What do you want out or a club?

[Troy F]

I might as well start this off. If everyone could just follow suit and give your interpretation of what you want out of a local reef club.

First and foremost, I'd like to see a membership fee and fundraising with the main intent of bringing in a prominent figure in the hobby, scientific field or industry to lecture. I see this as a very viable possibility. Ron Shimek, Rob Toonen, Eric Borneman, Charles Delbeek, Richard Harker, Dana Riddle, Jerel ? etc. would be considerable speakers.

Another reason to collect dues would be to operate the club at a slightly more advanced level. We could use posters and other such advertisements to increase our exposure to hobbyists outside the club.

I think we need an elected body to run the club. I'm not an expert in governing assemblies but I'd think we'd need a treasurer, chairperson, vice-president and president. I think the membership should vote on the positions and anyone intersted in a position should/could step forward in this post. Don't be shy images/smiles/icon_smile.gif . I don't think the president and vice-president positions should both come from one side of the pond. I think both areas should have representation. The people in these positions would be responsible for organizing events according to the wishes of the club members. Most important in all of the above is that I will hold VETO power images/smiles/icon_wink.gif .

Continued sharing of ideas, frags, war stories and etc.

The January meeting at Victor's showed how big a club we have. I can think of five people that weren't there and I'm sure you each can think of other people that didn't make it. The possibilities are very open to whatever we decide.

PS: I swear I didn't make a typo in the title http://jabot2000.homestead.com/files/emoticons/shh.gif, there must be something wrong with the BB.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Troy F ]</p>

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

There was some talk about hosting a seperate site for the club. This is possible and it would cost about $10 to $30 a month to host with unlimited bandwidth (same hoster as canreef). So, this is a possibility. This hoster will probably survive this downturn, but I am not sure. Otherwise, most large hosters are offering around $5 per GB of bandwidth. Dedicate Co-site server start at $200 per month and up. So, hosting is not as expensive as we first thought and it can be support by our membership fees. UBB is $200 and $100 per year for updates.

http://www.ehosting.ca/welcome2.html

Hosting future meetings are going to be a big problem. The January meeting was fairly sizeable and I think I could have had an addition 10 people (standing room only)...but that's it. We might need to find another method of meeting and a different way of looking at other member's tanks (like a tank tour). Burnaby public library offers free meeting space and I am sure other public libraries are offering the same (or for a nominal fee).

We could also have guest speakers from our local experts (like Jamie, Darren, Dale D and others) to give us talks about fraging, DIY tips, and etc. And, we can get some of the universities involved and ask some of the not-so-well-known experts to give some talks. Some of the bigger name experts will cost us a lot of money, but we may be able to bring one of them in if we have enough cash.

In my humble view, I think the club should serve serveral purposes :
a) Provide a time and place for new and old reefers to get together and trade information/frags/ideas/equipment. This can be done with meetings, auctions and tank tours.
b) Keep reefers up to date with latest trends and technology by presentations and seminars from experts (local or abroad).
c) Arrange group purchases and distribute them at the meeting.

So, our club costs would only need to support the meeting place and a possible full blown club website. That would amount to about $120 to $500 over the year. This money can be raised in a number of ways including membership fees, raffles for equipment, or even auctions.

Getting discounts from our retailers are going to be tricky. I think we can get better deals if we buy in volume as a group purchase.

We should also make our presence more aware through newsletters and postings, but those are just some of my thoughts. As long as we don't end up like MASNA, we should be fine.

Does anybody know about a reef club that existed in Vancouver a long time ago ?

- Victor.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]</p>

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

One of the reasons why we can't host on say...my connection (ADSL....should we start another "discussion" about which is better ?), is the amount of bandwidth we are pass through. There are only 150 members on the board, and there have been 80000 hits in 2 months. With 100K page per hit, that's 8GB of data. Imagine if there were 500 members, we are looking at 20 to 50 GB of upload bandwidth per month. That's a lot of bandwidth and it would make Shaw/Telus very suspicous. Rogue FTP/HTTP servers (like warez/mp3) are easy to hide in Shaw/Telus networks, but a big discussion group with 20 to 50 GB of data transfer is not.

- Victor.

[Troy F]

We have a place for discussion here, there is no reason to spend club money on that in my opinion. If starting another discussion board is what you suggest using club money for I'd decline membership. There are just too many places out there to justify that particular use of funds. IF you are against continuing using canreef as your place of discussion there is space available over on reefcentral. As for a club page, Darren has the right idea about using his site for a information page. JMO.

