[Businessmtg] The Motion under discussion
Lynne
lynne at asp-afg.org
Tue Mar 21 20:26:04 PDT 2023
Hi everyone,
I would like to remind everyone of the motion that is under discussion.
This is the current wording of the motion:
"I make a motion to accept the proposal as stated :
* That the Steering Committee (SC) is authorized to solicit volunteers
for service on the SC,
* That the SC is responsible for interviewing and vetting said
volunteers as it sees fit,
* That the SC may recommend candidates to the BM by unanimous vote of
the SC,
* That candidates recommended by the SC may not meet ASP requirements
for prior membership or service,
* That all other requirements and procedures involving the election of
officers by the members in the Business Meeting apply."
This is not a temporary motion. The BM would be giving the SC this
ability and if at a future date, the BM decided that it was not working
as intended, then this could be rescinded or revised by the BM at that
time.
Right now, the SC is asking for this authorization from the BM because
we desperately need volunteers to step up and provide service to ASP.
But there is not a clause that says the SC can only use this
authorization when there are no qualified candidates for a position.
However, as a current member of the SC, I can say that it is very
unlikely that the SC would use this authorization if there are already
qualified candidates stepping up to volunteer. Why? Because soliciting
and vetting candidates is a lot of work! Work that I would not want to
do if it wasn't necessary, like it is now. However, I also think at a
certain point you have to trust your elected trusted servants of the
Steering Committee to use this authorization judiciously and in the best
interests of ASP.
I went back to the business meeting archives this evening and looked at
all of the elections since March 2018, so for the last FIVE years. Not
once in those five years were two candidates up for the same position at
the same time. Also during that time, there was always at least one SC
position vacant. I understand the value of the discussion that we are
having and it is very useful to flesh out all of the details of how the
SC could use this new authorization. However, there has been a lot of
discussion of what happens if there are two candidates that apply for
one position presented at one business meeting. And the recent history
of ASP is that that is an exceedingly rare occurrence.
As to the use of the word recommend, that is the word used repeatedly in
the motion. The SC will recommend a candidate to the BM that may not
meet the ASP requirements for prior membership or service. I understand
that word can be taken a couple different ways, but the way it is meant
is that the SC will recommend (i.e. suggest or inform) to the BM that
they consider that candidate even though they don't have the
prerequisite service because the SC has vetted them unanimously. It is
not meant that the SC would recommend (or prefer) one candidate over
another if there are two candidates presented to the BM at the same
time.
Hugs,
Lynne
On 2023-03-21 17:17, Jerry wrote:
> Could someone please explain to me why the SC would recommend a
> candidate with LESS than the required ASP prior service to the BM, but
> NOT recommend a candidate who DOES meet our required prior service as
> today's email from Steve makes clear?
>
> A Steering Committee recommendation for one and not the other would
> assure the election of the person who does not meet ASP's prior service
> requirement. The fix would be in (or baked in.)
>
> It seems to me that if members with prior ASP service requirements do
> stand for a SC position that would/should negate the need for any
> SC-recommended unqualified candidate. I believe this could all be
> cleared up with language in the motion like, "Only when there are no
> qualified candidates for an open SC position is the SC authorized to
> bring forward candidates without the required ASP prior service."
>
> This is certainly a time when we have no qualified candidates standing
> so such an understanding would immediately apply.
>
> Because Steve's email of today only just now brought clarity to this
> 'recommendation/without recommendation' aspect into the light there has
> been no opportunity for a fully informed discussion of it. Proceeding
> immediately to a vote before the BM can consider this newly received
> info would be improper in that our Knowledge Based Decision Making
> process requires that BM members be fully informed in order to fully
> discuss matters.
>
> In service,
> Jerry
> -
>
> On March 21, 2023, at 3:03 PM, Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Beverly,
> Yes. It's built into the cake. If the SC presents a resume to the BM
> and recommends the BM consider the candidate, that would be because
> their prior membership/service in ASP does not meet the standard ASP
> requirements.
> OTOH, if the SC presents a resume to the BM for a candidate without
> comment or recommendation, then the candidate meets THOSE standard
> requirements, however the SC would not have vetted that member, and
> would not take a position regarding the rest of the resume.
