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Grex > Coop > #346: Nominations for the 2014 Grex Board of Directors (Second Special Election) | |
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| Author |
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| 25 new of 102 responses total. |
tod
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response 44 of 102:
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Apr 9 15:52 UTC 2014 |
We need to look at the Treasurer responsibilities and accountability with
the board. There's an obvious disconnect.
Plus, while a PO Box is great for taking donations/memberships - what
are the present day options to make it more accessible?
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rcurl
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response 45 of 102:
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Apr 9 17:51 UTC 2014 |
I've served on the Grex board, but got static for suggesting more
business-like procedures. No sense volunteering where I'm not wanted.
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kentn
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response 46 of 102:
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Apr 9 18:59 UTC 2014 |
A PO Box is a physical location, so as far as accessibility, you need
to have it close to the person or people who are going to be checking
it. It is also where we receive the state form we need to fill out
each year, so it needs to be checked periodically. In the past it has
overflowed and went unpaid, etc. so we need to have someone available
who can check it reliably. I think gelinas has a key in addition to
the treasurer.
Yes, we need to look at treasurer duties (as you might imagine, this
has been a Board topic of discussion many times over the last several
years). I think I sent the Board the list of duties that Mark put
together in years past. It is a good starting place, although some
items are no longer necessary. The treasurer is supposed to be doing
monthly financial reports according to the bylaws. That is to be done
no matter how often the Board meets. It is difficult to see how things
are running if we don't have up to date information on income/expense
and bank balance. I can't remember the last time we had a financial
report.
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cross
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response 47 of 102:
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Apr 10 02:04 UTC 2014 |
resp:45 You haven't served on the board in my memory. I think you just
like to complain about things that aren't run the way you think they should be
run.
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kentn
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response 48 of 102:
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Apr 10 02:16 UTC 2014 |
I don't find any record of Rane serving on the Grex board. When
was that exactly?
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tod
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response 49 of 102:
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Apr 10 04:59 UTC 2014 |
Is the chronology of board members online somewhere?
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cross
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response 50 of 102:
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Apr 10 13:14 UTC 2014 |
It's available at http://grex.org/cyberspace/board.xhtml, but is out of
date. rcurl is not listed, but to my knowledge, he has not served a board term
since that list was last updated. So I suspect he's never actually served on
Grex's board.
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remmers
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response 51 of 102:
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Apr 10 18:25 UTC 2014 |
Rane served one term on the Board sometime in the early or mid 1990s. I
remember because I was on the Board at the same time. I'm surprised it's
not easy to find in the record.
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kentn
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response 52 of 102:
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Apr 10 18:28 UTC 2014 |
We can update it if we have the right information. It has been updated
through 2015, but may need a little more updating.
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remmers
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response 53 of 102:
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Apr 10 18:30 UTC 2014 |
Apparently Rane was on the Board in 1994. See this:
http://cyberspace.org/grexdoc/archives/minutes/1994-01-11
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cross
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response 54 of 102:
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Apr 10 18:49 UTC 2014 |
I stand corrected, though it is curious that there seems to be no record of
his tenure on the board. Regardless, his experience is a twenty years old;
it's rather sad that he bases his current statements about how Grex operates
on such outdated knowledge.
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rcurl
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response 55 of 102:
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Apr 10 18:55 UTC 2014 |
Re #47: I do like to suggest better ways of doing things. I mostly gave up.
You can see that things are not done as well as they could be by the above
discussion from others.
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cross
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response 56 of 102:
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Apr 10 19:02 UTC 2014 |
resp:55 I have yet to see a concrete, actionable, suggestion from
you. Most of what I see are snarky exclamations that may be
summarized by saying that, if we just used, e.g., Roberts Rules,
all of our problems would disappear. I think that's laughable.
If you want to snipe from the sidelines, be my guest. Don't be
surprised, however, if people ignore you.
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kentn
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response 57 of 102:
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Apr 10 19:17 UTC 2014 |
I'll see if I can update our Board web page (assuming I can find start and
stop dates).
That page is mostly legacy info from whoever put it together previously.
I've just been adding to it.
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tod
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response 58 of 102:
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Apr 12 19:43 UTC 2014 |
I was working in Randall Labs when Rane was on the board. I remember
this because I used to shoulder surf when kermit read Grex and she knew
the who's who of the board at the time.
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rcurl
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response 59 of 102:
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Apr 12 20:48 UTC 2014 |
I sent my dues check to the POBox given at
http://www.cyberspace.org/member.xhtml
It was returned as "box closed/unable to forward/return to sender". This
updated knowledge of Grex seems much like me old outdated knowledge.
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kentn
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response 60 of 102:
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Apr 13 01:21 UTC 2014 |
You can use PayPal.
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tod
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response 61 of 102:
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Apr 13 01:21 UTC 2014 |
Has anyone seen the treasurer or is he also closed?
