Fundamental Club questions???

[dsandfort]

In reading several threads regarding RMRC, I have been formulating some basic questions. Here we go....

1. How was RMRC formed?
2. Are there officers to the club?
3. Who are the officers (if they exist)?
4. How were/are officers selected?
5. Is there a term for officers?
6. Is it time for new officers (as in a virtul election)?
7. Is there a club charter with defined responsibilities?

You get the general theme here. I am a member of RMRC and want to remain so. We have NCAS up here and it is in direct support (as in sub-club) of RMRC. Besides, we don't want to do all that driving.

If we want a general election (virtual) I am volunteering to gather nominations and hold the election on this forum.

Or..you can tell me to pound sand.

Del

[Peterock]

I think that is a awsome idea I will be more that happy to run if that is the case for secretary, I am extremly qualified to uphold and keep minutes for the club. Beautifull idea.

[aqua_obs]

Gee, sounds very official and involving politics. Although we aren't doing much right now. I don't know if I'm for making it a big official thing or not....

[scchase]

Well I can fill in some of the back story on the club history, way back many moons ago before reef central existed, ther was a small yahoo group. We were the CO reef club and our numbers were few. The originals in that group that I can remember are Fishgeek, Exocet, Odenwell, Scottpasse, the other Scott and myself. We talked about haveing meetings but I dont remeber ever having one until after reef central came into being which is also another story unto itself involving a rebellion from an old message board and lest I get banned I will say no more.
Scott

[scchase]

Also just as a suggestion maybe we should set up a seperate board for the Norhtern CO group seeings how we kinda took over this board after we lost our last one.

[dubitup]

pound sand Del












Good thread, I've also wondered how this works

[VikeBron]

Hi Del,
With monies being raised via raffles and such there should be some sort of board of some kind I would think. Maybe there already is but I have not heard of one.
Del, if you are not busy this week I could use some suggestions on my plumbing of the 150.
Thanks,
Steve

[Clown-N-Around]

Yes! When I saw the other thread I was wondering the same thing. Supposedly, there are all these plans being made by "RMRC", but no one seems to know about them. I think it would be great if everyone knew who the decision makers are and we get some regular communication from them about what is going on.

IMO- I like having everyone in Colorado on the same board, and definately consider myself part of RMRC as a whole. I think I would miss out on a lot of great input from the Denver and C. Springs folks if we were not sharing the same cyberspace.

For meetings, it is nice to have some home meetings closer to everyone's houses, but it would be great if they get something worked out to have some combined meetings at a central location, too. I think having both kinds of meetings regularly would be great for the club.

[ojreef]

A few years ago, a Dr. in lakewood posted a thread about starting a reef club. There were the names that Scott Chase mentioned and maybe a couple of more (Including myself) at the first meeting. It grew from there.

RMRC did have a board of Directors and as Board members dropped out, moved etc. and/or every year we had an election. There was no formal Charter or rules, etc.

Since people up North and down South weren't to keen on the long trip, they started having meetings in addition to the Denver "Chapter"

Somewhere along the way, the club officers seemed to drop out, move away or ???. As far as who is running the club now, I am curious as well. I think they are doing a GREAT job but, it would be nice to know as you pointed out.

My previous thread was in no way intendended to cause any problems. I, like you, don't like the long drive and merely wanted to see some meetings back in Denver area.

Please notice that the group in Colorado Springs have monthly meetings and it doesn't appear as if it conflicts with the NCAS meetings.

Couldn't we have meetings in both places Denver and North?

I think the North group is great, I went to one meeting and found the people outstanding. Kip is doing a great job and I know he has some good plans.

I also am very much in favor of all three locations (Groups) being part of the same club and sharing the same cyber space. maybe we could be called North, Denver and Colorado springs Chapters. of the RMRC or, RMAS (Aquarium Society).

[calvin415]

Hey Hal any chance of getting OJ to allow us to meet once a month or once a quarter there as an entire group?

[ojreef]

Maybe, it's being worked on. BUT we don't want to get hopes up or, do anything to lesson our chances.

By the way, I'm not involved in the process (Conflict of interest?). I just got our foot in the door.

[calvin415]

That would be awesome if we could get a dedicated place to get together and share ideas/learn from guests!

