Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...

BUSINESS
12
REVIEW and STATUS
KWVA Bylaws Committee Project For 2009
Revision of the KWVA Standard Procedure Manual
and KWVA Bylaws
Review
In the last issue of The Graybeards (March - April 2009, Pages 12-
14), I presented a status of the project as of March, and a discussion
of several issues, explained something of the review/revision process
we are into, and asked a few questions of the Membership. My purpose
in doing so was mostly to help us all to better consider the obligations
of the Association, the Chapters, the Departments, and the
Members, each to the other.
Considerable input has arrived via email and “snail mail” (USPS),
mostly email. Although I had not asked for comments on the Project
performance to date, I have received numerous compliments regarding
the great job the committee is doing. I’ve also received assurances
that I am full of you know what, and that I am trying to definitely
destroy the Korean War Veterans Association, Inc. Sobering stuff.
Consequently, you can be assured that I have no illusions as to what
the committee’s obligations are, or how serious a task this is for the
Bylaws Committee.
Status
A considerable amount of recent commentary from the membership
involves opinions regarding two issues I brought up, one involving
the annual payment of Association dues; the other the use of the
adjective ‘National’ instead of the correct proper noun/name,
‘Association.’ While it is perfectly all right to use the term, as in
National KWVA Headquarters, or the like, it is confusing to use it as
a name, and where it occurs in the Bylaws or SPM, I intend to correct
it if I can.
I will discuss the dues issue again a bit later in this article. As for
the other, I will say this: whenever you write or speak the term
‘National’ incorrectly when discussing some aspect of the Korean
War Veterans Association, Inc, I will read or hear the term
‘Association.’ So, when you read or hear me say ‘Association,’
please know that it’s OK with me if it comes out on your side as
‘National.’ That compromise is reasonable, I think, and should work
for all. There is no way I can enforce the correct usage of the English
language; but if you are comfortable with your habit, so am I with
mine, which is to try for correct usage.
Since launching the Project, I have asked many times for input
from the Membership, with few restrictions, and the yield has been
more than I expected. I did not want any voting Member to be able
to say, after this Project was over, and has been accepted by the
KWVA Board of Directors and the Membership, that he or she didn’t
get a chance at the change process.
My instinct from the beginning has been that, for the most part, the
content of the Bylaws, while there are some needed additions in content,
most of the revision effort would revolve around simplification
without loss of content. Duty obliges me to seek improvement.
Clarity of expression should always be welcome. Most of the work is
to clarify and simplify, not expand, and all duplication needs to be
corrected.
Here are some examples of topics, issues and questions of areas
for consideration, sent in by KWVA Members:
• Associate members
• Membership eligibility
• Membership application needs to provide for Korean Service veterans
• Standard chapter membership requirement, for their bylaws
• Ladies auxiliaries? Yes or no? And why?
• Procedure needed for resignations of Association officers
• Need references to GB and KWVA website in Bylaws?
• Fund raising rules
• Election process
• Mass mailing postage for ballots: should we include it?
• Term limits of Association officers
• Ethics & grievance process
• Procedure needed for chapter dissolution/disbandment
• Why does a chapter need a state charter?
• When does a chapter need liability insurance, and why?
• When does a chapter need an EIN number, and why?
Looking back through past versions of the Bylaws, and the minutes
of past Board of Director meetings, you can see there were discussions,
debate and decisions on many of those items, and a lot of
hard work by Bill Mac Swain to get the current ones written and
approved. If you go through all of the emails I’ve received, you
would come to see the sad fact that many of our members have apparently
never completely read the present Bylaws and Procedure
Manual. Worse, some chapters and members actually disregard
and/or defy them, or select for their use only what they wish.
At this point I want to turn a bit specific about completion of the
Project plan, since we are entering the approval stage of the review
and revisions process.
A meeting of the KWVA Board of Directors is scheduled for July
25th in Arlington, Virginia. Two (2) of the many agenda items will be
motions to amend, one for the Bylaws and another for the Standard
Procedure Manual (SPM). The intent is to publish the results in the
July/August issue of The Graybeards, in the form of an insert.
We had originally intended to include a ballot for the membership,
to allow the entire voting Membership an early chance to vote on it.
In the end, we decided against it. I was advised and convinced by our
legal counsel that it was a motion ‘not in order.‘ The advice was
accompanied, though, by a recommendation from counsel that it
would be appropriate and in order to include, in the Bylaws revisions
now under consideration, the ability in the future for the Board of
Directors to approve amendments at meetings other than the Annual
meeting and submit the results and a ballot to the Membership.
As it stands now, the Board of Directors will vote on the amendments
to the current Bylaws at the July meeting. The results of that
meeting will be posted on http://www.kwva.org and published in the
July/August issue of The Graybeards. It will then be presented to the
Membership at the 2009 October Annual Meeting in Dallas-Fort
May – June 2009
The Graybeards