Timothy, You bring up some good points. Anyone can be on the ballot by following the rules of nomination. If you feel strongly about all this, change comes from within. I think you should personally attend one of the BOD meetings and/or a membership meeting as is held at the Symposium on a yearly basis. There, you can bring this up and have a more interested audience. There are no "secret" happenings - it is all out in the open. Besides having your ideas heard, you can meet the players in the organization face to face and develop friends who feel similar to how you do, as well as finding out why opposition exists. As Tim, N3TL, points out, now is not the time to bring this up. Hope to see you in Maryland. 73, Dee, NB2F P.S. All the nominees are hard workers and deserve credit just for asking to do more for "FREE."
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Timothy J. Salo Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:41 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] BoD Elections
Hi,
I still haven't returned my ballot for the AMSAT Board of Directors election, in part because I don't feel that I have really good information on which to make a decision. I would like to vote for a Board that will be effective and strengthen the organization. It is particularly important to select the best possible board because, in my view, AMSAT is an organization in serious trouble. But, I would prefer to base my vote on the recent accomplishments, recent positions during board meetings, and explicit near-term objectives of the candidates. I would prefer to not simply use a blunt strategy of voting against all incumbents and for all challengers. Unfortunately, I don't feel that I really know much about the activities of the individual board members.
To remedy this, I suggest that the close of the BoD elections be postponed until at least thirty days after the following have been published:
o A list of all Board meetings held over the last year o Minutes from all of these Board meetings o Minutes from all AMSAT committee meetings of the last year
We can certainly have a discussion about the appropriate level of transparency for the Board and its committees, and whether the Board is meeting those objectives. Here is what the D.C. statutes under which AMSAT is incorporated have to say on the matter:
Each corporation shall keep correct and complete books and records of account and shall keep minutes of the proceedings of its members, board of directors, and committees having any of the authority of the board of directors; ... All books and records of a corporation may be inspected by any member having voting rights, or his agent or attorney, for any proper purpose at any reasonable time.
-tjs
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