Berwick Basketball Club has found itself at the centre of a dispute with Casey Council over its long-standing use of a storeroom at the Berwick Leisure Centre, after being told to vacate despite spending more than $30,000 on the room.
The club’s president, Matthew Loukas, said that they have effectively been evicted from the shed, despite assurances from the council that the move is linked to maintenance works rather than a termination of access.
“We’ve spent about $30,000, and they’re going to rip the whole thing out, and we’ve been booted and haven’t been told what’s going on after that,” Loukas said.
“We don’t know what maintenance they’re doing, but as far as we know, they’re planning to pull things down for it to look like what it was before we did anything.”
However, Akoonah Ward councillor Scott Dowling, on behalf of the council, said that the club “is not being evicted”.
“Recently, the council let Berwick College know that some maintenance work needed to be done at the Leisure Centre.
“This includes works on a storeroom that has been used by the club, and as part of the works, Berwick College asked the club to remove their belongings from the storeroom so work could go ahead,” he said.
At issue is a formal hire agreement between the club and Berwick College, which, as the primary tenant of the leisure centre, granted the club access to the shed and permission to undertake upgrades.
Under that arrangement, the basketball club spent around $30,000 fitting out the room, turning it into a club hub and storage space for members’ jerseys, sports equipment and more.
Loukas said the whole situation has been “hard for us” and that the club has “done nothing wrong”.
“It’s a storage space, that’s fine, just don’t touch what we’ve done; that’s not our money, that’s members’ money.
“Everything was in that room, and we’re a community club, you know? We understand the building is old, but it would be great to have somewhere to go that’s easy to access.
“We’re the biggest club in the Casey area, and that space was great for the club and its members,” he said.
While the school council had authority to hire out parts of the centre, the facility itself is owned by the City of Casey, which has intervened to carry out works that will return the room to its prior condition.
Dowling added that the college has the responsibility to liaise with the club to “determine how access to the centre is managed”.
The council maintains that the club’s stadium access remains unaffected and that responsibility for liaising with the club rests with Berwick College as site manager.
Loukas, however, argued that the sudden removal and loss of its investment amounts to an eviction in practice, particularly as no written assurance has been provided that the space will be returned once works are complete.
Loukas said that the club had been “locked out” of the storeroom since June this year, and when the school told him to “get everything out”, it was all “verbal”.
“We had a meeting on 7 August, then I received an email on 19 August saying that everything had to be out of the room by the 22nd.
“They gave us the opportunity between the 7th and the 19th to get stuff out, but we couldn’t even do that because we didn’t have the key; so we only had it for three hours on Friday the 22nd, and then we had it all day on Sunday the 24th to remove everything,” Loukas said.
In the meantime, uniforms and merchandise worth tens of thousands of dollars have been shifted into private garages and temporary rooms, while volunteers have scrambled to keep the club’s operations running.
The shed had become more than just storage for the club’s members, Loukas said that it was used as a clubhouse, hosting major events, including presentation days that drew over a thousand attendees.
The hire agreement contract itself states that the school council may terminate the arrangement without cause, but must give reasonable notice and reimburse unavoidable direct costs.
The club contends that neither requirement has been met, pointing to the short timeframe and the lack of compensation for the upgrades carried out in good faith.
Dowling added that he understood how “important it is for a club to have a dedicated space when they’re not on the court”.
“With that in mind, I’ve suggested three other venues where the club could both play and have access to a club room; unfortunately, none of those have met the club’s needs so far.
“I’m committed to supporting the club where I can, and I appreciate everyone’s understanding while the works are being carried out,” he said.
For Loukas, though, he just wants to see some “common sense”.
“I want to have an actual discussion, and if there are things that need to be done to that room that we can do, to be able to get back into that space, let us know and we’ll do it,” he said.
