Well said. Grant, KB7WSD On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 12:00 PM, Jim Weaver K8JE <K8JE@arrl.org> wrote:
Dennis, et al,
I'd like to add a slightly different perspective to the discussion about moving the location for the January meeting. This is my personal view as developed from personal observation.
My reason for favoring a move has nothing to do with the weather which has been mentioned by others. Instead, I believe it useful to make occasional if not fleeting changes in the "seat of ARRL governance" to venues other than Newington. Based upon a few comments of GLD members, I believe occasional forays into the hinterlands is welcomed by many members. After our meeting in Houston, some members volunteered to me it was good to see that the Board finally recognized there are parts of the country outside of the Ivory Tower, ivy-covered halls of Newington. The fact that the locals in Houston hosted us for cocktails one evening suggests to me that at least some of them were happy to meet the full governing body of ARRL.
Should a Board meeting ever be held in the GLD, I feel certain we would be welcomed similarly.
It just might be useful to be able to show people that the members of the Board family do not morph into beings with horns and tails, and carry pitch forks when we are making decisions that effect Amateur Radio.
I am not married to New Orleans as the site for our next or for any future meeting. Now that the discussion about the coming meeting is on the table, I would certainly entertain suggestions for alternate venues. If NO is too expensive, I feel certain there are other locations that would be less costly and equally satisfactory.
You and others certainly are correct that the ability to speak with staff members in person is a valuable side effect of meeting in Connecticut. I am willing to forego this beneficial pleasure -- occasionally -- by holding our meetings at other locations, though. I'd not want to move away from HQ more often than one out of every four meetings.
As a final point, availability of the Internet and the ease of other forms of immediate communications that are available today make it practical to minimize the bulk of material that would need to be shipped from HQ to an away location.
In summary, I support holding occasional Board meetings away from Newington and believe the benefits I perceive from doing this as being a worthy trade-off for a modest increase in expense.
This is my take on the current topic, FWIW.
73,
Jim
Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 Tel. 513-459-1661; e-mail K8JE@arrl.org ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is Members: The reason ARRL is
-----Original Message----- From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Dennis Bodson Sent: 25 August, 2011 1:58 PM To: dick@pobox.com Cc: arrl-odv@arrl.org Subject: [arrl-odv:20180] Re: [arrl-od:2752] Board Meeting Expense Away FromCT
Dick:
I generally do not respond to emails of this nature. However, I felt compelled to do so.
Increased Costs
I disagree with your assessment for the following reasons:
a. You left out the CTO b. Travel costs, in my opinion, will be higher not lower as most will be going to New Orleans c. Even though CT is a high cost area, the data provided by Dave shows that New Orleans will be significantly higher
BOD Member Access to Staff Personnel to Conduct Personal Business
a. I can only speak for myself, but I use this time to solve potential problems or existing problems brought to my attention by members in my Division. I do not consider this as Personal Business b. You speak about employee productivity. I am at a loss because I believe that whether or not they were doing something else, they are responding member concerns brought to their attention through me.
Ability to Meet others on an Organized Basis
From personal experience, this has not amounted to much. Only a few showed up even though it was sponsored by a couple of clubs. I can meet far more at a hamfest.
Change of Scenery and Avoiding Winter Travels
When I ran for office, I accepted the fact that I would not receive any pay, not many positive comments, the possibility of a lot of negative comments, and the fact that I would have to travel during all seasons of the year including snow, ice, rain and sunshine. So much for the change in scenery!
Question?
How would you respond to a member's inquiry on why the annual meeting was going to be held in a different location(change of scenery), at a cost of several tens of thousands of dollars more than in CT? How would you justify to them that we were being fiduciary responsible for the Leagues assets? And how we would justify these costs?
Respectively submitted,
Dennis W4PWF ARRL Director Roanoke Division
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-- 73, Grant Hopper, KB7WSD Vice Director, Northwestern Division