Ridecamp: Re: [RC] New Bylaws & subsequent Amendment(s)

>  The New Bylaws are not perfect but they
> are excellent.   The New Bylaws represent 3 1/2 years of very detailed
> and focused work by volunteers whose valuable expertise far exceeds what
> AERC could afford to pay for.

This is true, Randy, and thank you for the summation of the history
involved.  The voting process is just the next step in making the excellent
work better.  A NO vote does not mean rejecting these bylaws out of hand, it
simply means that another few thousand minds are now at work on them, to
make them better.

In any such important process, it is not uncommon to need multiple ballots.
The process of amending our bylaws is cumbersome, and needs to be done with
great care, even if it takes a few tries.  I'd hate to see us vote in a set
of bylaws and then be in violation of them immediately because we realize
that there is an error in the part where "citizens" should be "residents."
That would NOT be a good thing for our organization.  What we need to keep
in perspective is that the voting process is just one more step in refining
the end product, and that if this draft fails, it does not take another
3-1/2 years' work to get back to this point, because the lion's share of the
work is already done.  My non-citizen husband and I both mailed our NO votes
in yesterday, in hopes that our participation in the process will correct
the error and allow an even more excellent set of changes to be presented to
us on the next ballot.

Some posters on this forum scream that we are apathetic.  No, we are
not--but it would be easy to become apathetic if we were told that we could
not vote our consciences simply because someone who graciously volunteered
his time has put in a lot of work.

Heidi


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