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Promoting the art and craft of wood turning in the greater Cincinnati area

Date: 11/11/2019
Subject: WHAT'S UP
From: Nancy Bowman



   
 WHAT'S UP

The OVWG works better when everyone participates.
 

                
 

November is an important month.  
In the November meeting, we will be voting on a Life Time Recipient Award and also voting on the new By-Laws. I want to take some time to make sure everyone is clear on why the changes are needed, what they are, and where they came from.
Let me introduce you to a new committee. The Board Advisory Committee (BAC), Keith Bundy Chairman.
This committee was created to help the board stay on track with things that are important to the members of the OVWG. The board is taking a "hands off" approach to all committees but especially the BAC. No board member can be a member of these committees. This is to make sure we are getting the best ideas from the various committees without undue influence of a board member. Of course all committees will report to the board and still need board approval for the normal agenda items. The first thing the BAC tackled is the current By-Laws. The BAC spent months going over every sentence in the By-Laws to make sure they represented the best of the OVWG. After months of work, the BAC reported their suggestions to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee then spent time analyzing their suggestions and making changes. One of the biggest changes that came out of this long process was to eliminate the appointed positions on the Board. There are currently 6 positions on the Board that are appointed and 7 if you count the fact that the symposium was allowed to have 2 directors which allowed 2 votes on the board. This gives entirely too much power to the President who appoints these positions. When these appointed positions first came about, there were some members who spoke out against this. Their concerns were soon realized. The large number on the Board made for unproductive Board meetings. These changes will hopefully give the club back to the members  by making sure you are heard. The BAC is the committee that not only keeps the Board on track, but gives you a place to go with suggestions, concerns, or complaints. You are always welcome at any board meeting but we realize you can't always make it. In a club the size of the OVWG, we need a committee such as the BAC. I hope you will utilize this committee.
These changes will make sure that only the people you voted to speak for you are the ones doing so. In addition we've made sure that no one person on the Board is authorized to make decisions without the consent of the rest of the Board members.
One of the other changes is the method of voting for a Life Time Member Award. In our current By-Laws, the process is the Board puts a person up for this award, the members will vote yes or no for the person. Having the members to vote in this process has been ignored in the past.  The purpose for this has been to keep it a secret from the nominee so it can be a nice surprise. The current Board understands this but doesn't want to operate outside the guide lines of the By-Laws. So what we are purposing is to allow the Chairman of the Committees to nominate the person when there is someone that is a standout for what they have accomplished for the OVWG. I also feel this method eliminates the possibility of this award becoming an award for all the wrong reasons.
In all the years that I've been a member of the OVWG, I don't recall a time when a change to the By-Laws didn't require a tweak or so in the following months. As careful as we want to be, and as many people that proof read the document, there may be things that have to be addressed at a later date. No changes will be made to the By-Laws without approval of the members, no matter how small. 

                        

Nancy Bowman 
President
sgolf11@msn.com
1-937-239-1980