[comp.os.vms] The CON statement from the ballot

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.