offers and acceptances copies of draft contracts, and responds to the claims contained in the letter by James Cody Treasurer of the McKinnon Basketball Association of the 1st June 2011 and should also cover the capacity of the Oakleigh Warriors to honour their commitment.
2. That the report include by way of separate appendix a copy of the proposed contractual terms to Oakleigh Warriors and Council not submit any written contract to Oakleigh Warriors until Council has considered same.
3. That this resolution be incorporated in the public minutes of this meeting, and
4. The report should include the cost of hire of like courts at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.”
AMENDMENT
Crs Hyams/Tang
In part four delete the word ‘at’ and replace with the word ‘including’.
The AMENDMENT was put and CARRIED on the casting vote of the Chairperson and on becoming the SUBSTANTIVE MOTION was again put and CARRIED unanimously.
Glen Eira Debates 
June 17, 2011 at 11:30 AM
I’ve read this and keep scratching my head and wondering what lawyer tricks Hyams and Tang are up to in their amendment. There doesn’t seem to be much difference at first glance in changing one single word. On second thoughts though it makes the world of difference to the report that Newton and his cronies will write. By stipulating a comparison only with the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre apples are being compared with apples. Change this to ‘including’ and you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a whole list of swimming pools and courts only facilities that in no way compare with gesac. Clever little buggers aren’t they always trying to make it that much easier for Newton to squirm out of any bungle he’s got council into.
June 17, 2011 at 11:41 AM
Gang of four (Tang, Hyams, Lipshutz, Esakoff) at it again – bet you that’s how the voting went. Lobo is away so Esakoff gets 2 votes. Great stuff.
June 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM
I’m just plain gobsmacked that when you’re dealing with a $50 million project that councillors aren’t kept up to date with what is really going on. The fact that this comes under Urgent Business tells me that they know bugger all and its only because this group of people kicked up a stink that they’re now forced into making “inquiries”. What’s also damning of Lipshutz and Magee is that the Pools Steering Committee meeting minutes are the worst lot of documents that has ever been published. They don’t have anything in them and the time spent in some of these meetings is a real joke. Lipshutz should be sacked together with Newton. Gesac is a total disaster and I’ll bet my life that by the time it’s finished it will cost millions and millions more – but we won’t ever know this because there will be a huge cover up. First there’s the membership balls up, now the contracts, next the building itself, then we’ll get the costs for running the place which will be through the roof, then a report on the environmental costs. I can see this going downhill really fast. Trouble is I’m paying for the incompetence of Newton and Lipshutz.
June 17, 2011 at 12:07 PM
weaselling your way out of trouble is an art and not a science. guess who has the arts, humanities, law etc background? fifty million dollars sounds much, much less than $50 million. don’t you think?
June 17, 2011 at 1:36 PM
Just remember that it is a partially ratepayer funded complex. State Government funding has also covered some costs. As ratepayers doesn’t it seem strange and even awkward that the tender for basketball services has been given to Warriors, based at Oakleigh and playing domestic at Sandringham. Admittedly a number of players are local but they have a choice. The McKinnon Basketball Association will have no choice but to either continue at current School stadiums, which are at capacity or find another venue. Warriors will not invite us in, just attempt to plunder the ranks!
June 17, 2011 at 2:34 PM
Brendon, you’re being far too kind. GESAC is more than ‘partially ratepayer funded’. We’re responsible for everything minus 12.5 million. By my reckoning that makes it roughly 32 million out of our pockets. On top of this there will be the tenders to pay out, plus the running costs, plus another 50 very well paid staff and you can double the 32 million over the next 5 years. All this on the pie in the sky promise that over 300,000 people will come per year. Highly questionable, especially if they’re going to have to pay premium prices just to get through the door and then worry about tranport, car parking and heaps of other things. I’d simply head over to Waves which has just been renovated and is affordable and is just a couple of km away.
June 17, 2011 at 5:03 PM
Whoever came up with 300,000 per year is dreaming. That is almost 6000 each week. The car park will need to be huge. Do your own sums and you will agree.
June 17, 2011 at 2:47 PM
A very good friend of mine is a policeman so we’ve had quite a few chats about Overland and the Ombudsman’s latest report into the manipulation of crime statistics for possible political reasons. Out of interest, I’ve been reading his report this morning and came across a paragraph that says it all about accountability and the public interest and what’s wrong with public officials. I say amen, and ask the same questions of Newton and especially Lipshutz. The relevant paragraph is -“This public interest is derived from the nature of such public offices. In this instance, the public interest arises from the importance of the roles, duties and responsibilities of the individual senior staff members to the people of Victoria and the need for transparent accountability for the performance of those roles, duties and responsibilities for persons holding those significant offices.” When you have a culture of secrecy as in Glen Eira, then everything that this paragraph states as essential goes out the window. GESAC is nothing more than the continuation of cover ups and disastrous planning with no accountability to those who are paying the bills.
