This blog site has been inundated with comments on the GESAC basketball “allocations”. The moderators have decided not to put up some of these comments as a result of their inflammatory and personal nature. However, the issue itself we believe is crucial to the good governance of this council. It should focus the community’s attention on two crucial questions:

  • Is it councillors who run this council, or is it Newton and Burke?
  • Exactly what were councillors told about the ‘expression of interest’ or tender processes? Exactly what did they know? Is there any official “policy’ that has been ratified by council?
  • Were councillors derelict in their overseeing duties on this process?
  • Has Burke acted unilaterally in making the offer? Is this acceptable to the community?

The formal letter of ‘rejection’ signed by Burke to the McKinnon Basketball Association has already been put up as a comment. We reprint it here TOGETHER WITH THE ASSOCIATION’S RESPONSE TO THIS LETTER. We further believe that it behoves all residents to carefully consider the Association’s letter and compare this with the statements signed by Burke. We also maintain that it is in the public interest that such information is out in the public domain.

BURKE’S LETTER

“Thank you for your response to Council’s public Expression of Interest (EOI) process for the use of the facilities at the soon to be completed Glen Eira Sports  and Aquatic Centre (GESAC). The facility is on target to open in late 2011.

We regret to inform you that your application for use has been unsuccessful. This decision has been based on an evaluation process based on three criteria in order of importance and weighting:
1. Community Benefit
2. Price
3. Capacity

In terms of feedback on your application, the following should be noted:
– GESAC is a major community facility and Council wishes to see maximum community use.  The McKinnon Basketball Association (MBA) proposed 2,160 hours of community basketball per annum and Council has accepted a proposal which will see 3,675 hours per annum of community basketball.  This use will be available to any person and any Club which plays with the GESAC-based Association.
– The allocated group offered a wider range of programs for the community.
– The allocated group offered a much more comprehensive marketing program to ensure its success.
– The allocated group offered payment at the level already in place in many similar centres around Melbourne and which will contribute to the Council providing and maintaining the facility without cost to ratepayers.  The McKinnon Basketball Association indicated that it gave a relatively lower financial priority to court hire and a higher weighting to other organisational priorities.

The evaluation process included Council contacting your Association on a number of occasions to encourage the MBA to submit a more competitive EOI.  I acknowledge the time and effort which your Committee put into that process to ensure that your bid represented the considered position of the MBA, taking all factors into account.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Burke
Director Community Relations”

McKINNON BASKETBALL RESPONSE

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your letter of May 24, 2011 (attached) informing me that the McKinnon Basketball Association (MBA) has been unsuccessful in its bid to utilise basketball stadium space in the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre (GESAC), currently under construction.

Whilst the several thousand MBA members, many of whom are Glen Eira rate payers, will be extremely disappointed by Council’s decision, ultimately we respect that decision.

However, I feel it is necessary to point out some inaccuracies in your letter.

We understand that Council have accepted a proposal from an Association known as the Oakleigh Warriors.

Your letter states that Council’s “decision has been based on an evaluation process based on three criteria in order of importance and weighting:

1. Community Benefit

2. Price

3. Capacity”

Taking each point in turn:

1. Community Benefit. There are a number of problems with this position as follows:

a. The MBA is the largest community based sporting association in the Glen Eira City Council’s catchment area, so it is hard to comprehend how the selection of a much smaller group from outside the area represents a superior community benefit for the residents of Glen Eira;

b. The MBA offers the broadest range of community based programs of any Association locally, and indeed was recently recognised by Basketball Victoria with their inaugural Inclusiveness Award in recognition of our All Abilities program;

c. The fact that you list “Community Benefit” as the number one selection criteria is particularly interesting in light of the fact that you specifically told us in our meeting that Council was not interested in our community credentials, in fact you went so far as to suggest that we should run our All Abilities program in one of our existing cheaper facilities as a means to help find the funds to pay the rental you required.

2. Price. I accept that price was always a sticking point; in fact it was made clear to us on numerous occasions that obtaining the best price was in fact the principle objective of Council. There are a number of facts which are worth reiterating for the record:

a. The MBA is a not for profit organisation, which prides itself on being professionally operated and administered; this professionalism would prevent us from making a financial commitment which we could not afford. This can be borne out by references which we offered to make available, indeed our application was endorsed by Basketball Victoria and Bendigo Bank. It would be in Council’s best interest to ensure that appropriate due diligence is undertaken on the successful applicant’s ability to pay;

b. The price we offered was $32.50/hour; this represents a substantial increase on our current rental costs which would need to be met through increased fees to our members. Our desire to ensure maximum benefit to our community of members makes it tremendously difficult for us to reconcile paying more for GESAC than is charged by the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre, arguably the best comparable facility in the state and possibly the country. Of course it is possible to pay more than the price we have offered for court hire elsewhere but this is typically on a casual basis whereas we made numerous offers for considerable time allocations;

c. Knowing the funding which was provided for construction of GESAC, particularly the last minute state government funding for completion of the multi-purpose stadium, it is clear that at the hourly rental proposed by the MBA, a reasonable payback of the construction costs is achievable. Therefore your comment in relation to the rival offer enabling Council to “provide and maintain the facility without cost to ratepayers” appears to us to be misleading, particularly given that it was made clear to us that the dry areas of the facility will subsidise the pools.

3. Capacity. You have stated that the allocated group offered increased occupancy to the MBA’s offer. It is frustrating to hear this as a reason for Council’s decision considering that the MBA made numerous proposals, ranging from 2 to 7 days per week. We were told in no uncertain terms initially, that Council were keen to see as many groups as possible use the facility and that there was no prospect of extended periods of use for one group; consequently we scaled back our initial offer to address this.

Your letter goes on to make two further points as follows:

“The allocated group offered a much more comprehensive marketing program to ensure its success”. We have a ready-made association of several thousand members, we do not need a more comprehensive marketing campaign to ensure our success. We are already of a size which would enable us to fill GESAC on each weekday evening and all weekend but were discouraged from submitting a proposal along such lines. In fact the other honour recently presented to the MBA by Basketball Victoria was that of fastest growing Association, consequently this point is simply not relevant.

Given the emphasis you place on community benefits in your letter, it seems incongruous that you would take steps to promote an Association from outside the Glen Eira community, which will presumably be seeking to compete with and undermine Glen Eira’s existing, well established and much loved McKinnon Basketball Association.

We wish you well with your endeavours and should things not work out with the allocated group, we would be happy to discuss alternate options.