Members Quarterly 2-20-2007
(the following text is taken from the P&C Quarterly Meeting announcement that I received yesterday)
Garden Dedication Motion:
At our last membership meeting, Ed Wentz recommended that we give an honorary membership to Jane Ellen Murray for her generous support of the Palette & Chisel. After careful consideration, we've decided to take it a step further. Through her many financial contributions, Jane Ellen has been instrumental in enabling us to repair and paint the Grand Stairwell and Dining Room. She financed the refurbishing of the kitchen and the installation of our Victorian gardens. Jane Ellen and Ed have donated all the proceeds from their last few exhibitions to the P&C. They are great ambassadors as well, whether it's giving tours of the building, devising advertising campaigns or encouraging their friends to join and/or donate to the Palette & Chisel. As the courtyard garden is her favorite spot to relax on the grounds, we thought it would be a great place to dedicate in honor of her many contributions to the Palette & Chisel.
Whereas Jane Ellen Murray has donated vast amounts of her time and money to the promotion and improvement of the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, we , hereby move to name the courtyard garden in her honor. It will be known heretofore as The Jane Ellen Murray Garden.
Honorary Membership Motion:
Ed also recommended Sharon Williams for an honorary membership at the last quarterly meeting. Sharon, an interior designer, graciously donated her services to the P&C during our stairwell renovation. She picked and coordinated the color scheme throughout the building and solved the paint color problem we had in the gallery by suggesting the beautiful, period wall paper we have now. Sharon has also donated her time and materials to decorating the P&C for numerous holidays including the lavish mantel pieces we have every year. Her time and efforts have saved us countless amounts of money. In addition, Sharon has agreed to market the Palette & Chisel to her fellow designers as a place to buy art for their clients. The motion is to grant Sharon Williams an honorary membership for her years of volunteer service to the Palette & Chisel.
Veterans' Motion:
To continue its tradition of support for American veterans, the P&C will donate a one-year membership to American service people who have served overseas over the past two years. This will be limited. The amount will be determined by the Board of Directors.
posted by chris miller at 11:06 AM
2 Comments:
The main problem I have with two of these motions is that they are brand new -- and there's not really an opportunity to discuss them before people vote with their proxies.
The Garden motion is completely new to me -- and it does seem that if we're going to start naming parts of the property -- we should begin by naming the main building "Fred Larson Hall"
The "Veteran's Motion" was mine -- and it was originally presented to the board before the December meeting. The board chose to table it both in December and in January -- so when asked, I agreed it was a good idea to put it directly before the membership. But now I wish there had been more opportunity for everyone to consider it before voting.
The motion to make Sharon Williams an honorary member was presented at the last quarterly (and would have been approved at that time had I not mentioned that it was contrary to the bylaws to use proxies to vote on new motions at the quarterly)
So -- while I agree that it is now time to vote on this issue -- I still fail to see how Sharon Williams has done anything exceptional (i.e. I could name about 15 people over the past 10 years who have done more -- much more.)
Overall --- our system of voting on specific issues is still a very new one -- and I don't think it's working yet -- because members are not being given the variety of opinion/information necessary to make a an informed decision.
I realized that the issues in this quarterly are not earth-shattering.
But I think we should fix our voting system before -- not after -- a really important issue is set before us.
Our executive director has reported the results of the balloting was as follows:
"There were 27 yes votes, 1 no vote and three abstentions/late for meeting for all three."
What concerns me, here, is that, according to the bylaws, we need 20% of the artist members to have a quorum -- which calculates out to 28 -- which is exactly the number of votes counted (I don't think abstentions/late for meeting should be counted).
So I have asked the office if I might examine the ballots -- and have been denied on the grounds that ballots are "confidential"
But I don't see why confidentiality is required --- since these are only proxies for an open meeting where votes are also taken by show of hands -- and where Roberts Rules allows those interested to "call for a count" -- where each voter stands up and delivers their vote -- just like in Congress.
Unless every single decision has been unanimous, the board members have been keeping their votes confidential as well -- and I don't like any of it.
It's teaching members not to be political (which also means not involved -- which also means not to volunteer for anything) -- and they've learned the lesson so well -- even with proxies -- we're just barely making quorum at the meetings.
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