A schism between staff and two different factions of volunteer leadership led Glacier Gymnastics members to vote in favour of replacing the entire board of directors.
The three-hour long annual general meeting held at the club Dec. 3 was often tense, disordered and featured multiple unproven allegations of misconduct. The coaching staff threatened to quit if two board members weren't voted out, a coach was accused of not fulfilling her duties while being paid to work remotely, and two directors were said to have conspired to put one of them in a management role.
Annual general meetings typically focus on year-end updates and a review of a non-profit organization's finances. This meeting included those highlights for one of Nelson's biggest sports organizations, such as Glacier's success at provincial tournaments, its slight increases to participants (545) and voting members (440), and $59,974 total revenue over expenditures for the year ending Aug. 31.
Prior to this meeting, multiple members requested a Nelson Star reporter attend due to allegations that had been sent to parents via email.
The club's highlights and finances were overshadowed at the meeting by three special resolutions put before membership. The first called for a bylaw amendment preventing board members from seeking management roles, while the other two called for the removals of two directors.
The pair were accused by four directors of creating a toxic environment with the club's staff, working to replace the club manager with one of the directors, and excluding directors from communications.
One of the accused refuted the allegations. She said the board had previously agreed for her to shadow the manager, who had submitted his resignation in September before later rescinding it, to determine his responsibilities and plan for a permanent external hire. The former director and secretary attended the AGM and backed that account.
Allegations were also made that a coach had resisted requests to provide proof of duties after she asked to be paid 75 per cent of her wages while working at a club in Victoria for 10 weeks this year while the Civic Centre was closed for roof repairs. She in turn said she had not been provided a contract of employment since first taking over the role over two decades ago at Glacier's creation despite asking for one.
One of the directors accused was provided little time to speak in her defence, as the resolution calling for her removal never came to pass.
Instead, irate parents ignored all three resolutions and voted to remove the entire board from the club, which some directors expressed gratitude for. One member criticized current and past boards for not providing contracts to its four full-time and two part-time coaches. Others expressed concern over losing staff and programming time for their children.
All parties repeatedly pointed to issues arising from the City of Nelson's decision to close the facility for five months this year to renovate the Civic Centre's roof, which did not meet minimum snow load standards.
Glacier will resume club operations in January, with at least 10 new directors who were elected at the meeting.
CORRECTION: This article initially was published with the names of the directors and staff included. The Nelson Star has decided to remove those names due to the sensitive nature of the story.
