Committees
Constitution and Bylaws Committee (C&BLC)
I would like to begin by acknowledging, with special thanks, the C&BLC members that served this year: Steve Goolsby, Vice Chair; Edie Allison, John Brooks, John Hogg, Clint Moore and Terry O’Hare.
Thank you to all delegates for your participation at the annual HoD meeting in Long Beach. Our democratic process works when you are there. Of the two proposed amendments, we passed the Membership Simplification Amendment, and did not pass the Strategic Plan Amendment. Both amendments had good discussion and ultimately the voice of the HoD was heard.
I regret not saying a little more during the discussion for the Strategic Plan Amendment. The main purpose of the amendment was to get more involvement early in the discussion of potential long-term plans that might lead to Constitution or Bylaw changes. As leaders in any organization, we forget the average member is not as informed as we are. Your experience and knowledge make you the right people to lead and provide the goals and strategic plans for the association. However, sometimes we need to make sure we have the pulse of the other 90% of the membership. No, we don’t need an amendment to make sure we are communicating to others, but please ask yourself if this is happening. If I would have asked the delegates at the annual meeting, “How many know what our Strategic Plan says?” my guess is that the great majority would have said, “I have no idea.”
I will say again that we don’t need an amendment to make sure we are communicating to the members, but one thing I will take from my experience on the Constitution and Bylaws Committee is we cannot communicate too much. Just as important, we need to provide everyone a fair say, even if we don’t agree with their position on a subject. We need to continually work to share ideas and communicate in multiple media, especially with those stakeholders who might be affected by changes, rules, bylaws or other items of interest.
I appreciate Jeff Lund, Randy Ray and David Cook for giving me this opportunity to serve as chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.