RE: BOD Meeting Policy

["C. Mike Tomlinson" <CMikeT@MCIWorld.com>]

The AERC Board of Directors has policies and procedures in place to prevent
it from shooting itself in the foot so repeatedly.  Believe it or not,
things in the past five years or so have been much better than in the past.
Very recently, for whatever reason (and everyone will have an opinion), the
Board has felt changes were needed immediately.  I believe that any time
there is an emergency rule change, there better be an overwhelming obvious
need for its immediacy and lack of review.

The AERC is mature enough to not need emergency immediate rule changes of
sweeping nature at every Board meeting.  This should be a thing of the past.
There is an old adage that "Lack of planning on your part does not
constitute an emergency on my part."  This, unfortunately, has not been the
motto of the Board.

What needs to happen now is for the membership to scream loudly that they do
not want emergency rule changes so sweeping nor so frequently.  The problem
has been that the vocal minority of members has pushed for their pet
proposal to go before the Board as an emergency measure.  That is what the
Board has heard from the membership - not that the membership wants the
Board to deliberate more.  It has always been "please review and take your
time on all the other proposals, but just pass mine right now!"

Bob Morris is entirely correct that the Board has procedures (which he wrote
last time he was on the Board) and that the Board is not following its own
rules.  The membership should voice their disapproval of this and force the
Board to be accountable to the membership.

A rousing campaign between now and the Board meeting in October might be
good in preventing any new bullet holes in the Board's feet.

Mike


Dr. C. Mike Tomlinson
Director, International Programs
American Horse Shows Association, Inc.
4047 Iron Works Parkway
Lexington, KY 40511-8483
Direct: (859)225-6911
Recept: (859)258-2472
OfcFax: (859)231-6662
Mike@Tomlinson.com


 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Sue Grahl [mailto:sgrahl@flash.net]
Sent:	Tuesday, September 26, 2000 11:14 AM
To:	RIDE CAMP
Subject:	RC:  BOD Meeting Policy


To answer some of the comments about how AERC Board meetings are
conducted, let me share this experience. When I was LD Chairperson I
went to the mid-year meeting to propose changes based on the National LD
survey. The survey took over a year to complete. My committee always
prepared for meetings prior to the actual meeting via email, fax, and
phone. No meeting was held just prior to the BOD meeting as suggested by
Bob Morris. I  know committees do business this way but I felt it wasn't
fair to committee members who could not be present at the meeting.
    At the BOD meeting, Maggy Price who was Chairperson of Competitions
Committee proposed we change LD to 0-49 miles. No one asked the LD
committee for it's opinion. I was told that the Competitions Committee
thought this up the day before and did not have time to ask! After about
20 minutes of discussion, the board passed the motion.The motion was
reversed by a membership vote and LD is now 25-35 miles. During the time
span between the motion and the reversal, the Rules Committee had to
rewrite all LD rules which were rewritten again upon reversal.
      I have been Chairperson and Board member for several non-profit
corporations. I am CEO of a corporation at present. I have never been
involved with any corporation that would pass such a proposal without
reviewing it for 30 days. Any corporation that is dependent upon
membership funding or donations owes it's members this consideration.
There will always be issues that demand immediate action. Any major
policy change can wait.The AERC BOD receives a note book with
information about issues on the agenda. All committee chairpersons
should be required to submit all proposals in writing in advance to the
AERC office so they can provide board members with the information 30
days prior to the meeting. It may not be as easy as putting something
together at the last minute but it's the right way to do business.
Sue Grahl
Candidate for Director at Large



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