VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions VCCA - The Future

Michael 41,

You would do yourself a big favor if you you would re-read the 3 topics again, (in total) before you repost your bloviations.

There is a BIG difference between censorship and redirection. Bill has done a wonderful job working with the limited tools provided him!

The glass is at least half full, how do you see it??

Respectfull submitted,

Oliver Smith

Oliver please see my response to your "kind" note in the other listing.

And I did not CHOOSE to leave a hanging question.

But you would surly know my glass and VCCA's is, half full. This can be validated by the complimenting notes, letters and emails I have sent thanking and or complimenting others in the club for there various and special contributions.

You would also know my view of a positive process and future for VCCA if you were aware of the tasks I have volunteered to do for the club in my 2 years. But that's no excuse for me, or any one else remaining mum on a topic that is important.

Always best to line the facts up before a comment is made..
Michael

I too have wondered about the by-laws and if I had received a copy when I joined and subsequently misplaced them. Why are these not readily available to the members? I wonder why these are not posted somewhere so everyone that may have an interest can gain some additional knowledge about the club. I wonder why the cost is $25? How can the members participate, if we don't know the rules?

A number of appeals have been made; in this thread and the others related, for members to make motions. I have been considering this. The March G&D (it finally arrived on Monday March 13th) references motions for the 2006 National Board meeting; pages 10 and 11. Some of these motions apparently died even before the meeting. It appears they were not to be acted on because there was no committee report or they were not referred to committee. Is that a correct understanding? Some of these seem to be at least partially related to the general observations offered this past week or so to move the club forward. Such as: Electronic roster, electronic documentation, contracts, electronic voting, board members cannot be contractors, and At-large member to represent international member interests. Would it be possible to at least get these previous motions posted so those that might be interested in offering a motion can have benefit of the previous thought? At a minimum could a summary of the motion be posted? If appropriate, perhaps contact could even be made to encourage and support the person(s)that plowed the ground before to re-submit their motion.
Thanks again to all that give their time, expertise, and good humor to the club.
37Blue

I am supprised that the cost for the club rules is almost as much as its annual dues. Good thing I saved that Motion Form BigBob posted here the other day, becasue now I think I have a motion to make. . .

Elizabeth, thanks for answering my question! :)

"Blah-blah-blah-blah" & "Blah-blah-blah" Anybody out there know where I can find a correct coil for my 33 Chevrolet??????

Probably have better luck in the "Parts Wanted" section.

Hoppy & Ray made me giggle. Thanks gentlemen....

Michael

I kind of agree with 37Blue. I might add that at the end of the beginning paragraph it says..."The remaining motions will be discussed at the board meeting in Flint, Michigan, March 4th and 5th. If you have a comment or need further information, please contact a National VCCA Board member."
37Blue recieved his G&D on March 13th, and mine was delivered on the 10th.
No wonder we don't know what's going on!
I'd like to here from James Burnes who authored many of the Motions regarding technology and contracts.
Please James can you explain what "not refered to committe due to lack of technical means". MEANS?
I'm sure you are dissapointed, but THANK YOU for getting the ball rolling on these very items we are talking about here. I really wonder why the motion was not refered to committee?
RayG.

My opologies to Mr. Bill. Maybe we all need more information here before we can come up with what to do.
I do have another thought and that's when looking over the new roster I relieze we here at Chatter are very much in the minority. I sure wonder if all the rest of the VCCA members really give a hoot about all the fuss here?
One other thought that is constructive. Perhaps we can have Mr. Burnes (Or Mr. Bill) post those motions not acted on here, like 37Blue suggests, and we can co-sponser them. Can we here on Chatter co-sponser a motion?
RayG

Maybe I missed it in the G&D, but all I saw was the final total votes for, against, abs. for each motion.

Wouldn't it be helpful to know who voted for, who voted against, & who abs. on each motion?

Without knowing how each of OUR REPPERSENTIVES voted on motions that we are concerned about, how will we know how to vote in the next election?

????????????????

