I spent about a half hour on the phone with Greg, the president of UCHUG. It seems there is a lot of animosity among their membership toward SDCS. They don't trust the board as now composed, they are reluctant to have SDCS hold membership information, like name, address, telephone, email and I'm not terribly optimistic that they are interested in rejoining SDCS. Greg said he would bring it up at the next board meeting a week from tommorrow. We'll be in touch and see if they can be "brought back into the fold".
I'm afraid Jim Berger did huge amounts of damage inside UCHUG after the "coup" with his endless rambling, ranting and conspiracy theories. I'd imagine that's where the membership animosity comes from. Even back then I didn't sense it from Greg nearly as much, just as you don't sense it now. But it's probably damage done. I'm not sure SDCS would want UCHUG's membership back if it's going to be like that.
Interestingly, in the same set of board minutes that I quoted in my last email, the SDCS board addresses the UCHUG issue. It seems that UCHUG refused to sign the new SIG Guidelines, which are the very guidelines which allow them to branch off into their own 503(c) and receive their funds back. It seems that technically they're entitled to nothing, since their last agreement was to the old guidelines and bylaws.
I'd be curious to hear Greg's input on this. If SDCS board is considering giving them their money back, we should keep an eye on the process. Here is the relevant snippet:
"UCHUG wrote a letter that they don't want to join the group as of 11/19/04 (the extended deadline they were granted). Discussion about what they would have to do to get their funds back. They already said they don't want to sign the SIG guidelines that would grant them access to their funds if they become a non-profit in a timely way. We agreed that Claude and/or Sarah will get on their bank account and move the funds, and then we will vote on our plan for their next steps, as they have already violated the procedures for retaining their funds. (They have to sign the guidelines to get their funds back after following the procedures.)"
Perhaps UCHUG finally signed, or perhaps the board voted to allow it regardless. I wasn't there and don't have the minutes. Again, surely Claude or Daly would be happy to provide them if we're interested.
--j
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