There is a formal election of officers at the Thursday, January 14th meeting, and we would like to run Treasurer and Vice-Commodore. We submitted our names to the Nominating Committee, where our supporters were out voted by committee members currently on the board or their spouses. Please read on to see our qualifications, our “platform”, and some of our hopes for MYC.
We each have the following qualifications:
Qualifications | What They Mean |
Have owned and managed successful businesses | Understand business, accounting and management |
Are avid, passionate sailors & reci-pients of the Commodore’s Trophy | Understand sailing and sailors and their concerns |
Have owned and sailed several different types of boats | Appreciate and respect the differences in sailing and racing various boats |
Have sailed in numerous regional and national regattas | Exposed to variety of competitive event structures and club governments |
Are long term members of MYC with a history of volunteerism | Demonstrated willingness to contribute time, effort, and talent |
Additionally, Gary has US Sailing certification as a Level 1 and Level 2 instructor and is a Certified Race Officer.
Platform:
- As Board members, we would be dedicated to helping all members optimize their sailing and racing experiences at the club. We would recognize the evolution of the sailing membership and evolve along with it. We would try to learn what sailing activities the club can offer to those who aren’t sailing much now. Without diminishing traditional “serious” racing, we would like to introduce more opportunity for less serious racing and sailing. Also, we hope to get more people sailing by fostering more sailing instruction and coaching for all ages and skill levels.
- We would support the independence of significant subgroups within the club (e.g. the individual fleets) to design and organize their own programs. It should not be “one size fits all.” For example, if the Daysailers want to score their summer racing as one series instead of two, they should certainly be allowed to do so. We want to present a, “How can we help you?” attitude to every interested subgroup or individual member.
- We would promote a decision making process that includes all the members in a meaningful way.
- We would assign ourselves as many race and dinner duties as other members have.
If you made it this far, thank you for your time. Come out to vote if you can. If not, email the club secretary with your support. Maybe those allowed to vote will be influenced by your email.
P.S. Eric will be out of the country on January 14, the date to which the January meeting was rescheduled. Gary may also have to be out of state visiting his ailing, elderly father. So, one or both of us (along with our spouses) will be unable to vote per the current voting policy.
I am posting to the MYC Discussion Blog so that all members may read my comments, and others who have an opinion may comment before or after tonight’s business meeting. I will not be in attendance as I have a work related meeting of the MA Board of Real Estate Appraisers to attend.
ReplyDeleteAs applauded by Dennis Dubuc, I will try to use this space as is intended and to use good blog etiquette.
I read with interest the recent email from Gary Werden, Subject: Additional MYC Board Nominations. If nothing else, it spurred me to investigate why Eric and Gary felt that they should appeal to the members outside of the usual nomination process and why they were not included in the report from the nominating committee or the notice for tonight’s business meeting. I sent an email to Diane our secretary and she responded by calling me that evening and educating me in both the usual process for the nominating committee and the specifics of the current nominating committee and how their report was developed.
As the moderator of a local church some years ago, I was tasked by their bylaws to form a nominating committee and to chair that committee. It was not an easy task to find members to serve on that committee or for them to complete their assign task by the annual meeting. That said, I applaud those that served on our committee this year, for the difficult job they have completed with the best interest of the club at heart.
However, I would like to suggest that someone from the board or the nominating committee detail the process the committee followed, including all the candidates that were considered for the various open positions and the results of their committee votes prior to tonight’s election. This would serve to make the process more transparent to all the members and give those in attendance at this evening’s meeting some further information on which to base their votes.
As for Gary and Eric’s nominations from the floor this evening, I can’t ever remember in my years as moderator having more than one candidate for any office. That in itself is positive that we have more members willing to dedicate their experience, skills and time to our club as officers.
Unfortunately in the often political process of presenting one’s platform and qualifications for an office, it would seem that this is being critical of the opposing candidates or as in the case of incumbents (think George Bush) of their past performance.
This process does however bring new ideas to the discussion and I believe benefits us all. Though not necessarily in agreement with all of the ideas Gary and Eric have brought to the table, I do agree with their efforts to bring new ideas and change to the club.
So, if I were in attendance at tonight’s meeting, I would certainly be one to answer the question, are there any nominations from the floor by entering their names for the respective chosen offices. I expect that according to our bylaws I can only do that if I am in attendance. Hopefully someone else will be at the meeting to do that in my place.
Also, when a vote is called for the various offices, I would be voting in the affirmative for…… But I can’t do that because based on our current bylaws I must be in attendance to vote. So I will leave that in the capable hands of those that choose to attend tonight’s meeting.
Bob Kowalewski