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Re: Weekly bludgeoning: Voting issues
>From all the rumblings about the organization of AGA I have a few thoughts,
for whatever they are worth.
It seems to me that the model we should follow is that of a typical American
corporation. The power ultimately rests with the stockholders (AGA =
members) but the day to day power rests with the Board of Directors (AGA =
MC). The officers (AGA=SC) are appointed by the Board of Directors and
confirmed by the stockholders.
Here is what I would suggest for AGA.
1) The Board of Directors is made up of a fixed number of people, including
standing committe heads. They are elected for 6 year terms, staggered so 1/3
come up for vote every two years. The Board of Directors is voted on by the
membership via written ballots.
2) The Officers are proposed by a Nominating Committee of the Board, and are
elected for 2 year terms. They are elected at the same time as the Board, so
there only has to be 1 written ballot sent out once every two years.
3) There can be some mechanism for removal of a Director or Officer --
perhaps it requires 2/3 vote of the Board -- whatever -- we can decide and
make this part of the ByLaws.
4) Day to day decisions are made by the Officers.
5) General decisions about the direction of things, as opposed to specific
choices, are discussed by the Board.
Hopefully this is in an organized enough form that we may be able to
stimulate some discussion. What we need to do is to decide on how we want
things to be and then ask Bob's advise, and have him "make it so".
Someone made an excellent suggestion that the Treasurer (that's me) be
bonded. I am looking into the cost of that and will report back.
Day 4, and the baby seahorses are still alive and kicking.
David
----- Original Message -----
From: Mary McCaw <marymccaw@mediaone.net>
To: <aga-mcm@thekrib.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: Weekly bludgeoning: Voting issues
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Karen Randall <krandall@world.std.com>
> To: <aga-mcm@thekrib.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2000 9:55 AM
> Subject: Re: Weekly bludgeoning: Voting issues
>
>
> > At 09:36 AM 5/21/2000 -0700, Erik wrote:
> >
> > We're still very much in discussion on the issue of whether the entire
> membership elects the SC or not. Bob McCaw notes that many/most
nonprofits
> don't let their members vote, while others have noted that several
> nonprofits that we're familiar with (ACA, AKA, etc) do actually give their
> members voting rights.
> >
> > I have voiced my concerns, but I don't feel strongly one way or the
other.
> It looks like the majority of the group favors open elections, and that is
> fine with me.
>
> I don't feel strongly about the issue either, but I still have some
doubts.
> It bothers me that we don't know whether or not it would be possible in
> Massachusetts for the SC to vote out a destructive member. It may be,
> according to Bob, that it is so difficult to get rid of a board member
that
> you are stuck with who you have. I would like to know if people still
favor
> a membership structure under these circumstances.
> >
> > >I'm confused as to what to do next. If we think we're done with
> discussion on these two issues, then the SC should probably move that they
> vote on them. Or do we not need to vote on it because this is just going
to
> be the language that is used for the bylaws, which we would vote on as
> > >a whole?
> >
> > I think this issue should be resolved before being written into the
> bylaws. There's no reason that this one issue should hold up passing the
> whole bylaws.
>
> You lost me on this one. Choosing a membership or nonmembership structure
> is a fundamental issue which really needs to be decided before the by-laws
> are passed.
>
> Let's just call for a straw vote at this point. Was I the only one with
> reservations? (I know I was not in the past) If so, it's time to move
> forward if there are others with reservations, we should probably call
for
> a formal vote of the SC.
>
> I have already expressed my reservations. It makes more sense to me to
wait
> until Bob gets back so he could advise us on the above mentioned point so
we
> would at least know what we are getting ourselves into.
> >
> ... I think we need to discuss whether the auction at the conference will
be
> donation or split. I favor a split, because I think people deserve
> something for their nice plants, and I think in the long run people will
> bring more, nicer plants. I think Neil feels the same way. At NEC, we
give
> a 60/40 split for pre-registered lots to make it easier for the
organizers,
> and 50/50 for lots registered at the event. Any other thoughts?
>
> When Charlene and I originally talked about having people bring plants as
> donations, my recollection was that this was for two reasons: to raise
> future seed money for the next convention and for the purpose of keeping
> things simple and as labor free as possible. As chair of the silent
> auction, I would like to say that if we do decide to do a split, I would
> like someone to volunteer to do the bookkeeping. I'm going to need the
> help. Providing we have a bookkeeper, I could go either way.
>
> > Mike wrote that he'd be willing to help with bylaws. I move that the SC
> revive the bylaw committee and accect Mike's offer!<
>
> I don't think this is really necesary for two reasons. As Eric I believe
> has pointed out, Bob Casin has already done some work on the by-laws which
> we can make use of. Secondly, lawyers nowadays use standard forms and
then
> plug in information pertaining to the particular client. Bob will
probably
> use a standard form for a membership corporation if this is what people
want
> and customize it to suit our needs.
>
> Mary
>
>
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