[NSRCA-dist7] Current NSRCA issues

[Jon Carter]

Chris, the ballots are in the mail and some members have received them. I believe they need to be mailed back by 12/31 and received no later than 1/10/13.

Thanks

Jon C.

Chris McMillin <pittsflyr at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Hi Jon,
>Is there a date for the paper ballots to received and to be mailed
>back?
>Thanks,
>Chris...
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
> From: Jon Carter <joncarter60 at comcast.net>
>To: 'General pattern discussion' <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> 
>Cc: "CA, AZ, HI, NV,UT" <nsrca-dist7 at lists.nsrca.org> 
>Sent: Monday, December 3, 2012 7:04 PM
>Subject: [NSRCA-dist7] Current NSRCA issues
> 
>
> 
>To all NSRCA members - There have been a
>few posts on the NSRCA list regarding our upcoming election and current
>issues that
>I think must be responded too. Just to be clear while I am a member of
>the
>current Board of Directors (D7 for 3 years) and I have served as
>Chairman of
>the NSRCA Judging Committee for 4 years and I am running for NSRCA
>President, I
>am primarily writing this as a pattern flyer who happens to have some
>knowledge
>of how the NSRCA is governed. The first point I would like to address
>is the
>“tone” of these posts. They seem to imply that the Board of
>Directors (BoD) has some “secret” agenda to ram through these Bylaw
>changes and “disenfranchise” some portion of the membership.
>Please! The BoD is made of dedicated, active pattern flyers. We all
>volunteered
>to serve on the NSRCA Board because we love pattern and we want it to
>grow and
>thrive. I believe that every member of the BoD is an active CD and runs
>one or
>more pattern contests every year! Does this mean that the BoD has not
>made some
>mistakes? Of course not, the current BoD failed to get a general
>membership
>vote on these Bylaw changes that were discussed at great lengths at the
>July
>NSRCA BoD meeting. Then we forged ahead with an online election. This
>was in
>error. We had not followed the rules of our organization nor had we
>communicated properly with the membership. As soon as this was brought
>to the
>BoD’s attention we immediately began working to rectify the mistake. It
>takes a little time in any organization to correct the course. I think
>that our
>response time of generating correct paper ballots and getting them
>mailed out
>was not excessive. As we move forward, we must ensure that our
>communication
>with the membership is both timely and complete.
>There also seems to be a feeling that the
>printed K-Factor is the “only” official means of communicating
>NSRCA business to the membership. I am not a lawyer but I have read the
>Bylaws
>pretty carefully (especially lately!) and I cannot find this stated. In
>fact,
>the current Bylaws already discuss and allow the electronic
>dissemination of
>the K-Factor. (Note 1) When the NSRCA began it truly was the “only”
>way to communicate with the membership. That was a long time ago
>though! We now
>get e-mail, we read news sites devoted to pattern, we have an
>“official” NSRCA discussion list, we have dedicated NSRCA
>discussion lists for most of our individual districts, heck, even
>though I
>don’t use it very much we have an “official” Facebook page! I
>certainly don’t think it is too much of a hardship for members to
>subscribe to the NSRCA discussion list. That being said the printed
>K-Factor is
>still relied upon by a few members and we need to continue to keep it
>available. Please keep in mind though that as an organization I believe
>we need
>to move away from paper and towards electronic media! We need to
>carefully
>manage the transition but it needs to happen. I currently maintain my
>membership in 4 local AMA clubs and one AMA club in Indiana and they
>all rely on electronic
>communication as their primary point of contact with their membership!
>This brings me to the actual proposed Bylaw
>changes. The bylaws were discussed at great length at the July BoD
>meeting. I
>think you will all realize when you receive the actual ballot in the
>mail; most
>of the Bylaw changes are minor in nature. Clarification, correction
>etc…
>I certainly urge a “Yes” vote on all of these. The significant
>change that has been proposed is to allow the BoD to choose how an
>election
>(for executive office and District vice president) is conducted.
>Putting aside
>conspiracy theories, the BoD is not attempting to disenfranchise anyone
>in the
>organization. One possible, easy way to do this is to have each member
>indicate
>a preference for electronic or postal communication with the NSRCA.
>(This data
>would be entered in their profile when they renewed) Then for the next
>election
>the members who want to electronically vote can and the members who
>want to
>vote by mail also can. These problems are certainly not insurmountable
>and I
>assure you there is no “vast conspiracy” involved. I urge a
>“Yes” vote on this issue also. 
>Another issue that has been raised is the
>NSRCA’s relationship with the AMA. As I indicated in my brief resume
>the
>current BoD is well aware of this problem and steps are already being
>taken to
>repair this relationship. If I am elected I believe we can finish this
>process
>and have a strong and productive relationship with the AMA. Let us not
>forget
>that all of us are AMA members and that the NSRCA is the official SIG
>for
>pattern in the USA ! 
>On a more positive note, what can we do to
>promote pattern in the USA 
>and grow the NSRCA? Two areas that I believe are important are
>promoting F3P in
>the USA 
>and strengthening our ties with the Classic Pattern community. In D7 we
>have
>started running some rounds of Classic Pattern at our AMA contests and
>I have
>received overwhelmingly positive feedback. If the numbers of pilots who
>express
>interest in this grows some clubs might actually host some Classic only
>events.
>The synergy here is obvious. Our current NSRCA District 7 Intermediate
>season
>champion started flying AMA pattern because he attended one of these
>“mixed” contests. He tried AMA pattern and he liked it! The key
>here is fun and the more flyers we expose to the fact that pattern is
>not a
>“chore”; that it can be fun the better! We all do this (pattern)
>because we love it and enjoy it, let’s not lose sight of that. 
>In terms of F3P the NSRCA is the recognized
>promoter of F3P in the USA 
>and I think we need to put some effort behind this. This is another
>area where
>we can leverage of the natural synergy between these two disciplines.
>In summary I am excited to be a part of the
>AMA and the NSRCA! We have challenges before us but also great
>opportunities.
>If elected as NSRCA President I look forward to growing our
>organization and
>ensuring that we preserve and promote the sport of pattern in the USA .
>Thanks
>Jon Carter
>Candidate for NSRCA President
> 
>Note 1 – from current bylaws.
>Section 2 -
>Communications
>
>a. There shall be a newsletter type of publication
>produced on a target of monthly basis wherever physically and fiscally
>possible. Normally this newsletterwill be sent to
>all eligible members.  For promotionaland communication purposes the
>Newsletter may also be sent to others deemed
>valuable to the purposes of the NSRCA. These other recipients may
>include, but
>are not limited to, officers of the AMA, and officers of other Modeling
>Societies and AMA Special Interest Groups (referred to as SIGs).
>
>b. The editor of the Newsletter shall be appointed by
>the NSRCA Board of Directors.
>
>c. The communication and transport of the
>newsletter is not limited to current mail services and can also employ
>the use
>of electronic options as they may present themselves today and in the
>future.
>(bold type added by me for emphasis)
> 
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-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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