A message to the members from the Cascade Bicycle Club Board of Directors
Since the board’s decision on October 4 to make a change in the executive directorship of the Club, many members have expressed questions about the governance of the Club. We have reached out to members to better understand their concerns, through emails and conversations with concerned members, at the Annual Meeting, and at the Town Hall meeting held on November 30. Based on this dialogue, the Board has:
- postponed the board elections previously scheduled for October 2011 until March 22 to address a deficiency in the nomination process,
- expanded the target board size for 2011 to 15 members to strengthen and diversify the Board
- formed a new Nominations Committee to solicit and vet board candidates,
- formed a Bylaws Committee to evaluate and revise the Club bylaws, and
- formed an Executive Director Search Committee to solicit top candidates from around the country.
We believe that the Board’s actions should contribute to a stronger Club. Nevertheless, questions and misunderstandings regarding the Board’s actions have proven difficult to address and they continue to be divisive. After listening carefully to members, staff, and the broader community, we feel that a newly-constituted board, elected by membership on March 22, 2011, could more effectively govern the Club going forward.
Therefore, our goal is to continue in our current positions on the board until a new, representative, and skilled board of directors is in place, and offer our resignations at that point in time. In the coming two months, we will work to ensure that board candidates are duly vetted through an open and legitimate nomination process, that members are offered a choice in leadership by being able to consider more candidates than positions available, and that board members are elected by the full membership of the Club on March 22, 2011.
The Nominating Committee was appointed in early December 2010, consisting of two board members, two staff members, and two well qualified at-large members. The Nominating Committee has been working hard to prepare a slate of candidates for elections on March 22. Once the newly elected board has been seated, the undersigned members of the board will offer their resignations and pass on governance duties to the new board. For the benefit of continuity, some members of the current board are open to continued service on the new board, if requested to do so by the new board members. We maintain our support for the Club, its mission, and the work to date on the strategic plan. We also believe that good governance, with support from the staff and the membership, is essential to set the direction of the Club and to ensure the Club functions in accordance with its mission and on behalf of the members. (Note that the process we have outlined here will ensure legal continuity of governance of the Club in accordance with our bylaws.)
To that end, we urge you to help identify leaders within the Club who would be willing to serve on the board, to ensure the Club continues to be a powerful force for bicycling in Washington and part of a national movement which is bringing bicycling into the forefront of transportation policy. While the Nominating Committee has received many nominees with high qualifications, more nominees are needed to ultimately constitute a full 15 member board.
As part of the transition, we are suspending the work on the Bylaws and the Executive Director Search Committees. We believe a new board should review both issues as part of its responsibilities for oversight and governance of the Cascade Bicycle Club.
Thank you for your membership and involvement in the Club. We ask you to continue to support the Club, to be active in its affairs, and to make sure your voice is heard.
Sincerely,
Emiko Atherton
Tim Hennings
Michael Lazarus
Peter Morgan
Jim Oswald
Mary Schroeder
Dave White
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cascade Bicycle Club, BikingBis. BikingBis said: Current Cascade Bicycle Club board members say they will offer resignations after March election.. http://tinyurl.com/4jnzhxf [...]
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[...] from the rides and political work the area needs. All current Board members except Joey Gray signed the following letter, published on the Cascade blog: Since the board’s decision on October 4 to make a change in the [...]
[...] Board of Directors said they will offer their resignations after a newly elected board is in place. The letter, posted to the Cascade blog on Friday afternoon, also urges members to help find qualified leaders within the club to run for [...]
The Board has decided that it will resign rather than correct or clarify the reason for this mess they created in the first place. Full disclosure is still needed. As a witness at the last Town Hall meeting, I find it surprising that these Board members are oblivious to the consequences of their decision. This issue could still be aired and addressed and yes, this Board should be voted out as a result of their collective incompetence but not before this firing issue is resolved not passed to the next Board.
The Board has decreed that the new board will now have 15 members; that is ridiculous.
By requiring 15 members you are guaranteeing that no decision will ever be agreed upon.
A board with 15 members is to many. It will be VERY hard to make descisions. I admit I have not read the bylaws, but what will be required for these:
How many board members make a quorum?
Who can call an emergency board meeting and how far in advance must the notice of the meeting be?
What types of descisions can be made by a quorom? There should be clear rules on this.
What is the penalty for board members who routinely not show up to meetings?
How are the board members elected? At the very least, board members must have staggered terms or we will be electing 15 members every term.
I don’t know who was responsible for the gigantic fiasco on Jan 10th but I’m sure there are plenty of mad Cascade members!!! It took 3 hours and 20 minutes of constantly being online to sign up for RSVP; we got in but only because my husband owns our business and could spend that HUGE amount of time trying. You all need to get an ONLINE explanation like – YESTERDAY!!!
Hi Sally,
The event registration statement is online here: http://blog.cascade.org/2011/01/event-registration-statement/
We’re very sorry for all the disruption the event registration process caused.
M.J.
This misguided proposal to expand the board of directors to 15 members will leave CBC with a cumbersome, ineffective governing body. It is inappropriate that the outgoing Board make this kind of decision on their way out the door and the membership should insist that any substantive changes to the bylaws, including the size of the Board should be left to new leadership.
[...] chances to decide the future of the club, as seven members of the existing board of directors say they will resign after the nine new board members are sworn [...]