May 2012
Greetings!
“Use it or lose it!” This has been a rallying cry to make sure
that all of us use the spectrum that has been given to us. This spectrum would
be worth billions to commercial interests were it taken away from us; realistic
or not, it is a reminder to all to keep the frequencies in use.
The phrase has also been used to encourage people to exercise their right to
vote on Election Day. The cynic would argue that if you do not use it, someone
will eventually come along and make your life easier by removing the burden of
voting from you. I don‹t believe that any one of us would be willing to
accept that.
LIMARC is a corporation governed by federal and state regulations. Members
of the corporation are considered to be shareholders in the corporation. Most
corporations have a shareholders› meeting once a year and the
shareholders must be notified of that meeting. LIMARC has a
shareholders› meeting every month. It is called the general meeting.
Members are notified each month of the time and place of the meeting because a
vote can take place at any meeting and the members have the right to vote on
the issues at hand. To conduct a vote, we need to have a quorum which consists
of 10% of the eligible membership present at the meeting.
In the larger scheme of things, we know that LIMARC is not a top priority
for most. And that is okay. The overall day to day operations are handled by
the Board, the officers, the committee chairs, and volunteers. The problem is
that without a quorum to vote on issues that affect the corporation, our
ability to run the club is often stymied. If, for example, we needed to make an
expenditure in excess of $1,000, a membership vote is required. With no quorum,
there is no vote, and potentially no repeaters until a quorum can be
established.
A quorum, once established, is not broken because you have to leave.
Theoretically you can stop in, sign in, and leave. Of course we hope that you
will stay. In any event, without a quorum it is difficult to function.
We do have a remedy. We can petition the state to allow us to have a quorum
established by a number that is less than 10% of the membership. We can explain
to the state, that although we have almost 400 members, it is difficult to get
40 people to a meeting, so please allow as little as 10 people to constitute a
quorum. I do not think that anyone really wants that to happen.
Please! Take your responsibility to LIMARC seriously, and make an effort to
help us establish a quorum each and every month. “Use it or lose
it!”