September membership meeting

[JoeP]

The Board should be commended for codifying Exec discounts.  It is a great step for the Club.  I also see why they felt that a Bylaw change was necessary to resolve a potential conflict that "Officers shall not receive any compensation for their service as Officers." 

However, this very first change to the Bylaws since ceding control to the Board shows exactly why it was such a bad idea:

1) Surprise - The first indication that the Bylaws were to be changed was when the operable document was posted on the website.  Even the minutes of the Board meeting approving the change have not been posted yet.  The only discussion provided to the Membership all year was one sentance in the August minutes, "Myles also noted that he has discussed with Graham Knight a proposed policy for Board member discounts and expense reimbursement."  How is this process supposed to be "transparent"?  

2) Process - When the vote was taken last year to cede the power to change Bylaws to the Board, the argument was that the Membership could always simply (a) object at a regular Membership meeting, (b) make a motion, © second that motion, and (d) vote out the offending changes.  Quick, clean, simple. 

     Last night, a member tried to take those very actions.  A motion was made.  It was seconded, and the member was man-handled until she accepted an ad hoc committee instead of a vote.  If we would have known this during last year's vote, it never would have passed.   

     You can post-invent all of the procedural crap you like.  This committee was a last minute ploy to block a vote.  It is not in the Bylaws.  Last night's display embarrassed us all.  Lizzy deserves a written apology from Riesentoter.