June BoG meeting

[NCRblues]

Now you will give me this line " if you have ideas send them up your chain of command", and lets be honest with each other here shall we? That wont get those ideas anywhere important.

I have to say it worked for me.  So it does work....maybe not well but it does.

I realize were not the military, i served on AD, open and frank discussion dose not work well with national defense and homeland security, but CAP cant post the BOG meeting agenda beforehand? give me a break 

*i feel my secret squirrel ring pulsing with energy*

I agree that the BOG, NEC and NB should post their agenda and their minutes in a timely manner.....just to foster open communications.....but that they don't does not necessarily mean that they are trying to be secret squirls....or trying something unethical.....it just means they don't post their agendas.

Heck...I am having a staff meeting with my cadet staff this Saturday and I have not posted an agenda.  Does that make me secret squir?  No...it just means I am too busy and/or lazy to get one out.

Same with the wing staff meetings I have attended.  Posting early helps...but let's keep things in perspective.

If  our "leadership" is overly "busy and/or lazy" to post the agenda of the meeting that affects every single one of us, then it is time for them to step away.

By allowing the "leadership" to have this idea of "oh its ok to not post it, the membership doesn't get upset" it invites the opportunity (its not like they don't have enough ability to do so already)  to try to slip in something unethical, or unwarranted.

Their is no reason that a simple agenda should not be posted, oh lets say, one week before the meeting for the general membership.

What are we paying the people at national for if they cant do this?

It is time to fix the governance model for cap, but let us do it in the open. Let us not be afraid of debate or of change (because sometimes it is a needed thing, like now). Ned, give us some answers..... Where are we going and what are you doing about taking us their??

[Earhart1971]

The Agenda would be interesting to look at maybe, but the bottom line, we can see where we are at by examining our yearly funding from Congress.

We have to fight for status quo every year on the budget, we are FLAT, we are FLAT with a little growth in the Cadet Program, but I think the underlying problem is, we dont have great vision for programs that could get us more money and funding.

Case in point the School Program.  If we open up in a Middle School anywhere in the country, we can have 100 Cadets immediately. That is dramatic. The school program has languished and churned, because CAP has never asked for funds for it. Guess what, other programs get money, that are startups, we are here, we can execute now!
We go to Congress every year with Cadets and Seniors, what happens with that?

[Ned]

OK, here is the agenda, and my rough unofficial notes of what we did.

We convened with me and Generals Hopper (chair), Kehoe, Seigel, Courter, Anderson, & Chitwood.  We had a legal quorum to conduct business.  Mr. Rowland was present as the Secretary.  Also in attendance were various national volunteer staff including Cols Vest (NFO) and Starr (IG).  Corporate Team members included John Salvador and Susan Easter.  CAP-USAF representatives included Col Ward.

1.  We elected a new member of the Audit Committee - that was me.

2.  We approved the minutes of the last meeting.

3.  We elected a new vice chair - Brig Gen Anderson

4.  We received a briefing on the FY11 corporate budget and approved it.  We also received a report directly from our external auditors (a CPA firm) who generally had very good news - we received an unqualified opinion that we are in good shape, with a few minor problems noted and corrections briefed back by National FM staff.  We adopted a new set of guidelines for our investment manager.

5.  We received briefings from Gen Courter and Mr. Rowland on Safety, Membership, Logistics, ORMS, investments, and current missions.

6.  More briefings on various strategic initiatives including narrowband transition, glider program centers of excellence, association management software.  We passed a Diversity Resolution unanimously.

7.  Yet more briefings on financial matters including consolidated aircraft maintenance, Vanguard, line of credit usage.

8.  Briefings on CAP related organizations like the CAP Foundation, Historical Foundation, and the IACEA Planning Conference.

9.  NHQ building renovation brief.

10.  Surrogate Predator brief.

11.  CAP-USAF manning brief.

12.  We had one or more executive sessions where we received some briefings directly from our IG and legal staff.  Typically corporations discuss things in executive session like status of any outstanding litigation, confidential personnel issues, and any proposals for changes in governance.  Without disclosing any confidential information, I did not see any significant issues, indeed it was generally good news all around.  We have some homework to do as we look at potential governance issues.

13.  And we picked the location for our next meeting in December -- Maxwell.

And that was it.  No drama, no surprises.  No secret deals in smoke filled rooms.  No angst.

I was impressed with the knowledge, wisdom, and genuine good relationship with the SECAF appointees - Gens Hopper, Kehoe, & Seigel.  They honestly care about us and are honest brokers.

Again, I can only agree that we should post the agenda a resonable time before the meeting and the minutes within a reasonable time afterwards.  Let me see what I can do about that.

Questions?

[Chappie]

Ned....thanks for the update on the BOG meeting.

[lordmonar]

We have a paid NHQ staff paid for with tax dollars and members dues. They are not allowed to be lazy. There is no excuse in the 21st century that minutes and agendas can not be posted with in days of a meeting. NHQ expects us to have all of our reports in on time yet they can't do their jobs in a timely manner? Inexcusable.

