New GAGB Chairman

[paul.blitz]

As Bill D was the only person to be nominated for the post of Chairman, it is with great pleasure that I formally confirm that Bill becomes our new chairman.

I'm not planning any big speech / posting as outgoing chairman... I've really done close to nothing this last year... unlike Bill, who has been FAR more active than I have.

However, I will say a BIG THANK YOU to the members of the GAGB committee for their ongoing hard work... work that I am sure is greatly appreciated by the UK caching community.


OK, Bill, here's the key to the executive loo... remember to flush as you leave!!!! Oh, and don't leave the light on.....


Paul Blitz
Retiring Chairman

[Bill D (wwh)]

Thank you, Paul.

I won't make any speeches now, as a new committee is yet to be elected. I'll just say that I'm delighted to be the new Chairman of GAGB, and I'll endeavour to carry out that role to the best of my ability during the coming year. And thank you again to Dave of The Wombles and to Dave Mancunian Pyrocacher for nominating and seconding me.

[Brenin Tegeingl]

Congratulations Bill on becoming GAGB's second Chairman (though that should read Chairperson or even Leader of the Association :D ) , it was a pleasure seconding you for the position.

Dave

[Mongoose39uk]

Excuse me!

where was the election announced. I have checked all my email accounts! Including junk mail!

What sort of election is it where the membership do not get to vote?

Not a happy snake bitter!

Mongoose

[Mongoose39uk]

Oh sorry I have just received it. So the election was announced and a chairman elected without a chance for others to be nominated.

Nice

[Brenin Tegeingl]

Mongoose as Bill was the only person to be nominated for chairman by the closing date he automaticaly became chairman by default. I just checked the registard email address for here and had 3 emails containing Paul Blitz's posts, so they were sent out.

The elections were anounced on this board Here (https://www.gagb.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=606) check out the date of the first post.

Dave

[Mongoose39uk]

No Dave that is not good enough. We had no opportunity to nominate and the election is not till the 5tth

[Brenin Tegeingl]

Tony this is from the original post regarding the nominations and elections,


So:
- the election for Chairman will run from Sat 5th November to Sat 12th November.
- the election for the 5 committee members will be from Sat 19th November to Sat 26th November.

According to the constitution, nominations for the elections need to be in at least 7 days before the election: nominations can either be posted in the forums (I'd suggest in this thread) or by email to me (in my capacity as chairman)

and is dated and timed as follows "Sep 28 2005, 08:29 PM" the mistake I think the Chairman and committee made is not emailing everyone to tell them about the thread and elections. Nominations were open from 28th September until the 29th of October. As only Bill was nominated and seconded for the post of chairman by the end of the 29th under the constitution there was no need for a election to take place.

As I posted on GC I have GAGB in firefox with other geocaching forums and open all the tabs at the same time and check all of them several times a day, so I saw the original post the day it was posted.

Everyone has until the 11th of November to either put themselves or someone else forward for election to the committee.

I hope this straightens things out.

Dave

[Mongoose39uk]

No things are not straightend out.

[el10t]

I'd say they were. Seems simple enough to me. Which part is difficult to understand?

[Mongoose39uk]

Originally posted by el10t@Nov 3 2005, 08:55 AM
I'd say they were. Seems simple enough to me. Which part is difficult to understand?
The part where we get to elect a chair?

Is that difficult to understand?

[lost it]

oh dear, one of the biggest problems of trying to run an association on the net is that its members will never be able to communicate and get all of the facts, unlike people with a physical presence

the people who have the power, may always hold the power and there can be little revolt

sorry!

[moote]

Originally posted by paul.blitz@Nov 2 2005, 09:05 PM
As Bill D was the only person to be nominated for the post of Chairman, it is with great pleasure that I formally confirm that Bill becomes our new chairman.
OK if the majority were not clearly made aware that this position was up for grabs; I feel that the most graceful thing to do here is that the New Chairperson steps down and the process is restarted now that we all appear to be getting aware.