RGwiz and 37Blue and Louis and everybody else - I’m not on the Board, but being married to a Board member I’m pretty sure I can answer some of these questions. I hope he won’t yell at me for butting in on this! (I’m not really very scared of him, I cook his food)

The ones that were "not referred to committee due to lack of technical means" means that even if they were passed, we couldn’t do them. As published in the March G&D that was # 05, 09 and 11 which all would need the electronic database to actually DO what the motion says - without a modern database you simply can not do them. Since they defeated the electronic database then you do not have the technical means and ability to do what the motion says (unfortunately).

Now about all the ones that say “No Committee Report.” I’m pretty sure this is how it works (I listen) - A motion comes in, goes to the Operation committee which is headed by Leigh Wilcox and they send it to whichever committee is supposed to review it and tell the board what the committee thinks should happen with the motion. Just like committees in congress. So then it comes back to operations and Leigh puts them together to get published. The problem was some of the committees would never DO anything and so Leigh couldn’t publish them. I understand he pushed and pushed to get the committees answers in on time but was ignored. So there is No Committee Report which is Leigh’s polite way of saying - they didn’t do their job! Hint - you can see who the chairman is of the guilty committees in the G&D.

When Leigh gave up on ever getting answers from them because he had to publish, he waited as long as he could and sent the Motions to be published by email on the Deadline day to get into the February G&D so the members could see them BEFORE the Board meeting and was told he was a day too late, & they wouldn’t get published until March.

ALL of the motions get discussed and voted at the board meeting, even though some didn’t have committee reports. Some of the motions passed - but only about 3 or 4 board members were brave enough to say Yes on # 05-12. It is not for me to publish the results though.

Louis C you will see who voted for what and if it passed when the board minutes get published some day, this summer… they do include who voted how.

James Burnes is a real smart kid. He was kind of the ”˜Contrarian’ to the stuck-in-molasses board, and he stepped on toes and maybe made some enemies, and he didn’t care. He is young so he pushed hard. He got tired of beating his head against the wall and did not run for the board again when his term was up last year. I think he seldom comes in this chat site any more, I think he thinks it is a hopeless cause. His efforts and enthusiasm is a loss to the club. I really doubt if you will see any comments from him.

Elizebeth

Thanks for the insight Elizabeth,now if I understand the process right;

If the chairman does not like a motion he can just let the motion die by not doing a report on the motion?

Is the motion/reporting/committees process all covered in the by-laws?

James Burnes was known here as VintageJames

Thank you Elizebeth!
I often wonder what happen to James. Smart kid is an understatement.
One other outstanding question; Is it possible to co-sponser a motion here at Chatter?
RayG.

RayG:

The person to answer that question would be Leigh Wilcox. The the problem I see is that this is not a secure membership web site.

Elizebeth

After reading this thread it looks like I may be of some help on the motion discussion. I am chairperson of the board’s Operations Committee and as a result am responsible for the motion activity. Let me see if I can shed some light on these discussions.

Motion article in the G&D: The article reported that 23 motions had been received for presentation to the full board. All but 3 of thee motions were referred to various board committees for review and recommendation. Motions 05-05 ( Electronic Roster) 05-09 ( Electronic Documentation ) and 05-11 (electronic voting ) I did not refer to committee because we currently do not have the database capabilities to do the tasks. The motion article was to have run in the January issue of the G&D but due to lack of response from some committees and because I missed the February deadline by one day for the same reason, the article was delayed until the March issue. The article reported the committee recommendation for all but those motions referred to the By-laws and Policy Committee from which I had not had a response at the time of publication. At the Flint board meeting all 23 motions, including those I had not referred to committee were vote on by the board. I am expecting an official vote tally soon from the secretary, Dennis Oestreich. When I have the official vote I would be pleased to post a brief summary of the motions and the vote.
Flint Board meeting: There has been much discussion about the board meeting in Flint. An early item on our agenda was the authorization to sign a contract, with an independent vendor, for the creation of a new electronic database that would allow us the capability to implement a number of motions we would consider. The motion failed for a variety of reasons. Board members were concerned about both the cost and the fact that Jean Fink indicated she would no longer do the data entry of new and deleted members (something she has been doing) into a new database. Although the motion to sign a contract failed, the board had previously adopted a plan to implement a new business plan that would focus on a more functional electronic database. The motions from James Burns did stimulate much discussion and activity even though many of his motions were voted down.
Motion Process: Several years ago the board adopted a procedure that would allow any member to submit an idea for changing the way the VCCA did business. That process is published annually in the G&D. Any member or group of members can submit a motion (forms are available in the G&D, from your region Director, from a current board member and from our VCCA website). The completed form is given to your Area Director for review. The form is then sent to the Operations Committee for distribution to the appropriate board committee. The committee reports its work and recommendations back to the Operations Committee who then prepares an article for the G&D for publication prior to the annual Board of Directors meeting at which time action is taken on all motions.
I hope you will excuse the long response, but there appeared to be a need for some detailed information.

