BOARD-L Archives

Archiver > BOARD > 2003-10 > 1066824315


From: Ellen Pack <>
Subject: RE: [BOARD-L] Re: [BOARD-L] MOTION 03-22-EC Procedures
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 07:05:15 -0500
References: <051e01c39811$90918df0$b5bc41d8@jancortez>
In-Reply-To: <ONEGLLFHCKENCCFLKFHAAEOJCAAA.pamreid@comcast.net>


At 05:09 PM 10/21/2003 -0400, Pam wrote:
>I didn't bring it up either, but did mean to. There were several things,
>including Jan's point, that bothered me about the EC Procedures. I think we
>all need to read over carefully the procedures that we are voting on to make
>certain that we really do agree and not let this pass just to get it out of
>the way.
>
>Pam
<snip previous>


Hi, Pam -

There may be some confusion here. The EC is not recommending a change in
the manner in which EC Members are selected, so I'm not sure where that's
coming from. The EC has worked under the current method for three
years. It is the method approved by the AB at the time the EC Procedures
were initially implemented.

The AB does indeed select EC Members. The selection is made through the
confirmation process when the AB has the opportunity to accept or reject
the slate presented. That is how I became a member, how our most recent
volunteers were placed on the EC, and how Jan became a member earlier in
the year. No volunteer becomes a member of the EC without the approval of
the AB, and the EC is not recommending that be changed.

The change in that particular section [1] deals only with the regional
restrictions from which the committee may draw it's members.

The EC is currently restricted to select volunteers based on their Project
participation with a particular region. This restriction has sometimes
hampered the EC in locating and seating the best volunteers, or in finding
volunteers at all.

Qualified volunteers are not always forthcoming from all regions. There
are times when the EC is flooded with good volunteers from one region,
while maybe only 1 or 2 from another, or sometimes none from a particular
region. Consequently, the pool of volunteers is smaller than what it
should be, and it is never very large.

The regional restriction serves no useful purpose. EC Members are not
elected to any office whatsoever, as are AB Reps. Nor do they represent a
constituency. EC Members do not act as advocates to the volunteers within
a region, as does an AB Rep, nor are they empowered to act on their behalf
in any authoritative fashion beyond updating an email address.

Another consideration is that an EC Member may resign from Project
participation in the area from which he was selected, thereby rendering
further useless the regional restriction.

In practicality, the regional designation is simply an assigned area of
responsibility in order to prevent chaos within the committee.

When EC Members are restricted due to their regional participation, the EC
is handicapped in it's ability to fill all seats with the best available
volunteers, or in some cases, fill some seats at all.

The EC feels that this change will bring no harm to the Committee, the
Project, or the Membership. Rather, it would greatly enhance Committee
ability to locate the best volunteers, and to function more effectively.

Respectfully,
Ellen Pack
Chair, EC

This thread: