** Bylaw change regarding Family members serving on BOD on November 12 KCBS BOD agenda.

Folks we need to respond once again to this threat to our rights
Email all the BoD members
We can decide for ourselves who sits on the KCBS BoD

You can email all BoD Members at once click
http://www.kcbs.us/about_board.php

Sent...

How many times in one year can the board spend time on the same issue? Why is this such an issue with 2-3 board members?

Did I hear that Troy is not running for re-election? Is this a go out in a blaze of glory effort on his part?

Can a mod split this into two threads? The aspect of the by-law change is worthy of it's own thread and will get ignored under the general heading of the agenda title.

Here is the email that I sent to the BoD members:

Hello,

As a member of the KCBS, a CBJ and an organizer of multiple cook-offs including two state championships; I wanted to let you know what my thoughts were on the proposed changing of the by-laws to restrict potential family members from serving concurrently.

If this passes it will have a significant impact on my decision to renew my membership in the KCBS and to support the efforts of the KCBS in the future. In addition, any board member that votes for this proposal can be assured that they will not be getting my vote.

It is incredibly insulting to think that the membership is not capable of deciding who they can and should vote for. It is sad to see attempts to put restrictions in place on who we can and can not vote for to represent us in the Board of Directors.

Let me be clear about where I am coming from. The only member of the Board of Directors that I know and speak with is Linda Mullane. I don’t think that Jerry Mullane plans on running for the Board, so I have no personal bias in this debate. I have never met, nor spoken with anyone currently running for the Board.

Aside from the inherent supercilious message in such a measure, there are logical problems as well. What about people who qualify as common-law spouses? How about domestic partners? What about amiable divorce couples? In-laws? Business partners?

The entire concept is an insult to the membership and flies in the face of what I have come to expect from the KCBS. BBQ is the most egalitarian of hobbies and an attempt to limit who we, the membership, can choose to represent us is just plain wrong.

I realize that you must be very busy, but I would appreciate your writing back to let me know where you stand on this issue.

Thank you,


Eric Devlin

When I was voted onto the Board in 2005 within the first hour of the first meeting a letter was read questioning the eligibility of one of the board members who had been reelected. After the letter was read I was called upon to argue the point. In this case, the bylaws stated that a board member could not run for reelection after serving two consecutive terms without taking one year off before running for another term.

After a heated debate, I was called upon to make a motion on how to handle the situation. My motion was to remove the board member that had been in reelected based on the current bylaws and that the board would fill the vacancy. Bunny Tuttle nominated Rod Gray and the board approved a motion.

The difference in this case is that they're asking for a new amendment to the bylaws which should take a vote of the membership to approve, and to accomplish what they are trying it would have to be retroactive to cover this current election.

The subject was brought up in the last election by board members and general members, but was tried to implement without changing the bylaws. In this case the membership did speak by voting Carol onto the board. Not only voting her onto the board which she received the largest number of votes of any candidate.

I have no problem with members asking for amendments to the bylaws but I can see a problem if they were to be instituted retroactively. I believe that would be a dangerous president to set for the future.

KC_Bobby said:

Did I hear that Troy is not running for re-election? Is this a go out in a blaze of glory effort on his part?

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IN a way this reminds me of the Missouri Vote on Gambling Boats about 10-15 years ago. They just kept putting it on the ballot until it passed.

At the risk of being dog-piled, I'm going to have to take the opposing viewpoint on this issue.

I agree with Jim that any such change should not be applied retroactively, so that any sitting BoD members should be permitted to serve out their terms. Also, I'm personally very grateful for Merl's efforts to bring more transparency to the administration of our organization, and will be voting for him in the upcoming election.

HOWEVER, when dealing with the politically charged environment of a large membership organization like KCBS, it is crucial that steps be taken to eliminate the potential for inappropriate influence upon the BoD as well as the appearance of the same. I understand that many of you see this issue as a personal attack upon Merl and Carol because you know and trust them to represent you. But imagine that three brothers that you've never heard of were elected by a landslide to the Board. Would you be concerned about the possibility of something fishy going on?

I can't speak for others, but for myself this is an issue about operating our Society in a professional manner in keeping with recognized standards for non-profit organizations. If my mother and daughter were both sitting on the BoD I would still support this initiative.

-Gowan Fenley
Cartersville, GA

CivilWarBBQ said:

At the risk of being dog-piled, I'm going to have to take the opposing viewpoint on this issue.

I agree with Jim that any such change should not be applied retroactively, so that any sitting BoD members should be permitted to serve out their terms. Also, I'm personally very grateful for Merl's efforts to bring more transparency to the administration of our organization, and will be voting for him in the upcoming election.

HOWEVER, when dealing with the politically charged environment of a large membership organization like KCBS, it is crucial that steps be taken to eliminate the potential for inappropriate influence upon the BoD as well as the appearance of the same. I understand that many of you see this issue as a personal attack upon Merl and Carol because you know and trust them to represent you. But imagine that three brothers that you've never heard of were elected by a landslide to the Board. Would you be concerned about the possibility of something fishy going on?

I can't speak for others, but for myself this is an issue about operating our Society in a professional manner in keeping with recognized standards for non-profit organizations. If my mother and daughter were both sitting on the BoD I would still support this initiative.

-Gowan Fenley
Cartersville, GA

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Based on your scenario I would have to question the manner elections were held. But the reality is, it's hard to get voted onto the KCBS board unless you're known nationally. An outside firm is used to count votes and no member of the board knows the outcome until just before it's announced.

If an amendment is to be put in front of the members for their consideration in the next election I see no problem with that at all.

Unless I am wrong the membership would not get to vote on this or any matter as we were cheated out of out votes a few years ago. merl can tell us more about that and the number in the by laws I also remember that the bylaws would be on the KCBS website, are they?

Are the minutes of board meetings avaiable to current members?

Every month in the Bullsheet Bentley, Merl does a great job of detailing the issues and votes

How can anyone send an educated response to something that hasn't been seen, by but a few people?

I'm not doubting that this petition doesn't exist, but, I,for one, am not going to send a letter to the entire board without reading it first.....

Bride of Roo(BQ'n) said:

Every month in the Bullsheet Bentley, Merl does a great job of detailing the issues and votes

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They are the same as the offical minutes, or is that a synopsis?

arlieque said:

Unless I am wrong the membership would not get to vote on this or any matter as we were cheated out of out votes a few years ago. merl can tell us more about that and the number in the by laws I also remember that the bylaws would be on the KCBS website, are they?

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Arlie, you are correct. Any change in the bylaws does not require any vote by the membership. Here is the language from the election/vote where this change was made and approved by a vote of the membership at that time. The red text is what this section used to say and the blue text is the new wording that was approved. It is difficult to read so below the actual wording from the section with the colored text I have inserted what the actual current wording is in the bylaws as they exist now.

Article XVIII.



If anyone wants a copy of the current bylaws you can PM me your email address and I will send them to you as a PDF file. It is the complete document that was voted on and approved in a past election. It has all of the changes shown in color like the section above.