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-Meeting- TCMAS Elections & Business Meeting 2013 (1 Viewer)

Did you clarify this with David behind the scenes? It doesn't sound anything like what I understood he was originally asking for earlier in this thread.

i believe he was saying that showing up to the meeting counts as the meeting attendance, thus making the 1/12 redundant since they showed up to the business meeting.

then Tim and Matt added in that the business meeting shouldnt count.
 
There are several interpretations, suggestions and opinions on this matter.

I just can't keep track anymore what each of you want and it gets confusing.

If you just would PM me what change you would like to have on the agenda I will post it and it will be up for discussion at the Business Meeting

Max,

You don't need to put these things on the agenda. There should be a section in the agenda for motions, and if someone at the meeting wants to make a motion along these lines, they can do so, whether its on the agenda or not.
 
Max,

You don't need to put these things on the agenda. There should be a section in the agenda for motions, and if someone at the meeting wants to make a motion along these lines, they can do so, whether its on the agenda or not.

Agree.Everybody can bring up anything they want at the Meeting.
Just wanted to give the members an idea about some of the topics that will be discussed.
 
Hello, I would like to throw my hat in the ring for the director spot. My name is Ted and I have been into fresh water fish tanks pretty much my whole life. I got bit by the saltwater bug a little over a year ago. And now I have a very young 120 gallon mixed reef and a 8 month old 40b mixed reef. I have a 3 year old Son and another baby on the way mid August. This club has taught me a lot about reefs and I would like to give back. Thank you.
 
Hello, I would like to throw my hat in the ring for the director spot. My name is Ted and I have been into fresh water fish tanks pretty much my whole life. I got bit by the saltwater bug a little over a year ago. And now I have a very young 120 gallon mixed reef and a 8 month old 40b mixed reef. I have a 3 year old Son and another baby on the way mid August. This club has taught me a lot about reefs and I would like to give back. Thank you.

Thank YOU for stepping up!!!!!!


Hey there peeps!

After some discussion at tonights meeting - I thought it prudent to post this:

I would love for someone to run for the Treasurer position! Please!

I could really use a break.....please do not feel that throwing your hat in the ring for this position would cause any issues. I WELCOME and ENCOURAGE you to run!

If no one runs - I will of course stay on as Treasurer for the next term - I would never desert the BOD - but I really think there are members out there that should step up and run.

Trust me - doesn't take more than 4 hours per month - call me anytime if you would like to know more!
 
Here are some numbers you requested.

Please note those numbers are calculated as if the Meeting was today. Those numbers can change by April of course

Under the current Bylaws/Rules

Members with voting rights:
Lifetime Members: 152
Members who attended 2 Meetings in the past 6 months: 5

Members with no voting rights:
Members: 150
TCMAS Supporters: 19

Well if you would change it to 1 meeting in 12 months just add the 150 members who have no voting rights at this point (they attended 1 meeting in the last 12 months)

Thank you for this information. I think it's really eye opening.

Only 19 of us eh? LoL well I feel kind of exclusive. Looking forward to joining the 152 in August :)
 
I'd like to start this post by saying that I think MAXreefer has done a great job as President of TCMAS and if he decides to run again this year he has my vote. Thank you Michael for all the time and effort.

The people that make up this club have truly helped me enjoy and be successful in this hobby. It is because of all the shared experience this group has to offer that the small ecosystem I maintain flourishes and all my little pets thrive. I'd like to give back to the group as much as I have received. In an effort to do that I am throwing my hat in the ring to run for President.

Candidate: data_loss
Real Name: Steve Baker
Position: President
Age: 35

Marine Aquarium Experience: 20 years ago I started with a 55 gallon fish only with a porcupine puffer, a blue tang, a volitan lionfish, and a snowflake eel. 10 years ago I setup almost the exact same setup plus a large hermit crab. I had each of these tanks setup for about a year. Back then the only information I really had on keeping saltwater came from one book and the LFS and I didn't really know much about the hobby.

Just over two years ago I decided to setup another thank and was at Petco in Minnetonka when Michelle pointed me to the forum. I now have a 54 gallon corner tank mixed reef plumbed to my utility room in my basement where I have a frag tank, refugium, and sump setup. I also have a 29 gallon biocube in my daughter's room and a 150 gallon sitting dry waiting to be setup in my basement.

Why I want to be on the board: As I mentioned above I want to give back to this club as I feel I have received so much help, information, and advice from so many people.

What other similar experience do you have: I have started and run two small businesses. When I was 21 I was a general contractor and owner of Baker Quality Construction. I hired and ran a small crew and we did home remodeling all over the twin cities. Around 10 years ago I started working with computers and networks. I eventually started a company called it++ and worked as a technology consultant. I have worked as computer programmer, a network and system administrator, and a general technology consultant for many years.

What special skills can you bring to the BOD of TCMAS: I have hosted websites, email servers, and other services for many small companies. This was all done using open source platforms. The same type of platforms and development languages that our forum runs on. I would be able to take on the administration and any enhancements of our forum to make sure that all the hard work Michael has put into it stays up and running smoothly.

I'd also just like to say that I'd be OK with being in any position on the BOD. Really I just want to help out. If there is a different position that needs to be filled or that would work out better I'm game. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have and thank you all for your consideration in electing me as a member of the BOD :beerchug:
 
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I would like to thank Ted and Steve for stepping up and your willingness to run and give back to the club. We really appreciate your dedication to TCMAS.

I have been President and site admin since July 2011 and I would like to run again for this position.

For those of you that already know me, there is not much new to say, I prefer to focus more on the club, I am not looking for glory or recognition, just like to focus my energy on making TCMAS the best it can be!

For the newer members here is my background:
I was born and raised in Belgium, I am 52 years old and have lived here in MN for 10 years now.
When I took the position after last elections my first goal was to bring everything related to TCMAS into TCMAS ownership. Some of these include domain name, PayPal accounts, bank accounts, etc. Most of these were in the possession of individuals that have been active in the club from the past. This was not an easy undertaking as it required tracking down previous club members that were no longer involved with the club and yet some of these properties were still not in the club’s ownership. It was a long process but now all of these items are now in the possession of TCMAS, and can be administered by the club.

I always see it as my duty to keep an eye on the daily business of the club and a couple months after being elected I noticed there was something wrong with our financial transactions and after longer and intense investigation I uncovered fraudulent activities of the Treasurer who was newly elected also. With my findings, we as the BOD were able to gather the evidence, and rectify the situation to recover all money, and remove the Treasurer of their duties, the BOD made the announcement in a thread here on the forum to inform all members.

I am a good team player and it was always a pleasure to work together with the BOD, even if we had a difference of opinion we were able to come to agreements on what was in the best interest of TCMAS.

I know how much work the event committee has putting our major events together, and I try to support them as much as I can and help out at the events wherever I can.

I have been site admin also since I was elected and created also the event pages and keep those up to date, maintain and fix issues that arise on a regular basis.
I have been working on a major overhaul of the forum and implementing new features for our members to enhance the site. Just to name a few: Overhaul of the classifieds with feedback system, live chat, better visibility for topics you need to know, reservation system for Meetings, product review with rating options. This project to rework the website is quite complicated and takes much longer than anticipated, even though I was not always able to dedicate all my time to this project due to other projects which needed priority handling, but I continue with it to the completion, and as you all may have noticed the transition is in progress to the new and improved website, I can assure you that there was a lot of work in the background to bring these improvements forward, I am committed to get these all finalized very soon.

I hope that you can see that I am still very committed and dedicated to the club and hope you will consider me again for this position for the next 2 years.

It would be an honor to represent TCMAS and his community again.

Michael
 
I'm going to throw my name in for the Treasurer position.

My name is John Berns. I'm a patent attorney by trade. I've been keeping fish ever since I won a goldfish as a kid in a ping pong ball toss game. I've gone from a 1 gallon bowl with an airstone, through 10 gallon, 20 gallon, 55 gallon, 72 gallon, to a 180 reef, and now back to 10 gallons with breeding clownfish (or at least trying too).

I'm not at David Grigor's level, but I've been in TCMAS since 2006, so by now that almost makes me a grumpy old man. I helped with the formal change the club made into a 501(c)(3) back in 2008. The last 2 years I have served as a director and moderator.

