X-RYDERS NEWS

3 November, 2017 dwpje@tpg.com.au

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Dear Friends

SCB NEWS

MOTORCYCLING NSW GENERAL MEETING, BLACKTOWN 26 October 2017

The meeting opened at 7.40pm, with MNSW President Tim Sanford in the Chair. All members of the Board, CEO Dave Cooke, and Amy Knop, (acting as Minute Secretary) were present.

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MNSW CONSTITUTION During the reading of the minutes the President discussed the progress on the proposed new MNSW Constitution.

He confirmed that the Board was concentrating on completing the new Constitution, which will be available in draft form soon. It will be much longer than the present version, and has been developed in conjunction with MA's draft Constitution and will include some common areas which were agreed to at the recent MA Alliance Conference.

This Constitution has been drafted by legal advisers, and will be a much more business based document than the present version.

One of the major changes will be the method of choosing the President. Currently the President is elected by the Clubs; it is recommended that in future the President be elected by the Directors, from the members of the Board, who are elected by the clubs.

A high priority will be to give power to the Board to remove the President from office and allow the Vice President to take over, or appoint a replacement. Last year's debacle when the President refused to co-operate with the Board and needed the clubs to vote him out shows that this is an essential change.

Another item which is still being considered is whether Committees should be continue to be elected by the Clubs, or appointed from nominations by the Board.

A questionnaire on this and other matters will be sent to clubs for their opinions.

In my opinion, the Board will try to get the Constitution completed and accepted by the members as soon as possible, (probably by a Postal Vote and an Extra-ordinary Meeting) so that the elections next May would be under the new rules.

If this is correct then they must really push this matter along, as the Christmas office shut-down will be coming soon, and they must allow at least six weeks for nominations for candidates and a postal vote.

I haven't heard any mention of email voting yet, but who knows what is in the new document, although this would not apply to any elections under the existing rules. *****************

MINI BIKE VENUE

The lease on the Ian Packer Mini Bike area at Horsley Park has been extended by one year, after intervention by the Minister of Sport. This will give MNSW a bit more time to find a replacement area, with the help of the Department of Sport. Dave Cooke is still hopeful that they can find sufficient land to build a new Mini Bike area and a purpose built office for MNSW.

Meanwhile MNSW Properties is still looking for a replacement for the Parkes St, Harris Park building which MNSW occupies. A developer is still interested in the site, but this may not last indefinitely.

NEW BOOK KEEPER

During the CEO's report, Dave Cooke announced that the former part-time book keeper, Kirsty has left the company and has been replaced by a full time, older man named Louis Henry. Louis was an accountant in his former homeland of Iraq.

I believe that this appointment has been long overdue, and I hope that the appointment will bring a new transparency into MNSW's books.

There has long been questions about some of the accounting system, with delegates fobbed off with vague descriptions of composite accounts. The recently aborted Nowra Road Race Circuit project was a black hole for financial details until it was canned.

The Nowra Motoplex, which we are told has a staff of 2.5 and turns over hundreds of thousands of dollars each year only gets minor details mentioned, because it is operated by Nowra District Motor Cycle Club, even though MNSW owns the Club.

Details of expenditure are occasionally disclosed, but allocation between capital expense and maintenance is confused. Whether MNSW's huge investment in the property will be written off when the property is returned to the new Nowra Club is not known.

The Ian Packer mini bike area is another operation where a bit of clarity would help decide the value of the venue. This facility has always lost money, but it would be interesting to know how much and why.

Then we come to Goanna Tracks MX at Coonabarabran, owned by MNSW, but operated by the former owner with apparently no income to MNSW. Financial details have never been released.

Soon the Training Track at West Maitland will be another venue with accounts to manage.

All this on top of Affiliation Fees, Permit Fees, wages and expenses of the MNSW staff, transponder hire, the MNSW Store and MNSW Motorcycling Alliance.

So, good luck Louis, you won't be short of work!

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