Ancient Harmonious Society of Woodshedders Membership Meeting

July 6, 2002 Galleria Room, Hilton Hotel Portland, Oregon

President Dvoretzky called the meeting to order at nine a.m., and the assemblage sang “Down Mobile.” He welcomed everybody and expressed his belief that this would be the most exciting membership meeting over which he had ever presided. He highlighted some necessary constraints, given the limited time: The agenda of the meeting needed to be followed strictly. Anyone wishing to speak must first be recognized by the chair of the meeting, and receive recognition to speak; his remarks should be focused on the reason he had been recognized.

The first item of business was the acceptance of the minutes from the previous year’s meeting in Nashville. Inasmuch as members with e-mail had earlier been referred to the AHSOW web site, and since hard copies were available at this meeting, President Dvoretzky asked for a motion that the minutes be accepted. A motion to accept the minutes was made, seconded, and approved unanimously.

In his presentation of the membership and financial reports, Ed Hartley first read the names of the members who had passed away since the convention in Nashville. A moment of silence was held. Mr. Hartley reported that the membership was essentially as it had been last year and that AHSOW had approximately $24,000 in the bank. He stated his thoughts upon retirement, including his attachment to the members with whom he had come in contact during his service.

President Dvoretzky praised Ed Hartley’s dedication and devotion to his position, and stated that the transition was “purring like a tomcat in a creamery.” The assemblage feted Mr. Hartley with a standing ovation. A motion to accept the reports was made, seconded, and passed with one dissenting vote.

President Dvoretzky commented that, 25 years ago, when AHSOW first got started, it was essentially a social club. The members were, he said, a bunch of guys who got together to woodshed to their hearts delight and who were pretty much left alone and who pretty much left everyone else alone. Now, he observed, AHSOW has more members than two or three of the districts in the Society. We have an international reputation. We have reached the point at which we are trying to operate under an old administrative structure that is less than healthy for the organization, and we essentially rely on two people to do all of the work. If anything had happened to one of them in particular, we would be in deep trouble.

Therefore, last fall, when this individual announced his retirement, it became necessary to restructure some positions on the AHSOW board that would lead to more participation and more member services. The spreading out of duties would make it possible for more work—and more effective work--to be done on behalf of the members. He called attention to a chart which had been distributed to the assemblage. This chart was a diagram of the new positions on the proposed restructured board. He reminded the assemblage that for years the AHSOW Board of Directors had been made up of six officers and five at-large members. There was always a question about the role of the at-large members, he noted, and as a result one or two people on the board ended up doing 95% of the work.

There were two possible courses of action that could be taken at this meeting, he said. Bearing in mind the retirement of one who had done so much work, one of these courses was to do nothing and let a future AHSOW president stand before the assemblage and say that AHSOW could not continue its operations so that we have to close the doors. The other course of action would be to grab the bull by the horns and make sure that this sort of thing would never occur. Two months earlier, he said, the AHSOW Board of Directors approved the positions diagrammed on a chart which attendees had picked up on entering the room.

Noting that the interactive nature of the new positions had been shown on the chart, President Dvoretzky said that some of the new positions needed explanation. The Information Specialist, for example, would handle the membership duties which had previously been handled by the Manager/Treasurer. He would handle the membership records and manage them both to suit internal AHSOW purposes and to let members know about woodshedders who lived in their area. This individual, he said, had already gotten a running start on his new position by meeting with Society officials who were in “violent agreement” that the Society should assist AHSOW with membership concerns. One result of this meeting would be that AHSOW would be able to identify men who were up to date on their AHSOW dues, but whose Society membership had lapsed. This would make it possible to bring those members back into the Society. The Society had also agreed to bill AHSOW members for their AHSOW dues at the time it billed them for their Society dues.

The Manager of Publicity and Promotion would seek to publicize and promote AHSOW in every way. This had been essentially a one-man effort to this point, and this was unhealthy for the organization because if only one person is doing widespread promotion, the message can become a bit stale. The person serving in the new position would seek input from others and possibly form his own committee.

The Director of Commerce would manage AHSOW’s lines of merchandise. The Logistics Vice Presidents would work with districts’ music leaders, the district educators and certifiers, so that they could concentrate on providing a satisfying music experience, rather that being distracted by administrative details.

The Manager of Member Service would receive members’ ideas and constructive comments and criticisms. He would concentrate on finding ways in which the membership could be served better.

President Dvoretzky stated that he was very glad that the board had approved the new structure because under the new structure a multiplicity of duties could be delegated to some very fine people. The proposed new structure would allow additional training, promoting and supporting because of the presence of people on the team who could do these things.

Tom Wiener moved that the changes to the Bylaws be adopted. Casey Parker seconded the motion.

The question was called. John Plazek raised a point of order, stating that some AHSOW members—those without e-mail—had not been notified of the proposed changes to the bylaws. Following considerable discussion, Russ Seely said that it appeared that there was major overlapping of the old bylaws and the proposed bylaws, and he made a motion that the motion to restructure the bylaws be tabled until a complete set of bylaws dealing with the restructuring of the board of directors could be offered to the membership. John Plazek seconded the motion. There followed a discussion in which Parliamentarian Rodney Sparks addressed some of the issues on the speakerphone. Mr. Sparks’ final comment was that motion to table was the motion on which the assemblage should vote. If the motion carried, he said, the meeting should be adjourned and a copy of the proposed bylaw changes restructuring the board should be distributed to those who did not have e-mail. “Then, he said, “conduct a vote by a written ballot—and an e-mail ballot—get them certified again by the old secretarial position, and then start to put the organization back together.” The motion to table was passed by an approximate 18-4 margin, and President Dvoretzky adjourned the meeting. Following additional comments regarding procedure, Parliamentarian Sparks ruled that the meeting had been adjourned, and that there was no opportunity for further business. President Dvoretzky, noting that he respected the ruling, again declared the meeting adjourned.

A request was made to reopen the meeting. After still further discussion, President Dvoretzky stated that before a special meeting could be called, not fewer than one-fifth of the organization’s members must be present. Since this number was obviously not present, the meeting could not be reopened.

He accordingly, again, declared the meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Fred Hinesley

Secretary