Its true.There was a meeting held last week with Board and members which was called by the members regarding alleged mismanagement of finances and questions over what some say are unethical arrangements. General consensus from what Im hearing is that a change of direction and leadership is needed. Many many unhappy people...........

Put in an independant board to provide a level of governance over the top.It will sort things pretty quick.AFL in country victoria are doing it and its sorting things out pretty quickly especially the financial management of leagues.

Happy Days - put an independent board over what?

You can't be talking about the Dual Olympian here he can do no wrong. Right.

Who at Knox is a dual olympian???????????

any efforts made by others to turn the place around will be in vain as ive been told even if the board are rolled they will refuse to step down......... democracy, go figure????

I think you will find that Wayne is the problem alright.

Whats happening at Knox is a mirror of whats happening at many associations in Victoria.

And if you expect BV can step in and fix it then think again - they don't have the authority - they can only advise the Knox board what they can do - unless the knox board invite BV to take over running Knox association.

But the Board doesn't have to do anything at Knox - just ignore the members no matter how many meetings they have and how many no-confidence motions are passed. Because BV will just advise them that until they themselves agree to step down at either an AGM or SGM they are the Board and can remain as they are.

You will soon realise the constitution is not worth the paper its written on.

They are not the first and won't be the last - The bigger the association the bigger the dispute.

VP, if things are that serious a number of things could happen.

a) the members could seek a special general meeting and bring forward the AGM at the SGM
b) if enough members are concerned they could ask consumer affairs to step in (there is precedent for this but not necessarily in basketball)

It would be an incredibly arrogant and stupid board to continue to push control under those sort of circumstances.

BV of course could disengage Knox, illegitimising their current power. This would potentially rip the association apart.

HO, I think you will find that members don't have those options.

Consumer affairs will only refer you to the governing body BV and will not intervene but BV has no authority to override the association constitution.

BV will say to the members the association board has to agree to having a SGM or bring forward the AGM but they don't have to do anything if they so choose.

There are a few ego's at BV that would rather see the association ripped apart then to allow themselves to be seen to be working against the current board.

A number of the larger associations are now probably bigger financially than BV and that puts them in a difficult position.

If the members call for a spill of all positions at a SGM then how do you suggest the existing board members be made to handover those responsibilities - they will just refuse to recognise the decisions made by a renegade group of members and continue to govern the association until either a AGM is eventually called or a court of law directs them relinquish those positions.

The associations incorporations act has a defined disputes process but it only works if people agree to discuss and work through the dispute in good faith.

With the large amounts of money that flow through associations it doesn't surprise me that these disputes are now arising - most of these disputes start with where the money is being spent and who is benefitting financially from board decisions.

Goodluck in trying to resolve such a dispute but I don't like your chances.

Why would board members want to stay present on any board when it has been made perfectly clear by the members that they have no confidence in them. The mind boggles as to what the answer could be............

Sounds like some leadership is needed over at Knox, if there is a person who is respected enough by his peers and the majority of the members and that person has the support of at least two or three others who can replace those persons holding the crucial positions on the board and they all have the necessary skill set to achieve their goal, plus run the Association competently, then something can be done...

Who is the white knight over there?

Who are his/her backers?

Allegations of mismanagement, especially where financials are concerned can easily be checked by reconciling the minutes/financial statements which must all be made available to members of an Incorporated Association...

Sorry VP. Consumer Affairs can and will get involved if required - but it would take a VERY serious procedural discrepancy for them to do so. The new act even allows for a member to take something direct to the magistrates court, where it is deemed the association management has engaged in oppressive conduct, which by definition includes conduct that is against the interests of the members as a whole OR by failing to act on an issue.

There is nothing in the act (old or new) that would require Consumer Affairs to refer to BV. CA treat each incorporated association as its own entity, a legal entity duly registered with the state. Knox's constitution requires they be part of BV, but does not require much more than that, so it would not give rise for CA to refer to BV in the case of a dispute between members and board.

