[SJDXA] Fw: ARRL: Seeing the Forest through the trees

[John Crovelli]

A little different slant.  GD


________________________________
From: Gerry Hull <gerry at yccc.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2017 7:48 PM
To: yccc - groups.io
Subject: ARRL: Seeing the Forest through the trees

Hey Folks,

I've been watching the Blowup of the BOD proposals.  Lot's of people wanting to protest by quitting the organization or trying to starve them of money.  IMHO, these tactics are not going to work:   You either have to hit 'em over the head with a sledgehammer, or get engaged in the process.

Before detailing that, let me offer this:

There has to be a reason these proposals have been put forward by SOME board members.  Quite simply, they are afraid.

For quite a long time now, our board has failed us.

FAILED on our legislative agenda.
FAILED to support the Volunteer Infrastructure, especially in NTS/EmCom/Field Services
FAILED in our PR efforts (especially IN PR)
FAILED to properly VET and take the time, to pick an appropriate CEO.
FAILED to find an effective President who serves the members and not the board.
FAILED to take any real action on licensing and Committee-recommended actions.

I could go on and on, but you get the drift.

The ARRL financially is OK.  For now.  Yet, only 25% of the Amateur population are members.  Why?   They do not see any benefit to the organization.

With the BOD's current actions, the board is essentially saying FU to its members.
We need to say FU back.

How do we do that?   Not by sending nice-nice letters to the board members to please take action.  Have you received any "real" replies?  I doubt it.

There are two ways to fix this problem:

- Run for Director, or recall your Director.   Clean house.   If your Director has run unopposed, they cannot be recalled unless 10% of the Eligible ARRL Members in the division sign a petition.   For large divisions, this is impossible.   However, if you run but loose, then that is a contested election, and the elected director can be recalled by a petition signed by just 10% of the people who voted in the last election -- a much more manageable number.

- If we do not want to go that far -- then we need to send a message, en masse -- the sledgehammer!   Get the Traffic/Emcom/GeneralPurpose/Contest clubs together -- many of them -- and send a unified message to the board: this can not stand.

ARRL has a real crisis on its hands: a Crisis of Confidence.   If the membership loses confidence in the organization, it is a very tough uphill battle to get it back.

I'm one person who hopes this ship can turn around -- but it's not looking good.

73 and Happy New Year!

Gerry, W1VE
ARRL Member since 1976
HQ Staffer 1980-83







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