# Club Officer Suggestions



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Let's talk about officer positions again. Drinda brought up a good point about dilution of duties among the officers and having 2, 3, or 4 locals on the Executive Committee. 

1. Nikolay's original suggestion at the meeting was to reduce the number of officers on the EC to 2 people. 

PROS- Reduces the number of cooks in the kitchen, makes consensus between officers (potentially) easier, and keeps the administrivia/emails/responsibility condensed.

CONS- Makes more work for each person on the EC, reduces the chances an officer will be at each meeting, increases the potential for disagreement among the EC to adversely affect the running of the club. 


3. I suggested 3 members on the EC in response to the stated desire to simplify the club.

PROS- Still a smaller number of cooks in the kitchen, creates an odd number of officers which will help break a tie between votes on the EC, maintains continuity of leadership as the VP becomes the next year's Pres., the Secretary/Treasurer position can be filled by the same person for as long as he/she wishes to keep it.

CONS- There is still more work per EC member, reduced probability that an officer will be at each meeting.


4. Keep the EC at status quo. 

PROS- This is a familiar mode of operation for the EC and reduces problems associated with change in organizational structure. The workload per member is lowest and having more members on the EC allows for each member to take up new responsibilities as we encounter them.

CONS- Finding 4 people who're willing to take on the responsibilities of being on the EC, creates more paperwork/emails which can bog things down. 





Personally, I think a 4 member EC is the right number. A lot of work that goes into running an effective club and that requires a number of people to get it just right. Rather than talking about reducing the number of EC members, let's talk about who's responsible for what. Based on past and current clubs which have been around for a long time that I've been involved with here's a list of tasks the EC/BOD have been responsible for:

1. Correspondence between clubs
2. Correspondence between the club and national organizations, ie AGA, ACA, MASNA, NANFA
3. Contacting and bringing in guest speakers
4. Arranging meeting locations and keeping the meeting agenda going
5. Organizing and running club activities such as HAP and BAP programs, periodic auctions, field trips and home shows 
6. Publishing a monthly newsletter
7. Maintaining a club website
8. Maintaining current membership rosters 
9. Maintaining current financial records
10. Maintaining contact and a good relationship with manufacturers/vendors
11. Being the "feet on the street" when hosting a national convention such as the 2003 AGA.
12. Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership
13. Organizing club participation with volunteer efforts, ie North Texas Koi and Water Garden Society overseeing the restoration of the pond at Fair Park

There are actually a lot of things that need to be done to run an organization that is effective over the long term and will endure the ups and downs we talked about with minimal disturbance to club activity. Not all of these things need to be tackled right away, but we all need to keep an eye to the future when discussing the organizational structure of the club as all of these tasks are essential to keeping a club vigorous over the long term. 

Cheers,
Phil


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

*Re: Club Organization Suggestions*

Phil, can you copy and paste your last post to a new thread, maybe titled "Club Officer Suggestions"? Will make it easier to keep discussion of each issue organized. This thread has gotten long and has numerous discussions going.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

*Re: Club Organization Suggestions*

Taking Phil's suggestion, here is what I divided up. .

*P:*
_- Organizing club participation with volunteer efforts, ie North Texas Koi and Water Garden Society overseeing the restoration of the pond at Fair Park
- Being the "feet on the street" when hosting a national convention such as the 2003 AGA.
- Organizing and running club activities such as HAP and BAP programs, periodic auctions, field trips and home shows _
*
VP:*
_- Arranging meeting locations and keeping the meeting agenda going
- Contacting and bringing in guest speakers
- Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership
- Maintaining contact and a good relationship with manufacturers/vendors_

*T:*
_- Maintaining current financial records
- Maintaining current membership rosters _

*S:*
_- Maintaining a club website
- Correspondence between clubs
- Correspondence between the club and national organizations, ie AGA, ACA, MASNA, NANFA
- Publishing a monthly newsletter_

Here is an alternative with the addition position of Public Relations. In this list, this will keep the president active in the special projects. The VP will be groomed with basic club operations. The secretary load is reduced with news letter split with PR but has the addition of minutes recording.

