Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild
As specified by the Bylaws of the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild, an election of officers is held each year. Terms of various offices are staggered to enhance continuity. During odd numbered years (2021) the positions of President and Vice President of Programming (VPP) are up for election.
As you saw from President Bowman's recent What's Up column, she does not plan to run for re-election. I have also been informed by Ted Smucker (VPP) that he does not want to be considered for another term. Therefore, we need candidates for both positions. Officers are elected for a term of two years. All members in good standing who have been OVWG members for at least two years and have a willingness to serve are eligible to seek election to these offices.
There are several reasons why you should be concerned about this election and perhaps getting involved. The most important of these is that any successful organization is dependent on quality leadership. It needs leaders who have a vision of what the organization can be and who are willing to work with others to identify ways to achieve this vision. They must be willing to listen to what the membership wants and willing to work with the Board and others to make it happen. This certainly applies to the OVWG. Good leadership is instrumental in setting goals and providing guidance that will result in the accomplished of those goals. As a member of the Board you will be in a position to initiate real changes that will assure continued growth and development thus insuring continued success of the Guild. If you don't like the way things are run now this is your opportunity to make changes. I challenge you to step forward and get involved. Don't wait for someone else to do it.
So that you are fully informed about the election process and about the duties and responsibilities of the offices up for election, I refer you to the OVWG Bylaws as revised in September of 2019. Article XVIII Officers will tell you about the offices and the duties and responsibilities associated with each while Article XXI Nomination Process will inform you about the Nomination Committee and the nomination process. Current members of the Nomination Committee are the following: David Wright (davidwright@fuse.net); Monica Bluestein (mlbluetwo@yahoo.com); Ian Collins (ascoli@fuse.net); and David Morrical (dmorrical@aol.com). In my role as Immediate Past President I serve as Chair of the Nomination Committee. It is my responsibility to provide the President with a list of names of all members who are willing and qualified to serve. The President will then submit these names to the membership for a vote.
The Bylaws state that elections will normally be held in April and that the election is conducted by the Secretary (Donna Hill). Due to the restrictions placed on everyone by the COVID pandemic, she will need to work with the Board to determine how to best conduct the election. She will provide you with this information in the near future. The time line for this process is as follows: March 5 (COB): nominations should be presented to the Committee; March 11: The Committee will present the list of candidates to the President: March 20: suggested date for President to submit slate of candidates to the membership; April 17: suggested date for completion of election. These last two dates are the dates when we would normally be having our monthly meetings for March and April respectively. While they make sense to me the Board may decide to do something different.
If you are interested in one of the open positions please consider expressing your interest to me or to any one of the members of the Nomination Committee. If you have questions they/we can help you to find the answers. You may also want to talk with someone who has been in the position about their experiences and the demands of the job. I have occupied both positions and will be happy to share my thoughts. There are also a number of other people who have held these and other Board positions. I am sure they will be happy to help.
Sincerely,
Jerry Warner
Chair of Nomination Committee
jw.warner455@gmail.com
859-442-0410 |