Quote Originally Posted by David Branyon View Post
Do I understand this correctly that the voting process change is part of the bylaws and the membership only has review and feedback power over that and the BOD can vote to approve that no matter the opinion of the majority of the membership?
Any change to the ByLaws has to go thru this process, BOD recommendation, post for member review and feedback, BOD vote. This is the procedure that has been in place since the original ByLaws in 1991. If a BOD member takes his job seriously then feedback has a say in the BOD voting process. This suggested change is something the BOD believes will help with getting good future leadership for the club. If it proves otherwise or needs modifications it can be changed.

2. If the people who form the Nominations Committee can find more eligible people to run for the BOD, why don't they just do that as individual club members? I don't see this argument as a significant advantage. If it is an advantage, then have this Nominations Committee just add people to the nominee list without the power to remove.

Regarding the problem of having um... sub-optimal candidates, that is kind of an inherent problem with democratic orgs: you are at the risk of the good judgement of the majority. I think this risk is not as high as the other risk...
The hope is that if people are part of the Nominations Committee they will feel an obligation to try and get enough qualified candidates to have a proper ballot. In the current process the only criteria to be on the ballot is to be a member in good standing for 720 days. A person can nominate themselves. There is nothing in place for the voting members to "get to now" the nominees. All voters know are the names on the ballot. then, if the vote, many vote for "I heard of them". I believe this is one of the reason why voter turnout is so low. People say I do not know any of these candidates so i am not voting. One of the expectations of the Nominations Committee is to talk to each candidate and find out why they decided to accept the nomination. This way voters at least know a Committee has vetted the group. The Charter for the Nominations Committee has not been written, only some base framework. The expectation is the first Nominations Committee will define the Charter they will operate under.


Nothing in the by-laws requires more than just the two ex BOD members to constitute the Nominations Committee. I'm not all that concerned about this good old boy issue, but if it is an issue (and to get a little more diverse nominating committee), it should be required that the committee is composed of for example, two former BOD members and at least two non-BOD members. Or at least a minimum membership number of >>2.
Is the scenario you outlined possible, anything is possible, but not very likely. I agree we need to add a minimum number of non exBOD members. Is 2 non ex BOD members ok?
We can also add a 2x or 3x minimum candidates on the ballot, however that may put a big burden on the Committee to find qualified candidates if only 2 people get nominated. I would like to put that type of governance at the Nominations Committee Charter instead of the ByLaws.


As noted, the bylaw process, as written, does not require ANY outsiders to be on the Nominations Committee. And again, these non-BOD folks have the full capability to nominate highly qualified people they know for the BOD in the current nominating voting system we have today. So no change needed.
If people would nominate highly qualified people it would be great. but recent history has not shown that is the case.


As mentioned last year, I don't suspect any of the current BOD of having ulterior motives, but rules should be written to prevent future bad actions by people with ill intentions and I don't see that kind of protection here.
There is not really a way to write something that can prevent this, but our hope is if someone has to go thru a nominations committee to discuss why they want to be on the BOD and hear from exBOD members that they will change how they view the responsibility of the BOD or the Nominations Committee will see what their agenda is and act appropriately.

Thank you for your feedback.