Robert,
GFA Board members,- Politicians and nappies should all be changed
regularly--for the same reason.
I do not agree that any terms of office should be extended.
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Hart
To: Soaring in Australia
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 9:29 PM
Subject: [Aus-soaring] GFA Board Term of Office
HI folks
You may be aware that the current GFA constitution limits Board member terms
to a maximum of 5 consecutive years. There are quite a number of current Board
members who are approaching that limit.
There is now a proposal to change that limit from 5 years to 8 years - as
noted below, although this will require a change in our articles (which can
only be done at a special GM or AGM).
We need to think about this issue and determine our position.
The arguments for the change are given in the email below. There is however
the other side of the debate.
One of the reasons that it is so difficult to find volunteers is that those
who do join the Board or take on administrative roles fairly rapidly find the
frustrations of the current system too great to bear - and they withdraw. The
experience of quite a number of GQ personnel over quite some time illustrates
this problem.
To extend the term of office of individuals to 8 years would further cement
the position of those holding office who do not have to face the membership in
a direct election (the President, Vice President, Treasurer and the chairs of
the major committees).
I believe that extending the maximum term of office would be acceptable were
the articles changed as follows at the same time:-
1.. the President, Vice President and Treasurer were subject to annual
election by the membership at large.
2.. the Board level voting rights of the chairs of Operations,
Airworthiness, Marketing and Development and Sports were removed. These
positions should be policy advisors to the Board and on the Executive,
actioning the policies set by the Board. They should not, however, be setting
Board policy as this places them in the position of advising on, determining
and actioning policy, which is generally held to be not be desirable.
If these changes were implemented, I do not believe that a limitation of
service would be necessary as the entire Board would be subject to annual
election, a process that would allow the membership to remove those deemed to
have passed their use by date.
Looking forward to an interesting debate! Over to you...
--
Robert Hart [email protected]
+61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: TERM OF OFFICE
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:01:46 +0900
From: Graeme Wishart <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Hi Everyone,
At our Board meeting on Saturday 28th February the President listed item 4.5
Term of Office on the agenda for discussion.
Listed were current Board members whose term in office would soon create an
issue with Clause 12(e) of our Articles.
This circumstance has occurred as a result of the new Board being recently
established in 2005.
The clause states:
12 e) A maximum consecutive term for any Board member shall be five years
and shall apply except in special circumstances
and where invited to continue,
such an invitation being approved by at least two thirds majority of the
Board.
This is an explicit statement that restricts any Board member to a maximum
of 5 consecutive years regardless of position.
The intent of course was to ensure turnover of Board members and to prevent
featherbedding, stagnation and empire building.
There is no disagreement with the intent, however the reality is different.
Individual members may come to the Board through more than one route and by
gaining experience undertake several roles resulting in a period of
continuous representation that would preclude them from taking on a
different or more senior role on the Board.
For example a member may represent a region for 2 years, take on treasurer
for 2 years, Vice-President for 1 year and then be precluded from nominating
for President. That representitive may be the only person willing to
nominate or be the most suitable nomination.
Or 3 years as Chairman of a Department, 2 years as Vice-president and then
also be precluded
from nominating for President, or any other position.
In each case special circumstances may apply, however these "special
circumstances"
will inevitably become a common occurrence outside the intent of special
circumstances.
We now have a situation whereby the clause needs to be amended at the next
AGM to allow freedom
and flexibility for members to nominate for positions on the Board and still
meet the spirit of the intent of the clause.
The unintended consequences of the current limitation is that it does not
allow a period of training, exposure and familiarisation at the highest
level of GFA management. Volunteers are generally in short supply and
members willing to commit to management and administrative roles are always
in demand.
After discussion at the Board meeting there was general consensus that the
clause needed to be revised
to reflect reality and still meet the spirit of intent.
The only issue to be resolved is the exact wording of the amendment.
May we start with this recommendation and come to a resolution by
consultation.
PROPOSAL
12 e) A maximum consecutive term for any "board position by a" Board member
shall be five years
"and shall be limited to 8 years consecutive in total"
and shall apply except in special circumstances
and where invited to continue,
such an invitation being approved by at least two thirds majority of the
Board.
Under this proposition a Board member could be on the Board for a
consecutive 8 years in various roles for example:
Regional representative member 2 years, Department chairman 2 years,
President 4 years. (or variations and computations thereof)
On this basis there should still be a reasonable turnover of representatives
over the 12 board positions over time.
This amendment will need to be advertised in sufficient time for the next
AGM on 12 Sept 2009.
Alterations to Articles and notice of AGM requires 21 days notice (21 August
2009 at the latest)
and in addition Clause 23a) requires a notice to the Secretary with 21
signatures (1 + 20).
Please return comments to me for compilation.
Regards Graeme
--
Robert Hart [email protected]
+61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au
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