deepquattro

I've been mulling over the Feb 4 Chapter Rep call. Sometime prior to that call, somebody at national decided to cull the chapter rep list. Some of the more vocal reps were removed without notice, including Mike Steineke and me. Thus, we were never notified of the chapter rep call.

First off, that was just plain rude. If you remove somebody from a committee, you at least thank them for their service as a volunteer. But apparently, that is not the way that national works. They just kick your butt out the door and slam it behind you. I suppose if you get upset and leave the club, so much the better. For them.

Regardless, I'm sure that nobody at national was sorry to see me go, which pleases me to no end. However, unbeknown to them, I decided to stay. Since the reps are there for the good of their chapter, not that of national, our chapter felt that I should not leave. So, I listened in on the call and took notes.

During the course of the call the subject of the number of chapter reps was broached by Allan Bellevance, a very close, close friend of Mr. Earley and Mr. Bradigan. Mr. Bellevance asked that each chapter be limited to a single representative so that the more "aggressive" conversations would be quelled. The board, to a person, appeared to consider this as a brand new idea that nobody had ever voiced before. They amiably discussed it with the chapter reps and a decision was made where each chapter could have more than one rep on the call, but only one was allowed to speak.

That's all fine and dandy, but what I want to know is: who made the decision beforehand? Who cut the list down? Who approved this?

And why did they act like they knew nothing about it during the call?

Most of all, who do they think they are fooling?

John Stahmann

It was mentioned by Karen that "Chapter Presidents are invited to attend this call. If the president is unable to participate, please appoint one individual to represent your chapter on the call. "

One of our board members sent an email to Karen asking to be added to the Chapter Rep mailing list and her response was that "Only the chapter presidents are invited to the chapter rep call."

If the right person from your chapter isn't the person on the Chapter Reps list, call and have them make the change. Every Chapter should have a chapter rep, though. If National wanted to narrow the list down they should leave it up to the chapter to communicate their one rep, not just cut people out... Seems odd that they would do that.

deepquattro

It originated from Karen and was authoritative in tone and instructions. So one of three things must have occurred:

1) The board doesn't want to be asked questions for which there is no justifiable answer so they got rid of the the loudmouths. They created policy to cull the herd to not only manageable size, but also composed of people who are already too busy running chapters to be actively concerned with what's going on at national.

2) As above, but no policy was created. It is the board dictating a non-binding non-decision.

2) Karen is acting on her own.

3) Some person or people on the board have directed Karen to perform this action without the authority to do so.

If the answer is number 1 or 2, why did the BoD act like it was a surprise when Mr. Bellevance brought it up? After all, it was stated in the email that only presidents were included. Why the charade?

If the answer is 2 or 3, somebody should be looking into this.

However the decision was reached, the implementation stunk. This club is supposed to be open, honest and transparent and it is supposed to encourage discourse. To summarily remove people without even a fare-thee-well is childish, petty and reflects poorly on the responsible party. It is also simply rude.

The thing that sticks in my craw is that the reps don't even hold any sway over the board to begin with. Time and again, the board has ignored the pleas and desires of the reps. They have told the reps that they would do one thing and, once the phone call ended, immediately turned around and did whatever they pleased. They, as a group, have lied to us, repeatedly.

I feel that the more reps we have to witness this, the better off we all are. If I could have every single member of the ACNA on the phone call to see the willful machinations of the ACNA Bod, I would be a happy man.

So though I may not speak at the rep meetings, I will be watching and I will be communicating with our solitary rep with a voice. More important, I will be taking notes and I will make sure that they are available for everybody to see.

After all, the primary job of the chapter reps is to communicate what occurs during the meetings to every single ACNA member. If mine is the only viewpoint that appears publicly, then so be it.

Mike@PNS

... I share your skepticism on motivation and have had conversations with my BOD on the issue. I think it was rude, it was intentionally planned, and it was poorly executed. You would think they could have at least had Allan bring it up on the call and then made the adjustments to the invite list after everyone `agreed'.

Whatever, as long as my chapter will have me, I plan to continue attending the calls. If I feel the need to do so, I will speak up. What are they going to do - fire me? Pull my card?

I have a question for you, sir... Are you really surprised?

deepquattro

...to annoy, disenfranchise, **** off and otherwise abuse the very people that make this club great. Apparently, they don't recognize the fact that without the chapter leaders, the eventmasters and the people who work at the chapter level, the ACNA would be nothing but a glossy magazine with nobody to read it.

I am far beyond surprised at what they do. I simply marvel at how inventively they stick it to us, how often and how hard.

According to the code of ethics, we are supposed to be open, honest and transparent. I'm going to open it up so that everybody can see how honest they aren't and how transparent their lies are.

I've been accused of playing politics but the fact of the matter is that I only point out the politics others are playing. If they don't like it, the answer is simple: play by the damn rules , be nice to people and be grateful for all the people that volunteer their time, talent and energy.

I don't think it's too much to ask, but apparently, some people are incapable of it.

deepquattro

Oh, and by the by: that is a really great picture in your sig.

Mike@PNS

... On the transition between the South and North tracks if you stay all the way to the right you can hit what they call the 'jump'. I hit it 8 laps in a row and have a couple great series of shots with launch, fly, and crazy compression on the landings.

Good times.