A SPECIAL general meeting held on Sunday, April 26 signalled the reinstatement of the Taree Old Bar Surf Lifesaving Club after 18 months in administration.
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Incoming president Ben Stevenson said the meeting was a positive start to a new era at the club.
"Everyone was in agreement, which is positive moving forward," he said.
The club had been placed into administration by Surf Life Saving NSW after a meeting on September 14, 2013. "Personality clashes" were cited at the time as a reason for the action.
The main points of Sunday's meeting were to vote on a new constitution and to elect office bearers who would be ratified at the next annual general meeting.
The new constitution was unanimously agreed upon, with nominations for six of the eight positions another positive sign, said Ben.
The meeting was attended by around 40 people, including several figures from the state body such as the president of Surf Life Savers NSW Tony Haven.
Ben said the changes were about "handing ownership back to the club. It's about handing it back to the membership," he said.
Ben, who has been involved with the club for more than two decades, said the intention of the early meeting was to "move out of administration early, and put our executive into action."
One of the key tasks of the club is to "re-engage with the community" and drive membership numbers up.
"We want to make the club a great place for people to be involved," Ben said.
Part of that will be promoting community awareness.
"There's a lot more to what we do than having people on the beach in red and yellow," Ben explained.
The make up of the office bearers differs slightly from what has been done before at the club, but Ben said this would be a positive.
Ahead of the next general meeting, the make up of the executive includes Ben as president and Brian Kelleher as vice president.
Michael Cameron is the director of finance, Greg Smith is the director of administration and Greg Irving is the director of lifesaving.
The director of education is Corrine Stephenson and director of member development is Brad Sawyer.
A director for surf sports hasn't been locked in but Brad is confident that'll be sorted at the AGM.
"It's a bit of a change from the traditional club format," Ben said.
"We'll be able to operate as a board of directors, making us more effective."