Thats as good a description as I can put in the title box.
Here is the situation: I am president of a local flying club. This is the umbrella organization for all the flyers at the airport (I also belong to another club that actually has planes and such).
The main activity of this club is to host the annual fly-in/drive-in breakfast. The breakfast is mainly for publicity, buy we do make some profit. In the past we have used the money to improve the airport - we bought a small Arrival / Departure building (which we donated to the county) and currently heat. I believe in the past we paid for some power lines to be buried (before my time)
Anyhow, about 18 months ago one member suggested the club purchace a WX capable GPS (it can get real time WX). There was a vote about a year ago but it was tabled because at the time there was serious talk about buying the hanger that we have the breakfast in (at that time, it was owned by the county).
The hanger went on sale, but it was way outside our price range.
Monday night we had a meeting and it was decided to authorize the purchace of the WX GPS). I have just found out that there is a lot of bad feelings about this. Many members of the club feel that it will only be used by a very few members.
They are probably right. There are about 50 memebrs in the club and maybe 4 or 5 who could use it. And we are talking $3000 (bank account total of $6500, with some food bills due).
Some members have stated that they will not work the breakfast anymore. This will make my job harder. The operation of the club is highly volunteer dependant. If we lose enough people the club could collapse (its 40 years old)
But as far as I can tell the decision was “legal” - there was a quorum and I sent out notices of the meeting (only one person said no).
The WX GPS hasn’t been bought (the GPS comittee is going to Oshkosh to look at models). But I’m not sure I can “legally” stop it.
How many people actually voted in favour of buying this item? How many make up a quorum?
I would ask the GPS committee to hold off on spending the money, ask the complainers “what do you think we should do about this then?” and if necessary open up the idea of another vote on the issue. Remind the members that coming to meetings and voting is important and they can’t just complain afterwards when things don’t go their way, but do it tactfully.
It is a GPS (Global Positioning System) that can recieve real time weather from sattelites. (from XM) Being able to see radar images in flight is usefull.
Unfortunately for you and your members, they’ve learned a valuable lesson about showing up and voting before something happens that you don’t like. Hopefully the people threatning not to show up will come to their senses and grow up.
I agree with Arnold: ask the complainers what they would like you to do. Have some options ready to present them–if the only legal way to rescind the vote is to amend the club’s constitution, suggest doing that, but explain what it would take, what the effects would be, and what the impact on them could be. If they change the number needed for a quorum, they’d better be prepared to start showing up, or the club might collapse because no business can take place.
Be sympathetic. Don’t indicate or hint that you agree with the decision, regardless of what you actually think. Tell them that you would like to help them (and do), but that you cannot do anything you think is improper (and don’t). Leave it to them whether they want to go through the process of undoing the vote properly, but be ready to help them do it if the majority in fact want that.
Ultimately, my gut is to stick with your vote as it stands. That’s why it’s a vote, usually groups don’t get to keep voting until they get an outcome that they like.
But, there may be some ways to mitigate the ill-feeling.
How rabid is your pro-WX GPS faction? Are they reasonable? If you sat them down with some reps from the anti-WX GPS side, could they work out some sort of plan, perhaps setting aside some amount each year for the next … three years? five years? with the plan to purchase it at that time. By then, naturally, there will be some better toy than an WX GPS, but there will be a clear budget to be spent for that item. This really only works if the pro people are shocked and horrified that the hot feelings might lead to the demise of the club.
How formal is the club? Can you round up the anti people and ask them to be a committee to review the by-laws to allow for something like voting on the internet? That way people who can’t attend a meeting can still vote. Personally, I’m all about the idea that people should freaking SHOW UP to vote, but in reality, a lot club organization tasks can be shifted online. This won’t help them with the WX GPS, but if they feel like they have some authority to create a better system for the future, this could keep them invested in the group.
Any possibility that there are other clubs/groups that use your airport that might be interested in going in with you on the WX GPS and then share the use? (Not having a clue how this thing works, or if it’s bigger than a breadbox, or could be reasonably shared, I have no idea how realistic this is.) It might be easier to swallow if you’re only picking up $1500 of the price. If it can be shared, could you donate some of the use of this thing to a worthy group? Your price tag would still be high, but you would get some “feel good” out of it at least. Again, I have no idea if there is a worthy group that could make use of it – are there pilots who donate their time to doing stuff like … I don’t know, entertaining sad-eyed orphans by giving them plane rides?
The club is very informal. This is probably the 1st non unanimous vote I’ve seen, most things are done by concensus. Like most clubs, few show up at meetings, but lucky for me they DO show up to work at the breakfast. I’ve run the club pretty loosly and until now there has been no complaints. I think technically I’m beyond the term limit for president but no one has called me on it because no one else wants the job.
The club is for ALL users and people interested in the airport. There are other clubs / partnerships at the airport but this club is the umbrella organization.
Many in the club are former pilots or only do local flights and thus don’t need or could use the device.
I beleive there is the ability to vote by proxy. Again I need to read the bylaws and see what can be done.
I would have to say they’re out of luck then. If they could have voted by proxy and chose not to exercise that right then tough luck. If the vote was taken and the issue passed according to the rules, then those opposed to it are pretty much out of luck.
Here’s the thing, and please don’t take this as a thread hijack because it isn’t meant to be:
This is a club of people that own airplanes, right? By definition, you guys are wealthy, or at least wealthy enough to probably afford this gadget out-of-pocket. $3K? Most of those people probably spend more than $3K a year on fuel, right?
I’d speak to the vocal minority that wants the gadget and urge them to split the cost among themselves for the sake of the harmony of the group at large.