Perhaps the board should re-elect a treasurer with a modification of
duties?
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kentn
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response 62 of 102:
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Apr 13 01:23 UTC 2014 |
Again, and again, and again...broken record here: call TS and
find out.
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cross
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response 63 of 102:
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Apr 13 01:47 UTC 2014 |
I think it's time to side-step TS and appoint someone new. Any volunteers?
It makes sense, perhaps, to have someone who is a Michigan resident do it.
Rane? Would you like to volunteer to be Grex's treasurer?
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kentn
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response 64 of 102:
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Apr 13 02:12 UTC 2014 |
We certainly need treasurer help. Any reliable, honest volunteers that
are will to help, would be appreciated. It doesn't take a lot of time,
but it does take consistent, regular effort to keep things up to date.
I can say though, from the previous to-do getting the treasurer signed
up with the bank, it takes a fair amount of effort to add or subtract
people from the account.
It is good if the person is local or near to Ann Arbor so they can check
the PO Box, and deposit any checks that come in there (when the box is
active). I think the state corporation renewal form also comes to the
PO Box. Most other things can be done remotely, I think.
The ability to effectively communicate is a necessary attribute as
is the ability to keep accurate financial and membership records
and produce monthly financial reports (these are not difficult).
Above all the person needs to be above reproach when it comes to the
corporation's bank account. Other duties include verifying users,
sending membership renewal notices, and providing the list of valid
voters for our elections in a timely manner.
I'd say approx. an hour or two each month would go a long way toward
getting things back on track, though at first it might take more time to
get the information needed and get things set up.
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rcurl
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response 65 of 102:
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Apr 13 05:08 UTC 2014 |
Sensible words. However I doubt the job would amount to only an hour or
two each month. There may be daily communications from users, reports to
write, visits to the bank with checks, in addition to your list - and a
lot more time "getting things back on track".
Also, doesn't anyone think http://www.cyberspace.org/member.xhtml should
be corrected?
So, where do I send my dues check? Someone reading this board must
know.
I don't have time for a new responsibility.
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cross
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response 66 of 102:
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Apr 13 12:42 UTC 2014 |
I thought as much.
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kentn
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response 67 of 102:
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Apr 13 16:12 UTC 2014 |
Re 65: Okay, let's waste our time speculating on how much time it takes.
If we were to get 2 hours EVERY month that is way better than what we
are getting now. Maybe the time investment is more like 5-6 hrs. a
month. But that is just arguing details when we have much bigger issues
finding someone to do ANYTHING.
It may be that some time every other day, or every 3 days, would be
enough, in which case, the time commitment might be more like 2-3 hrs. a
month. Some months of the year would be worse than others, of course.
Some months would have no activity at all other than produce a financial
report (the treasurer should verify this rather than ignore the job).
Bear in mind, many of the functions of the treasurer should be available
at the touch of a button (or a command at the command line). We are
spending WAY more time right now because the treasurer believes in
pencil and paper records. Every report, every query, every update,
is manually-generated by searching through paper records (and PayPal
statements). This is unacceptable and a big reason why being the
treasurer takes so much time. Someone who is organized can and should
REDUCE the amount of time spent by the treasurer.
I would rather a treasurer spend 10 min. each day than ignore our
business for months on end. What is happening now is that those little
bits of time are not invested. Then a month or two goes by and a simple
task becomes a 10 hour mess to straighten out (and many phone calls by
me--it would be good if others would help with this). Fire-fighting is
not the way to manage things, if it can be easily avoided (and it can be
in this case). Some days the only task would be to check that there is
nothing to do. I doubt that would take 10 or 15 min.
As I've already noted, initially the amount of time would be more
getting set up to do things in a better way. After that, it should be a
relatively easy task to stay up to date if the treasurer consistently
and periodically makes the necessary updates.
Whoever takes this task on should be able to count on the Board to help
them get set up. It is not necessary that the treasurer be a Board
member, although we will have a Board officer to oversee the treasurer
function, even if that officer is not the day-to-day treasurer. There is
a list of tasks that the treasurer has traditionally done in an old coop
conference. Thus it's not like there are no instructions at all and
no help.
And, as I've noted before, it might work better to split the treasurer's
jobs among 2 or 3 people to reduce the time commitment for any one
person. Communication in that case becomes very important. We've
allowed some tasks to remain in the treasurer function because the
treasurer has or should have the information to do them. If that is not
the case, or the treasurer is not doing the tasks, then moving something
like membership management to another person might make sense. But
handling the money (e.g. membership donations) is still the treasurer's
responsibility, hence the need to communicate and cooperate with others,
if we were to to make such a split of duties.
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cross
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response 68 of 102:
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Apr 13 17:08 UTC 2014 |
Perhaps if we used RRoO the treasurer's job would take less time. (Note for
Rane: that was sarcasm.)
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