Ridecamp: Re: [RC] New Bylaws & subsequent Amendment(s)

Randy,

I have some questions and comments. Thank you for coming forward. I 
would like to preface this post by saying that I have yet to decide how 
I am going to vote, but I do have some serious concerns and some questions.

It is good that someone from the board has addressed the issue. My 
question is "did or did not the BOD vote and pass the proposed by laws"? 
Of course they did. That being the case why is this (citizenship 
requirement) in there - what was the reason? I hope the board did not 
vote for something of which  they did not fully understand the 
implications.

The new bylaws state in article XIII that an amendment has to be placed 
before the membership for a vote. The quorum requirement under the new 
bylaws is 20% of the voting membership. The amendment needs either 2/3 
vote of the BOD or a petition of 5% of the membership to be put before 
the members for a vote and 2/3 of the number of votes submitted by the 
members (assuming a quorum) to pass.

Hence putting an amendment on the ballot will have to go to a vote 
before the members and the AERC would incur the cost to do this similar 
to the cost of putting these bylaws before the membership.  I see no 
cost savings in voting these bylaws in and then following up with an 
amendment vs. withdrawing these bylaws, the membership voting them down 
or the quorum of 1784 not being reached with the BOD changing the bylaws 
and resubmitting them for vote.

Not only that as soon as these bylaws go in place a number of members 
will be disenfranchised. The foreign national legal residents will not 
even be able to vote on the amendment that gives them their vote back!

The other issue that I find bothersome, by what mechanism does the AERC 
propose to verify citizenship? If there is not mechanism in place then 
how does the AERC know that a person is a citizen and has the right to 
vote?  That would I think that no system being in place to verify 
citizenship cast a shadow on all votes by the membership as to their 
legality.

I am sure you are dead serious about pushing an amendment. However, 
given the cost of an amendment would be close to the same as voting the 
new bylaws after they have been modified - then why vote in bylaws with 
known flaws?  

As I said I have not made my decision but it seems to me that reissuing 
the bylaws corrected for vote would be preferable to passing them as is, 
thus disenfranchising a segment of the membership, and hoping that the 
BOD does amendment them. It's going to cost the AERC the same in the 
long run either way so why the rush to pass these?

Thank again for your response
Truman

Randy H Eiland wrote:

> 2) Non Citizen voting rights.  I think the current discussion on this
> subject has been very good.  I can't think of a good reason that a
> "resident non citizen" should not have the same voting rights as other
> AERC Members.  There is a need (unless further debate proves otherwise)
> to modify or amend this clause.  There is not much else to discuss on
> this subject.
>
> 3) AMENDMENT.   If you recall, in 1998 the BOD agreed that LIMITED
> DISTANCE should be changed to reflect any distance between "0 to 49
> Miles".  This proposal produced much emotional debate and there were very
> strong feelings evoked by this Amendment.  There was discussion and
> debate, and the AERC Membership (all of us) voted on this Amendment, 
> with the majority passing "0 to 49 Miles".  It was quickly pointed out,
> in retrospect, this was not a good policy - followed by even more
> emotional debate -  and the BOD agreed to put a new Amendment to the
> membership reversing "0 to 49" back to "25 to 35 miles".  That new
> Amendment vote had the largest voter turnout in the history of AERC and
> the membership was almost unanimous in their vote to go back to "25 to
> 35".   I firmly believe there will be an Amendment to modify one or more
> sections of the New Bylaws, once they are passed.  I see no reason we
> can't or should not do so.
>
> I will go on record stating I believe the BOD is receptive to Amending
> those items that, as shown by the current discussion, need to be
> modified, tweaked, or outright changed.  Remember, your Directors are
> here to represent YOUR BEST INTERESTS, not theirs, in the operation of
> OUR AERC.   If it is obvious that something in the New Bylaws needs to be
> changed to better represent what the AERC Membership wants, the BOD is
> going to make sure you have the opportunity to make that happen by
> Amendment Vote.   I urge you to vote YES on the New Bylaws because they
> really are better for AERC than the Old Bylaws.  If changes need to be
> made, then lets do it by Amendment -  that can be done quickly and more
> cost effective than rejection of the New Bylaws over two items that can
> be easily corrected. 
>
> Randy Eiland
> SW Region Director
>
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

If you are an AERC member - PLEASE VOTE in the upcoming By-Laws 
Election!!!! (it takes 2/3rds to tango!!)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=