Discussion - Term Limits, AMA Leader Members Only Please!
This thread is directed to the Leader Membership of the AMA. Everyone is welcome to read it, but I request that unless you are a "Leader Member," please refrain from replying to this thread.
A few issues regarding the proposed amendments to the by-laws... First of all, I=92ll address the facts that were not, nor will be presented to us by the AMA. Number one; protocol was not followed. Explanation; Article XI section
6 of the AMA membership manual states,"Any bona fide AMA member may initiate a formal request for Executive Council action by submitting a petition to the Vice President from the district in which the member resides. The petition should include a written description of the nature, type, and extent of Executive Council action recommended. The District Vice President shall forward copies of the petition to the President and to the Executive Director, who shall forward copies to all members of the Executive Council. Either the President or any member of the Executive Council may have the matter placed on the working agenda."
For those wondering what this has to do with the by-laws amendment being discussed, it is simple... This and all requests for action must be submitted through the VP of the individual, or in this case, group=92s district. That would be the district VII Vice-president. Joe Haas, along with 35 of his buddies who submitted this request, did so by sending a letter directly to Andy Argenio. The matter was then listed on the agenda of the January EC meeting as to be "discussed." It was in fact voted upon after four of the VP's had already left. Strangely, I understand that the VP's whom weren't present are against the proposal. Hummm. The issue regarding term limits has been discussed at counsel in years past and was even voted upon in 2006. Guess what, it didn't pass. I guess if it doesn't pass this time, counsel will just wait a couple of years and bring it back to life, again, and again... What is it that make term limits so appealing to some? There is a defined protocol, outlined in article XI, section 6 and part of the problem is the "good=91ol boys" in the executive counsel tend follow the by-laws only when it suits their personal agendas. Article XI section 6 is the only place within the by-laws that spells out how requests, (by-laws amendments and changes are requests,) are to be submitted to counsel. Individuals who want to make changes of this magnitude should read and understand the entire membership manual and its=92 fifteen amendments. Maybe this kind of fiasco would be avoided in the future.
Article XV, which governs the changes and additions to the by-laws reads as follows;
" Recommendations for Bylaws changes may be proposed in writing by any member of the Executive Council, any member of the Bylaws Committee, or any 20 members of the Academy. The Executive Council shall direct proposed amendments to the Bylaws Committee for recommendations prior to deliberation by the Executive Council. If the recommended amendment(s) are accepted by a majority vote of the Executive Council, the amendment(s) must be ratified before adoption by a mail ballot to Leader members. An affirmative vote of 2/3 of Leader members responding within 45 days of issuance of a mail ballot shall adopt the amendment(s)."
Pretty much self explanatory. The only thing that I can figure is that Andy Argenio as well as others on the EC couldn=92t sleep at night knowing this one issue regarding the lack of term limits had to be changed, and through the grace of god, Joe Haas gave him the motivation to change it..... We have always had a couple of means to unseat a VP. The easiest way is to have someone who really wants the job to be nominated and placed on the ballot for the given district he or she resides. Go out and campaign, and hopefully win. The other way is to have the offending VP impeached and removed from office. Following proper protocol of course. I wish more of the membership realized that we are in fact, part of the same large organization, the only organization that is there to protect our collective interests regarding model aircraft.
By the way, oops, I meant BTW, on the lighter side of life, did any other Leader Members catch the date on the letter? Wow. This letter was written by our by-laws chair person. Question, do we have 45 days to respond from the date on the letter, or the date on the postmark, or the date....???
Personally I feel that =93term limits=94 are unnecessary and will only complicate matters as well as cost the AMA more money. Hypothetically, the AMA could be compromised by a lack of necessary experience within the counsel when someone with many years of experience may be just what is needed to solve a major issue in the future. As far as the issue regarding the contest board chairperson, I think that taking the appointment away from the monarchy and allowing the peasants to elect their leadership is a good thing.
There is one more major issue that needs to be discussed. In regards to ballot accountability, district VP's are elected by the AMA membership within their respective district every three years. The ballots are sent to an independent accounting firm to assure accuracy. By-laws are issues that affect the entire AMA membership until they are changed, amended, omitted ect..., possibly staying in place for eternity. These ballots are mailed back to the AMA headquarters for final tally by whom may be subject to nefarious idealism, (meaning that some ballots may not be counted, just look at the mess in the Minnesota senate race.) I don't like that possibility, even if it is only remote in nature. I feel that the by-laws ballots should be given the same, if not greater, consideration as the election ballots, and be counted by a non-partisan firm. Maybe this could be addressed by the by-laws committee at a later date, modus operandi followed, of course.
Sincerely,
Guy Barber Leader Member AMA 2532
p.s. I=92ll be away from the computer much of the week. So if there is anything forwarded to me for reply, be patient. I will check back in a few days to see if people respected my opening request, or if we ended up with a bunch of ankle biting by the general public.