Blazers society heads in new direction

From The Daily News of Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007. . . .

The Kamloops Blazers Sports Society, which has been in the business of operating a WHL franchise since its formation in 1984, began the process of redfining itself Tuesday night.
There were 57 people in attendance at the society’s annual general meeting in the Sports Action Lounge at Interior Savings Centre.
They left knowing that the board will call an extraordinary general meeting for Jan. 30. At that time, the nine-person board expects to present a business plan involving the formation of a legacy fund and to seek direction as it begins to deal with its future.
The society is working to decide how to handle the net proceeds from the sale of the franchise to River City Hockey Inc., an entity that now is known as Kamloops Blazers Hockey Club Inc.
Although a final figure isn’t yet available, the society expects to net about $6.1 million from the sale. The delay in the availability of a final figure has to do with the timing — the society’s fiscal year ends May 31 and the closing date for the sale was Oct. 25, just over a month ago.
At present, the society is faced with a dilemma involving its membership. Along with agreeing to purchase the franchise, the new owners also offered to purchase members’ shares in Kamloops Blazers Holdings Ltd. Anyone with a share became a member of the society. However, while it has always been understood that by selling your share you were giving up membership in the society, it has never been put in writing.
A special resolution that would have put that into the society’s bylaws was tabled last night.
At least part of the reason for tabling the resolution was that an offer to purchase the shares hasn’t yet arrived in the hands of shareholders.
Still, society president Murray Owen was pleased with last night’s proceedings, saying things went about as the board had hoped.
“Yeah, it did. It turned out . . . we have a little bit of a dilemma with what’s happening but we’re working through it,” Owen said. “We have to get that sorted out. Other than that, the financial statement was very good.”
With the fiscal year ending May 31, treasurer Dennis Coates told the gathering that revenues outpointed expenses by $415,682. The net figure, after amortization, severance and loss on disposal of capital assets and the inclusion of interest income, was $261,583, up from $108,956 in the previous fiscal year.
This year’s figure included $250,477 in expansion fees and $25,219 in funds from the NHL draft, figures that Brent Ashby of KPMG pointed out “helped prop up last year’s financial statements.”
With the franchise having been sold, this was the last time the society’s annual meeting will deal with hockey operations.
What has to be decided, in essence, is in what direction the society will go and what will happen to the Kamloops Blazers Sports Foundation.
Foundation president Tom Mangan reported that it paid out $92,000 to 10 local organizations over the past year. The foundation, which was started in July 1996 with a $1.5-million grant from the society and now has $1.867 million with which to work, has returned more than $1 million to the community through grants to various organizations and associations.
With the board recommending that the sale proceeds stay with the society and be administered by its board, the foundation’s days may be numbered.
“We must be realistic,” Mangan said. “Would it be in the best interests of the citizens of Kamloops to have two Blazers societies doing similar purposes?”
Mangan told the meeting that “the foundation board has had initial discussions on our future and we will make our final decision after you approve your new direction.”
That direction is expected to become more apparent Jan. 30.
“We continue to work on the new direction of the society,” Owen said. “Now that we have the new board we will be meeting . . . and solidify what our (recommendation) will be. (By Jan. 30), we’ll be further along in the process of setting up a legacy fund.”
There were 194 members in attendance Aug. 23 when the society voted to sell its franchise. There were 57 people at last night’s meeting. Owen admitted that the society doesn’t know how many members will be left when all is said and done.
“This is not as sexy a membership as when we were running the hockey club. This is pretty dry,” he said. “We aniticpated that the membership would fall off considerably because of what our purpose is going to be. But that’s to be expected.”
MEETING NOTES: Bob Smillie had resigned as a director to become the society’s executive director following the Aug. 23 decision to sell the club, and vice-president Gary Cooper and director Vic Bifano chose to retire. As well, the terms of Owen, Coates and Derek Johnston had expired. In the ensuing elections, Owen, Johnston, Coates, Frank Rossi and Gord Patterson were elected to two-year terms, and Christine Cross got a one-year term. Ron Maguire, Rob Zimmer and Don Moores have one year remaining on their terms.