Reasons for Mr MacDonald's Disciplinary Meeting
Bringing the club into disrepute
Mr MacDonald sent a statement to SHBC members on 22 May 2018 using a mailing list provided by Mr Derner. The content of Mr Macdonald's letter includes several groundless accusations which would clearly bring the club into disrepute and cause disunity within the club.
WM
“For those of us who do not subscribe to Facebook it was a surprise to learn that a Facebook page had been set up by McCarthy in the name of the club. There is apparently no record of any resolution to approve the
establishment of a Facebook page in the name of the club in the minutes of any meetings...”
Mr MacDonald states that Mr McCarthy created a Facebook page without consent from the club. The page was created with the permission of the Commodore at the time, Mr William Hill, on 31 July 2014 (long before Mr MacDonald joined). It has 82 members, including Mr Derner.
WM
“I am told that a number of Committee members have now proposed developing the slipway as repair to negate any requirement to go through detailed formal procedure required by the Environment Agency...”
Mr MacDonald was not present at any of the meetings, so it is difficult to know how he came to this conclusion. The repair was carried out with the full consent and permission of the Environment Agency. Mr Keery spoke on the phone to Mrs Tracey Richardson who agreed to the proposal. Mr Jefferson also contacted Mr Andy Charlesworth who also agreed to the proposal. The suggestion here being that the committee was acting illegally in some way, again, bringing the club into disrepute.
WM
“The costs associated with that solicitor’s letter should be carried by McCarthy, not the club. I suggest that McCarthy issues confirmation that the cost of the solicitors letter he procured will not be borne by the club...”
The solicitor's letter was a group action, paid for initially by Mr McCarthy (photocopy Supplied ) on his personal debit card on 23 April 2018 and reinbursed with voluntary contributions from club members. It would have been impossible to use club funds to pay for the letter as Mr MacDonald was on the committee at the time, and Mr Shepherdson was secretary.This is a clear suggestion that the secretary (Mr McCarthy) has embezzled club funds, again, bringing the club into disrepute.
Conduct injurious to the interests of the club
1. After his resignation from the committee at the AGM (8 April 2018), Mr MacDonald removed all contact information from the club website. This act clearly had the intention of damaging the club's ability to function properly. The website is the property of the club and is paid for by the club. Instead of replacing the interim committee's details with those of the new committee, Mr MacDonald left the website with no contact details whatsoever.
This made it impossible for any potential new members to apply for membership via the website, and may well have lost revenue for the club. It also meant any visiting boat would have no contact for any member of the Committee, including the bouyage and berthing officers.
2. Mr MacDonald was asked repeatedly to hand over the username and password for the website. Mr Harrison and Mr Carter both asked Mr MacDonald for the username and password in person. Mr Keery (Treasurer) sent two emails *see email. The Commodore also tried to email Mr MacDonald but his email bounced back as undeliverable. Without access to the website, important pilotage information could not be updated. This could easily have endangered lives.
Eventually it was necessary to contact the web host, Heart internet, who contacted Mr MacDonald. At this point (8 June 2018) he was forced to give up control of the website, which was club property. Even at this late stage it would have been possible to pass on the username and password, but Mr MacDonald still refused. This resulted in the loss of all website content and a cost to the club of over a hundred pounds to regain control of its own website. The entire website had to be rebuilt from scratch.
All of these actions are clearly injurious to the interests of the club.