Future Rule Changes AMHA/AMHR

[McBunz]

No. 1 How do I propose a rule change with either club.?

No. 2 A pole: Who would be in favor the clubs sending out a ballot with proposed changes to all members along with their renewal of membership each yr. This way we would all have a voice in what comes down.

 

[McBunz]

No. 1 How do I propose a rule change with either club.?

No. 2 A pole: Who would be in favor the clubs sending out a ballot with proposed changes to all members along with their renewal of membership each yr. This way we would all have a voice in what comes down.

I live in central Alberta... When I needed a director, the closest was central B.C. And this fellow would not

even answer my e-mails.. Now unless something has changed the closest director is in Washington State.

 

[Kim]

No. 1 How do I propose a rule change with either club.?

No. 2 A pole: Who would be in favor the clubs sending out a ballot with proposed changes to all members along with their renewal of membership each yr. This way we would all have a voice in what comes down.

I live in central Alberta... When I needed a director, the closest was central B.C. And this fellow would not

even answer my e-mails.. Now unless something has changed the closest director is in Washington State.

Hello,

I too, live in Alberta - not sure we've met yet, though. I just wanted to let you know that in Region 10 we now, for the first time in many years, have a Director. His name is Gerry Breckon and he lives on Vancouver Island. He is very enthusiastic and is eager to represent all of our Region's members. He's always readily available by phone or email. Let me know if you want his contact info!

 

[Boinky]

i noticed that there are 5 on the vote that said no they were not in favor. If no..what is your resoning for no?

 

[McBunz]

By all means... yes please e-mail me this info..

 

[Karen S]

Hi McBunz,

If for AMHR you want to do a rule change, you can go to the ASPC/AMHR webiste, click on forms on your left and then scroll down and print you a rule change/proposal. All 2008 Proposals must be received by their respective chairs by July 1st, 2008 in order to be considered for convention.

Hope this helps.

Karen

 

[Katiean]

I think if you are a member you should have a voice. I do not think that a persons vote should be left to a Director. To me it is kind of the same as Delegates able to decide who gets the nomination for president. Even though you voice your opinion to them they still vote the way THEY want to. They only way for use to really have a say is if we are ALL allowed to vote weather we attend the meeting or not.

 

[Meadowind]

I think if you are a member you should have a voice. I do not think that a persons vote should be left to a Director. To me it is kind of the same as Delegates able to decide who gets the nomination for president. Even though you voice your opinion to them they still vote the way THEY want to. They only way for use to really have a say is if we are ALL allowed to vote weather we attend the meeting or not.

Agreed

Most of us cannot attend the annual meeting for any number of reasons: cost, work, etc. Even if we all contact our director and tell him/her how we would vote, that person still only has 1 vote. If 50 of us tell him/her how we would vote, his/her 1 vote cannot represent us all. In a sense we do not have a voice unless we attend ourselves. Many people don't bother to contact their director for this reason.

We realize that we must submit rule changes if we want change, but if we can't get to the annual meeting to vote on those rule changes, the same 100 people who can go will be the ones to decide. A proposal to change how we vote won't necessarily get past the 100 people at the meeting, even though 100's of us would like to see that happen.

 

[Sue_C.]

Allowing the views of a few, dictate the rules-n-laws to many...doesn't sound right to me, when we are all supposed to have equal say in what our Registries are doing.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

I would not be against a ballot, but today's technology, I think there needs to be a pro/con position given with the impact of the changes spelled out - not just a ballot. It should be fairly simple if either registry wanted to to set up a forum list the rule change, let the person presenting give their reasoning for the change, the appropriate committee contact info and let the membership discuss it. Let the committee address this to openly in a forum.

Close it and either have an electronic online vote or a paper ballot - much like an absentee ballot for those without internet access. It can be restricted to registry members only using you're I.d. - this isn't rocket science and something very doable with current technologies. Heck if only 20% of the members participated you've already more than doubled the attendance at the convention!

A black and white vote yes/no is not always addressing the far reaching consequences of a change to a rule. Too many things are responded to in a knee-jerk fashion, without knowing all the details. Different committees, bylaws, the budget, other associated rules can all be affected by one rule change and that needs to be addressed and considered. But, if they can present for every vote I do in California a position paper - I think a horse registry - either of them - should be able to do the same.

For goodness sake people here on the forum state their opinions daily and often when different views are exchanged our opinions may soften or we may consider details that we may not have completely thought out on a subject.

 

[Warpony]

I've been a member of two horse organizations prior to my involvement in miniature horses. One a breed related registry and one a sport related association. BOTH of these had mail in ballots and seemed to handle it just fine.

In one case the people for and against a proposed change wrote up their pro and and con, and a rebuttal to their opponents statement. This accompanied a bare bones description of the current rule and what the new rule would be, along with the ballot.

In the other case they simple sent a description of what the changes would be, then anyone who wanted to could send out mailings for or against because they sent it out far enough in advance to allow for that.

In both cases the membership was given a chance to have a say, and they were educated as to what they were actually voting on.

