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From the Wheelhouse - July 2021
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The Governance Rules and Policy committee have circulated the code of conduct to the management committee for review. They are also working towards the review of the rules and bylaws as there will need to be a few adjustments to some of the wording. When the review is complete, these will be sent to the members for comment and then a special meeting will need to be convened to formally accept the recommended alterations.
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I know I have harped on about this, and I think we are very close to the final draft for consideration. Once management has accepted the plan, the idea is to release the document to the members with possibility for workshops to be held to allow comment and understanding. I would like to see management review the plan at each Management Meeting and hopefully we can then monitor our progress and adjust where necessary. But we just need to get it over the line!
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We always seem to spend a lot of time on finance but I’m sure we need to have all the committee understanding where the club sits each month. In saying that, we seem to have survived the Covid shutdown surprisingly well with a bit of government assistance. Food and beverage forecasts are looking good with the summer and festive season heavenly booked - music to the Treasurer’s ears. The office has been very busy with end of financial year budgets and audits in readiness for the AGM.
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We are still struggling with long term debtors; we have members that are over 120 days in arrears. We have the debt collector on their doorstep but unfortunately the club picks up the collection costs, hence more costs to the members once again! If you find yourself in hardship, the club is very accommodating, allowing the member to enter into a payment plan to suit your finances. As long as you stick to the plan no questions are asked.
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With the renovations to the Quarterdeck kitchen underway and to be complete by the end of August there will be an increase in vouchers. This was adopted by the Members at the AGM in September 2019. The increase was from $115 to $140 including GST, effective from 1 October 2021. Those Members who opted for an annual charge of vouchers will be charged the first three months @ $115 with the remaining quarters charged @ $140 from 1st July 2021. Basically, your house support vouchers will increase by $25.00 per quarter to offset some of the renovation costs.
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Most of you will not know, the Deed Pen rollover is due on the 31st August 2021. There are a number of Deed Pens on jetty 4,5 and 7. These have been leased in 7-year lots, but as we face a water space review by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction in 2027, we intend to only roll these over for the 6 years and 10 months as the water lease will increase substantially. A letter inviting the pen holders to take up the offer will be sent out in the coming weeks.
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Confirmation has been received from the government for sports grant funding, this has allowed Regatta and T&D to put the feelers out to find a second support/ start boat. The committee have put together a purchase criteria document, this will ensure a vessel fit for purpose is obtained. I think we all know there is no such thing as off the shelf, but a careful selection process should minimise the amount of work and the costs to fit the bill!
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There have been a few questions asked of the committee on some of the costs against budgets. The Chairman and the accounts manager will be sitting down to see if there are any abnormalities in the P&L.
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On a brighter note the figures from the Academy are showing an improvement in the number of courses and producing a good number of sailors in both the centreboards (OTB) and keel boats. This is good to hear as it seems to be the common problem in filling crew spots.
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Pens and Mooring committee have produced a new document outlining the T&C’s (terms and conditions). In the past 75 years this has been left blank, but as modern society evolves, we have become more attuned to the fine print. This has enabled the club to have the ability to make decisions when financial barriers are broken. This is only one part of the equation. The other is, we are trying to streamline our marina focus program. This will enable us to align data of vessels and owners to be able to use the online functionality for lifting data and fee structure. This will reduce labour intensive staff time.
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Phew that was a mouth full, but in short, if you fill the forms in it will bring all pen holders in line and update our data.
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Unfortunately, the chairman was an apology, but I have heard on the grapevine we will have drawing and quotes ready for the next management meeting, fingers crossed. I also heard the word Capex as this is a budgeted item.
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The Quarterdeck has hit the first hurdle! I’m sure it was a given when we opened the electrical duct and with any new works, the existing sub boards will need to be upgraded to the new codes. This has stalled the start, as reticulating the power is part of the first stage of the build. We will be exploring an avenue to have this work assessed and planned as soon as possible. The builder is confident we will be on time for completion.
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The saga of the wave attenuator is a bit like “Blue Hills”. We are in the process of terminating UMS’s contract as they believe the new scope is beyond their capacity. At this stage we have engaged an engineer to assess both jetties 1&2 and give a detailed report. As luck has it, the weather is against us. With this report we can then set about looking at a performance-based tender to handle the repairs. One good thing is we have secured the turpentine timber whalers purchased by UMS as after the bush fires in the east, this timber is extremely scarce.
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Sail pass featured in most of this discussion. This new rule will be in vogue in the 2021/2022 season. Regatta reported that the OWG had several ideas on implementation, but the clubs concern was the confusion with the intro crew and crew membership. Regatta will go away and look at options.
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Function’s chair reported all functions were booking well. It was also pleasing to have a lot of good feedback from members and especially our kindred clubs for the 75th birthday celebrations.
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We are already looking at and planning our Opening Day and Melbourne Cup functions.
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The flagpole saga has reared its ugly head again. It appears food and beverage would like the poles relocated, but the grand sponsors (a few) would like them to stay. A bit of history here; at the 2019 AGM, there was a motion put forward to remove the flag poles that was lost. Hence, they have remained. There have been several suggestions to relocate these to the entrance driveway giving more exposure, but I think it may take an AGM to achieve this.
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So once again thankyou for reading this far and taking an interest in what is happening around our club.
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