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.