[SCG] Concours

[Bill Hubbell]

Folks,

First - I may have started this thread with my post about Factory Stock
Corvair entries etc. but it has long ago morphed into something altogether
different.  If you all wish to continue this altered discussion please
change the thread topic as what is now being discussed has nothing to do
with my original post.

Second - to make it perfectly clear, it is the CORSA BYLAWS that
specifically spell out the process of Concours Rule making, etc, as noted:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article XII: Committees
Section 1: Standing Committees
Standing committees will provide Society management in areas of principal
interest of the membership. With exception of the Executive Committee,
standing committee chairmen are appointed by the President, and serve up to
two year terms without reconfirmation. Through selective appointments of
committee chairmen, the President will ensure responsive leadership of
Society affairs. With approval of a Board majority, the President will
remove any committee chairman not fulfilling requirements of the position.
Committee chairmen will have access to membership directory and
communication services provided by the Executive Secretary.

Section 1.1: Executive Committee
The Executive Committee membership and duties will be as described in
Article VII, Section 6.

Section 1.2: Concours Rules and Judging Standards Committee
The Concours Rules Committee will be responsible for originating and
publishing the CORSA Concours Rules. The committee will perform an annual
review and update as necessary, and will obtain Board approval for all
revisions implemented. These rules will establish the policy for Concours
classes, and other matters pertaining to standardized conduct of CORSA
Concours d'Elegance. The Chairman of the committee will recruit such other
assistants as deemed necessary.

The Concours Committee will also be responsible for originating,
maintaining, and publishing standardized and definitive judging criteria and
classification instructions for CORSA Concours. Changes in the rules must be
published in the Society's monthly publication. The Concours d'Elegance
rules used at the annual convention must be available to competitors at
least four months before that convention.
These rules and guidelines will establish specific details of quality and
"turnout" that determine point allocations, and will define the methodology
of judging these qualities
------------------------------------------------------------------------

To summarize the above, the BYLAWS give the CORSA President EXCLUSIVE power
to appoint committee chairman and then in turn give the Concours Chairman
sole power to recruit assistants (or not) to the Concours committee.  The
Concours committee has the sole authority to originate and publish the
Concours rules.

Thus, as written in the CORSA Bylaws, the CORSA president has ALL power to
formulate Concours policy by virtue of his power to appoint the Concours
chair.  The rest of the CORSA Board is rendered IMPOTENT in all matters
Concours EXCEPT for oversight approval of the Concours Chair's decisions.
This is NOT to say, however, that Board members cannot attempt to influence
Concours policy by speaking with the Concours chair, but in reality they
have no more influence over Concours policy than any other person (Corsa
member or not).  This is what our Bylaws say, so you have to abide by it.
If you don't like it, you can try to amend the Bylaws.

Finally, I would also like to point out that the Concours Chair Job
Description (approved by the Board) makes the Concours Chair responsible for
several things, including these two in particular:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.	Maintaining records of National and Sanctioned Concours d'Elegance
results.

7.	Soliciting and compiling suggestions for future revisions of the
Concours rules.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thus, #2 means the Concours Chair should be able to provide the Board with
the detailed records we were asking for earlier, while #7 means the Concours
Chair should be actively seeking and keeping records of these suggestions.

Thank you

Bill Hubbell
CORSA Bylaws Committee Chair (in exile)






Bill Hubbell

-----Original Message-----
From: airvair at earthlink.net [mailto:airvair at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 6:22 PM
To: Jack Pinard; dal; flat6vair at comcast.net; whubbell at umich.edu;
vairshop at sbcglobal.net; corsabod at corvair.org; scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com
Subject: Re: [SCG] [Corsabod] Factory Stock Corvair Entries and
StockPreservationAward history in CORSA Concours 1997-2009

All,

I must remind you that, according to Concours Rules, ONLY the Concours
Chairman can recommend changes to the rules. It is then up to the board to
vote on his/her recommendation, yes or no. So thus while the board can
discuss any topic concerning concours rules they want, unless the Concours
Chariman recommends it to the board, the board is powerless to change the
rules. It was set up this way in order to prevent the board from changing
the rules indiscriminately. Concours rules should ONLY be changed after due
and lengthy consideration, and not on a whim. Such could be the case when
tempers flair or should the board be inexperienced in matters of concours
(which is usually the case). (The Concours Chairman's job is also insulated
from the public for this very reason.) It is therefore proper and wise that
ONLY the Concours Chairman be given the power to propose changes, as (s)he
is usually the only one well-qualified enough to make well-reasoned and
deliberate change/recommendations. (Note: no offense meant to any present
company by this.)

-Mark Corbin (been there, done that - the voice of experience)

> [Original Message]
> From: Jack Pinard <corvairjack at yahoo.com>
> To: dal <daluckow at aol.com>; <flat6vair at comcast.net>;
<whubbell at umich.edu>; <vairshop at sbcglobal.net>; <corsabod at corvair.org>;
<scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com>
> Date: 9/16/2009 3:23:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [SCG] [Corsabod] Factory Stock Corvair Entries and
StockPreservationAward history in CORSA Concours 1997-2009
>
> Mr. Luckow -
>
> Thank you for your service and your personal comments. I would be
interested in any plan you can submit that has as its goal a major increase
in concours participation. I hope that as concours chair you are not
satisfied with the numbers from recent conventions. (45,38,57,60)
>
> If your statement was a decision made by the concours committee as a
whole, please provide minutes of the meeting.
>
> The board of directors has a responsibility to all CORSA members.
>
> When many qualified opinions are sent to board by members concerning any
event or committee the board has a responsibility to respectfully study and
evaluate the topic.
>
> The preferred procedure would be for board first to direct the
appropriate committee to study all suggestions from members, evaluate and
make recommendations for changes if any in a detailed report listing
committee members participating and minutes of all meetings.
>
> The board would then have a body of information for orderly study,
discussion and decision by voting. As you know, discussions are held after
motions are made, not before.
>
> If the committee does not comply with board direction, there are several
other procedures available to board.
>
> However for the board to fail to discuss comments from members is a
serious breach of democratic rule as specific in CORSA governing documents
and would be a public relations disaster at a time when the board is
attempting to restore confidence by improving participation of all CORSA
activities - including concours.
>
> The president does not have sole responsibility or authority to decide
whether member comments are given consideration by board.
>
> And the president does not have authority to restrict board to place a
topic on the agenda of meetings.  
>
> If president refuses to honor a directors request to place a topic on
agenda, the director may introduce as "New Business" or "Old Business".
>
> President Mahler's email comment that "case is closed" does not comply
with his duties as specified in governing documents and
> is disrespectful to the other eleven members of the board of directors.
>
> I believe that directors can "disagree without being disagreeable".
>
> I hope that you share this philosophy.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>  Jack Pinard   
> CORSA Western Division Director
>
> 116 E Garden Green, Port Hueneme CA 93041-1926 
> Cell 805 340-6533