> In either case, the Business Meeting will have the candidates resume to
> review, which will disclose whether they meet those requirements or
> not.
> Lastly, if a member volunteers to the SC, but does not meet the
> requirements, and the SC decides not to recommend that member, then
> nothing will happen. The SC will not forward a resume to the BM for a
> member and NOT recommend that member.
> Love and SERENITY,
> Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Businessmtg On Behalf Of Sandie Parkker
> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 10:30 AM
> To: steve at serenitysys.com
> Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
> Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] Alternate path to Steering Committee service
> - Query
>
> Hi Biz Pals and SC.
>
> Will the BM be made aware of which candidate has the requirements and
> which don't? How will this process work?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Hugs,
> Beverly
>
> On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 12:11 AM Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jerry,
>>
>> Let me see if I understand your concerns accurately. You are
>> concerned that the Steering Committee will receive multiple resumes
>> and will either:
>> 1. cherry-pick just one them in order to present just one to the
>> Business Meeting for review and possible election, or 2. present them
>> to the Business Meeting in rank order, saying that Candidate A is
>> better than Candidate B.
>>
>> I'd like to think that Al-Anon principles would come into play here.
>> If so, then it's clear to me that the SC's authority is merely to
>> decide whether the SC will recommend that a candidate be considered
>> for election to the SC even though that candidate does not have the
>> requisite time in ASP/service to ASP. In other words, if the SC
>> decides that a candidate merits consideration by the BM for SC office
>> without the requisite time, then the process moves forward for that
>> candidate.
>>
>> This is a YES/NO process for the SC. There is nothing here that
>> allows the SC to rank candidates, or in any way recommend any
>> individual over another. That's not to say that some or even all
>> members of the SC won't have opinions on the relative qualifications
>> of different candidates; it's simply that the BM would allow the SC to
>> recommend individual(s) for consideration by the BM that the BM would
>> not otherwise have an opportunity to consider.
>>
>> What if multiple candidates respond? Well, then it follows that the
>> SC consider multiple candidates and recommend that the BM consider
>> those that the SC determines have sufficient merit. That could mean a
>> contested election for a single office, or it could mean multiple
>> officers elected simultaneously.
>>
>> If the SC determines that this process has problems and needs
>> tweaking, overhaul or even abandoning, then I'm certain that members
>> of the SC will be the first to know and the first to return to the
>> Business Meeting to revisit this issue.
>>
>> Hugs,
>> Steve
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Businessmtg On Behalf Of Jerry
>> Sent: Monday, March 20, 2023 8:12 AM
>> To: steve at serenitysys.com
>> Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] Alternate path to Steering Committee
>> service - Query
>>
>> All,
>>
>> Perhaps I've missed something. The core of my worry about this motion
>> as presented is an appearance that the SC could be seen as
>> recommending one candidate over another once given the authority to
>> sort through those they select, or those who step forward.
>>
>> If all candidates' resumes were presented to the BM at the same time,
>> whether fully qualified or short by some measure (as long as prior
>> service if any has been entered), not identified as to whether
>> solicited by the SC or submitted by volunteers, and without any hint
>> of recommendation, the BM members would be able to become informed and
>> determine who it chooses as its trusted servants by a group conscience
>> vote.
>>
>> Assured of such equity in the treatment of all candidates I would have
>> no objections. (I might even owe apologies to the SC if this was their
>> intent in the first place.)
>>
>> Jerry
>>
>>
>> --
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>> ____________________________
>> To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
>> The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is
>> http://asp-afg.org/members/ For assistance with other ASP issues,
>> contact Steve the Founder of ASP, at steve at serenitysys.com
>>
> ____________________________
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> http://asp-afg.org/members/ For assistance with other ASP issues,
> contact Steve the Founder of ASP, at steve at serenitysys.com
>
>
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>
> ____________________________
> To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
> The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is
> http://asp-afg.org/members/
> For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Steve the Founder of ASP,
> at steve at serenitysys.com
> ____________________________
> To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
> The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is
> http://asp-afg.org/members/
> For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Steve the Founder of ASP,
> at steve at serenitysys.com
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