Leigh Wilcox
Area III Director

My To do list:
Get involved...done that

Get a copy of by-Laws...Did that there is a copy in the Region Handbook every Regional Director has a copy.

Elect Responsiable Area and at-Large Directors...maybe I did or didn't do that, voted on at large every year...Area Director ran unopposed.

Send in a motion submission form..did that in 2004..not returned with a favorable report went down in flames.

Run for office, did that in Lone Star Region

Start a tour...did that and still been doing that.

What next??? Maybe a I want to know list!

Oh by the way!

Do we have a (VCCA) corporation?.. non-profit? or otherwise?

Who are the stockholders?

Do we ever have a stockholders'meeting?

When are they held? and where? Don't we ever get to make motions there and nominate and elect Directors from the floor?

Side note:

This Chatter site has put 2 Chevy guys together to solve a problem, 1 is in Australia the other guy is in Norway ('12-'28 catagory)...if this doesn't show the decision makers how much we need to use computers and that we need to get into the 21st century and use this new 'tool' I don't know what will.

IMHO

Thanks Leigh, for adding more details.

If the Board does eventually sign a deal with a private contractor I can almost understand why Jean will no longer do the data entry. It would become the contractor's job to do that. However that contractor would still need the existing data. Correct? If so, then Jean should provide it to the Club. The VCCA recruited the information (members info) that makes up the data and therefore that data belongs to us.

In regards to the contractor. Do we have someone in mind? Are they just waiting for the board to sign and say go ahead and start? Or can it be because the Board previously voted to implement the new business plan, might that contractor start without Board approval? Povided that contractor (vendor) is not a member, related to a member, or is connected in any way to the VCCA.

I'm thinking, one step at a time, and that we need to first get the data from the Finks, then get the contractor (vendor) started on the new electronic data base.

RayG.

MrMack asked: Do we have a (VCCA)corporation?.. non-profit? or otherwise?

The VCCA is a non-profit corporation.

Elizebeth

Thanks EGW, I was sure that was the case. Isn't there a requirement for a members' meeting annually, or just a BOD Meeting with members being allowed to attend , as long as they are quite and cute?

I think that isn't really fair!

So...Would several of you Democracy and Freedom loving members wish to help me write a by-laws amendment to place an annual membership meeting in place?

Ray G
The Business Process Team did have a specific contractor selected and they were ready to begin as soon as the contractor was signed. Their services were to host and manage the database and website. They would not do the data entry because that is not their business. The board would need to find somone else to do the data entry. The club currently pays Shirley Whitesell to do our membership work. If she were not willing and/or not capable of doing the data entry, the club would need to find another person to do these tasks. Currently Shirley maintains our membership information in a card file.

There are a variety of host service providers that we considered for this contract, but the one we selected had the best product, services and support for the best price.

Because this service would be provided by a contractor and would require payment from the VCCA, no action can be taken by anyone without board approval.

A new electronic database and a new website are high priorities for a number of current board members.

Leigh

Thanks Leigh,
I'm getting a real sinking feeling here.
If square one is developing a database from Shirley's card file, it's going to take weeks, and that's not including the new or elapsed memberships.
Then we would have to wait until the Board votes on the contractor.
This is not going anyware for some time.
Maybe it's time for all of us here on Chatter to get involved and help develope the list of names for Shirley. If we got 26 volunteers here each of us can do a letter of the alphabet. Any takers here?
RayG

count me in. mike

Me too!