renegade12: Message

[renegade12@juno.com (Randy H Eiland)]

--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: renegade12
To: dfrazier@mail.llion.org
Subject: Message
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 14:13:19 -0800
Message-ID: <19980129.141402.3158.3.renegade12@juno.com>

At the AERC Convention and Board of Directors Meeting held in Lexington,
KY  Dane Frazier was reelected as your President, Louise Riedel was
reelected as your Secretary, Stagg Newman was elected to be your
Treasurer, and I was elected Vice President.  I am proud to serve
alongside these dedicated individuals.   I have come a long way since I
first heard of and then joined AERC in 1983.   My first official Vice
President's Message will be in the FEB/MAR issue of Endurance News, but I
have learned the value of "ridecamp" and it's immediate-personal dialog,
thus you are the recipients of my first unofficial message..  

I was elected to the Board in 1992 as a SW Region Director and have
always believed it is an honor to represent both my region and  the
members of  AERC.  It is an equally big honor to represent you as your
Vice President.  As a Director I attempted to be a voice "of and for" the
membership, not a voice "to" the membership, and I will continue to
follow this philosophy.  

You don't run for office and/or serve on the Board without having a very
large ego.  It is the nature of the beast and a fact of life.  This being
a truism, it is important for the members of the Board to remember how
they got there, who sent them, and why they were sent.  Foremost, it is
the responsibility of the Board to balance the business operations of
AERC with the wishes of the majority of the membership.  This is a
difficult task because the Board often deals with hard facts that are
unknown to the membership.  Because AERC is a non profit budget driven
business, sometimes the Board must make decisions that are unpopular, an
example being the raising of dues..an absolute necessity for the
continued existence of this great organization and yet a controversial
issue at best.  

Contrary to the opponents of the dues increase, AERC membership did not
experience dramatic decreases and, in fact, is slowly growing.   AERC is
back on solid, albeit thin, footing with a very positive future.  But the
Board, in our desire to continue to increase income, decided at our
Midyear Meeting  to charge a Horse Registration Fee  that unfairly
impacted new members.  Old AERC members were given a grace period to
register their horses at no charge up until Dec. 1, 1997.  New Members
had no grace period and, in addition to their dues had to pay $10.00 per
horse per member.  The reality being a New Member Dues charge  that could
be far in excess of the "stated dues"...and a New Member Family could
really be hit hard.  This was a case of the Board speaking "to" the
membership rather than "for" the membership.  To the Board's credit, this
was changed at our Sunday meeting in Lexington.  All new members are
allowed one horse registration, including one per family member.  A
member friendly rules change.

Another positive step was re implementation of the "roll call vote"
allowing the membership to see how their individual Directors voted on
each issue.  The addition of a 50 mile National Series Championship (to
be implemented in 1999 as I understand it) is a much needed recognition
of the riding desires of the majority of AERC members.  This is a Board
that understands the desires of those we represent.

We have 7 new Board members (actually 6 as Mike Tomlinson has served
before) and they bring new energy, ideas, and enthusiasm to the table. 
The blending of this new blood with the experience and dedication of the
existing Board promises to make this one of the best Board of Directors
that AERC has had.  We will be faced with many hard issues, but I have
the greatest confidence in the makeup of this Board to work thru the hard
decisions that we will face.  This Board represents many different
factions and interests, but there is common thread of dedication and love
for AERC that assures you of the best representation in memory.   If you
give us time to work thru the challenges we face, I am confident you will
be as excited as I am with the future of AERC.

Randy Eiland

      
--------- End forwarded message ----------

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