Club Organization

[WAGERJA]

I'm starting this thread as a general forum to hopefully hammer out all the kinks in getting this up and running. Now down to business.

The first thing I'd like to say is, 99.9% of all business, organizations, & clubs are at least loosely based on "Robert's Rules of Order"
http://www.constitution.org/rror/rror--00.htm Its worth a look but the legaleze might drive you crazy.

Second, we should hold an open election where anyone who reads this thread and sees the nominees up for election is welcome to e-mail to the "vote recorder" with his or her votes. By these means I suggested we elect or place into office(if the nominee is uncontested) the following minimum positions: President, Treasurer, & Secretary.

Brief Position descriptions:

President: runs meetings, acts as the go to person and most importantly leads the club in a defined direction. (In our case it would most probably be growth and financial stability)

Treasurer: keeps an organized record of all club monies, has access to a club bank account, collects dues, cuts checks for events, ect.

Secretary: record meeting minutes, keeps a list of active and inactive members with contact info.

Other possible positions:
Vise Pres.
Webmaster
PR rep/events
Photographer/Historian

After the min. officers are in place they shall write a set of simple by-laws and club goals to presented to the club members for approval. At the same time, they should collect a small initiation fee of say $5, to solidify who is in and who is out.

I have a lot more ideas on this subject. Having said all this, I think we should begin voting Wed. – Fri. by e-mailing to the first person who steps up to be the “vote recorder�. That person shall count all votes received and report back next Monday. I think that here is general lack of political BS in this group and that one person can be trusted to report back the votes honestly.
I also hereby nominate myself for President. I have the time and interest, and feel I can serve us all well.

Thank you
Jay Wager
Feel free to flame a way if you think I’m way off base on this.

[foxstop]

That was a very well thought out post Jay. I'm very familar with Roberts Rules of Order. It's what most folks are comfortable with in my experience even if they don't know they are using them:)

I will step up to be the Vote Recorder if needed. If someone else wants to do it I'm fine with that too.

This club is really coming together. Can MACNA NY be far behind?:fish2:

Take care.

Brian

[WAGERJA]

thank you, Brian

unless someone has a descenting opp. by tonight midnight I'd say you're the Vote Recorder, and again thank you.

J

[foxstop]

Not a problem. There are so many guys here that have stepped up and who are doing a lot to get this off the ground. I haven't had too much time and I've only been to a couple of meetings, but I think this is a great thing with a phenomenal group of people.
Happy to help:)

Brian

[Tomzpc]

I agree that the "Roberts Rules" are basically the way to go for organizations. I think that maybe we should wait another week or so at the least to begin any official voting only because some members don't check these boards as frequently as others. I also think that the voting should be restricted to people who have been to at least one meeting at this point since we don't currently have a definition of what constitutes an "active" member.

[nine9d]

I agree with Tom. We need to wait it out a little only because a lot of people don't frequent the boards on a daily like some of us other nuts do. I think maybe we should sort out the dues first than go on to selecting officers. One thing at a time.

[Tomzpc]

Originally posted by nine9d
I agree with Tom. We need to wait it out a little only because a lot of people don't frequent the boards on a daily like some of us other nuts do. I think maybe we should sort out the dues first than go on to selecting officers. One thing at a time.

Hey....who are you calling nuts?! :celeb1: :hmm5: :fun5:

[foxstop]

I resemble that remark :spin3: :wave:

[WAGERJA]

I see your point about waiting and agree now that I think about it some more.

1. The problem with dues first is who collects them? how much? what bank account or person holds the money? how do you finalize this stuff? do ya see what I'm saying?

2. Tom I'm with you "voting should be restricted to people who have been to at least one meeting", but how do we know who has been to a meeting? Has any one kept track or do you guys that have hosted remember? If so lets start making a list? that would be a good place to start.

3. If we can't come up with a list then open voting might be an opt. how many people view this forum and would bother writing an e-mail to vote that haven't been to a meeting? I don't know, but I don't think it's alot. A point and click poll I could see some BS votes being a problem.

I don't know, just some counter points to think about.

J
ps; my spelling just plain bad, please try and disregard it.

[Tomzpc]

Hey Jay,

Thanks for the good post to kick off this thread btw. Here's my thoughts and not necessarily those of anyone else. :p

1-I was thinking that we wouldn't start paying dues until we pay for 2004 anyway, so by then we would have a treasurer in place. I say we leave the account setup option to the treasurer within reason of course (under the mattress might not fly). I think that we were basically saying that since the "dues thing" was under discussion, let's finalize that discussion first.

