There
are no minutes for
this month, January, 2011.
There was not enough
members in
attendance to form a quorum, a regular occurrence, and second in a row.
Folks.
This Association has reached a crossroads; we are very close to having
to make a decision on closing this Association down. Because of money
problems? No. Because of administrative problems? No. Because of low
membership? No.
We are quite healthy as an Association other
than the fact that we do have to have meetings on a regular basis in
order to function.
5 or 6 stalwarts
continue to come to meeting after meeting (and for the most part keep
this Association running by voluntarily rotating executive
positions year in and year out) (some for the past 12 years)
because they believe in the Association. They are beginning to wonder
if it is worthwhile at all. Every other meeting is a no go
because we can't even form a quorum of 10 people, 10!
Half of
our membership live far and wide across the country and cannot make the
meetings, I am sure they would if they could. The problem, for the lack
of a better word, is apathy of our local
members who can't be bothered to attend a meeting once every two
months for a couple of hours.
Are
the meetings boring? Of course they are. Are they repetitive? Of course
they are. We have done various things to change this; guest speakers,
presentations and so on in the past, however, it makes no difference.
We have reduced the meetings from monthly to bi-monthly which has made
no difference.
We
changed the AGM to co-incide with the annual BBQ (which begot a fiscal
year nightmare but we did it anyway). Was this successful? To a degree.
Few local members show up for that. We provide great food, a great
venue, everything is well organized ....... all free ........ and very
few members who live in the area and could attend ....... don't bother.
We have considered trying include members from outside the
local area but there is no easy way of doing this short of setting up a
major communication link that everyone could access at great expense.
An executive position would be somewhat easier, however, the
routine business of mail, email, cheques, membership deposits and so on
would be very, very difficult. There ARE more things that go on in the
background on almost a daily basis that keep this organization
going. We have had a "distant member" nominated in the past for an
Executive position, however, after a great deal of consideration he
declined for the reasons of the distances involved.
The
dates of meetings are put in the Newsletters, we send a "heads up"
email before
every meeting ....... all to no avail.
What
is so puzzling is the East and West coast branches have a turnout of 25
to 30 at every meeting. Their agenda is no different than ours; their
local members are less than ours; they cover the same things; have the
same repetition and all in all their meetings are just as boring as
ours so what is the difference?
This Association is for you, the
members, every attempt is made to
provide you with the best we can provide.
Several
people put in a lot
of time to make it work, year in and year out. Unfortunately there is a
mindset out there that thinks those on the executive, year in and year
out, are there because they want to "run the show", it is their whole
life etc.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
They
do what they do because they know as things stand the Association will
fold if they don't. Many of them would like to be member
again for a change; pass on jobs to new people with new ideas, and just
attend a meeting as a member. As it stands this is not possible so they
plug on for the lack of a better word.
Is the Association our
whole lives? Of course not! Do we have other things to do? Of course we
do. However, if you believe in the Association and want to be part of
it then you have an obligation to support it, after all it is all
for you. There are no wages or remuneration of any kind paid to anyone
for what they do as you well know.
We have begged, pleaded,
cajoled our local membership to please give up a couple of hours of
your time once every two months to no avail. If you believe in the
Association enough to join it; believe in what the Association is doing
and are close enough to support it then is this too much to
ask? You
would think that a greater number of those
in the local area would be willing to put a couple of hours of their
time
every other month to see this work.
All
in all it is pretty discouraging, disheartening and disappointing to
say the least and flies in the face of what being a submariner is all
about.
The bottom line is the continuation of SAOC Central is in your hands
because as things stand the Association is in trouble.
Yours Aye,
Bob Wallace
President
SAOC Central
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