WNY WOODTURNERS II
Meetings 7:30 PM; Second Thursday
The President’s Corner by Kurt
Hertzog
I missed
the auction last month. I had an engagement out of town. I try to schedule
things around our club meetings but this couldn’t be managed. I want to thank
Vice-President Jake Debski for running the meeting
and thank Lance Kanaby for taking care of the
auction. I hear both went extremely well. I appreciate their efforts.
In my
absence, there were two proposed by-law changes. You will find them written up
in the newsletter. Since I wasn’t at the meeting to add my two cents to the
discussion as they were being kicked around, I take the opportunity to do so
now.
The first
proposed amendment deals with changing the term of office to two years, from
the existing one year. (The change would be “one year” changes to “two years”
in first sentence of paragraph 3 of section 7) I am assuming that the reason
for thinking this is a good idea is that the other local clubs have two year
terms. Perhaps it is to lengthen the time between pleadings for candidates. I
believe it was proposed to keep people in the job once they’ve mastered it.
Personally, I think all of the reasons above are truly ill-advised. If we can’t
get candidates for a single year term, why would it be easier to get them for a
two year term? Just because the other clubs do it, doesn’t make it right. In my
experience, no incumbent running for re-election has ever been opposed much
less voted out of office so the “keeping their job” is also not valid. Anyone
who is willing to stay in their job is virtually guaranteed to keep that office
until they die. Since all of the other clubs face the same problems getting
candidates for their two year positions, it appears that the two year position
really doesn’t solve that problem.
The second proposed amendment deals with staggering the officers elected
so there are only two new officers ensconced each year. (I tried to write this up for the
vote but couldn’t. Hopefully we can vote on in principle and have the proponent
of it craft the wording.) It’s believed that this would minimize the disruption
and provide for better continuity, I disagree. I think this is a fix for a
“non-problem”. We have our elections in October and the new officers (if any)
take office in January. With that many months of overlap, we’ve never had a
problem transitioning the responsibilities or special training required. Since
any of the officer’s jobs can be performed by virtually anyone willing to give
it a go, I don’t see any advantage for staggering the elections. Besides, which two officers and when? Should we replace both
the President and Vice-President in the same year? If not, how does the VP
ascend to the Presidency should they desire to? This proposal appears to me to
be overly complicated to be seriously considered. It would place too many
restrictions on the already difficult problem of getting people to run for
office.
Believe it
or not, there was a lot of effort put into the creation of the by-laws and
thought was given to both of these ideas. They we not included by the reasoning
above. The real problem with the elections is not the length of the term, or
the transfer of responsibility, or the continuity. The real root problem is
that it’s easier for everyone to sit back and let someone else do the work. We
need a way to get people to step forward and do a bit of service to the club.
If someone can propose a by-law change that will fix that, I’ll be the first to
vote for it.
My
recommendation is that both proposed by-law changes be voted down. Neither
proposal helps to solve any real problem. As a matter of fact, I believe they
will aggravate the situation.
Thanks,
Kurt
Vice
President, Jake Debski called the meeting to order at
7:30PM.
If,
you are receiving a hard copy of this newsletter and have an e-mail address,
please send that address to Kurt Hertzog at KHERTZOG@ROCHESTER.RR.COM. You would then receive the newsletter via e-mail each month. It
would help defer some or the cost the club spends each month.
Treasure
Jay Ferrand reports the following for the month of Oct,
STARTING
BALANCE 1619.09
DESCRIPTION
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PETTY CASH EXPENSE
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PETTY CASH RECIEPT
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PETTY
CASH BALANCE
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BANK
ACCOUNT EXPENSE
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BANK
ACCOUNT RECIEPT
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BANK
ACCOUNT BALCANCE
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TOTAL
CLUB BALANCE
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MEMBERS
DUES |
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110.00 |
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10.00 |
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50/50
RAFFLE |
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17.00 |
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AUCTION |
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303.00 |
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BOB ROSAND |
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75.00 |
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TOTALS |
0.00 |
430.00 |
671.74 |
75.00 |
10.00 |
1312.35 |
1984.09 |
ANNOUNCEMENTS: December Demo
Jake Debski will discuss and show many of the finishes you can
use on your turnings, both on and off the lathe.
Old
Business
Barb Berger was told to present the bill for Club’s share of Kid’s Day to
our Treasurer, Jay Ferrrand. Barb asked the mentors
and Ben Martinke, one of “kids” who attended, to give
their assessments of the day, The consensus by all who
attended was the day was a positive experience for all.
It was
suggested that we change the by-laws of the club to make the offices term for
two years rather than one. Jake misinformed the meeting as to the procedure to
do this. We will introduce procedure
here for discussion at the December meeting.
We will be having a vote on this change.
Article 11
- Modification of by-Laws of the Organization
The By-Laws
of the organization may be amended by a vote of the membership. All proposed
By-Law changes shall be published in the newsletter of the organization for
consideration of the membership prior to any vote. All members shall be given
prior notice that action on the By-Laws will be on the agenda.
Show and
Tell
John Chavanne: sycamore natural edged mushroom
Jed Debski: small bowl out of mystery wood (possibly
black birch as per Gerry Rucker)
Lance Eggleston: “
Gerry Rucker: walnut goblet with lots of hand carving after turning
Paul Mazuchowski: cow pen & acrylic pen
David Breth: walnut goblet, cherry bowl with
history, small hard maple bowl
Ben Martinke: large pine top
Ron Hudson: 4 cherry table legs
Rockler: David
Breth
Craft
Supply: Ron Hudson
50/50: Pat Bogan
No
demo…club auction took place
ELMER’S
CORNER: For the holiday season I found
this one in Handyman. Zip-tie your decorations.
Zip ties are a simple way to string holiday lights on banisters and fences
without marring the railing with nails or staple marks. The cost of zip ties is
minimal and can be found in the electrical supply aisle in most home centers.
After the holiday a little snip with the scissors will make the tear down easy.
Respectfully
submitted,
Muriel Kummer
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