Milton (aka Moote on GC.com)

Posted in my very own special log off way :lol:

[John Stead]

No - if the election for chairMAN was carried out properly it must stand.
If as seems to be the case a few did not get the email reminding of the election, that is unfortunate but I have seen no evidence that "the majority" did not know about it - they may not have done anything about it but that does not mean they did not know.
In any case all members who had read the constitution knew the dates when the elections take place and the requirement for nominations to be made in advance.
I am sorry that you are aggrieved but as far as I can see Paul Blitz has acted properly and the new ChairMAN should be allowed to get on with it with support from the members and if you want to influence the future of GAGB then if the members accept you as a member of the Committee you will have your opportunity.

[moote]

Originally posted by John Stead@Nov 3 2005, 12:51 PM
No - if the election for chairMAN was carried out properly it must stand.
If as seems to be the case a few did not get the email reminding of the election, that is unfortunate but I have seen no evidence that "the majority" did not know about it - they may not have done anything about it but that does not mean they did not know.
In any case all members who had read the constitution knew the dates when the elections take place and the requirement for nominations to be made in advance.
I am sorry that you are aggrieved but as far as I can see Paul Blitz has acted properly and the new ChairMAN should be allowed to get on with it with support from the members and if you want to influence the future of GAGB then if the members accept you as a member of the Committee you will have your opportunity.
Sorry John I can't fully agree with this, there has been doubts raised and that becomes an issue, we can't be stamped on by saying that it is all fair and square.

Milton (aka Moote off GC.com)

[John Stead]

OK we beg to differ - but if the majority consider it was properly done then what?
Could a poll be organized?

[Bill D (wwh)]

The elections were announced in these forums on September 28th, and the membership of GAGB were invited to submit nominations for Chairman and committee members. That was also posted in the UK gc.com forum.

The constitution states that the election dates must be posted before 1st October. They were. It also states that nominations must close seven days before the posted date of an election. They did. There is no requirement that members be notified by email, and that is done as a courtesy. If you don't read the forums then you really shouldn't be surprised if you don't know what's happening.

That said, if there is a majority view that I should stand down as Chairman then I will.

[Mongoose39uk]

Bill,

no need to stand down, thats not what I feel is needed. Just in future that the election is conducted in a different way.

I often dont come in the GAGB forums for long periods of time as there tends to be very little going on in them,

I do however feel that the GAGB has a vital role to play and that all memebers however inactive in the forums should have an opportunity to vote.

Cheers

Tony

[lost it]

I got no e-mail

[Kitty Hawk]

Bill I'm perfectly happy with you as Chairman.

I didn't recieve the courtesy e-mail (my fault in all likelihood) and I didn't read this forum (that's definately my fault), however, there was a post on the GC.com forum on 29th September so I knew what was happening.

My thoughts - the constitution says it so it goes. That's the object of a properly formed association with a constitution. It'd be a pretty ramshackle affair if everyone could call on the constitution to be ignored.

On the other hand, there is a 11 month window to ensure that this fuss doesn't happen next year, either from GAGB's communications or people adding the "new Topic" alerts to their memberships.

[Brenin Tegeingl]

Originally posted by Mongoose39uk@Nov 3 2005, 09:07 PM


I do however feel that the GAGB has a vital role to play and that all memebers however inactive in the forums should have an opportunity to vote.

Cheers

Tony
This is a issue that Bill and the committee (when elected) could look into over the coming year. As Tony has pointed out, there are not many regular contributers to these forums, and only a small minority of UK cachers bother with the GC forums. How about a quarterly News Letter sent to all members just giving basic news and containing a hyperlink to major news items, this is what happens with a camping forum I'm a member of, who send out a occasional news letter, every member has the option of opting out. This forum has over 50,000 members and it works well for them.

Dave

[paul.blitz]

Originally posted by Mongoose39uk@Nov 3 2005, 09:07 PM
no need to stand down, thats not what I feel is needed. Just in future that the election is conducted in a different way.

Tony

There was never an actual ELECTION for chairman...