This was 20 years ago. If they could do it then, we can do it now.

 

[McBunz]

We are getting some interest in this idea.. great..

Now to do something about it... E-mail me for

my address.. Copy and paste the proposal. Sign it along with your membership number. One copy for

each club you belong to. I will send them all registered mail to each club and send copies to the directors

of each club.. This way it can not be ignored. Get your member friends to send the same.. The more

the better.. It is about time the entire membership had a voice.

Just talking about change

doesn't cut the mustard...

 

[sfmini]

The idea of the letters is all well and good, but in order for any change to occur, you MUST put it in the form of rule changes. Find any bylaws and rules in the rulebooks related to voting, and write your proposed changes and put them through the process.

Pay special attention to bylaws, those cannot be killed in committee and must go forward to the membership to vote. (This is in AMHA, I don't know about AMHR).

The only people who are going to do the paperwork to make the changes are the ones who want those changes to happen. Sending letters to people who go to all the meetings and conventions is not all that productive.

 

[McBunz]

The idea of the letters is all well and good, but in order for any change to occur, you MUST put it in the form of rule changes. Find any bylaws and rules in the rulebooks related to voting, and write your proposed changes and put them through the process.

Pay special attention to bylaws, those cannot be killed in committee and must go forward to the membership to vote. (This is in AMHA, I don't know about AMHR).

The only people who are going to do the paperwork to make the changes are the ones who want those changes to happen. Sending letters to people who go to all the meetings and conventions is not all that productive.

Thank you.... Any and all help in this matter is more than welcome..

 

[backwoodsnanny]

I agree with Michelle on this one and have always thought the registries are antiquated in terms of technology. IF AMHA has the technology to web cast their meeting it would seem that they should also have the expertise to put all rule change proposals out on the net as well and allow online voting for those who have computer access and paper voting for those who do not. The computer voting would totally symplify the whole process as there are programs that can count the votes as they are cast and the only counting would be for the paper ballots it would also allow only one vote per member. At the time of renewal of membership members could indicate their preference for online vs paper ballot. It is done by many other organizations time to join the technology age. Even in my small town things like renewal of registration and fire permits can be done online so it would follow that associations as large as AMHA /AMHR could put most of this online so that ALL members would have an opportunity to vote if they wanted to.

 

[sfmini]

AMHA didn't have that technology, Marestare did. They were hired by AMHA to webcast and AMHA refused the option of having any advertising to defray the expense.

Now, I am on the newly redefined formerly called Computer/Internet committee now called the Internet Communications committee with the goal of improving communications amongst the members using the Internet as a tool.

So, if y'all would help me here I would appreciate it. I would like to research the possiblity of online voting and need suggestions for what options would be available to us. Requirements would be as follows:

Super secure - MUST be able to be absolutely sure that folks vote only one time, and only using their own number and not borrow numbers from others to get more votes. IP addressing won't work since most people can access the internet under other IP addresses, and other computers. I personally have access to at least 1/2 dozen computers or more..... This is to prevent what has occurred in the past where unscupulous members would actually PAY other members or even pay membership fees to employees, etc so they can sway a vote.

Price - FREE. We have no budget money allocated to our committee and have no hope for any since the AMHA is working under a deficit budget for 2008.

Mail vote is out, that is prohibitively expensive to do right. The regional director elections cost over $10,000.

I will do this research, you need to do your part of rule change proposals. Given the process, no new rule changes can be up for vote until 2010 for implementation in 2011. Your proposals would have to be in to AMHA before the close of the 2009 convention, worked on at the June, 2010 meeting, vote by membership at the 2010 convention and implemented in 2011.

 

[BLACKWATER FARMS]

This shouldn't be very hard:

1. publish proposed changes in the magazine (which they already do)--maybe have a 6 mos for discussion.

2. also, put them on the website, you have all the other info there--why not important club proposals

3. members elect to internet vote (sign in with a password--no harder than signing into the stud book!)

4. individual votes should count for each club member

5. have a minimum % of membership voting for anythig to pass, ie if you have 1000 members, 60% of total membership has to have put input by voting for anything to pass.

6. have a forum for members on the website so that members can voice their opinioins and have discussions with their fellow members and directors (they do it for online auctions, asking the seller/proposers questions) with the answers and questions so everyone can see

JMHO

Linda

 

[McBunz]

The AMHA rule change proposal form for 2009 in not on line yet. The AMHR form is still available..for this

year. I am thinking everyone concerned about new rule changes should fill one of these out and mail one

as soon as possible.

 

[Neil]

i noticed that there are 5 on the vote that said no they were not in favor. If no..what is your resoning for no?

I was one of the no votes. If my ballot was sent when my membership was due it would have been sent probably sometime in March which would have been after the February voting. My membership is due for renewal in April.

 

[Mona]

I was one of the no votes. If my ballot was sent when my membership was due it would have been sent probably sometime in March which would have been after the February voting. My membership is due for renewal in April.

I thought ALL renewals are due at the same time...in January?