June 17, 2011 at 4:59 PM
We would like to note a couple of things regarding the hearing of submissions re budget (June 14th) and the games that are continually being played by this administration. In the minutes of this meeting we have the following:
“COMMENTS FROM THE GALLERY
The following person addressed the Council:
Naomi of Bentleigh East”
This is most irregular given that residents have to identify themselves prior to addressing council. So why does this individual only warrant ‘Noami of Bentleigh” – especially in light of the April 4th meeting on the C60 and Racecourse when one of the 37 speakers refused to disclose her surname, yet in the minutes she was named!!!! Either the policy is consistent throughout and applied equally – or an explanation provided as to why one individual is named against her wishes, and another is not named – and we’re not told if this was against her particular wishes.
It would also assist in accountability if the author of the minutes was disclosed. Then we would know exactly who is responsible for these inconsistencies!
June 19, 2011 at 10:25 AM
Maybe this un-named person is related to one of the sacked Councillors.
June 17, 2011 at 10:58 PM
Feldman ran away from council because he was the architect of GESAC.He knew it was always going to fail so he ran interstate. Now his two mates Tang and Magee need to leave the State before they are run out of town.I remind all that pre Amalgamation the Moorrabbin Council resolved to build Waves and close E Bentleigh.GESAC is in a pathetic position, close to competition,and too far away from the West in our city.What a dumb decision. As for Mc Kinnon Basketball Club they want this stadium without paying a commercial rate for it.A large number of our kids use other Municipalities basketball facilities especially Oakleigh.Also are we going to ask patrons for their ID and charge more for non residents. Tell MBC to p-s off or pay up.Ask if they have any full time employees.
June 18, 2011 at 7:50 AM
Just wonder if the McKinnon Basketball Association members and supporters are going to vote for Magee or Hyams or Lobo? They were the greatest supporters of GESAC. At Council well attended forums they were all in favor and applauding Councillors for choosing East Bentleigh rather than Carnegie pool. There were many other community organisations that saw GESAC as an opportunity to find a better and cheaper place for them.
Now it appears that Tucker Ward Councillors have no say in how the Centre is to be run. Surprise, surprise, the realpolitic of Glen Eira has just chipped in. The Officers are in charge. Even the idea to have GESAC was by the Officers. Magee is deluding himself that somehow he was influential.
The Councillors are there for the show and belong to the Glen Eira News pages. The question remains, are Glen Eira sport communities going to support the current lot or go for new Councillors with balls that can stand up to the Officers?
June 18, 2011 at 8:13 AM
Spot on Colin (post no.2) – this motion clearly shows that Council does not have a clue and has yet again failed to provide appropriate oversight. Unfortunately, this is the projects end phase so aside from the appalling loss of more parkland for carparking (known to be inadequate at the planning stage) we will probably never know how much lack of oversight has cost us.
The expenditure of $50m+ and the ratepayers deserve better than this. It is about time this Council stopped it’s petty squabbling and gameplaying and thought more about it’s legal duty to ratepayers.
June 18, 2011 at 11:44 AM
Cr. Pilling has on his blog a post about the McKinnon Basketball club and GESAC allocations. What I found to be important is this statement by him – This decision was taken at an admin/officer delegated level not by Councillors – However myself and other crs are certainly very concerned that the usage of a new rate-payer funded facility has been awarded to an out of municipality association – the Oakleigh Warriors
To my mind Cr Pilling has hit on the central issue. The way that delegations have been arranged and granted to officers. It’s no good crying wolf now when it’s all too late. Councillors should have either put restraints on officers at the time when these delegations came before Council, or they should have been far more proactive in asking pertinent questions all the time and insisting that the responses were detailed. In not doing this councillors have allowed this situation to arise. It is really obvious to me and I’m sure plenty of other residents that in many instances councillors are mere appendages and that it is officers who run council.
June 19, 2011 at 9:47 AM
I think you are all nuts on this blog, just simply anti- anything that does not suit you.
If you have a look at the big picture, you will find that Glen Eira sporting Clubs are served very well by this Council and previous ones. A list of Glen Eira Clubs using Council facilities is overwhelming. I’d like to bet on that.
So, what is wrong with trying to recoup some of the investment from other areas?
June 20, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Totally agree with the notion the process needed some guidelines set before asking for tenders. Councillors will be more wary in the future. Having been involved in junior football and cricket over the years, nothing but praise for the facilities provided by Council…we are certainly well provided. The expectation was that Council would do the same with indoor ball sports and take the pressure off School gymnasiums. The McKinnon Basketball Association offered a fair commercial rate for the use of GESAC, a price that wouldn’t see fees increased for Basketball families.
Where the MBA have fallen over is that they can’t fill the stadium for 52 weeks of the year but Warriors obviously can.
We all have choice, I personally have a son who plays for Sandringham in VJBL.
July 6, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Mellesa
I would like to add my absolute disappointment to the basketball facilities being awarded to Oakleigh Warriors and not MBA. My family and I have supported this project and have participated in community sporting clubs for over 20 years in this area. We have sold, bought and renovated houses in the area and paid council rates for in excess of that 20 years and feel very let down by the council on this issue. If we are to foot part of the bill for this venue, through an increase in rates, then isn’t it only fair that the basketball facility be awarded to a local club? What better way to increase local civic pride than having a state of the art club proudly displaying the insignia of a long standing local club? It makes little sense to have a club from a different municipality, where the majority of players do not live in the area, being granted the facility.