That assumes that they are REQUIRED to post agendas and minutes.....I may be wrong but I can't think of any CAP Constitution and Bylaws that requires the BoG to post an agenda?  If you know of one....please enlighten.

[bosshawk]

Ned: many thanks for the quick rundown on the meeting.  It probably represents a thousand percent improvement over what we have had in the past: it seems to me that we usually get minutes from National level meetings some MONTHS after the event.  Now, if the NEC and the NB can figure out how to get the minutes posted in a reasonable time frame.

Having Andersen as the Vice-Chair is good news.

[davidsinn]

We have a paid NHQ staff paid for with tax dollars and members dues. They are not allowed to be lazy. There is no excuse in the 21st century that minutes and agendas can not be posted with in days of a meeting. NHQ expects us to have all of our reports in on time yet they can't do their jobs in a timely manner? Inexcusable.

That assumes that they are REQUIRED to post agendas and minutes.....I may be wrong but I can't think of any CAP Constitution and Bylaws that requires the BoG to post an agenda?  If you know of one....please enlighten.

I don't know of one. My concern is mainly with the NB/NEC and they need their butts kicked by the BOG to do their jobs in a timely manner.

[RADIOMAN015]

Ned....thanks for the update on the BOG meeting.

Of course the "devil is in the details" of what this very good, timely, summary provided.  Since BOG is a policy/strategic oversight of CAP, it should prove interesting especially the "Diversity Resolution".

Ned thank you for the information :clap:
RM

[RiverAux]

Why is it that BoG meetings are livestreamed?  Obviously we have the technology to do it and since the BoG is the highest governing board in CAP I'd say it is at least as important to let the members view its activities (other than those legitimately done in executive session) as it is the lower-ranking bodies.   Is it just an oversight or has a decision been made not to livestream them? 

Same question for agendas.  They are made public for the other bodies, though often not in a timely manner. 

[SarDragon]

Why is it that BoG meetings are livestreamed?

Perhaps you meant "aren't"?

[Ned]

Why is it that BoG meetings are[n't] livestreamed?  Obviously we have the technology to do it and since the BoG is the highest governing board in CAP I'd say it is at least as important to let the members view its activities (other than those legitimately done in executive session) as it is the lower-ranking bodies.   Is it just an oversight or has a decision been made not to livestream them? 

Same question for agendas.  They are made public for the other bodies, though often not in a timely manner.

I can't speak for the BoG on this issue. (I'm just one vote out of eleven, after all.)  But my impression so far is that the BoG meetings tend to be more agile than NB meetings and also have a smaller footprint than the NEC. 

I agree that we have the technology to stream the BoG, but it is not free.  It would take several paid NHQ staffers, a couple of large cases worth of equipment, and a rather expensive internet connection which must be purchased at hotel/convention prices.  Add in airfare, lodging, and per diem for the crew and freight for the equipment and we are probably talking about 4-5 thousand of your dues dollars for the webcast.

I'm not sure it would be worth it.  Reasonable minds could differ on this, of course.  Why do you think it would be helpful?

On a more intangible note, I'm not sure it is worth webcasting the NEC & NB meetings, either.  I have some experience at work when cameras are brought into court.  It is always troubling to me when we weigh and balance the competing interests.  I once allowed a Discovery Channel crew to videotape an entire "three strikes" trial (which still runs from time to time at 0300 I'm told), and I was struck by this simple observation:

People act differently when they are "on camera" than when they are not.

That may or may not be a good thing, but I am convinced it is true.

And I am not yet convinced that the changed behavior is necessarily a good thing.

Now, I'm with you on the agendas and minutes and strongly support the making them available as soon as possible.  And any member who wants to attend public portions of the meetings are able to do so; hundreds of members take advantage of this every year.

How would you identify and weigh the pros and cons of streaming the BoG meetings?

[Eclipse]

I think an audio stream or podcast would make a lot more sense and would obviously be a lot less expensive (podcasts could probably be "free" if handled properly.

There's a perception that being able to watch from the corners makes these meetings more "transparent", which I suppose is true, but
still irrelevant.

I know I personally would be much more interested in timely / clear information on the agenda and the decisions than sitting on a flaky video
stream straining to hear what the votes were.

Anyone with an smartphone could twitter or real-time blog from the floor (ala WWDC keynotes, etc.) and probably get a lot more attention and it would cost exactly zero.

[RiverAux]

There may also be other alternatives to the type of livestreaming that CAP has been doing that may bewould be cheaper.  For example, something like gotomeeting.com could be used which combines an audiostream with whatever is being shown on someone's computer would work great for the briefings portion. 

Why is it valuable?  Well, I see no downside to making it possible for all CAP members to see what our leaders are doing and what points come up in discussions.  We all know that oftentimes the real business is conducted outside of the formal sessions, but what can be made public, should be made public.