July 2009 Next General Meeting – Wednesday 1 July All members are invited to attend our next General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 1 July at 8.00pm. Come and hear about Graham Boulter’s latest adventures overseas. He has just returned from a fascinating trip (a lot of it motor related!) and is keen to tell you all about it. Prior to the meeting, from 6.30pm, come and enjoy a meal consisting of soup for starters, followed by pies and pasties. Please book your meal with the office by Friday 26 June and advise your preferences. Cost of the meal is $10.00pp.
Don’t Miss
Working Bee Collingrove
Membership Thank you to all the members who have already renewed their membership for the upcoming financial year. Please note that the office will be open on Wednesday st evening, 1 of July, from 6.30pm to 8.00pm prior to the General Meeting to renew memberships or get log books updated.
July 4 Drift Practice Mallala
From the President – Michael Keenan As car persons we should all know the value of logic and the most valuable principle of a logical answer to a problem – Occam’s razor – the simplest solution is the best and most likely to be the actual solution. The other rule is the camel principle - that is a complex solution and is most likely to be designed by a committee – why? Because it tries to incorporate all the parts. (Opinions/ views etc) Given it is election time, a quick review of the nomination and election process and the application of the Occam’s razor is perhaps pertinent. The Club’s constitution actually calls for four sets of elections. One for President, one for Vice President, one for Secretary and one for Board Members. Complicating the matter is nomination for one position excludes you from another. An added but not impinging complication is that some people don’t have to be elected this time. The governance committee of the Board has considered this arrangement. Apart from it not being a simple solution to the problem of how you get a good collection of people who represent the clubs internal opinion to manage the Club for everyone’s benefit – it also wastes talent. If, for example, three people stand for President, two of them will not be able to participate in the Board for a year. Given the Club, and it is not alone in this, is not under siege with candidates, this is a gross waste of talent. The same happens with Vice President and with Secretary. There is a catch all that says the Board can appoint people thereafter and there is a potential for the person who nominates to get involved in the Board committees and there is also a potential for a person to be involved into the sections in lieu of their loss. However that must be weighed against the candidates realization that they might have escaped (rather than lost) the position and so they are less willing to put their name up in the immediate future. The Club needs to think seriously about having a single all in all out election process with the Board appointing its officers from within –as does parliament, most clubs and organizations. Apart from simplicity, it has the advantage of having candidates stand for the job of managing the Club rather than the position. For those who want to have recognized and direct vote for the Club’s mantelpiece, the other option is to have a two elections - for President and for the Board, if so, then to ensure the capture of talent, the process should allow a candidate to nominate for a President and for a board position - if they lose as President, then in the simultaneous separate ballot process they can then be voted onto the Board – if they lose both, there has to be a message in the result. In the meantime, we have an election under a set of rules and I urge candidates to come forward; I will not be so ingenuous as to say there is no time commitment because there is but if you have the time and the commitment, it will seem like no time at all.
July 4
July 16 Hub Lunch Edinburgh Hotel
July 19 Foggy Dew Run Veteran/Vintage
July 26 G1 Drift Mallala
August 9 Run to Tram Museum at St Kilda
August 9 Wintercup 2 Collingrove
August 15 HQ Enduro Mallala
August 16 Picnic Day Classic Section
August 22 Drift Practice Mallala
September 2 Club AGM Clubrooms