Flyfunston

Below is a link to a PDF file with the results from the recent Fellow Feathers Survey.

http://aricraft.com/fellowfeathers/ff%2 ... esults.pdf

Of 102 potential voting members, 84 surverys were emailed, 3 bounced from bad email adresses.
There were 28 responses, 1/3 of the total
I've been asking everyone I know if they've received the survey, and discovered several people who should be listed as voting members were not listed as such.
I've edited the Excel version of the database to correct this.

I won't go into the details here, the first issue is on-line voting.

On-line voting: 21 yes, 8 no

There were slight differences in the votes for the different versions, for example for elections, the results were:
Elections: 22 yes, 6 no

There are issues with implementing on-line voting. I've had a lot of excellent feedback from discussions with pilots on this.
What is important to me is enabling ALL the regular pilots who fly at Funston whether they come to meetings or not to have a say in the club.
The club rules say a voting member is a pilot with at least 20 hours per year flying time at the Fort.
I will bring a list of all the currently listed voting members to the club meeting. I would like to go over that list and update it to who should/ should not be listed as voting members.

This issue will require quite a bit of discussion, and the results will also guide how we operate on a number of other issues.
Our bylaws say to change the bylaws we must have a 2/3 majority for two consecutive meetings.
By the end of the July meeting I would like to come up with a consensus plan for implementing on-line voting, and hold a vote.
So if you want to have on-line voting, YOU MUST ATTEND THE NEXT TWO CLUB MEETINGS AND VOTE.

As the person primarily responsible for the bylaws and the 20 hour voting rule, I want to make certain there are no misunderstandings about the procedural requirements required for bylaw amendments.

Club officers, the Executive Committee, determine voting eligibility. Article V, Sec 2 states: “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. By majority vote the Executive Committee may waive the 20-hour flying requirement to allow members who have made contributions to flying at Fort Funston to become voting members. The Executive Committee shall not waive the flying requirement for more than 3 members at any one time.”

The Westlake and Tandem “directors” are not club officers and not entitled to vote.

Since bylaws (the flying rules are not bylaws requiring special votes) are the basic rules of the Club, the Club’s constitution, they are not easily amended. Proposed changes require full notice to members. At least 10 days before a meeting at which a vote is held on bylaws changes, the proposed bylaws, not summaries, must be posted on the Club’s website and e-mailed to members who provided the Club with addresses. Sec. XII states:
“Section 1: These bylaws may be amended by an affirmative vote of two thirds (2/3) of the members present at two consecutive meetings. Proposed amendments to the bylaws shall be posted in their entirety on the Fellow Feathers website at least ten days prior to the meetings.
Section 2: At least ten days before the meetings, the proposed amendments shall be e-mailed to those members who have provided the Club with their e-mail addresses.
Section 3: Any such amendments must be consistent with the provisions of the
Club’s permit agreements and any other requirements, regulations or
agreements with state and local governments, other relevant authorities and
affiliated organizations.”

Since no proposed bylaw amendments were posted 10 days prior to the July meeting, no vote may be held.

Dan Brown

Thanks for the reminder, Dan. One small adjustment, for the record books: we have long since removed the Westlake Director position and replaced it with the Technology Director position. The TD still doesn't get a vote on membership eligibility.

Daniel

The July meeting topic is on-line voting, and as I expect there to be a lot of discussion over this, the goal is to come up with a consensus of what items of our bylaws we wish to change to allow on-line voting, and to vote on those items by the end of the meeting.
This is not a binding vote, but a set of guides to decide what items we wish to allow on-line voting for. As there are a lot of areas where voting can happen, some of which were not even mentioned in the on-line survey, I want to discuss each of these areas and decide whether we want to have on-line voting and in what form for each. Then over the next 20 days (or longer if we need it) we can draft the proposed rule changes, and post them for the following club meeting.

Following is a list of the various areas in our By-Laws where we do voting. I've listed one possible option for each, but I want to discuss each one and look at various options, then get club input as to how to or if to change.

Determining who is voting member
Current:
Majority vote of Executive Committee
Option:
AT least one other pilot vouches for time requirement.

Election of Officers:
Current:
Majority vote at meeting
Option:
Majority vote via on-line

Discipline:
Current:
Any Executive officer can suspend 7 days
Longer suspensions require due process hearing & majority vote of Exec Committee
Option:
Longer suspensions require majority vote of voting members - voting on-line with information on incident available to voting members.

By-Laws:
Current:
Voting based on members at meetings
Option:
Same process, but voting is from on-line voting members

Votes at club meetings on other issues
Current:
voting based on members at meetings
Option:
Post item to allow on-line voting

Then there this the method for implementing voting. There are some voting club members who do not have email addresses.
One option is to help them create a free email address (with their approval), then at club meetings when there is voting, give them access to a computer or smartphone
to use the email and vote.


I'm in no hurry to see changes. As concerned pilots we should take our time & think through what changes we want for our organization.
I've had a lot of great feedback from members on this topic. Please feel free to comment or contact me directly by email or in person.
As President I feel I am merely a public servant, charged with protecting the rights of the pilots who fly Funston and helping keep Funston the amazing experience it is. I've been flying Funston for over 30 years now, and in that time the world around us has changed, and the tools for communication have changed. It bothers me that on matters such as suspensions the power is in the hands of so few. Not only is it unbalanced, but it puts undue pressure on Exec member pilots who don't want or need that pressure. When it comes to safety, it is a process that we all should take part in. It shouldn't fall onto one person as safety director to have to play traffic cop. It should be the responsibility of all of us.
The same should hold true for other matters in the club - all pilots who regularly fly Funston should have the opportunity to guide it.

We're ordering extra pizzas for the meeting - see you there!

Voting is a very very important issue. I've seen examples of how badly on-line voting can go. So I think it's wise to move very slowly and cautiously on this!!!

Also, be sure to really think through all of the worse case scenarios. Sooner or later they're all likely to happen!!

I look forward to meeting you all at the meeting.

P.S. My initial suggestion regarding on-line voting would be to implement it as an advisory procedure. I think you might be able to do that without any bylaws changes and then you can see how often the "advisory vote" differs from the actual meeting vote. That may tell you whether there's really much to be gained by going to a fully on-line system, and it will also help to "shake out the bugs" of the system before it becomes "the law".

Please remember that you can very easily lose control of your club if you do this wrong. There are forces out there that would love to take over Funston for non-hang-gliding purposes. So this is not just an academic exercise. BE CAREFUL!!!