[COreefer]

I don't think the question is all to fundamental unless someone is looking to turn it into a beuracracy...here in CS we are our own entity. The club was started by Chris G, Robert, and myself (at the time there were meetings going on in Denver; however rarely did anyone from CS ever go, there are just to many people with obligations to make a trip like that monthly)...the original intent was to set up a mechanism for fellow reefers in the area to network and get to know one another; thus, growing from there. Hardly anyone from CS was ever going to Denver or anywhere else for the RMRC meetings; although, that is not to say that members of the CSRC do not participate in the RMRC...think of it as a means to supplement the Denver meetings so that the vast majority of participants down here have a meeting outlet.

In CS we do not have a beuracracy in place and do not intend to. Our vision in the begining was to have a venue free of all special interests, in which members can meet, and enjoy one anothers company. The meetings are fine with in the format we have...if things get going with the RMRC again I'm sure a few CS reefers will participate; however, due to the logistics of proximity we will continue to have our meetings in CS on a monthly basis.

One last thought on this...CS is a pretty big city (over 500,000 residents) with the capacity to to self suffice. I think a situation in which there is one big meeting per quarter or bi-annually will draw numbers to a centralized location; additionally, value would have to be built into those meetings to serve as incentive to have people drive 2.5-3 hrs round trip.

That's the perspective from CS...

[Mr.Lizard]

Can't we all just get along??

Why does everything always HAVE to be as complicated as possible?

I'm not trying to mess up the 'wet' dream here, but....(pun intended)

[wanecek]

Well, I hope I am correct here, because I am only going by memory and lately it is starting to fade.

1. How was RMRC formed? I can only tell you that in 2001 when I joined Steve ??? was President, Fish Geek was VP, Scott Passe was the Secretary. We basically followed the format that we follow today. Meet at someone's house, talk about a specific topic on reefs and then stand there and look at other people's tanks.
2. Are there officers to the club? Yes.
3. Who are the officers (if they exist)? The last I heard is Jerry Gonzales is the President, John Michael is the VP. Not sure if this has changed. Jerry? John?
4. How were/are officers selected? Once a year at a club meeting we nominated whomever wanted to be an officer and then voted at the meeting.
5. Is there a term for officers? About one year.
6. Is it time for new officers (as in a virtul election)? Maye in the next meeting we can discuss or maybe now???
7. Is there a club charter with defined responsibilities? I have never heard of one.

Again, I hope I don't step on any toes on this topic. Great questions that probably need answered.

Thanks,
Michael

[Leopard Wrasse]

One of the goals when we first started in Colorado Springs
was to form a fellowship among people here to allow for
things like tank sitting and emergencies, it would have been
unreasonable to expect someone from Denver to drive down
in that situation. We also have our own issue we deal with here
that probably are of little interest to the Denver area. (i.e. local stores and issues involving such) We have had people make the drive from Denver before and they have always been welcome at our meetings, and their input greatly appreciated.

We also tried to generate interest for carpools to the Denver
meetings but no one except Brian H expressed much enthusiasm
to attend. (Sunday's seem to be very busy for most people down here)

Robert

P.S.

We appreciate CRMRC allowing us to use their forum to post
our meeting information, organize, and attract new members.
In know way are we trying to compete with CRMRC or the NCAS,
we are just trying to network down here to help each other
in this wonderful hobby.

[dsandfort]

Can't we all just get along??

Was not aware that someone was not getting along??? Hal just got me thinking.

Why does everything always HAVE to be as complicated as possible?

Was the complication in the questions or the concepts? Again, Hal got me thinking. For example:Where does the money from raffles go? How are speakers selected? These are most definitely club functions and I am a curious SOB. I also have a fundamental desire to advance my areas of interest and this club can help me with one of them if it evolves. NCAS had a good start but the catalyst waned. Many of us decided to keep up the good fight and try to learn some things along the way. For example, our meeting this weekend is on wrasses. Future meetings will have other topics of mutual interest. I want to be part of the evolution. Complicated? Well, I suppose it depends on what you want. I learn something at every home I visit. I just want more. How about you?

Michael-thanks for the direct answers. Pretty much what I thought.

Del

[Mr.Lizard]

Apparently we can't get along unless things get complicated- as in less simple....
I personally enjoy the loose knit comraderie and could care less about the bureaucratic feasibility or lack thereof. I feel it's a sure way to soak the joy out of it- too much extraneous cloudiness distracting from the hobby aspect. I'm here partly to get away from all of that, since my 'real' life already has too much as it is. I am curious as to who the original freaks were/are, though....LOL

I'm here to learn and share like most of the people are, and I don't feel the need for any sort of 'leadership' per se....but I suppose there has to be someone to set up things like topic speakers or whatnot- if that's what people want. Other than that, it's up to all of us to make the revolution happen starting with ourselves. We don't need leadership for that- only a willingness to explore the hobby and strength of character to learn from each other....and lots of other zen sounding stuff.

