North to Kamloops and the BCGA AGM

Well yesterday was the AGM for the BCGA in Kamloops BC.

I started off early as I had to drive the Coquihalla Highway. For those reading this the Coquihalla can be one of the worst winter highways out there. This year there has been record snowfall and there have been closures this winter so they can get the snow off the highway. The road was in great shape for the most part.

When I got to Merritt I decided to stop and grab a couple of caches. The first one was quick and easy. The second one left me scratching my head as to why do caches decided to damage trees to place a cache. In this case it wasn’t one tree but three to just place a single cache. Screwing eyelets into trees then running fishing line between three trees isn’t great. What I noticed there are many broken branches on the trees. So it isn’t just one tree but three that are being destroyed.

I was soon back on the road again and to a meeting with my contact at BC Highways regarding to the placement of caches along BC Highways and BC Parks. The meeting went well and we should soon see a letter to Groundspeak going back to the original Groundspeak guidelines for the interim.

I arrived at the AGM and from what I could see this was going to be interesting.

First off I have to say I am not sure if the Executive just doesn’t care about bylaws or just don’t know or both.

The voting process had a major flaw and there isn’t one person out there that can tell me it was done right.

When I voted I did NOT vote for the two people that were acclaimed yet my ballot shows I did.

The Executive could have had a major problem on their hands because i could have stood up and brought a point of order regarding the election. The election was invalid from the start and you know there was nothing they could do about it. The nominations were held on the BCGA website. I dare anyone out there to show me where on the BCGA website where it even mentions the website in the bylaws. What does the bylaws say about nominations on the website? I can tell you nothing. The nomination process was invalid.
The Executive then posts the election guidelines as taken from the bylaws. Did they follow those, the answer is no. The bylaws are clear and so was the directive from the the Executive that says the voting shall end no less than 7 days before the AGM. The voting ended 3 days before the AGM, so the voting didn’t even meet the bylaw. Since Roberts Rules of Order was adopted at the AGM and RONR are very clear on this the election would have been struck down.

We got onto the Bylaw changes and I made a motion to defer the bylaw changes to the new Executive and it was defeated. At the end of the meeting I was told that the Executive should have listened to me by a member of the out going executive.

The discussion was interesting and almost all including the executive had no idea how a meeting works. When I was talking to the motion a fellow geocacher started yelling at me and was going red in her face. I said to her I didn’t yell at you so don’t yell at me, she just didn’t get it. I don’t think she will ever get it. She has made comments at me before and the only thing I suggest is go get some anger management classes.

A problem occurred when the use of proxy’s was placed in the vote. I saw the papers in the hand for the vote and brought a Point of Order to the floor. I asked what the papers were and were told the proxy’s and I said I am sorry but proxy’s are not allowed in our bylaws. The Executive looked stunned. What you didn’t read the bylaws? Another member confirmed this.
I did this to point out how bad our Executive don’t know our bylaws and choose to follow what they think is right.

It is clear the Bylaws need to be re-written.

During the reading of one of the amendments the sitting Executive didn’t clue in what they were reading or understand what they were reading. What was being read was that at the end of voting the old Executive resigns and the new Executive takes over the meeting. This just didn’t happen.
At the end of the AGM I asked the Chair if she had even picked up on this and the answer was no she didn’t know this had to be done. So reading it out loud says you didn’t understand what it says or means.

I said before I am not sure if the Executive just doesn’t care about bylaws or just don’t know or both. It is clear that it is both now.

I ran for President and I didn’t win. I had said a long time back when dealing with the BC Highways I didn’t want to run. I was asked to run by many and I did so at their request. I never expected to win, why because these type of Associations tend to be about the “in” crowd not what is good for the Association and that was my platform.

IF the new executive fails to update the bylaws soon and follow a good business plan they won’t be getting much help from the Provincial Government in the future. They have to show they can do what they say they will do. They have to sign emails when they send them and stop hiding behind a common email address.

I have talked to the new President and wished her well expressing my concerns. IF the BCGA decides to stay the course then it will not be long before the BCGA implodes upon itself.

I wish the new Executive well and hope they can now put their boots on do what has to be done. It will make for a better BCGA.

I left the AGM and headed home and it snowed almost 3/4’s the way on the Coquihalla Highway. There was one accident on the way south where a car was into a snow bank on the left side.