As for an SGM, failure to recognise a legitimately called for SGM or refusal to hold such an SGM would put current Board members in the position where they could be legally charged for failing to exercise their duties as directors or, as suggested above, brought to the magistrates court on a charge of oppressive conduct.

The Knox constitution allows for 10% of members to call an SGM, which must be held within 28 days of the call.

As I said earlier, if they refused to do so, BV could disaffiliate them, follow up with CA on behalf of the members or a bunch of other actions, all of which would result in difficult position for the current board.

BV will do no such thing of course, they have demonstrated in the past an incredible capacity to sit on their hands.

Now to be honest, none of what I've heard above sounds all this serious, its sounds a spat between the board and some interest groups. Given my ten minutes of research on Knox's constitution, I am not surprised at the conflict!

Spot on HO, if it is all that serious, something can be done. If not, then maybe some people need to stop the knife wielding...

Big job, running an Association like Knox, not everyone's cup of tea, so before the Captain of the ship is pushed overboard, some should carefully consider who the next one will be...

Our dual Olympian and the board have presided over a year of substantial losses in 2012 and apparently made no effect to reduce the expenses of KBI to improve the situation. We are talking multiple six digit losses on top of a substantial loss in 2011.
Clearly this board and management have no capacity to balance the books. If a motion of no confidence is passed against the board they should step aside and let others with a better business acumen take the reigns.

Without being involved in the Knox situation myself you would have to closely examine the books to see if these consective losses are either due to increased expenses or reduced revenues or a combination of both.

And compare these losses to the reserve funds of the association and determine if these are reasonable or not.

It may be the Board have spent an extra $200k in 12 months on running the association but they had $2M in the bank as cash reserves so then the loss is relatively small compared to the cash in reserve.

However if they only had $500K in cash reserves and spent an extra $200k then obviously they can't sustain that level of expenditure for too much longer.

I wonder if these losses are due to the new Stadium at Knox requiring any special payments by the association contributing to it being built or else increased operating costs as a result of using this new facility.

As members of the Knox Association you are entitled to examine the minutes & financial statements at any time and thats where I'd be looking before considering any action be taken by members.

There's a lot of talk happening and clearly some of it is not based on facts, which granted given those that should have been privy to the facts earlier havent been this is no surprise.
To the person who questioned how a balance sheet affects members- are you serious??? Please don't seek a position on the knox board anytime soon as that sort of ignorance certainly wouldnt help the situation............ When balance sheets are as unhealthy as they are (and trust me it is extremely unhealthy) and ongoing losses are present it spells disaster for the future of the association which of course affects the members. Knox didnt fund the building of SBC so this is no excuse, yes they contributed financially but that was planned for and the money accrued to meet that expense, so again irrelevant to what the financial situation is now. Interesting that people are bagging the board in an effort to defend the ceo when it would seem that the board have not been totally aware of certain things happening, so yes they have been negligent in their roles of overseeing the association and continue that negligence in an effort to disguise the reality of the situation. I agree that the Board should stand down as it is obvious to the majority who are privy to all the facts that they aren't up to the job, or maybe they are but have allowed themselves to be a party to others actions. Either way- not good enough!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you wonder why ive gone back to working in the AFL. Had dealings with 3 clubs both SEABL and Big V and some are on the right track but some honesty and integrity would go along way.

From what I know honesty and integrity are lacking in more places than just Knox in the basketball world. those that play together are usually like minded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Days, and from your superior moral lookout the AFL has a mortgage on those values? Sport is rife with issues like this, across all sports at every level.

Its at all levels in sport without a doubt but after having dealings with 3 different clubs that was enough for me.

One person and one person only will come out of this a winner...................

Let's hope the winner is Knox!!!

Cut and paste the Knox situation at Frankston. CEO spending way over budget, and the Board not being accountable. Sad that 2 once great clubs are going backwards!

Have been told that yhe Vice Chairman has resigned from his position?The place is just falling apart!!!
Also heard a couple of coaching appointments - Domma overlooked for 14-1 boys in favour of Waller!!!!!!

Heard the new CEO is a woman - That's cool as long as it's not "you know who!!!!"