[Cabs] Report From Conference Call
Marty Rahn
marty.rahn at juno.com
Mon Dec 14 20:26:15 UTC 2009
Hi all,
Nimer, Thank you for bringing up these concerns. I did receive the message
which you sent, and would like to address the question which you pose about
the requirements that one must fulfil in order to serve on the board.
According to Article V, of the Constitution of our devision, entitled,
"officers and Their Duties," it states the following:
"Section One: Officers
There shall be elected at the regular annual business meeting a President
Vice President Second Vice President a Secretary and a Treasurer The terms
of their offices shall begin at the close of the annual business meeting at
which they are elected and qualified Officers shall be elected by a majority
vote of all members present and voting There shall be no proxy voting if no
nominee receives a majority vote on the first ballot the name of the person
receiving the least votes will be removed from the list of nominees and a
second ballot recorded This procedure shall continue until one candidate
receives a simple majority of the votes The holders of the offices of
President, Vice President, and Second Vice President must be students who
are blind and planning to attend an educational program in the academic year
following the election All other officers may be blind or sighted students
and must be planning to attend an educational program in the academic year
following the election
Section Two: Duties
The duties of each officer shall be those ordinarily associated with that
office."
I have also atached the Constitution in its Entirety to this message should
anyone else care to take a look at the document that governs our devision.
In short, Abel was fairly elected by the paying membership of this devision
to the position of Secretary, and there is nothing in our Constitution which
allows me to replace him or any other officer who has been elected by those
who have paid their dues. I have read through our Constitution twice now,
and this is one of sevral reasons why I have not yet answered the message
you sent me inquiring about the position of Secretary.
In your reply to one of Melissa's messages, you state that you believe there
needs to be safeguards in place to ensure that everyone elected to the CABS
board meets the requirements set forth in the Constitution. Have you given
any thought to what these safeguards might entail? Should we ask for some
type of varification about a candidates visual impairment and their school
status to be submitted to the board before we proceed with elections?
Should this information be sent idealy a month or so ahead of time so that
elections can take place unimpeeded? The long and short of this uniquely
human problem is that there are numerous people, including myself, who have
responsibilities,priorities, and lives outside of their duties to the
devision. No one person can be everywhere at once, nore is it my
responsibility to personally handhold and babysit everyone to make sure that
everything gets done. We are all adults, and should at least be able to
prioritize our responsibilities on their level of importants. With that
said, we all have different views about the level of importance assigned to
each task in our lives. Just like with committees established by the state
Board of Directors, committees must meet and commence with their tasks at a
time that is mutually benificial for all members. This means that committee
chairs must take responsibility to answer emails or phone calls from
members. While I realize that the information about committee appointments
was apparently not received by everyone, it has now been sent out, and there
should be no question about whom one is to contact in order to serve on a
committee, or to ask a question.
We can not go back and undo what has already been done, but we can move
forward and try to make things better. Ideally, every organization strives
for transparency, and CABS should be no different. However, in order to
achieve this, we must all work together. I can not address problems until I
am made aware of them, so let's keep diologuing in hopes of reaching a
satisfactory level of transparency.
Sincerely,
Marty Rahn,
president, Colorado Association of Blind Students
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nimer Jaber" <nimerjaber1 at gmail.com>
To: "Colorado Association of Blind Students List" <cabs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Cabs] Report From Conference Call
> Hello,
>
> No doubt many would disagree with my opinion, and some may believe that I
> am being too harsh. However, if a secretary can't form notes that are
> spelled correctly, have proper grammar, and takes half of the conference
> call to discuss notes which are still messed up, then I don't put much
> faith in the secretary elected to represent the Colorado Students. Are
> there no requirements other than being a student to fulfill the role of
> secretary, or any position for that matter? I should hope that my
> treasurer can count and keep track of funds, my secretary can take notes
> that, while brief, are understandable, and my president can return emails
> when I send them out. So far, I have emailed a request to the president
> regarding the requirements for board positions. I want to know what is
> required to be a secretary or a treasurer of CABS. Also, if there was any
> effort whatsoever put into the website, this process would be transparent
> and no questions would need to be asked. Now, maybe some will see this
> email as some guy writing an email to ramble about things, however, I wave
> offered to work on the site, I have offered to help out with many other
> things, in fact. Many of these such things keep on getting delayed. For
> example, while I brought issues about the website up two months ago, I was
> told at the last meeting that a meeting of the tech committee wouldn't
> take place until next month. I was also told over a week ago at the last
> conference call that a list of committee members (a full list) would be
> sent out to this list, and unless something is going on with my email, I
> have not received such a list.
>
> My hope with taking up bandwidth in posting this message is to see change,
> and I hope that our leadership will rise up and answer the call with
> transparency. If guidelines are not set, I hope they _will _be set. Abel,
> this message was in no way intended to hurt your feelings, and I am sure
> that there are many other positions that you would be better suited to on
> the CABS board. However, the secretary ought to be able to speak clearly,
> read and write minutes, and post them to a forum such as this list in a
> timely manner hopefully to be determined by CABS. I know we are all busy,
> but this shouldn't be an excuse for a lack of transparency. Also, if
> anyone got their feelings hurt and wishes to discuss it with me, please
> email me privately at nimerjaber1 at gmail.com and I will do my best to
> alleviate your concerns.
>
> Thank you for your time in reading this message, and I look forward to any
> responses.
>
> Nimer J
>
> Nimer M. Jaber
>
> The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to
> which it
> is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any
> review,
> retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in
> reliance
> upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended
> recipient is
> prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender via
> reply e-mail, and delete the
> material from any computer.
>
> Phone:
> (720) (251-4530)
>
>
> Abel Ayalew wrote:
>> December 6, 2009was our first Conference call After the convention. The
>> meeting started at 6.45 P.M. Marty, Mellisa, Maurice, Nimer, Esha, Becky,
>> Arille, and Abel were present at the meeting. Treasury report $430.87
>> balance of available. People are assigned committee. Every one selling
>> candy
>> in there campus. The next Conference Call will be in January 17, 2010 at
>> 7
>> P.M. January 21, 2010 will be a trip to the Colorado school for the blind
>> to
>> talk to the student. The meeting adjourn at 8 P.M.
>>
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