Dilena told Melbourne radio station SEN on Thursday some North supporters had continued to harbour fears the club would relocate despite its refusal of a $100 million AFL package to move to the Gold Coast at the end of 2007.
Supporter group, We Are North Melbourne, recently put forward a motion that North's constitution be amended to require the board to obtain the approval of at least 75 per cent of its members to play more than four interstate 'home' games a season.
That motion will be heard at North's annual general meeting on March 19 and has already received support from former North administrators Ron Joseph and Eugene Arocca, while former president Bob Ansett supports it in principle but would prefer the required member approval be set at 51 per cent.
But Dilena echoed the recent comments of his chairman James Brayshaw that the motion's current wording would be overly restrictive on future North boards.
"The challenge with us is there's residual fear after what happened with the Gold Coast. There are people who are concerned, they just don't like the word relocation or fear the word," Dilena said.
"But if you have a look at how successful Hawthorn has been in Tassie playing four games down there [a season], they've grown their supporter base, they've really put themselves into a strong financial position to be a powerhouse, so there's no suggestion of them relocating.
"And, as far as I'm aware, there's nothing written into their constitution that would restrict them capturing a game that might be offered to them in Wellington, to play and make them a bit more money.
"You don't want restrictions in there. We're more than happy to put in a clause which deals specifically with relocation because I think that would give some comfort to our members."
Dilena said he had contacted the head of We Are North Melbourne and he had acknowledged that its motion hadn't been "all that well thought out".
Asked about the occasional criticism levelled at North's board by past administrators like Joseph, Dilena said
he would be making every effort to re-engage with such former power-brokers.
"But what I'd like them to do also is if they've got an issue they know where I am, give me a call and let's talk through it," Dilena said.
"I think it's unfortunate when we're in such a good position as a club [with] record membership and doing really well on field … we don't want to have internal bickering.
"Let's sort out our issues and talk to each other. We don't need media campaigns … it's just a distraction for the club."
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au.Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
