Discussion: board contested election!

Wow! Was I surprised to see a full slate of candidates for this year's elections. One of my biggest concerns about OUSA for many years has been the stagnation on the board. It just seems extremely unhealthy for the organization to have uncontested positions for the board and no serious effort to remedy the situation. So, whoever made the effort to get a committee together to round up candidates really deserves the highest praise. Thank you.

My curling club requires contested elections every year. Terms are limited to 3 years. But one more really useful thing the nominating committee does is target people skilled in areas needed by the club. So, if the tech board member is leaving or the finance person's term is done they find a member with the needed skills and recruit them to run. The system works quite will.

I hope contested elections will be a new tradition for OUSA and maybe in the future term limits. I think that both those things will lead to more people willing to be on the board and a more productive organization.

Thanks again for those who made a real election happen this year. It will be fun to see what this new board will do.

It's good to have a contested election to bring new ideas, as long as the resulting board learns how to work together to advance them. It all depends on individual personalities.

If you see something that needs to be done, step up and volunteer to try to make that idea possible!

For all members and delegates who will be at the AGM and voting, be sure to study the bios and make your choices. Candidates won't be available for conversation, as only one of the six is registered for the RMOF event (some are occupied elsewhere, such as Joseph Huberman attending the ARDF World competition in S. Korea).

Where are the bios posted?

As one of the contested candidates, I am also very excited that the Board has multiple candidates. The OUSA board needs regular turnover and and influx of ideas, though term limits are probably unrealistic for the present. Congratulations and many thanks to the hard work of the nominating committee of William Jameson, Peggy Dickison, Mary Jo Childs, and Gavin Wyatt-Mair who not only found new candidates but also got quite a few replies of interest for future years.

One other thing I've learned through both my time on the OUSA Board and on the NEOC Board is that you don't have to be on the Board of directors to be involved in the leadership. The onus is on the OUSA board to make it clearer precisely what avenues exist to engage.