[kris]

ummm i might be able to host a site... i don't need to worrie about the bandwith, just have to get the ok to do it. also i think an organized registerd club is a great idea, and i'll do what ever i can to help getting it going

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

I was just stating that hosting is possible. In any case, where can we spend membership money ?

1) Get experts from abroad to do a seminar. Well..that's almost $1000 right ? Or get local speakers for free.

2) Web site....$100s. Or use canreef's for free.

3) Publish in newspaper or Buy&sell...10s Or we can put up a sign in the LFSes for free.

I guess what I am getting at is do we really need to collect fees in the beginning (assuming we are working at slave labour rates). We probably want to build up credability, membership and visibility before we start charging fees. With a larger membership, we can easily impose a $5 admission charge to see Dr. Shimek do a seminar. It would be rather difficult to do the same thing with a smaller membership.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

I don't think the club page should be a BB as we have a great one here, shouldent the club web page just be info about the club and its members, a comming events page, and any sponcer links and such? something like that would have the same amount of hits as a regular web page and I would be willing to host a club webpage. I have a empty e-mail address yet so the club could have its own e-mail address also. mind you some one a little more creative than myself should design it images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Yah, that't the current plan until we get in to problems.
I think Darren is doing that.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

ok cool well if Darren needs a extra10 megs for pics and stuff he can let me know and I will give him some space.

Steve

[Reefmaster]

Hey guys. Sounds like the meeting this weekend was great, i'm disappointed i couldn't make it.

i'm at a bit of a deficit not having heard all that was discussed at the meeting, but i have some opinions on this topic images/smiles/icon_eek.gif (troy, i can just imagine ya going "oh no, here it comes" images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif ).

1) i strongly support the idea of an organized club with an elected body. i can think of a lot of benefits of doing this, and the only negative is the time people would be putting in to it. but for me, its not like work, or home chores, its something i enjoy mucking about with so i would gladly contribute time to it (just bloody great says tanja images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif ).

2) i'm gonna state this up front. i, just like most or all of you using this BB, are very greatful to titus for having set it up and having paid for it this far. titus, you've achieved a pretty remarkable feat in pulling as many local hobbyists together as you have, and for being the catalyst to meetings, friendships and discussion of a club. i have never and in no way would undermine that.
however there has been substantial reference in the past to the costs of maintaining the BB. we do have a great BB here (for free at that), but this isn't free for titus, and really, why should he be paying for the continuation of this board if it effectively is used by club members. i'm not suggesting we should just start up another and jump ship. not at all. i don't know what the best way of handling it is. but my point is that if we have a group of people, and this group incurs expenses (such as maintaining this board), then it's my opinion that membership fees should be paying for these expenses until such time as other avenues are available - sponsorship, raffles, etc. and if membership fees are going to assist in paying for this board, then an agreement has to be made between the club and titus. thats my thought at least.

the rest sounds great. i think some of you would be amazed at the buying power we could develop! shane

[StirCrazy]

reefburnaby, a club website isn't a business, so why can some one with shaw cable host it? I think a cable account would be more than enuf bandwidth for a "club" web forum. unless there is something in mind for this website that I don't know about. as for forum software there are freeware versions out there and less expensive versions also, I can check into that.

It is all fine and dandy to want to run out and buy a lot of stuff but I think if a club is going to be formed that there will be a membership dues then all options should be explored and then voted on by the members.

If the club is formed I also think that it should be a regestered organization so that there is acountability, not saying I think who ever is tresurer is going to run off with the money but 10 years down the line who knows who willbe here.. also you can get a cheep bank account that would require multiple sig's on a check to with draw money, so lets say if a expense is voted in the cheque needed to pay for it would have to have the president's sig and the tresurer'sig. There are laws out there that goveren the operation of a organization, I sugest we find a copy of them and check them out, as who knows maby we would be entitled to some sort of start up grant from the goverment, at the least it would explain what we need to Prove we are a regesterd organization to places that we might be seaking "discounts" or "special aarangements" from.

Steve

[canadawest]

I agree with much of the sentiments expressed above. I would like to see the club also evolve into an organized entity with an executive. My focus is also geared towards regular club meetings, knowledge exchange, frag trading, group purchases and local LFS discounts and possible sponsorships.

I like the idea of local experienced reefers doing seminars at meetings on topics such as fraging, DIY, coral care and propigation, etc.

I think membership fees are necessary to allow us to do things like eventually host our own webspace and discussion area. I also believe we have a vast pool of experience, knowledge and resources to draw upon within the membership of the club to help with such things as the creation and continuing publication of a club newsletter, production of club posters, etc.

