GESAC has finally opened and the basketball courts are now in use. What still needs to be determined is:
- Are ratepayers subsidising the Warriors for any courts that they are unable to fill?
- Are courts standing empty and therefore representing a revenue loss to Council?
- The Warriors’ EOI presumably ‘won’ because they ‘guaranteed’ a higher revenue base than the McKinnon Basketball Association – in fact, “$95,000 per annum more”. (See minutes of 13th December, 2011). If this amount is now NOT forthcoming, what does this say about the entire EOI/Tender process and the ultimate decision of certain councillors to allocate the courts to the Warriors? Was the decision merely ‘pie in the sky’, based on a wish and a prayer? How well was the EOI investigated and corroborated?
- Are residents now literally paying the price for poor decision making?
The last two Council Meetings have featured public questions on this issue. With typical Council evasiveness, no adequate response has been provided, except for the carefully phrased ‘answer’ below:
The question asked in part –
1. Will any courts stand empty when Gesac opens?
2. If so, how many and for how long and what is the estimated loss of revenue to council?”
The Mayor read Council’s response. He said: “I refer you to the response provided to you at the 20 March 2012 Council Meeting. Whilst the proposed court costs and hours were disclosed in the 13 December Council Minutes, other aspects of the EOI remain Confidential. I can however add that revenue will be at the normal rate for Council courts as opposed to the alternative EOI at 30 percent lower and will amount to $95,000 per annum more.”
All very nice and good, except that the question isn’t answered. It is clear that the Warriors do not have enough teams to cover all the Friday to Sunday time slots they’ve been allotted. If they did then there would be no need for this paragraph taken from their Facebook page –
“It is expected that all Warriors members both Rep and domestic will participate in domestic competitions at GESAC from this Winter season onwards. This can be as a member of a Warriors domestic team or in a team they organize themselves.”
The scene gets even murkier now. If there is ‘sub-letting’ then who is responsible for this sub-letting? Is it the Warriors or Council? And the $64 dollar question remains. Are all the courts being used? If they are not, then are the Warriors paying for these courts or are ratepayers subsidising the Warriors and in the meantime allowing the continued loss of revenue?
Are we looking at another ‘cover-up’? Why can’t this Council provide straight-forward answers to public questions that impact on ratepayer funds, council competence and ultimately, transparent and accountable governance?
Glen Eira Debates 
May 9, 2012 at 4:42 PM
I’ve checked out the minutes from last year. Burke’s argument was that the Warriors offered 3,675 hours of court booking time at $45 per hour. That makes it $165,375 per year. That’s a hell of a lot of money for a single club to raise so I’m not surprised if plenty of courts are standing empty and the warriors can’t fulfill their promise. I think the public question was perfectly reasonable and deserved an answer. Since it wasn’t answered then you’ve got to wonder what Burke and the gang are hiding. I would think it’s all about the contract and what clauses aren’t being fulfilled.
May 9, 2012 at 6:01 PM
Burke also said it was his decision to allocate to the Warriors. I too scratched my head over the ability of a amateur club to come up with $165K pa for court hire – I’m thinking Burkie better be darn sure he has all the documentation required to show he did due dilligence in assuring himself that the club has the resources to pay that much,
May 10, 2012 at 11:24 PM
What and McKinnon isn’t an amateur (non-profit) club???
Plenty of non-profit basketball Associations raise way way more than 165k. Check out Dandenong, Sandringham, Kilsyth, Knox and Sandringham to name just a few. In basketball terms that amount is peanuts.
Ask McKinnon what they are paying their BIG V stars?
Maybe if they played true locals in their teams like they use to do, they could have afforded a stronger bid. Too smart by half me thinks.
May 11, 2012 at 4:54 PM
The ability to afford a stronger bid has nothing to do with basketball imports. The MBA bid was ratified by the Association Club delegates, a group of people who work with the Executive. The last import prior to this year was back when the Men were in Division 3 (now Div1). Ex Tiger great, Marcus Timmons is the Director of Coaching and former Australian player, Axel Dench, is sponsored by a local business like most other players to help cover fees.
Council have defended their decision to award the courts to warriors, a club formally based in Oakleigh. If successful, Glen Eira will probably soon boast the largest percentage per head of population that play basketball….something this Council will be proud to boast.
May 12, 2012 at 12:22 AM
Warriors have always been a club formed born and administered out of Glen Eira, stop spinning the truth.
