The OSA 5-year Membership - explainations of the issue being voted
Click this Link to vote: http://priyadarsan.patra.googlepages.com/speakyourmind
With the full support of the BOG, we are hereby proposing a motion to add a new type of membership -- The 5-year membership --- appended to the Bylaw I, Section 2 of OSA constitution. If you recall, we had deliberated and clarified the proactive requirements to be a chapter or national official : the official must be an OSA member during candidacy, during his/her term and at least for a short while after the term. A Life Membership (which is such a tremendous value vis-a-vis the cost of living here) is perhaps the minimum level of commitment for an official as almost all agree. However, some current chapter officials and members of the community strongly requested us to consider a level less than Life Membership for such potential reasons as financial hardship, or short-stay-in-the-country situations.
After much internal deliberation, we introduced this idea of a 5-year at the GBM at Toronto to obtain positive feedback before proceeding towards a constitutional amendment. We would like a period of further deliberation in OSAnet and then we will hold voting through our "Speak Your Mind" electronic polling system for final passing of the resolution. The key attributes of the membership being proposed are:
1. The 5-year membership fee will be $100 for five years (unless the fees are amended in coming years).
2. Members will have an opportunity in that period to be upgraded to a Life Member paying a difference between the two membership fees.
For example a 5-year member will be able to change to Life Member if they pay the difference i.e.$200 ($300-$100) the current Life Membership fee, provided it does not go up.
3. This membership will have all the privileges of Life Membership for those 5 years.
=========== Additional thoughts from our discussions so far =============
We have proposed and discussed the requirement of a chapter elected official in this forum. This should ease the concerns of those who feel the full life membership is out of the reach. We also hope all of you continue to strongly support the notion that any body assuming OSA official position at chapter or exec/national level must be a OSA member in good standing one year before the office is assumed and then at least through their presumed tenure. For such people, who are not in a position to become a full life member, the 5-year membership is a good alternative, and it shows their commitment to the organization whose office they are holding or hope to hold.
One chapter president suggested that life-membership should become a prerequisite for holding chapter (and by extension, national) office. The sentiment is well taken, however, in the interest of pragmatics and considering strong request from many Odiyas, the rest of the voting BOG (which includes reps from 14 chapters, a past president, the current executives) raised no-objection to our proposal. Now we are bringing this to the rank and file membership, so appropriate constitutional amendment can be done.
Even though our vounteers pour in a lot of hours and thoughtful work and sometimes even incur minor expenses -- all uncompensated-- in order to make this organization tick and to provide the benefits to the membership, our costs for handling and shipping (in addition to the cost of creating) such things as souvenirs, newsletters, directories, etc. are escalating. So we must adopt low-cost (perhaps electronic delivery) unless we raise more funds for this. Thus true cost to us may not reflect in the low-levels of membership fees required by the organization.
Priyadarsan Patra
Secretary, OSA 2007-2009
How to vote: http://priyadarsan.patra.googlepages.com/speakyourmind
With the full support of the BOG, we are hereby proposing a motion to add a new type of membership -- The 5-year membership --- appended to the Bylaw I, Section 2 of OSA constitution. If you recall, we had deliberated and clarified the proactive requirements to be a chapter or national official : the official must be an OSA member during candidacy, during his/her term and at least for a short while after the term. A Life Membership (which is such a tremendous value vis-a-vis the cost of living here) is perhaps the minimum level of commitment for an official as almost all agree. However, some current chapter officials and members of the community strongly requested us to consider a level less than Life Membership for such potential reasons as financial hardship, or short-stay-in-the-country situations.
After much internal deliberation, we introduced this idea of a 5-year at the GBM at Toronto to obtain positive feedback before proceeding towards a constitutional amendment. We would like a period of further deliberation in OSAnet and then we will hold voting through our "Speak Your Mind" electronic polling system for final passing of the resolution. The key attributes of the membership being proposed are:
1. The 5-year membership fee will be $100 for five years (unless the fees are amended in coming years).
2. Members will have an opportunity in that period to be upgraded to a Life Member paying a difference between the two membership fees.
For example a 5-year member will be able to change to Life Member if they pay the difference i.e.$200 ($300-$100) the current Life Membership fee, provided it does not go up.
3. This membership will have all the privileges of Life Membership for those 5 years.
=========== Additional thoughts from our discussions so far =============
We have proposed and discussed the requirement of a chapter elected official in this forum. This should ease the concerns of those who feel the full life membership is out of the reach. We also hope all of you continue to strongly support the notion that any body assuming OSA official position at chapter or exec/national level must be a OSA member in good standing one year before the office is assumed and then at least through their presumed tenure. For such people, who are not in a position to become a full life member, the 5-year membership is a good alternative, and it shows their commitment to the organization whose office they are holding or hope to hold.
One chapter president suggested that life-membership should become a prerequisite for holding chapter (and by extension, national) office. The sentiment is well taken, however, in the interest of pragmatics and considering strong request from many Odiyas, the rest of the voting BOG (which includes reps from 14 chapters, a past president, the current executives) raised no-objection to our proposal. Now we are bringing this to the rank and file membership, so appropriate constitutional amendment can be done.
Even though our vounteers pour in a lot of hours and thoughtful work and sometimes even incur minor expenses -- all uncompensated-- in order to make this organization tick and to provide the benefits to the membership, our costs for handling and shipping (in addition to the cost of creating) such things as souvenirs, newsletters, directories, etc. are escalating. So we must adopt low-cost (perhaps electronic delivery) unless we raise more funds for this. Thus true cost to us may not reflect in the low-levels of membership fees required by the organization.
Priyadarsan Patra
Secretary, OSA 2007-2009
How to vote: http://priyadarsan.patra.googlepages.com/speakyourmind
posted by Sandip K. Dasverma at
2:10 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home