No-show at DCA

No-show at DCA

The Docklands Community Association (DCA)’s annual general meeting on September 14 was met with bleak reality, with no one showing up other than the president and his son.

Roger Gardner has been the president of the DCA for seven years and said he was disappointed in the low interest.

The City of Melbourne (CoM) funded the DCA $2500 in 2014, $3000 in 2015 and $2000 in 2016. This year, the DCA was in line for a $1000 grant, but failed to return a signed agreement by the due date.

A CoM spokesperson said: “The Docklands Community Association was awarded $1000 from the CoM in 2017 after applying under the Community Grants Program. However the signed agreement and invoice were not returned to the CoM by June 30, so the grant was not paid.”

The DCA was established in 2004. According to the Consumer Affairs Victoria website, its last AGM was held in November, 2014.

Mr Gardner announced late last year that he was standing down. However, he later denied he was resigning and still insists that there is no one active enough to pass the reins to.

And, while Mr Gardner complains that he has had to shoulder the bulk of the work, a notice announcing the September 14 meeting pointed out that all membership applications had to be made through him, nominations of committee members needed to run by him and proxy votes for the AGM also needed to be submitted to him.

Only paid members are eligible to vote at the AGM, although Mr Gardner said he did not have a list of members.

A “prominent” guest speaker from the West Gate Tunnel project was invited to the AGM on September 14 but did not show up either.

Mr Gardner has subsequently announced another meeting for Thursday, October 5.

In an email, he said: “We urge you to make time to attend this time. As I’ve previously said, our committee numbers were decimated when seven committee members happened to leave Docklands at the one time. I have continued to run things myself and, whilst members have perhaps been happy with that, I can’t continue to do so.”

In the email, he claimed to have “up to 350 members”.

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