I'm running for treasurer for a couple reasons. First, I think we've had a great leadership team for the last couple years and I'd like to stay on as a part of it. We have accomplished a great deal, and I think continued stability on the BOD will help finish that work up. I also think that with the Treasurer issues we had a couple years ago having a familiar face as treasurer is important.

I have plenty of past experience working with budgets and treasury duties, having served as a treasurer for clubs in college, high school, and of course preparing and living with budgets at work, so the job itself will be fairly easy for me.

Thanks,

John
 
I'm going to withdraw from the Presidential race because Michael is a great club President and I definitely will be voting for him at the meeting. I'd like instead to run for the Director position. Thank you all for your consideration :beerchug:
 
So here is what we have thus far:

Maxreefer is running for president - unopposed
Patent is running for Treasurer - unopposed
Mnmuskeyman and Data_Loss are both running for Director
 
Only 2 days left to post your intent to run for one of the positions outlined in the first post.
After this day you can't run anymore for a position as I have to send out the ballots to the "Lifetime Members".
 
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Just a little over a week away

I have noted plenty of concerns members have brought up over the last couple months and just want to note - unless someone makes a motion to amend any of the guidelines in place or bring an item up for discussion at the meeting - nothing will change.

That being said - I encourage everyone to attend and contribute so that all concerns may be addressed during the business meeting.



I also want to address a few concerns as I have been getting many PM's recently on:

No, attending the business meeting does not count towards meeting attendance for membership. However I should note that whether it does or does not count going forward has been proposed to discuss at the business meeting

No, you do not have to be a full member to attend. Your thoughts and contributions to any of the agenda items will be heard, appreciated and taken into consideration.

No, if you are not a member already when you attend the meeting - you are not eligible to vote on any motions put up for voting at the business meeting.

Yes - you should come!!! Even if your not a member - your opinions are valued and really appreciated

No - the business meeting is not about financials, and boring business type issues - it is for the most part to discuss concerns that have come up since the last business meeting.

Things such as how many meetings should the club have per month?
Are the current requirements to become a member fair - should they be changed?
How many posts should members have before they are allowed to post in the classifieds section

There is much more on the agenda but I just wanted to get you all an idea about what is discussed during the business meetings.


Lastly - anything that happens at the business meeting will more than likely affect YOU as a member of the club. Keeping that in mind - I encourage you to attend if you can!!!!
 
Sounds like I'll be voting via "absentee ballot." All signs point to me being in Milwaukee next weekend. That said, if not, expect to see me at the meeting.

Also, thanks to everyone who's stepping up to run this year. So happy that Maxreefer is running again!! It's been great having you as our president! I look forward to another term!!!

~Joe
 
The emails with the Ballots for absentee voting have been emailed to all Lifetime Members.

Good luck to all Candidates
 
Hi all, at risk of being seen as "following certain people around" I decided to log in and throw my two cents in. Unfortunately I will not be able to be at the meeting the meeting as I have a dear friend's wedding to attend this Saturday. However, since I can't be there in person, I would like to take the time to post my opinion. First off, I understand the resistance to allowing paying members voting rights, but I feel the reasoning I have seen are not very good. You see, when you boil everything down, it comes down to sacrifice. Many sacrifice time for the club, those who don't have time, now have the option to sacrifice money. Both parties have given something to the club and obviously have a vested interest in the club, and both are putting something into the club to make it better. I feel that those who are paying members should at least be able to vote at the business meetings if they attend, and perhaps if they attend another event we could allow them to absentee vote. I do not have a dog in this "fight" as I am hosting a meeting in two weeks and will become a lifetime member, and I don't personally know anybody who cannot, or does not attend meetings.

The second issue I would like to bring up is that we should extend the time a topic is discussed on the forum (especially since the club and the forum are somewhat intertwined with forum members automatically becoming club members. I feel that we should extend the time period a topic must be discussed to 30 days before the meeting, any topic brought up within the 30 day period or during the meeting must not be voted on until the next meeting. This gives everybody a chance to weigh in, and I feel it will bring more attention to the topics being discussed, cause more people to become involved, and cause more people to attend the meetings to vote on said topics.
 

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