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President's
Perspective
Out of the four scheduled meetings in
every BOD cycle, only two meetings are fully focused on membership
business. The first meeting of the newly elected board usually takes
a full day and a half to seat the Executive Committee and the committee
chairs. The last meeting is usually relegated to committee clean-up
chores, trying to clear committee agendas for the next elected board.
If you have the same individuals elected
to the next board, no big deal; business continues without interruption.
But if historical precedent continues, there will be a one-third
turnover (seven to eight new board members) with the next election.
Most often, a great deal of work must be reviewed to bring the new
members up to speed on current USPA business. How can the membership change that? This
newly seated board immediately set about completing an initiative
that began in the summer of 1998: to begin the election cycle two
months earlier and increase elected term limits to three years.
Additionally, this board is seeking to eliminate the petition requirement
for interested USPA regional director candidates and eliminate the
national director selection committee. How can the membership help
do that? By filling out and mailing in the proxy form in this month's
Parachutist or online.
These proxy initiatives are very specific
and reflect the desires of the membership, particularly the northern-tier
states, where cold weather begins at the same time as the current
election cycle. With an election cycle starting two months sooner
while the weather is still jumpable across the country, more campaigning
by prospective board candidates allows more interaction with the
membership. Elimination of the petition requirement for regional
director candidates allows anyone interested in being on the board
to run, and that in itself can't be a bad thing for a membership
organization. But the biggest reason for this proxy
initiative is that it saves membership dollars! Each election cycle
costs USPA approximately $12,000 in printing, not to mention USPA
Headquarters man-hours to validate, verify and count the ballots
over the holiday season. A longer term limit for the board members
increases productive meetings from two to four, doubling the board's
productivity. How could that be a bad thing? The proxy form in this issue is very specific
in its scope and intent. These items will be discussed at the General
Membership Meeting in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in July. If you
cannot be present to vote for yourself (understandable for many
of our membership), please take the time to fill out the proxy form
and return it to USPA no later than June 25, 2003. Click
here for more information and to download a proxy form. According to our by-laws, the proxy must
work like this: Ten percent of our membership (approximately 33,000
members, so 3,300 respondents) must vote on this issue. And of those
ten percent, a simple majority (in this case, 1,651) must vote "yes"
for these changes to become effective for the 2005 elections. This is your organization, and you now
have a direct voice on how your representatives are selected and
how much more effectively your organization can be governed. "USPA
is you" is the longstanding premise under which this organization
has represented the general membership. And now, to perform that task more efficiently, the elected board members need your help. You now have the power to make these specific changes and, in so doing, make your organization more effective. Vote! |
The
election is over, your representatives have been seated and the
BOD officers selected for the 2003 term of office. So now what?