Feel free to call this a position paper, platform, or vision as appropriate.
Several of the documents sent to this reflector have been rather lengthy, and in some cases length is needed to fully explain a position.
However, readers may skip those portions that are repetitive or just too long. Here I've tried to express myself with short statements and follow up with more detail.
1. I didn't ask for this job. 2. We are in the communications business, and we don't communicate. 3. Fundraising is a means, not an end. 4. Inclusion of member input is essential. 5. Conflicts of interest should be fully disclosed.
1. I didn't ask for this job. I was recently asked what I had done for SBARC in the last five years, and my reply was everything that was asked of me. Like most or all of the membership, every year I return a reply form with my annual dues on which there are several check-boxes denoting ways that a member is willing to help the Club. I have always checked every box, and have rarely if ever heard from the Club. I've been an SBARC member since the late 1970s, have served on the Board numerous times, and have been President twice. Within the last five years I have given presentations at meetings, perhaps once. Three years ago the Club didn't even bother asking me to renew my membership.
Only a week ago after I expressed my opinion about the surprise Bylaws change and my ideas for direction was I approached to run for office. I will withdraw my name from consideration should a trusted individual with a similar vision to mine step forward.
2. We are in the communications business, and we don't communicate. I'm delighted to see Key-Klix again, and feel that the Board and membership needs encouragement to submit articles and contributions. If the Board seeks a major change in Club governance, this should be disclosed to the membership well in advance and input sought from the membership. I would like to see a wiki on the website as an interactive knowledge base. (A wiki is a collaborative editable collection of data, like Wikipedia, not a spy-leakage site like Wikileaks.) A wiki for collaboration on the Bylaws change visible to all would have avoided a lot of headache and resulted in a much cleaner document.
3. Fundraising is a means, not an end. Money is the fuel that gets us where we need to go, without question. Fundraising is essential for a healthy organization. But fundraising isn't our mission. If you are planning a vacation by car, deciding where you want to go and what you want to do are the mission. Stockpiling gasoline is not the mission, even though gasoline is needed to complete it. Much of the argument for the proposed governance changes is about making it easier to stockpile gasoline, not defining where we are going with it.
4. Inclusion of member input is essential. Snobbery doesn't work. Discounting your constituency as "without a clue" is counterproductive. Considering yourself to be a high-level person and others low-level people doesn't gain their support. People have different skill sets. Good leadership uses their talents appropriately rather than dismissing them as clueless. As an example, Marvin offered to perform a service for the Club if he would have the power of a "benevolent dictator". That's a good description of a committee chairperson, certainly something within the current framework, and allows for independent action. But the dictatorship is for a specific task and the dictator can be overthrown by the Board should it turn out not to be benevolent or the dictator fails to complete the task. As a former board member and SBARC President, Marvin knows this.
5. Conflicts of interest should be fully disclosed to the membership. Anyone in a position of authority with such a conflict should not attempt to modify SBARC policy in such a way that SBARC is forced to sponsor or support their other interest(s).
For the record, I am employed by Impulse Advanced Communications, a for-profit telecommunications company. Impulse is involved with voice and data communications, including wireless, in the greater Santa Barbara area. Impulse provides the bandwidth and server for this mailing list.
-- Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - jay@impulse.net Impulse Internet Service - http://www.impulse.net/ Your local telephone and internet company - 805 884-6323 - WB6RDV