By-Law Amendments

Luke Stalcup is discussing by-law amendments with the attendees.  Issue: State Directors should be included as an actual position.  Answer:  This may happen in the future but right now SVA needs flexibility.  The Regional Directors can appoint anyone they want including State and Metro Directors.  Issue: Open board meetings are requested.  Answer: More transparency is needed and will be addressed.  Board statements will be published and the minutes may be published in the future but more discussion is needed with other Board members.  Issue: Open nominations to the Board to the Chapters and create a removal process.  Answer: Those are great ideas and will be heavily considered.  The by-laws will also be published on the website.  Issue: An amendment has been proposed to include posted minutes from every meeting as well as audio available from every meeting.  Answer: The Board is open to posting minutes however it will be very difficult to get things done if all the meetings are public.  The Board has requested feedback.  The response from the attendees is mixed, some believe everything should be available and some believe the minutes are sufficient to allow the chapters to follow what the Board is doing.  One attendee stated that all the non-profits he has been a member of have an open Board.  The Board feels like more discussion is needed and we cannot vote on any amendments.  This issue is highly contested by the attendees.  Also an issue, the by-laws were not as available as they should have been to the chapters.  An attendee has proposed that if the Board is voting or making a major change that those meeting should be available.  Another person stated that there is too much testosterone in the room and on the Board.  An attendee wants the audio from every Board meeting to be available to only the members of SVA.  He also feels that if the by-laws change behind closed doors it will alienate members.  Another attendee feels that minutes are sufficient and closed meeting should be allowed.  An attendee wants every chapter to have an equal say and a vote in the by-laws.  He also wants the agenda for every meeting to be made public.  The Board wants more time to decide these issues.  It believes they cannot be solved immediately and need to be discussed.  An attendee wants a chapter member on the Board as a Chapter Advocate.  The session is ended.