8 December 2015 | Tennis Victoria

25 November 2015

TO:                All affiliated clubs/centres and associations (x 869)
                       Via e-mail

SUBJECT:     Tennis Victoria possible governance / Constitutional changes
– affiliate consultation

Dear affiliate Secretary

I hope you are well.

I write on behalf of the Tennis Victoria (TV) Board of Directors in regard to the following:

1.    Number of TV Directors, and number of Appointed Directors within the Board

The Governance Review Working Group of the TV Board and, in turn, the Board itself has carefully considered this matter in recent months.

The TV Board currently comprises 10 Directors – 8 Elected, 2 Appointed – with an uneven annual spread of elections/appointments.

The TV Board is recommending a move to 9 Directors – with 6 Elected, 3 Appointed – with an annual process of two (2) affiliate elections and (1) Board appointment each year; on a three-yearly cycle.  And for this change to have fully settled into place by the end of the 2017 Annual General Meeting.

Therefore this change, which would roll-out through 2016 and 2017, has two intertwining parts to it:

• Reducing the total number of TV Directors from 10 to 9 (with 6 of those Directors elected by the affiliates – 2 per year); and
• Increasing the number of Appointed Directors from 2 to 3 (i.e. Appointed by the remainder of the Board – one such appointment per year)

This would bring TV in line with the Australian Sports Commission’s (ASC) Good Governance Principles in regard to Board size and composition.  As per previously approved Constitutional changes, Director terms would remain at 3 years, with a maximum period on the Board of 3 terms (9 years) for either an Elected or Appointed Director.

The finer detail is as follows:

• There are 2 x Elected Director positions due in 2016 and one Appointed Director position due.  All incumbents can re-stand.  To achieve the above changes, the 2 x Elected positions available in 2016 would need to be cut back to just 1 x Elected position being open to the 2 x incumbents (if interested) and any other interested candidates, with the other being used/removed to increase the number of Appointed Directors from 2 to 3 or decrease the number of total Directors from 10 to 9.
• There are three Elected Director positions due in 2017.  Two can re-stand but the other cannot (i.e. maximum term reached for that incumbent Director) so that circumstance could be used to address whatever is the second year need.
• OPTIONS considered by the Board:

Option A – 2 to 3 Appointed Directors first (2016), 10 to 9 Directors second (2017)

Option B – 10 to 9 Directors first (2016), 2 to 3 Appointed Directors second (2017)

• A slight adjustment to existing Director rotations – i.e. one of the 3 Elected terms due in 2018 being extended for an extra year to 2019 – would be required under either option to get the desired 2 Elected, 1 Appointed every year moving forward from 2017
• The Board supports Option A.  And the finer detail as to any impact on / rotations of any existing Director(s) under this scenario is available upon request.

Affiliates are asked to please consider this plan over coming months and provide any feedback in writing to my attention: [email protected] or Locked Bag 6001, Richmond VIC 3121 by Monday 2nd February 2016.

If you have any questions on this matter please call me at any time on Direct 8420 8201 or Mobile 0412 416 506.

2.    Mornington Peninsula Country Region boundary issue

Just a friendly reminder in regard to the above which was detailed in a Discussion Paper distributed to all affiliates in the Tennis Victoria e-Newsletter of earlier this month, with any feedback from any affiliates concerned requested to the attention of Country Tennis Manager, Adam Crameri, [email protected] or Locked Bag 6001, Richmond VIC 3121 by Tuesday 8th December 2015.

As per the Paper, if you have any questions on this matter please feel free to contact Adam on Mobile 0438 467 018.

Following these affiliate consultation processes and any feedback received, the TV Board will further consider each of these matters and any proposed Constitutional changes, re 1 or 2 above, would be taken to a Special General Meeting in due course, where a 75% majority of all attending affiliates is required.

Best wishes for a great summer of tennis.

Kind regards

Matthew Kennedy
CEO
Tennis Victoria