Also whats the combined cost of McKinnon’s three paid players in BIG V men and girls BIG V team?
The word going around is $200,000+. Only a few years back those teams had no paid players nor coaches and enjoyed more success. Lots of dollars lining peoples pockets instead of going back into junior development at the club.
Absolute disgrace!
May 9, 2012 at 10:06 PM
The questions were perfectly clear. They were not answered. If Council is going to uphold its stated mission statements, and the law, in regards to accountable government and full transparency then this is not the way to go about it. If Council is not receiving its projected and anticipated funds then a full explanation is in order. If mistakes have been made then it is also in the interests of transparency and accountability that those responsible be identified. Unfortunately, this Council refuses to admit its mistakes and whenever possible hides behind the ruse of “confidentiality”.
May 9, 2012 at 5:32 PM
I was there for the soft opening on Saturday to get my membership and all available basketball courts were full of kids of all ages playing games. Look completely full to me so all this fuss over the past 12 months appears to be a beat up. The stadium looks fantastic and if it isn’t already full it will be soon as it is by far and away the best basketball facility in the area.
May 9, 2012 at 7:03 PM
Christ, the warriors would be in real strife if the courts weren’t full on opening. Test is what happens 2 and 3 months down the track and instead of getting $165,000 as promised this dumb council only gets half of that.
May 9, 2012 at 9:23 PM
Sheesh free passes will do it every time – I myself have signed up for one. I have yet to receive my free pass, but judging by the photos I expect to be impressed (and promise to say so on this blog).
But and it’s a big but, will the patronage (not only basket ball but all the other facilities) enjoy the same level of business that the thrill of opening entails or will it dwindle off. Only time will tell and I am hoping for no dwindling.
Personally, while I wish GESAC every sucsess, I wont be using it. As a Caulfield resident it is hard to access (car only) and expensive given the number of other facilities, (which fulfill my needs) that I have to travel past to get to it
May 10, 2012 at 1:00 PM
The reason why you cannot get your heads aroudn the figure is that you are thinking of the warriors as a club but they are in fact trying to morph into a Association
If you look at their advertisments they are positioning themselves to offer around 6 senior leagues all year round. These alone will easily fill a day and half of their allocation. When you then add in Junior leagues, Kids programs , Rep teams etc they could easily fill the time (assuming the community demand for basketball is there).
Take the kids development program $70 for 10 weeks. Each week is a hour long and they fill a court with 10 kids. 30 kids on a 9:00 Sunday morning fills all three of the courts for 1 hour and generates $210 per hour ($135 of which goes to GESAC).
The fact is the Warriors saw the financial advantages of the GESAC and prepared their business case to suit. If they get their act togther they will easily fill their allocation (Mine you they are off to a poor start when you consider the haphazard approach they have taken on their website)
May 10, 2012 at 5:16 PM
So, will they start paying their way…..as of this weekend?
There is community demand judging by the size of the McKinnon Basketball Association. If warriors capture some of that market they should be happy. Difficult to see where any new teams will train….probably over at Oakleigh. So many questions! So few answers.
May 10, 2012 at 11:19 PM
It amazes me how small minded and petty some people can be. The person who posted this is trawling through facebook pages of non-profit groups serving junior sport and trying to tear them down???
Amazing stuff. Some people need to get a life.
I too went to GESAC last saturday to collect my membership pack and saw plenty of kids having a great time on the weekend playing basketball on the weekend. Plenty of kids playing and I made enquiries about mine joining. The people there were great, friendly and welcoming and gave me all the information I needed. One word to describe it – Impressive.
Good luck to the Warriors people they seemed a genuinely good group looking out for kids and sport, I hope they prove all the whiners on this site totally wrong!
May 11, 2012 at 5:05 PM
I don’t care about the past and the internal strife between the warriors and the MBA. What’s important now is some straight talking and answers. When ratepayers largely fund a 50 or 60 million dollar project and it stands partially empty because the winning bid can’t produce what it promised and residents are expected to take this on the chin, then there’s something very wrong. Basketball is where most of the money is supposed to come from. Every court that won’t be used and isn’t paid for by the warriors means that the anticipated income is lost. This could be a huge amount and it all boils down to the poor decision making of Burke and then a handful of councillors caving in to his lordship.
May 12, 2012 at 12:27 AM
How in God’s name would you know whether they have paid or not? They just started last week, give it a break!