[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

RE: (erielack) Unansered Questions

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: erielack-owner_@_lists.railfan.net 
> [mailto:erielack-owner_@_lists.railfan.net] On Behalf Of William Shultz
> Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 6:45 PM
> To: Erie Lackawanna Mail List
> Subject: (erielack) Unansered Questions
> 
> Immediately after the mid September annual meeting, I asked 
> an appropriately place Board member, since the "Open 
> Discussion" didn't turn out quite as was planned, how could 
> the questions that were sent to me by members get answered, 
> that were not able to be asked at the meeting.

I think I might have been that "appropriately placed Board member," since I was
sitting right next to you.  I believe also that I asked you to send me those
questions.  If I'm mistaken, and it was one of the others, so be it.  There were
MANY things discussed at that meeting during that weekend, and I do not have a
perfect memory.  You have also had two and a half months, that's >months,< to
send me or the Board, or even the list here, these questions, but you didn't do
that.  Until now, I've never seen these questions.

Those with a long memory might remember that I asked for members who had
questions to forward them to me as well, so that we could be prepared to answer
those questions.  That wasn't done, so this is the first that I, and I believe
any Board members, have seen these questions.

> In a nutshell, the Open Discussion ended up with two Board 
> members speaking and presenting their take on bringing 
> democratic governance to the ELHS for 40 minutes and my 
> diatribe an additional 10 minutes. As a result a grand total 
> of three people other than the afore mentioned impromptu 
> "speakers" added input. We never had the opportunity to get 
> beyond peoples tendency to hold back until others start the 
> discussion to where they might feel comfortable asking their 
> questions. Again, I am not pointing fingers, it just turned 
> out that way.

Y'know, Will, I don't quite recall it that way.  There were several, more than
three, other prople besides the two Board members, Rich and Larry, who spoke.
Maybe you don't want to recall that their take on things was that they were
happy, or content, with the present arrangement and management of the ELHS.
Those were people who've volunteered to help out with things the ELHS does, real
workers.  I know that you're one of the real workers too, all anybody has to do
is look at our website, which is a great piece of work.  I know it's been used
as an example of a 'really good railfan website.'  But I digress from the point,
there were people other than the Board members who spoke during that time.

You were offered the chance to speak first.  I was sitting right next to you,
and I had talked to Mike Connor, the moderator, to be sure to get you up in
front of the group.  You demurred, and didn't want to go first.  When you did
speak, you were pretty short in what you had to say.  You also had the
opportunity to ask the questions you've listed below, but didn't take that.
Adding up the time you list above, you imply that the time we spent was less
than an hour.  That session went about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes, because we
wanted to be sure that people had their chance to say what they wanted to say.
Henry Pribe sat on your other side;  he could have had the floor for the effort
of raising his hand, but didn't do so.  At the end, there was an open question,
"Does anyone else want to speak?"  The opportunity was there.

> Anyway, after waiting for over two months for a reply about 
> how the unanswered questions would be asked in a public (to 
> ELHS members) forum, I will out of respect for those that 
> submitted questions, present them now. By the way, part of 
> this same discussion with the unnamed Board member, was 
> setting up a forum were members, Board, and otherwise, could 
> interact without people having to resort to the EL mailing 
> list to get a public answer. I'm sure the whole discussion 
> was invariably forgotten about as has happened several times 
> in the past.

Well, yep, I admit that.  There are a LOT of things that get discussed during
those hours there.  And you know, real life goes on when we get back home.  The
Board members devote a lot of time to this, but it's not unlimited.  Not all of
us are retired, and what I've observed about retired people is, for the most
part, that they often wonder how they had time to go to work before they
retired.  And Will, this is a two-way street.  If I, or whatever other Board
member(s) you might have talked to didn't get back to you, you know my email
address, you know my phone number, and even my snail mail address, which is in
every Extra Board.  Since you asked people to give you questions, you take on
some responsibility to get them asked, don't you?  And that doesn't apply just
to these questions, or just to you.  If any ELHS member has a question or
problem, they should contact me or any other Board member and we'll respond.

There's been a question as to why the Board members haven't responded to the
questions raised here.  IIRC, the first question in this threadlet was raised on
Wednesday.  I see personal email at night, and on Wednesday night the first
email I read was at about 11 PM.  Last night (Thursday) it was at 12:15 AM. (I
suppose that's this morning, isn't it?)  While I have a fair amount of energy,
it isn't limitless.  Right now I have about 200+ emails I haven't read yet, but
I believe it's important to respond to this one.

By the way, not all the Board members are on this list.  Some are, some aren't.
It is a choice.

We will address these questions, but it will take some time.  That's why I
wanted to have the questions before the meeting in Jamestown.

SGL.  

> The questions:
> 
> 1A.  Average composition, layout etc., cost of the work 
> performed by Andover Jct per issue of the Diamond?
> 
> 1B. Average cost of printing an issue of the Diamond?
> 
> 1C. Quantity printed per issue?
> 
> 
> 2A. Was the contract awarded to Andover Jct put out to 
> competitive bid?
> 
> 2B. Was the contract awarded to the printer of the Diamond 
> put out to competitive bid? Printers for other publications?
> 
> 2C. Is there a formal, written contract with Andover Jct that 
> clearly spells out the business relationship and costs for 
> publishing the Diamond? What is the contract length.
> 
> 
> 3A. Is a financial statement with income and disbursements available?
> 
> 3B. The by-laws say a financial report must be produced 
> annually. If it is, why isn't it published in the Extra Board 
> or on the members section of the web site?
> 
> 
> 4. Why doesn't the ELHS produce models in N scale?
> 
> 5. In other societies it seems that Board members also seem 
> to be regular contributers to the society publication, yet if 
> you look at how often ELHS Board members contribute, it seems 
> to be rare. Yet some produce articles for other publications 
> for which they are paid.
> 
> 6. Are the dues going to be raised next year?
> 
> Again, these were all questions I received from others and I 
> feel an obligation to have them presented. Several submitted 
> similar questions and they have been distilled where 
> appropriate. My biggest regret is that they had to be asked here.
> 
> Will Shultz
> 
> 

------------------------------