In reading the Leadership duty's and ROAV by-laws, I'm left totally puzzled.
The ROAV Leadership, as I read it, is made up of seven (7) Directors and four (4) Officers. If my math is correct, that's eleven (11) people in charge, with exception to this past year where Officer John Keeney filled at least two positions do to what I gather was some pretty childish management.
Per the .pdf file
ukoffroad posted titled
roav leadership nomination cr v3.pdf , it outlines the job duty's expected of the various positions, the first being Board of Directors.
| Quote:: |
"The Board of Directors shall manage the affairs of the Club. The
Board of Directors shall do all lawful things, which may be necessary, useful, suitable or proper for the furtherance or accomplishment
of the purpose of the club." |
The first thing that comes to question is the purpose of the club. What is the purpose of the club? The purpose of the club is not mentioned in the ROAV by-laws. It's not listed here on this website, that I can find. It's not on the membership form. The purpose of the club is not even listed on the nomination form. So, what is the purpose of the club?
Next, I'm bewildered as to what "affairs" the Board of Directors handle. I'm assuming public business matters. But if that's the case, what does the President do? If the Board is in charge of public business matters, or affairs, then I guess the only thing left for the President to do is
herd the cats, per the duty's guidelines in said .pdf file. However, per the ROAV by-laws,
Section 14 The President, it describes the "affairs" are handled by the President. So who really controls the affairs of the club, the President or the Directors?
Now, I say this tongue-and-cheek because I've been around long enough to know and understand that the Board of Directors handles the affairs and the President is their little puppet to communicate this information the rest of the membership. So the real question should be, why have a President at all? Better yet, why have both a Board of Directors and a list of four (4) additional officers? It just seems a little redundant, why must the Board of Directors make the decisions and relay that information to the President who then in return relays that information to the membership? Wouldn't it be much more efficient to cut out the middleman?
Another position I'm confused about is the Secretary. Per the ROAV by-laws,
Section 17 The Secretary:
| Quote:: |
| The secretary shall keep the minutes of all proceedings of the Directors and the membership; he or she shall attend to the giving and serving of all notices to the members and Directors, or other notices required by law of these Bylaws; he or she shall affix the seal of the corporation to deeds, contracts, and other instruments in writing requiring a seal, when duly signed; he or she shall have charge of the minute books, and such other books and papers as the Board may direct, and he or she shall perform all other duties incident to the office of Secretary. |
Now, per the .pdf file
ukoffroad posted, it states the Board of Directors have monthly meetings. And, per the ROAV by-laws, it states the Secretary records the meeting minutes. Perhaps these meeting minutes are not made available to the general membership, and that would explain why I've never seen meeting minutes here in this website, in the Gearbox newsletter, or posted in this forum. So are meeting minutes actually being taken? If so, why are they not reported back to the membership for viewing? After all, per Gearbox 2010 Issue 2, Christina Roeschel reports one of her main objective is to improve Club Transparency. What better way to improve club transparency than to provide meeting minutes to the membership?
But I'm confused. If you have seven (7) Board of Directors is it really necessary to have a Secretary in addition to? Couldn't one of the seven Board of Directors take meeting minutes? Better yet, why not just record the meeting audio and post in online for the membership? It's 2011 and it's not very hard to do; it's actually a lot easier than rewriting them.
I hope by now viewers of this post are starting to understand where I'm going with this. There are too many people in charge of this club and it's burning out the ones who volunteer their time because of the time and energy it takes to
herd the cats. I understand that Chuck Yarborough, Christina Roeschel, and possibly John Keeney are not interested in re-election next year, maybe more. All have indicated the time commitment involved. With eleven (11) people involved I can understand why. Other than just getting more people involved, I, for one, can't understand why there needs to be eleven (11) positions. It seems to me things can be streamlined.
Before I get the Obama speech I will make a recommendation as to how things can be better streamlined. What the rest of the members think is up to them.
First, get rid of the Board of Directors. All they are doing is complicating things. We hear about the arguments and disagreements; we hear about money concerns; we hear about who can't make meetings; we hear about who gets pissed of at who... It's no secret that all of you don't get along. With eleven people involved how could you? Just be glad it's not eleven women!
Divide the club into regions; Tidewater, Blue Ridge, Central, Northern, South Side, South West, Shenandoah, whatever... three or four regions would be ideal. Each region would elect a Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Secretary and Treasurer could be one position.
ROAV as a whole would elect a President and Secretary/Treasurer.
In addition to these positions, ROAV could have Event Coordinators (no more than 2 or they'll argue), elected by the membership for each region. Event coordinators would be responsible for event(s) in their region and would manage as many volunteers as needed. Event Coordinators would report directly to the Vice President of their region.
I know the Mid-Atlantic Rally, due to it's size, poses a concern because that's a lot of work for two coordinators. But MAR does not take eleven coordinators! I doubt it takes eleven coordinators to host a Superbowl.
Each region would get a cut of the membership dues for operational expenses. Additional funds raised get split between the host region and ROAV. I.E., if the Central district hosted a Summer Rally, xx% of receipts goes back to the host club, and xx% goes to the ROAV general fund for MAR, ABM, Newsletters, whatever ROAV spends money on because no one really knows, etc...
By doing this each volunteer has a job to do. The way it is now, the Board regulates what is and what is not going to be done, and then tosses its decisions onto the Officers to deal with. No one is held accountable, and the membership has very little voice in the matter since the monthly meetings are held in secret and there are no meeting minutes to even see what's being discussed.
By breaking the membership down by region, or district, it makes it a whole lot easier for members to make monthly, or bi-monthly, meetings and improves transparency of the club (and voting!). It also streamlines event coordination by specifically naming event coordinators. So you're not loosing man power; you've still got ten (10) active "officers", but their responsibilities are broken down by region - the same people planning the Summer Rally are not likely the same people planning the Spring Rally. Each event will be different with new ideas, people, terrain, etc..
I hope this is discussed openly and honestly among the membership. Because as it stands now ROAV truly is a clusterf*uck and it's only a matter of when, not if, the club falls apart. I can totally understand why Chuck, Christina, and John are considering leaving their active rolls (they can blame it on whatever they want).
Monday, May 21, 2012
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