[reccom] Proposed bylaw change / committee membership

[Rick Fridell]

Hello,
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year.

First I’d like to apologize for being out of the loop for the last month or
so.  We’re back in town and everyone is feeling good again.  I also
apologize for holding up the voting on committee membership.  Today when I
went to vote, I was very surprised that Ron and Mark were not on the ballet.
Both of these individuals have performed at a high level and have been a
tremendous asset to the committee.

I was then reading the bylaws (something I should apparently spend more time
doing!) and noted the section on term limits.  The reasoning behind this
baffles me, so I’m going to give the bylaw amendment process a try by
proposing the following change:

Proposed change to bylaws, Section III D 1:

Recommended changes:

a.    Voting Members will be elected to TWO year terms.
b.	Voting Members of the Committee may be nominated for ADDITIONAL TERMS.
c.	There shall be no limit to the number of TERMS that any one person may
serve on the Committee.
d.	Two or three Members will be up for reselection or replacement each year
(i.e. two in year on, two in year two, and three in year three.)

Comments / justification for proposed change.
I’m very puzzled why we have bylaws that would force a member to leave the
committee, even if that member is well qualified, does a superb job, and
desires to continue to volunteer their time to be on the committee.   I can
see no reason why we would limit the terms of volunteer membership on the
committee, particularly since there are relatively few birders in Utah and a
concurrent low number of qualified individuals willing to volunteer their
time to be on the committee.  By having two-year terms, it gives individuals
the option of declining additional time on the committee.  And as long as
there are open nominations after each term, a vote will ensure that sitting
members keep up on their responsibilities and remain in good standing.
The current nominations certainly show that the future of Utah birding is in
good hands, and all are active and knowledgeable birders.  I have no idea if
Ron or Mark are interested in volunteering to be on the committee for
additional terms and I certainly mean no disrespect to any of the recently
nominated individuals, but none of the nominees have near the experience of
the departing individuals. I am concerned that with the current bylaws, the
quality of the committees’ products will suffer in the future due to
mandatory departures from the committee and lack of qualified nominees.


Respectfully,

Rick Fridell