I have no problem with concepts or questions despite the snide tone. I meant get along like reasonable people without a lot of extra miring things with red tape.

Sounds like a vote for the sand....LOL

[jdallred]

1. How was RMRC formed?

2. Are there officers to the club?
Yes
3. Who are the officers (if they exist)?
To my knowledge the last time the club elected officers was around the beginning of 2002. At that time Brian (FishGeeek) – President, Jerry (Jerry Gonzalez) – Vice President, and John (JEMichael_IV) – Web Master (?). Since then Brian stepped down as President, however to my knowledge no elections have been held since then. Kip (ktani) was appointed a position with the club, although I’m not sure which one.
4. How were/are officers selected?
My understanding is in the past (2002) they are elected by the club.
5. Is there a term for officers?
I don’t think there is. We’ve been with the club for three years and don’t know of any elections that have been held during that time and I haven't seen anything on RMRC's website noting a change.
6. Is it time for new officers (as in a virtul election)?

7. Is there a club charter with defined responsibilities?
Not to my knowledge.

[dsandfort]

Thanks Joe-
Now that I am pounding sand, I will leave my questions in the rhetorical waiting room (to which they were intended).
Del

[ojreef]

wanecek's summation of RMRC history is right on. Thanks Michael. By the way, the first president and founder was Steve Cohen, MD.

Hopefully, this along with the other great inputs about sums up the clubs history.

jdallred points are also accurate and brings up some interesting points.

[adams0816]

DEL, Thats pound aragonite.lol...

[ojreef]

I also agree with mr. lizard in respect to keeping it simple. In the old days, the Pres. or, VP sort of kept the meetings structured. By that I mean he started the meeting Right on time, Gave small club info. for the newbees ; a round the room individuale introduce themselves (This helped a lot because everyone gave SHORT info on their systems) and allowed everyone to think of who they wanted to chat with; introduced the host and/or guest speaker; talked about next meeting and future ideas were discussed,

No big formal stuff or, rules of conducting the meeting. Someone should be the "Ringleader" or we really would flounder. Treasurer took care of the money (Interesting concept) and the secretary/webmaster kept web going and should keep a record (Informal) of whats going on.

Anyhow, thats the way it was.

I also vote for the KISS way. Simple is good and we don't get caught in a bind down the road because we wrote a "By law" that made some new idea not possible to do.

I also agree that all three areas (Denver, NCAS and CSAS) should share in the website and be part of all special events and welcome to each others meeting's. After all, aren't we all part of the same club with different "chapters" due to location, etc.?

Just MHO

[Peterock]

So now coming from a new person to the RMRC what should we be going by. What is going to be the solution to all of this maddness. I say lets get one major meeting together and Build 1 Charter for the state of Colorado and then break it into different chapters i.e. North, Metro, South, Mountain. That way each chapter can have their meeting then the secretary of each will email or fax all the info that was talked about to one person and they post it on the actual Colorado Rocky Mountain Reef Club site. So everyone can see what is going on. These reef clubs are to big and important not to be ran as such everyone doesn't know everything so that is why these clubs are even around so that people can share info. Lets get back to that.... (if people need aditional info on running organizations like these and what needs to happen please email me karl.peters@comcast.net)

[Clown-N-Around]

I don't think the intent is to create red tape and bureaucracy, I think the intent is that there are people who know what the heck is going on. As an example: Instead of us doing the complicated thing, like reinventing the wheel to come up with a list of NCAS attendees (like I did for our last meeting following Dave's incident), I should know who to go to and get a response regarding a members list.

If the officers of the club are not able to serve their function, then it might be time to see who might be willing/able to help out. I have already sort of unofficially volunteered as secretary for NCAS, and Del took on treasurer duties last meeting, but we really should not be just stabbing in the dark with no communication.

I am not trying to offend anyone, I just really agree with Del that the lack of organization is frustrating. I know people are busy and have other commitments and there should be a way for them to ask for help. There are so many of us out here who are willing, that it would be great if we could focus our efforts a little more instead of spinning our wheels in many different directions.