Forward, Four
By Matt Crawford, RVC4
Every month I have the same dilemma faced by your editor, your LocSec, and others who contribute to your newsletter: time travel. Specifically, lack of it. Things happened in October and I haven’t been there yet. At times like these I would love to pull a David Brinkley1 and just make up a description of an event I haven’t seen, but I have a better alternative. I’ll start with highlights from the September AMC meeting.
Between meetings we appointed a temporary national Ombudsman. As you may know, any votes taken between meetings must be unanimous to have effect. The person appointed, Matthew Grob, has been a Regional Ombudsperson2 but is not a Local Ombudsperson and so will be ineligible to run or vote in the National Ombudsman election, which is to be arranged by the new Election Committee. (The previous election attracted no candidates.)
We passed a motion to place the amount of the per-member stipend for local groups back into the ASIEs where it used to be. The dues increase motion at the close of the previous AMC term had raised the amount to 96¢ per member per month but relegated this datum to a back page of a complex budget spreadsheet. The immediate effect of restoring the amount of the stipend to the text of an ASIE is nil, but it is buffered against casual changes.
We also created a Technology Committee, envisioned as an analog to the Communications, Marketing and Membership Committees. Your humble servant is a member and RVC8 Michael Eager is the Chair. Our first meeting lies in my future, your past.
Looking ahead to December, I want to draw attention to two motions that are expected to be on the agenda. One, initiated by my learned predecessor, would change our elections to electronic only. I mentioned this very briefly last month and the motion has been refined since then. Since election processes are set in ASIEs and the rules made by the Election Committee, this is not a bylaws change and, if passed, would be in effect for the 2027 election. It would cut the cost of our regular elections in half, from $23,000 to $11,000. I have had one phone call from a constituent (thank you!) who normally does not use a computer at all. She allowed that going somewhere to use one for a Mensa election would be acceptable.
The other motion I want to mention would, if passed by the AMC, would be submitted to members as a bylaws amendment. Its effect would be that in the case of a vacancy in an RVC position, the LocSecs of the affected region would act as delegates for their members and choose a new RVC. Since 1997 there have been 13 RVC resignations and nine of those happend within the first year of a term. Holding a mid-term election in the normal way would take five to six months and $3,000 to $10,000.