Kay, First off, we will never please everyone with what we do or don't do. You are more aware of this "fact" than I am as regards ARRL and Amateur Radio. On the other hand, I believe in communicating with the members on a pretty full basis. My thought would be to tell people just what you said in your memo -- i.e. 1. it was never intended to sit tight for a year before making any changes; therefore, 2. changes will be implemented whenever the situation clearly warrants. In addition, 3. we do not want to revamp the entire process before first obtaining considerable input from the folks in the trenches because we do not believe either us on the Board or the folks in HQ necessarily have an amount of knowledge that exceed that held by our members. This approach makes sense to me because it clearly says where we are and why we are there. It will impress many people quite favorably so that we will have developed a much greater group of members sympathetic to our intent than if we just kept our mouths/pens closed. An informed membership is generally smarter than an uninformed one. FWIW, if anything. Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL; http://www.arrl.org/ Chairman, ARRL ad hoc Legislative Action Committee 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 Tel.: 513-459-0142; E-mail: k8je@arrl.org ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is! MEMBERS: The reason ARRL Is! -----Original Message----- From: Kay Craigie [mailto:n3kn@comcast.net] Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 2:51 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:13918] Good intentions The Board motion authorizing the ad hoc emergency communications committee says the final report is due at the annual meeting in 2007. That's how Board committee things usually work so none of us thought much about it. However, there has been some bucking and snorting in the field about how we can justify doing nothing to improve the status quo until after next year's January meeting. If the Board and Staff had taken an authoritarian or dictatorial stance on this subject, we could make a lot of changes real fast. Then many of the members who are upset now because they think we are going to take too long would be angry because we acted too hastily and without consulting the expertise that exists in the field. Shoved things down people's throats, etc., etc. If it were the intention to do nothing until after the January '07 meeting, then I would agree that it is not justifiable and smacks of fiddling while Rome burns. But in fact we do not mean to let the clock tick while we talk. We know hurricane season is just around the corner and other kinds of major disasters are so unmannerly that they do not have predictable "seasons." Harold Kramer and the staff are working on incorporating lessons-learned from the Headquarters operation end of things, and I am sure Harold will brief the Board about that when he decides the time is right. Regarding the ad hoc committee that I am chairing, when we arrive at a time-sensitive recommendation which Staff is able to implement administratively, I'm sure Staff will act on it. If we arrive at a time-sensitive recommendation which has policy implications, it will be brought to the EC or to the Board in July, as the case may be. The PSC will be in the consultative loop, either way. Recommendations that are not time-sensitive can be held for the final report to you next January. If any Board member thinks it is a bad idea for the League to proceed before January '07 with making changes based on lessons-learned since 9/11 and the last two hurricane seasons, I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with him or her privately on the phone. As the committee chairman, I am sensitive to members' feelings of urgency about the League becoming better prepared for major disasters, but the committee is not going to run wild out of control and fail to respect the procedures that govern our membership organization. 73 - Kay N3KN