[SJAAboard] Frequency of board meetings

[Rob Hawley]

I would love to move away from monthly meetings.  At this point there is too
much club business that requires board votes.  I also value the insight of
the other board members.

Perhaps it was just bad timing, but twice when we skipped a month (April
2006 and 2007) issues were allowed to fester. We almost lost the deal on
scope 28 because Albert needed a decision that even Mike did not have the
authority to give him.  The whole mess with CalStar festered because the
board did not meet for almost two months.

Conducting meeting via email is a fine goal.  The reality since I have been
on the board I can only remember one decision that was arrived at via email.
Every other time Mike or I have asked for an email vote we have not
succeeded.  The usual suspects weigh in, but never enough to declare an
issue to be settled.

Bear in mind that there has never been a requirement to be physically
present at Houge during the meeting.  Any member that is absent is free to
proxy his vote to another member or to cast a specific vote.

Moving to less than monthly meeting will mean giving more authority to the
officers to conduct club business.  For example, my agreement with the board
is that they have authority over all of the key decisions of the loaner
program.  I need those decisions made in a timely fashion (or Rich and I
need the authority to run the program within some very broad parameters).
Another example is the board needs to decide whether to spend $300 on Houge
for the auction. 

We could go to a model where the board delegates much of its authority for
operations.  That is how a corporate board operates when things are running
smoothly.  However, if an issue arises the CEO can convene the corporation's
board. It will stay in session until the issue is resolved.

Like Rich if we do not have candidates then I am happy to delay on filling
the openings until someone steps forward that is willing to support the
club.


Rob Hawley