*P:*
_- Organizing club participation with volunteer efforts, ie North Texas Koi and Water Garden Society overseeing the restoration of the pond at Fair Park
- Being the "feet on the street" when hosting a national convention such as the 2003 AGA.
- Organizing and running club activities such as HAP and BAP programs, periodic auctions, field trips and home shows 
_
*VP:*
_- Arranging meeting locations and keeping the meeting agenda going
- Contacting and bringing in guest speakers_

*T:*
_- Maintaining current financial records
- Maintaining current membership rosters _

*S:*_
- Correspondence between clubs
- Correspondence between the club and national organizations, ie AGA, ACA, MASNA, NANFA
- Record Meeting Minutes
- Publishing a monthly newsletter (Split)_

*PR:*_
- Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership
- Maintaining a club website
- Maintaining contact and a good relationship with manufacturers/vendors
- Publishing a monthly newsletter (Split)_


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Moved posts to this thread to keep things organized per Josh's suggestion.

Before we slim down to 2 or 3 what if we see if there are 4 people willing to become officers?

I like some of Robert's suggestions if we decide to keep the 4 officers. I would suggest that the duties he listed for P and VP all be under P with VP assisting the P. That way the P is in the loop with everything going on and he can delegate what he wants to the VP.

P:
- Organizing club participation with volunteer efforts, ie North Texas Koi and Water Garden Society overseeing the restoration of the pond at Fair Park
- Being the "feet on the street" when hosting a national convention such as the 2003 AGA.
- Organizing and running club activities such as HAP and BAP programs, periodic auctions, field trips and home shows
- Arranging meeting locations and keeping the meeting agenda going
- Contacting and bringing in guest speakers
- Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership
- Maintaining contact and a good relationship with manufacturers/vendors (Maybe move this one to secretary position)

VP:
- Assist P in any/all of the above

T:
- Maintaining current financial records
- Maintaining current membership rosters
- Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership

S:
- Maintaining a club website
- Correspondence between clubs- as directed.
- Correspondence between the club and national organizations, ie AGA, ACA, MASNA, NANFA - as directed.
- Publishing a monthly newsletter
- Increasing club publicity, awareness, and membership


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

I think Tex Gal right about moving "- Maintaining contact and a good relationship with manufacturers/vendors (Maybe move this one to secretary position)" 

Forgive, I've slept since the last meeting. What is the process of getting on the ballot? When were we going to cast the vote?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

We'll vote in January.

--Nikolay


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

We all have survived the holidays and a new year approaches us. I'm bumping our threads and getting us back into thinking about club business for our up in coming meeting. 

Any volunteers to host our January Meeting?


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

my jan-december 2011 dues will be sent in as soon as I get my check, or could I just hand a $20.00 to mike? I like how Robert broke it down. ! 

also what about topics for each meeting.... a focus on new members so if they have any questions they can get answered. oh and what about the ideal of new members get first grabs on the selections of plants brought to the meetings.


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## kimcadmus (Nov 23, 2008)

niko said:


> We'll vote in January.
> 
> --Nikolay


Agenda:???
1) vote on number and type of officers?
How will options be discerned and presented?
Will this also include appointing specific duties to individual positions?

2) nominate individuals for office?

3) vote for and elect officers?


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

kimcadmus said:


> Agenda:???
> 1) vote on number and type of officers?
> How will options be discerned and presented?
> Will this also include appointing specific duties to individual positions?
> ...


4) Everyone kowtow to Phil and tell him how incredibly awesome he is.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Phil Edwards said:


> 4) Everyone kowtow to Phil and tell him how incredibly awesome he is.


We are not worthy! We are not worthy! We are not worthy!


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## Tex Guy (Nov 23, 2008)

kimcadmus said:


> Agenda:???
> 1) vote on number and type of officers?
> How will options be discerned and presented?
> Will this also include appointing specific duties to individual positions?
> ...


So at the meeting I will present a motion to amend the bylaws as per Tex Gal's suggestion. If there is an opposing view(s) it should be presented at that time. If that opposing view prevails in discussion, then I would withdraw my motion or amend it. Under any circumstance, a motion to amend the bylaws needs to be presented and voted upon. (Given the gravity of the decision, I will work up the wording of that motion and present it here in advance.)

Once that occurs the floor can be opened for nominations for whatever offices we end up with.

With a slate of nominations we can proceed to voting.


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## Tex Guy (Nov 23, 2008)

Michael said:


> We are not worthy! We are not worthy! We are not worthy!


Indeed, we are your loyal subjects, sir! artyman:


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