Flyfunston

Edit: To be proposed at the April 2014 meeting. We didn't get to it at the March meeting.

Wording to be removed in (). Wording to be added in [].

Article V Section 2
"To be a voting member and vote at a Club meeting, a pilot must have flown a hang glider on flights that originated at Fort Funston, for a total of (10 hours) [1 hour] in the twelve months preceding the meeting."

Article V Section 4
"By majority vote, the Club members may waive the (10-hour) [1-hour] flying requirement to allow members who have made contributions to flying at Fort Funston to become voting members."

Dave

There are three problems with the proposed changes.

1. Since the limitation on the number of waivers that may be granted has been removed, at a poorly attended club meeting an organized group could waive the 1 hour requirement for an unlimited number of pilots who have never flown at Funston but made unspecified “contributions” and take control of the club. The danger is made even greater because the practice has been to allow any pilot claiming the required hours to vote.

2. The purpose of the 20 hour rule was insure that pilots who regularly fly at Funston ran Funston. With 1 hour, pilots who rarely fly the site and have little interest in it, will have a voice perhaps predominant in running the site. Paragliding seems inevitable. The 20 hour rule is similar to the residency requirements in general elections. To vote in a San Francisco election, you have to live in the City for a certain amount of time; not just visit for a one hour.

3. The original bylaw, 20 hours with 3 waivers, was not properly amended and remains in effect. If pilots who have less than 20 hours are allowed to vote on the proposed changes, the vote could be challenged.

Dan Brown

I think Dan's concerns are well founded.

I don't know about the history of changing from 20 to 10, but if you want to retain local hang gliding control of your local hang gliding club, I think it would be unwise to go below 10.

Also, and for the same reasons, I think it would be unwise to allow an unlimited number of waivers. I would recommend that no waivers be allowed at any meeting - period. But if the club feels that it must confer voting rights to some number of otherwise unqualified members, you might want to at least limit the number of waivers at any meeting to some percentage of the voting attendees ... much less than half. I would recommend no more waivers at any meeting than 10% of the voting members in attendance (actually, I would recommend no waivers, but I've already said that).

I have visited Funston a few times, and while my one vote wouldn't ever have mattered, I thought it would be fun to try to get to the 10 or 20 hour limit in my few days at the Fort (it was a good excuse to not get lazy and to fly as much as I could). I flew a lot, but I still wasn't able to do it, and that was fine with me. I didn't feel slighted at all that I couldn't vote because that's the kind of barrier you need to keep local control of your local club.

Look, I think your club is in a very very precarious position right now. USHPA is trying to eliminate hang gliding only clubs. You can see that clearly in their SOPs. So please be extremely cautious and think these things through before you start changing your bylaws. Dan has clearly given this some thought, and that's what's needed.

Bob

P.S. I have to say that I'm mystified by the desire to drop the limit to 1 hour. Who wants to vote who can't easily accumulate 10 or 20 hours in the course of a year? Surely not a local regular pilot. So who is pushing to make this happen?

Bump for update, updated thread title. We didn't get to this in March, so I'm proposing it at the April meeting.

Guys,
I might share the same concern about the waivers had I not paid better attention to the parenthesis and bracket notations. Only the wording that is in parenthesis would be removed: (10 hours), (10 hour). Nothing else would be removed, the waiver language remains intact. Please see below for the notation in context:

ARTICLE V: MEMBERSHIP
Section 1: Membership is open to anyone paying the annual dues and interested in the sport of hang gliding regardless of race, creed, sex or national origin.
Section 2: There shall be two classes of members: voting, and non-voting. To be a voting member and vote at a Club meeting, a pilot must have flown a hang glider on flights that originated at Fort Funston, for a total of (10 hours) [1-hour] in the twelve months preceding the meeting. All members who are not voting members shall be non-voting members. Voting members may vote on matter of Club business and in Club elections. Non-voting members may not vote on matters of Club business and in Club elections.
Section 3: By majority vote the Executive Committee shall determine whether members are voting or non-voting. In making its determination, the Executive Committee shall consider logs, pilot statements and all other relevant information.
Section 4: By majority vote, the Club members may waive the (10-hour) [1-hour] flying requirement to allow members who have made contributions to flying at Fort Funston to become voting members. The Club may have three voting members who have not fulfilled the flying requirement. These members shall be selected by a majority vote of the Club members. The waivers shall be for the remainder of the calendar year. The Club members may grant waivers only when the total number of waivers is not more than three.
Section 5: No member or Director may vote by proxy. In accordance with California Corporate Code 7610, each member shall be entitled to one vote on each matter submitted to a vote of the members. In accordance with California Corporate Code 7211, each Director shall have one vote on each matter presented to the board of directors for action.