killeen@spcvxb.spc.edu (Jeff Killeen) (04/24/91)
Con Statement
Fellow Members,
The referendum before you is indeed a complex matter. The
U.S. Chapter Board of Directors has recommended that you vote
in favor of replacing the U.S. Chapter Bylaws. This
statement urges you instead to vote against replacing the
bylaws at this time, and reflects the opinion of a
significant number of the volunteers who provide you with the
familiar DECUS products and services.
Many of the statements made in support of the proposed
changes, as well as many of the proposed changes themselves,
have significant merit. We will not attempt to convince you
otherwise. But these are complicated changes, and they
demand in-depth analysis. Many issues have been raised which
the Board has left unresolved in its haste to put this matter
to a vote of the membership. Some of these issues have the
potential to significantly impact our ability to deliver to
you the quality products and services which you have come to
expect from DECUS.
(Most of the issues in question relate to how product and
service units, such as those that produce the National
Symposia, Seminars, Library, SIG and LUG services, and
others, will interact with each other and with the strategic
leadership of the Chapter.)
Consensus-building is a fundamental principle of the
management of this Chapter. While a majority of the Board of
Directors is in favor of adopting these new bylaws without
further study, this majority has failed to achieve either
consensus of the entire Board, or of the myriad other
committees and business units that carry on the day-to-day
business of the chapter.
We seek to have this consensus. We believe the Board should
address the concerns that each unit and committee has placed
before it regarding these bylaws. We believe that you, our
customers, should not be asked to vote on what many of us see
as a work still in progress. We believe most strongly that
we should not rush such a drastic measure, when the
consequences of taking the time to be deliberative are minor,
and the consequences of rushing are unknown, and may be
significant.
We urge you to vote NO on the ballot measure before you. If
you do, a more carefully measured, more widely understood,
and more mutually agreeable proposal will undoubtedly come
before you in the future.