Major changes have started taking place at the Tewantin Noosa RSL Club in hopes to resolve a long battle with the local sub branch.
The newly appointed interim chairman and former Rotary Noosa Heads secretary, Kevin Rabeling said the new board has united with a very clear and definite focus upon rebuilding community relationships long held in irons.
“The club is a primary meeting place for so many people and the long battle with the sub branch has divided the community which generated a tremendous amount of emotion,” Kevin said.
“It is only the beginning of a long process. It is important that we make room for each other and work towards realistic targets.”
A new board is set to be appointed and the RSL Club will be offering a five-year prepaid membership to qualifying Tewantin Noosa Sub Branch members in an effort to restore their relationship, starting 1 November.
Tewantin Noosa RSL Club members will receive notice shortly on their upcoming special general meeting (SGM), with the opportunity to nominate for casual positions on the board, until elections at the club’s next annual general meeting.
They want to build a plan to reinvest in the Tewantin Noosa Sub Branch, working together to continue their ongoing support for veterans and the community.
A Tewantin Noosa RSL Club spokesperson said once the new board has been appointed, and if a lease is offered, they will be better placed to decide if the Diggers Bar is commercially viable to reopen.
The sub-branch, who own the Diggers Bar premises on the corner Memorial and Poinciana Avenue, Tewantin, took charge after the expiration of its lease.
Members have been hosting Friday night social events, and according to Facebook, the next Diggers Bar social event will be on Friday 1 November from 4pm to 8.30pm, with entertainment donated by TILT, plus a sausage sizzle, gold coin donation and raffles.
A Tewantin Noosa RSL Sub Branch Board spokesperson said, “We are surprised that this offer has been made through a newspaper and not directly to us.”
“We are however delighted that this club board, by making this offer to ‘resolve a long running battle’, has chosen to publicly admit that the actions taken by them to remove Sub Branch members’ Life Subscriber memberships in December last year was completely wrong.”
They said this new offer of five year memberships seemed like a nice gesture.
“Last week when we thought we were in meaningful negotiations, we were told by this board that they couldn’t give us our Life Subscriber memberships back because there were only three directors left, hence they did not have a quorum to approve them. Now they are telling the newspaper they can give five year memberships.
“All new memberships have to be approved by the board before that member can vote at a meeting. We would ask what has changed since last week? How can a board that does not comprise a quorum approve any new memberships before the supposed upcoming general meeting. Can this board give us a guarantee that if any ‘qualifying’ members choose to take up their offer, they will be able to nominate for a position and vote at this SGM. And what is a ‘qualifying’ member?
“We would hope that their wish to build a plan to reinvest in the Sub Branch involves talking directly to us and not through a newspaper.
“We are always ready to be involved in meaningful negotiations to the benefit of our members and the club.”
A concerned member and partner of an ex-secretary manager, Kevin Graham said major changes cannot take place until a new board has been elected at a special general meeting.
“I note they say (qualifying) sub branch members, again they control who they deem to qualify,” Kevin said.
“According to the constitution the upcoming special general meeting should have been announced once the board fell below five, which was many weeks ago.
“A Diggers Bar lease has always been on the table but their offer for the lease agreement was 70 per cent below the commercial rate, which is totally unacceptable by anyone’s standard…
“Ask yourself this, why has there been over 17 board members sacked or resigned since this fiasco began less than 12 months ago, and only three illegitimate appointed board members remain who are now being controlled by the management? They need to dissolve this board completely now at this special general meeting and allow the members (stakeholders) to elect a new board until the annual general meeting, which is to be held very soon anyway. Let there be some common sense shown and save everyone a lot of money being wasted on legal fees.”