2-There have been maybe fifteen or sixteen people who have been to meetings. Someone recently put up a list that had everyone up until the last meeting. You're right in that we need to update it. I'll check it out or if someone else beats me to it I'll have no complaints. :p

3-See 2 :p

4-The only spelling mistake that I saw was "alot" which isn't a word! Normally I'm not that anal but you mentioned it so I had to look! I'll bet that I have just as many in this response! :p

5-I like this one, if you hadn't noticed.....----> :p

......crawls back under his live rock.

[masterswimmer]

Jay,
Good thread. No BS and to the point. I have a copy of Roberts Rules of Order for anyone to view if they'd like. It is the basis for, like you pointed out, 99.9% of governing bodies.

I agree with Tom and Ross about giving the voting a little more time. Treasurer should be responsible for establishing an account. However, do we want a double signature type of account? It could alleviate a lot (notice spelling Tom) of possible problems. And more importantly, protect the treasurer from accusations.

Brian, thanx for stepping up as the vote tabulator. Brian gets the nod from me, if that counts. Jay, thanx for stepping up to the plate as president. It will probably mean a lot (notice the spelling Tom) of hours, hope you're up to it.

Let's see how things shake out for nominees. I work a lot (notice spelling Tom) of hours and might find it difficult to volunteer, but if push comes to shove and noone steps up, then I'll see what kind of time I can muster up.

I like the direction we are taking,
Proud to be a long standing member,
Russ

[WAGERJA]

Just an up date from other threads

This is the list of people that are eligible to vote so far if you have been to a meeting and want a vote please speak up.

nine9d- ross
tomzpc-tom
andro-ian
seaham358-bob
masterswimmer-russ
franksreef-frank
ads-adam
occb2-rob
skearse-stacy
reelfish-bob
sparkysreef-rob
casanokid-keith
foxstop-brian
doppler-nick
wagerja-jay

It also looks like $25/yr is acceptable to everyone for dues. Starting for the ’04 year sounds good to me.

Now we should look for people to step up for Treasurer & Secretary. Also I was thinking that we could have new elections for the ’04 year after things get setup (around 1/15/04). This would give people that want to help but don’t have time in the long term a chance to help. Once we have officers, they should be able to lay the groundwork as I outlined above with one albeit long face to face meeting and most of the rest of it could then be worked out on the board.

Again we(the 24/7 nuts) should toss this around for awhile to give the people that don’t look at the board as often(normal people) a chance to give their in put.

This is great! I started this thread to give things a kick in the pants so to speak. Looks like it’s working. :bum: (I like this one as it alludes to my secret life as a Newburgh pimp.)

thanks
J

[nine9d]

I actually think that we are setting up for the new year Jay. So I don't think that there is really a need for elections to be ran over and over again.

We still need everyone to agree on the $25 dues and not just a couple of us. I know a couple of the guys are on vaca. (like occb2) so we need to have these threads run for at least a couple of weeks before any decisions are made. Especially since he was one of the few guys that started up this group.

Also, I hope that people do indeed step up to take positions. We need to get this group on a solid foundation and once that is done, there will be no stopping us! Thanks.

[WAGERJA]

Well said Ross, I agree. You and Tom have been great about keeping the newbie informed thanks.

"Again we(the 24/7 nuts) should toss this around for awhile to give the people that don’t look at the board as often(normal people) a chance to give their in put."

I'm going to stop talking now. I'm getting the feeling that I'm being a pain in the arse.

J

[nine9d]

n00b or not J you are doing a great job. It is not about keeping you in line, just informed my friend.

Don't stop talking because obviously you have created some action to our forum. The more input/ideas that we have the further along we will be when everyone gets to read these threads.

In my book, no idea is a bad idea, especially if everyone agrees.

[WAGERJA]

I fixed my post "informed" not "in line"
I had a thought about changing it as soon as I posted.

thanks
J

[skearse]

Originally posted by Tomzpc
Hey Jay,

Thanks for the good post to kick off this thread btw. Here's my thoughts and not necessarily those of anyone else. :p

1-I was thinking that we wouldn't start paying dues until we pay for 2004 anyway, so by then we would have a treasurer in place. I say we leave the account setup option to the treasurer within reason of course (under the mattress might not fly). I think that we were basically saying that since the "dues thing" was under discussion, let's finalize that discussion first.



Does that mean investing it in Enron is out, too? :D

I second that the organization of the dues, collection, etc., should be "championed" by whoever is the Treasurer-after all, (s)he [you never know] is the person that has to deal with it on a regular basis, and I think keeping it simple and manageable should be the goal.

As far as officers go, I'd be willing to throw my hat into the ring for just about any of the offices.

[WAGERJA]

Hey Stacy

1. thanks for stepping up. any ideas which job you want or are most comfortable with?

