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Message to all Members of Langley Aero Club
I would like to provide some clarification and dispel any rumors that may be generating. I stepped up to be on the board as the President told me he needed some assistance. I was reluctant as I already hold other positions on boards with other volunteer organizations. I was voted in by the membership last AGM. This is where things already started going sideways, it was somehow decided that we would have 2 VPs for the club. This is not possible under the Society’s Act of BC, I asked the other candidate if he wanted to be VP and I would be a director and manage the web site, he agreed. I noticed a number of procedural errors happening with running the club; this I will outline below. The biggest problem is nobody from the club was willing to step to the role of secretary, this role is pivotal to maintaining communication and keeping minutes of meetings.
The Langley Aero Club is a registered non-profit society with BC. All the directors are registered and can be looked up by anyone. The Society Act requires registered clubs to follow certain rules and regulations, if they don’t they are in breach of the society act and there can be consequences including dissolving of the club by the government.
What are the requirements for a non-profit organisation?
1) The club should have bylaw; bylaws allow the elected directors to make decisions on behalf of the club following specific parameters. These bylaws are to be voted in by the membership when the club is formed. They must be available to the club members on request.
2) During general meetings and director meetings, attendance must be made. This is normally done with a sign-in sheet at general meetings. The purpose of this is that when there are votes on matters of club business only members in good standing can actually vote, this would be defined in the bylaws. Example, you have to attend 4 meeting a year to vote at the AGM. This sign-in record must be kept by the secretary. There also must be a quorum for votes at general meetings and normally notice should be sent out advising members there is a vote and what it is for so they have advance notice.
3) Director meetings – During director meetings there must be a quorum (min number of directors present) to make decisions. This prevents only 2 directors to make decisions on their own. The chair of the meeting normally the president does not have a vote. The only time the chair can vote is in the event of a tie. Directors are fiscally responsible to the club and the amount they can spend without membership approval is written in the bylaws.
Roberts Rules of Order – All levels of government from Federal to Municipal follow Roberts Rules of Order when conducing decision making. Organizations registered under the society act are also required to follow these rules. Most clubs don’t follow them as strict as the government but they do follow the process to ensure that things are done properly. There is a very large book detailing the rules but the simplified version to understand how it works can be found from many Youtube videos available.
So what happened in the club that has caused this post?
I became very clear that none of the directors had any clue what being a director of a society entailed, what the Roberts Rules of Order (RRO) are, and how they function. What responsibilities directors hold, and are accountable for.
1) During General Meeting’s no attendance is taken. No tracking of members in good standing.
2) During Board meetings RRO voting procedures are not followed. Decisions are not following a proper procedure.
3) Minutes are not taken at general meetings or board meetings. No evidence of meetings, what is discussed and what is decided .
4) There is no club bylaws available. This means no rules to govern the operation of the club.
5) Directors are not given information before club members. It is essential that directors know what is happening before club members for the board to be able to function.
So why am I sharing all of this? Well because the board has chosen to ignore me. I sent out a couple text messages to our group chat 3 months ago relating to what errors we are making in governance and was ignored. I followed up with an email to the directors – ignored. This is completely unequivocally unacceptable behavior. I thought I was dealing with functioning adult. I have now completely been taken out of all communications with the board. I have not been notified of board meetings, events, or any decisions made.
Further to this at a recent general meeting there was a vote to donate $5k to the Air Fair, that should never have happened, as in the previous board meeting it was voted in by the directors to donate $500, I was the one to seconded it. You can’t take a vote in a board decision and suddenly without notice and being approved by the directors have a vote by the general membership and change that decision. That completely breaks the rules of the society act and how things are governed.
I have chosen not to resign as there are only a few months left but I won’t be returning. I regret stepping up to be on the board due to the disrespectful conduct by the board. The most despairingly part is people will probably say hi to me in person if they see me like nothing happened. Well something did happen, and I won't forget. - Webmaster
Langley Regional Air Fair
Sept 13 is approaching fast and we’re making preparations. We need Volunteers to make this a success
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Langley Aero Club
2A 5333 216 Street, Langley, British Columbia V2Y 2N3, Canada
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