[Morison]

Nice ... quorum for an agm is set at 51% of the membership in the current MAAC bylaws ... and the new corporations act for not for profit agencies reads:
"Quorum of members - Unless the by-laws provide otherwise, a quorum of members would be considered to be present at a meeting of members if the members entitled to cast a majority of the total number of votes are present or represented by a proxy. If a quorum of members is not present at the opening of a meeting, the members could adjourn the meeting to another time and place, but they would not be allowed to transact any other business. A quorum of members would be maintained so long as there was a quorum at the opening of a meeting."

[Kevin McGrath]

I didnt say I liked having to do it this way Keith.

So, we have to rustle up about 6,500 votes in body or proxy by the end of next week, correct? This could be interesting. It would make sense then to reduce the Quorum figure. However this can only be done by resolution and voted on at an AGM. How will that happen if we cannot establish a Quorum in the first place?

Too late for this year but maybe we could add a proxy form to the membership renewal form. Even that is not ideal from a timing standpoint. Any other ideas?

Ed S

[Kevin McGrath]

We shall definitley have a quorum Ed,but being forced to use this new system at the 11th hour may bring some strange results at this AGM depending on who is packing proxies and what their ideas are........too early to say really.
As Keith says a redistribution of the voting areas (zones) may be necessary in the long run,but its hard to say at this point.
The board is going to have to wrestle with all of this next week at their meetings and come up with a better way to meet the corporate laws of the land.

[nony]

At this point, all we can do is pass the word around to every modeler. Each of us needs to support our ZD and zone to ensure fair representation across the board.

[Morison]

Kevin, Sorry if you thought I was directing anything at you ... I wasn't.
I know you say that MAAC will hava quorum at the AGM, but I think that is a bigger task than you think. It could be suggested that a change to a 5% quorum (which is the actual mandate strength of the board - it only takes 5% to elect them) - but that just ain't the case. As Ed pointed out - to change the exisiting bylaws,(even to make them compliant) you need 75% of the board and 51% of the members.

The only thing that could solve this is - for this year and maybe the next - woudl be for the board to take a poll based on the old (illegal) power structure and have the AGM vote in accordance with the poll.

sigh

[Kevin McGrath]

Did not think for a minute you were shooting at me...........the quorum thing involves other rules but believe me the quorum will not be a problem.I am concerned about representation.
However rather than discuss it to death here I would suggest anyone who is interested contact their ZD.You and ED will find Jim and Gerry well informed.
Usually by now someone with an agenda or strong opinion gets agressive in these type of threads and poor old Jason has to play the heavy again to keep things civil.
Hopefully good direction is going to come out of the AGM and I think most of the board would agree this upcoming meeting is being approached by most board members in a far more positive fashion than the last few years.This comment is not a criticism of the the last few executive committees or boards,merely a reflection of the fact that it has been a relatively peaceful year and most of us including me have learned to play nicer with the other kids.All of us have served on the board before which makes things much easier too.

I am inclined to agree with Keith regarding the establishing of a quorum. My figure was somewhere close was it not, 6500 members? I did not bother to send my ZD a proxy form because up until this ruling he had my vote anyway.

As soon as I read the new rule I endeavoured to get a proxy to him. I had already disposed of the Magazine so I went to the MAAC site and downloaded a proxy form. I filled it out with the intention of faxing it to the ZD. He does not have a fax number. So I scanned it into a word document and attached it to an email. For some reason it would not send, maybe the doc. was too large. How many members have the equipment or the motivation to do all that? I will call him and see if he has a way to get it.

I may fax it into the office.

Ed S

[Morison]

Ed,
Quarum is set based on memberships in force at the time of the AGM ... so MAAC is fortunate to only need in the range of 4,000 proxies, unless there is a rush for renewals.
The systemic problem that this will cause is that the large population regions of BC and Alberta have reasonable flying weather through the entire year - leading to a higher renewal levels by the time of the AGM They are BOTH large zones in area. Moving the membership out of a mode of political apathy, and then ALSO confirming tha the proxies collected are VALID will be a problem (4000 proxies would take about 8-11 hours to confirm)

[Kevin McGrath]

Ed and Keith..........
Please accept the fact that a Quorum for the AGM is 25 votes and that establishing a Quorum to be able to transact business is not a problem.
I really dont think it would serve any purpose to get into a long discussion here but I assure you this has been checked out by all the experts from all the corners of the room and also Industry Canada as recently as yesterday,and all agree on the Quorum number and there is no dispute.

However the gathering of proxies at the last minute for voting purposes is far from ideal ,since fair representation of the members is far from assured.
Keith hit it on the head with his remarks regarding density in the zones IMO.
All the zone directors are up to speed on this situation so if anyone needs to understand the situation better,contact yours.