2. your "(s)he" made me think about the member list. As much as I have tried to make my posts non-gender biased we all over looked the fact that not a single better half is on that list. So, if your BF/GF/wife/friend/sea monster:hmm6:/who ever, who has been to a meeting, add thier name to the list. Just beceuse they don't have a RC account of their own doesn't mean that they should not be counted as equel members(with voting rights).

Susan B. Anthony would be so proud. :)

J

[Tomzpc]

Originally posted by WAGERJA
your "(s)he" made me think about the member list. As much as I have tried to make my posts non-gender biased we all over looked the fact that not a single better half is on that list. So, if your BF/GF/wife/friend/sea monster:hmm6:/who ever, who has been to a meeting, add thier name to the list. Just beceuse they don't have a RC account of their own doesn't mean that they should not be counted as equel members(with voting rights).
J

Spouses, say like Jen, who are interested in the hobby and coming to meetings should definitely be included. Perhaps we should do like some other clubs I've checked into and have a "family" membership. We could do, say $40 for two instead of $25 each, or something similar. Then both, Ian and Jen in this example, would have full membership rights (including voting privileges). On the other hand, a spouse (or sig. other) could just continue to come to meetings, but without any member privileges.

Just my two ceriths.

On another note, I'll toss my name into the hat for secretary. :wavehand:

Tom

[WAGERJA]

look at Tom hitting the nail on the head!

If you keep finishing my thoughts like that we are going to have this thing together in no time.

thank you our possible future secretary.

J

[gfk168]

I am interested to become a non active member. I met Tom last Friday and I cannot become an active member and take on responsibility due to my situration. May be the club needs to have some rules(can do and cannot do) for non active member before they join?

[Tomzpc]

Hi Tak,

We are defining an active member as someone who will be paying the club dues (tentatively around $25/yr) beginning with the 2004 calendar year. An active member doesn't necessarily have to take on any responsibilities within the club. If all that you want to do is come to the occasional meeting, then that's fine. I guess that you're referring to the difference between an "active" active member and an "inactive" active member. Heh.
If you wanted to come to a meeting or two before you decide to join that's fine too. I think (this is my take and not official club policy) that if someone continually came to club meetings then at some point we'd expect them to pay the dues and become a member but again, responsibilities would remain optional.

Welcome aboard.

Tom

[WAGERJA]

add this to what Tom said. he must have more time to slack off at work because he finished first :)

My take on that is this:
1. Non-active members are welcome to participate in every way with these three acceptations.

a. Non-active members do not have voting rights.

b. If a non-active member wishes to participate in a club subsidized event such as a trip (s)he will be responsible for the full cost to participate, where members may pay only part or none.

c. Non-active members will not be given membership cards or I.D. which most likely will be good for discounts at LFSs and such.

Anyone else?

[nine9d]

You forgot a big one silly.

d. Non-members must go through a hazing ritual delivered by the club members.

There, I think that should do it.

[gfk168]

Yes, thoses are good rules and should be included into the web page? Sometimes, non active member can have good info or experience which they can shared with other member in the local area thru internet rather thru meeting.

[gfk168]

Rule d is too much for me to handle :-)

[foxstop]

Hmm...My chosen profession precludes me from doing any hazing.
However, in the interest of participating in any ritual....:beer: :blown: :uzi: :bounce1: :bounce2::dance: :dance::hammer: :thumbsup:

[skearse]

As a pretty boy fraternity boy (look at me; what did you expect?), I'll gladly step up to make sure that "initiations" are handled in the most professional manner. ("Trust me, it won't be that BAAA-d", he said sheepishly) :thumbsup:

[andro]

Thank you sir, may I have another! :D :hammer: :o :hammer: :eek: :hammer:

[masterswimmer]

MMMMMOOOOOOOO

oops, I'm sorry, I thought you said grazing. And as far as hazing is concerned, us acrylic tank owners prefer NOT to use the word hazing. Just a fear we all have.

Now that we've gone completely off topic here.

I like the path that we are taking. At the bare minimum there is open discussion. I believe we should make a definite statement as to the exact maximum number of meetings a non member can attend before they are required to join (pay their dues) or decline. I don't think leaving it open ended would be proper for those members who are dues paying active members. Not that I'm trying to chase anyone away, however, leaving anything open for interpretation is not prudent.

I approached one of our LFS asking if they'd be interested in sponsoring a banner on our web page. Without any additional information as to cost, discounts, etc. they seemed interested. Definitely need to discuss it more. I mentioned we have monthly meetings, a member base of about 15-20 and growing. Lets discuss.

Feedback? Ideas? Comments? Lambasting? Whatever?

Russ

[nine9d]

^BUMP - To keep this on everyone's mind.

[WAGERJA]

^BUMP