 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group H1 Is Back, but Not to Stay! Lloyd Borrett |
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What Is H1?
H1 is the membership number of the founder of the Melbourne PC User Group, the first President, and only honorary life member, yours truly - Lloyd Borrett. And now H1 is the membership number of your group President.
Yes, a real blast from the past. About my only contact with the group over the last few years has been via PC Update magazine. I haven't even made it to monthly meetings. Shame on me!
A Problem?
0n Monday 4th May my phone rang and on the other end was a concerned long-time and active member of the group. I was told that there were problems within the committee, that two inserts had been sent out with the May magazine from two groups claiming to be the committee, and that threats of legal action were flowing from various parties. It was suggested I should look into the situation and see if a solution couldn't be found. (I had done this once before, many years ago.)
I asked that the inserts sent out with the May magazine and a copy of the constitution be faxed through to me. I then proceeded to phone a range of committee members, and active members, seeking more information.
I was given the impression that for some time there had been disharmony amongst the 15 people with claims to be on your committee. Now that is not an unusual situation, especially with large committees. Such disharmony does not necessarily stop them from getting their work done and indeed, can sometimes be a positive influence. But from the contents of the two magazine inserts, and what I was being told by most members, it was obvious that the situation with the committee of management of Melb PC was far more serious.
Allegations of misconduct, which if true could be extremely serious, were being made by some committee members against other committee members.
As a few of our past public officers had failed to lodge annual returns and changes to the constitution, there were doubts as to what the actual make-up of the committee should be. Everyone seemed to agree this particular matter should be resolved by having an August election, but there was disagreement about who should manage Melb PC during the interim three months.
Most importantly, it seemed some members were on the verge of deciding the court system was the only possible way of clearing up the allegations, the make-up of the committee, and who should be managing the group. Most agreed with me that this path could lead to great financial costs to the group, possible disruption to many member services, and thus should be avoided if at all possible.
I arranged a meeting with Giuseppe De Simone, a past treasurer, for Monday evening. Giuseppe agreed to help find a solution and offered his services if necessary. We studied the constitution, developed a possible solution, and put this solution to some of the committee members that night.
The Solution!
Essentially, the proposed solution was to have all 15 members with a claim to be on your committee agree to hand over control to an independent, and hopefully wise and responsible, minority in order to avoid further disharmony and possible great expense.
This was to be an interim committee of three independent members and one representative from each of what initially appeared to be two committee factions in dispute. (This became less clear in the coming days. The majority of the 15 committee members were totally unknown to me, which caused me to have to make snap judgments about where they stood and how they might react to various proposals. I apologise to any of the 15 who feel that because of this I may have treated them unfairly.)
George Skarbek, who is another long-standing member, Giuseppe De Simone, and I were to be the three independent committee members. George agreed to this when called on Tuesday morning.
During the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, people proceeded to come close to, and then back away from, various variations on the theme of the proposed solution.
On Wednesday at 4:30 pm in the bar of Clunies Ross House, all 15 members with a claim to be on the committee, George Skarbek and I met, I took the chair, and others arrived to look on. On at least four occasions we had everyone in agreement only to see it immediately break down and the whole process begin again. At the very last minute, about 6:15 pm, all 15 committee members agreed to a solution that stuck.
I think it is important to stop and consider just what those 15 people did. They all put aside their personal views and placed their trust in a group of five members, the majority of which they knew by reputation only. Giuseppe, George and I have nothing but the greatest respect that 15 highly experienced and professional members were prepared to trust us to take what is effectively control of this great group until the August elections.
The Mechanics
Between 6:15 pm and 6:30 pm we quickly went through a process where all 15 committee members handed witnessed letters of resignation from the committee to Giuseppe, George and myself, acting as independent brokers. All but two of these were handed by us to the secretary during a committee meeting. The two remaining committee members then co-opted the three independent members on to the committee. The three independent committee members then accepted the resignations of the remaining two previous committee members, and co-opted two others on to the committee. Everyone then went downstairs to join the May general meeting, and I announced the outcome to the meeting. The meeting moved and unanimously passed a motion endorsing the final solution. I think it is then, as I looked at Giuseppe and George, that I became aware of the enormous responsibility we three had been given. We hope that in the coming months we will prove the trust so many have shown in us is not misplaced.
The Interim Committee
What we now have is an interim Committee of five members whose duty is to maintain your services and see the group through to an Annual General Meeting in August. As much as is possible the interim committee will be trying to maintain the status quo, though there is some debate as to what that
is!
Below you will find a list of extensions to standing orders for the interim committee all live members have agreed to. These are intended to extend your access to committee meetings, and give us better control of the groups functions.
The three independent and executive committee members are Lloyd Borrett (President), Giuseppe De Simone (Treasurer), and George Skarbek (Secretary). The two ordinary members of committee are Spen Ingamells and Charles Wright.
The three independent committee members will not be standing for election in August.
It will be up to you, the members, to review the campaign material put to you in the period leading up to the August elections by those that stand for election. You must decide for yourselves who should be on your new committee.
The Future
Melb PC Is the most successful group of its kind in Australia, possibly the world. I expect that to continue to be the case as all members rally around to see us through what I hope will be seen in many years time as merely a minor glitch along the way to an even better future.
If you have been an active member of the group we ask that you continue to help out. If you have been inactive but thinking about doing something then now would be a great time to come forward. The rest of you should just keep trying to get the most out of the full range of services available to all members.
In November 1993, Melb PC will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of its first meeting. I hope there will be more than 10,000 members to participate in those celebrations and that the services available at that time will be the best ever during those ten years.
George, Giuseppe and I expect to be there, joining in those celebrations and praising the work of the committee which, in all likelihood, will be the one you elect in August this year.
P.S.
I still haven't got my May magazine. Did someone change the membership program again and forget to generate a mailing label for the "H" member category? <grin>
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Standing Order Extension Interim Committee of Management, Melbourne PC User Group Inc. Committee Meetings 1. All members of the Melbourne PC User Group are hereby given per-mission to attend all meetings of the Interim Committee of Management. 2. Notice of all Interim Committee of Management meetings should be published in PC Update and on the Melb PC BBS where possible to do so. 3. The chairman of the committee meetings may upon reasonable request permit non-committee members to speak to the meeting. Publications 4. All publications of the Melbourne PC User Group must be approved by the Interim Committee of Management before being sent for printing. 5. If the committee cannot agree to the contents of any item in any publication being published, that section shall be replaced by an item agreed to by the committee. 6. No publication, or insert, may be distributed to members without writ-ten authorisation to do so by the Interim Committee of Management. Access to Melb PC Records 7. No member, or member of the committee, will be given access to Melb PC records except when accompanied by one of the three "independent" members of the Interim Committee of Management, or upon presentation of a document from the Interim Committee of Management granting access for the purposes declared. Law and Order 8. If the Interim Committee of Management believes a member is guilty of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the group then the commit-tee will by resolution suspend the member from membership of Melb PC for a period of at least four months. Signed by:
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Reprinted from the June 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
