may/june 2008

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Region 8 REPORT
Follow Up

BY JOHN NEUMAN, DIRECTOR
The first Alaska Honorable Service Medal will be awarded at Wasilla on April 26 to veterans from twenty organizations by the VVA State Council. Oregon honored veterans of all eras at the Women’s Tri State Convention in Pendleton on April. Some 360 women veterans were honored by members from VVA Chapter 392. Over 1,000 veterans will be receiving medals in an event sponsored by VVA Chapter 411 in Newport, Oregon, April 29-May 5. Over 500 veterans will be honored in Burns, Oregon, on May 23 by VVA and 1,000-plus veterans in Grants Pass from May 24-26 by Chapter 867.

National Committee reports and updates are available on-line, and any chapter can have a website posted on our national site for only $25 a year. Please contact me for details. Four motions from Region 8 were unveiled at the April BOD meeting and will be pursued as motions and amendments for the 2009 National Convention. In brief, they include: 1) A Constitutional Amendment that defines “approval by 2/3rds of the BOD” to mean an actual number that reaches or exceeds 2/3 of the total number. 2) Currently, only when a Regional Director is “sick” can the alternate vote. There is no exception. Family needs and emergency situations require changing “sick” to “unavailable.” 3) A suggested ceiling on any financial request to make it more difficult, rather than easier, to alter budgeted expenses. 4) Require advance notice of pending motions to allow BOD members the opportunity to seek input from the membership.

All committee hearings in some states are held by conference calls, since travel continues to be a major expense. By using this technology, we could save over $40,000 on average for each committee meeting. It also will allow motions to be presented in advance of BOD meetings.

An average Board of Directors meeting consists of 7-10 members. For each member to spend only five minutes voicing his or her thoughts, it takes two hours to go around the table. Standard procedure in VVA has been to curtail discussion and call for votes, rather than alter the time by simplifying the number. Half of the Board consists of at-large members; each Region has only one. If we trim at-large members to only one, we cut the body down to a manageable size, save $10,000 in expenses alone, thus saving everyone time, effort, and money. This requires an Amendment to our Constitution.