Tue 29 Sep 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Funding providers have begin to approach Body Positive's Executive Director asking questions about the conflict between a group of members and the board, according to chair Ashley Barratt. Just on fifty members earlier this month signed a petition expressing no confidence in the BP board based, GayNZ.com Daily News understands, on discontent with the closure of the Wellington office, concerns about financial security and a claimed lack of transparency in the way the board operates and makes decisions. At a board meeting at the weekend a representative of the signatories was invited by the board to attend. "He answered questions from the board, we discussed the matter in general terms and undertook to provide further information to meet in a few days' time," Barratt says. Asked what he now understood the petitioners' concerns to be, Barratt says "that's actually still not clear to us... that's what we have asked them to go away and confirm and clarify to us." "We want to see if we can resolve their concerns and have set up a working group of the board" to deal with what is "a very sensitive situation." Barratt says the BP constitution says that the board has to give three weeks notice of a special general meeting which may be necessary should the petitioners' hope to dissolve the board and call for a fresh election be carried through. Body Positive is the country's largest HIV-positive people's support and advocacy organisation and it membership consists primarily of gay and bisexual men.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 29th September 2015 - 1:43pm