There WAS a call for nominations, and ok, I agree that is a precursor to the elections, and it part of the "election process".

If there had been an election for chairman, my plan was that it would be done in a way that both gave voting confidentiallity, as well as 100% voting visibility (email me if you want the gory details!), which I believe would have pleased all votere. If we have a committee election, then I may suggest this method to the RO.


Paul

[Mongoose39uk]

Originally posted by paul.blitz+Nov 3 2005, 10:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (paul.blitz @ Nov 3 2005, 10:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Mongoose39uk@Nov 3 2005, 09:07 PM
no need to stand down, thats not what I feel is needed. Just in future that the election is conducted in a different way.

Tony

There was never an actual ELECTION for chairman...

There WAS a call for nominations, and ok, I agree that is a precursor to the elections, and it part of the "election process".

If there had been an election for chairman, my plan was that it would be done in a way that both gave voting confidentiallity, as well as 100% voting visibility (email me if you want the gory details&#33;), which I believe would have pleased all votere. If we have a committee election, then I may suggest this method to the RO.


Paul [/b][/quote]
Paul,

thanks for the response.

You are quite correct there was no election and as the constitution stands, there was no need for an election.

Cheers

Tony

[Wood Smoke]

Originally posted by Mancunian@Nov 3 2005, 09:34 PM
How about a quarterly News Letter sent to all members just giving basic news and containing a hyperlink to major news items

Dave
Looks like you just volunteered Dave :P

Yours Roy
WoodSmoke

[Brenin Tegeingl]

Originally posted by Wood Smoke+Nov 4 2005, 08:38 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Wood Smoke &#064; Nov 4 2005, 08:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Mancunian@Nov 3 2005, 09:34 PM
How about a quarterly News Letter sent to all members just giving basic news and containing a hyperlink to major news items

Dave
Looks like you just volunteered Dave :P

Yours Roy
WoodSmoke[/b][/quote]
Roy your a brave Man :o having seen the standard of my English (if it can be described as English :P ). But if the committee felt the idea had merit, and decided that they were unable to produce one, I&#39;m stupid enough too :P (as can be seen from the way I jump in with both feet).

For the Chairman and future committee&#39;s perusal, the Camping newsletters are usualy something like this:

Latest news from GAGB
(to unsubscribe please visit hyperlink)

Latest additions to the Landowner Agreement Database

Nominations for Election of GAGB&#39;s Chairman and Committee will start on the 28th September 2006 (date to be confirmed)[permanent reminder ? To avoid any future problems]

Cache Guidelines can be found Here

To update your profile please visit your profile page

GAGB Committee.

Bare bones in simple text with hyperlinks to the actual news, making it suitable for Dial-up and Broadband users.

Dave :rolleyes:

[Bill D (wwh)]

Mancunian wrote:
How about a quarterly News Letter sent to all members just giving basic news and containing a hyperlink to major news items, this is what happens with a camping forum I&#39;m a member of, who send out a occasional news letter, every member has the option of opting out.
Yes, that sounds like a very good idea, Dave. Thanks for the suggestion, and when the new committee is in place we&#39;ll look at implementing it.

[Dorsetgal]

Congratulations Bill&#33; :)

Yes, I heard about the election process and don&#39;t see anything wrong with the way it was conducted. :P

[MCL]

Originally posted by Mancunian@Nov 3 2005, 12:37 AM
Congratulations Bill on becoming GAGB&#39;s second Chairman (though that should read Chairperson or even Leader of the Association :D ) , it was a pleasure seconding you for the position.

Dave
Point of order, Ladies and Gentlemen. My honourable friend has inadvertantly effected a terminological inexactitute....


The first GAGB Chairman was jointly Tim and June, following a forum election in August/September 2003.

The third (if you count T&J as one and two) chairman therefore was Paul Blitz who was elected by the new constitutional process early in 2004.

Therefore, Bill is in fact the fourth (or possibly arguably the third) Chairman of the GAGB.


Let us not forget our history, especially as it is so short&#33;

:)