Lets all post our input and start this new venture the right way.

[BCReefer]

My thoughts on the club:

1. We do need elected members – as I understand it we should have at least a President/Chairperson Vice President/Chair and Secretary/Treasurer and depending on the amount of member you have other members that could handle other departments. The President usually has the final vote if a tie takes place. I have down loaded the “Starting Your Own” Marine Aquarium Society from MASNA and I am going to contact Vancouver Volunteer, which is non-profit group who helps people start up non-profit societies.

2. A member ship fee should be levied as it makes the club more, IMHO, legitimate. The member ship dues would go to pay for stuff like advertising, paying for meeting rooms, mail outs, printing costs and other miscellaneous costs.

3. There would be 2 types of meetings, the monthly meeting where we can discuss the topic of the day, exchange frags, guest speakers, field trips or what ever we want to do. The 2nd type of meetings are were we as a society must bring in new bylaws and/or elect officials. An agenda must be drawn up in advanced and distributed to all members. The agenda should be followed closely so the meeting does not get off track but still allow for good discussions to take place.

4. From my experience in a Strata Council for my Condo building I understand the following - in the original meeting we would have to vote on the bylaws that would govern the society, these bylaws would be enforced until a AGM (annual general meeting) or a EGM is called (Emergency General Meeting). The memo on the meeting must be issued in advance so that all members have sufficient time to plan for the meeting (in my building it is 2 weeks).

5. I am very leery of having any major sponsors as many of us would feel obligated to shop at the sponsors store. I really believe that we should stay non-partisan so we do not get into any political battle between members over what each stores does or does not do. Today we could be happy with a certain store but in 2 years what happens if they get new owners/employees and some people feel slighted.

6. Politics will be the biggest stumbling block for this society to grow and thrive – as you can read on many of BB there are several ways to do everything and no one way is the best, yet when you get 20 people in a room there will be some heated discussion. The discussions themselves will not be the problem, it will the little groups that get organized with each thinking they are right. Because of this I feel strong about my point #5.

I will try and find out some information from the Vancouver site today and post my findings tonight.

Patrick

[BCReefer]

OK after E Mailing a few people and checking out some web sites I have found the following hints and recommendations:

Below is an E Mail from a person working at Vancouver Economic Development Commission.

You can go as far as you want in terms of the formality of your club or society structure. If you're going to do fundraising, set up club-sponsored events - anything that has to do with significant sums of money – for taxation and even liability purposes, you will probably have to consider incorporating. Basically, the government doesn't care if you want to get together - they just care that if you make any money, they know about it.

If you're going to collect dues and have a formal voting structure, you might want to draw up a society constitution, but unless it's formally incorporated, it has no legal status. For example, if you don't formally incorporate but collect dues, and then your treasurer runs off with the money, you don't really have any recourse, although you could try for small claims court. The only difference between a club and a non-profit is pretty much the scope of your activities.


I went to Toronto’s web site and I found some really good information that we could use as a guide to a set of bylaws and a constitution that we could adopt with any required changes.

Here is a link.

Toronto (http://www.mastcanada.org/)

Hope this information helps and I hope no one minds me posting this information so quick but once I get burr under my saddle I like to get things done ASAP. I really am excited about this club and I look forward to the exciting times coming up.

Patrick

[SuperFudge]

http://jabot2000.homestead.com/files/emoticons/lurk.gif

Wheres the emoticon for fence sitting?

[ 28 January 2002: Message edited by: Fudge ]</p>

[christyf5]

Hey guys,
Everything sounds great. I'm all for paying memberships for the club meetings and/or donations to Titus to keep the BB going. I don't think he should have to shoulder that alone (unless of course he finds some great sponsors to keep us going (which I will not feel obligated to shop at but hey if they sound good I'll check them out).
However, what I would not like to see is meetings where we get bogged down in semantics. Like deciding what our name should be or some such thing. I don't know how many "club" meetings I have gone to and people lose track of why we are there and you spend 3 hours arguing over the tiniest little point. Of course I know we are all more laid back than that images/smiles/icon_wink.gif
As for expectations, well I hope to learn as much as I can from you guys. The guest speaker idea totally rocks. Some things you just can't get from books.

Christy images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[naesco]

I have set up clubs as a Society in the past. Let me know if I can help.
Thank you

[DJ88]

Here we go huh?

Well I guess to start I will state where I feel a club should go and what I feel its aim should be.

Plain and simple, the advancement of the hobby in our area.

Through the following means;

<ul type="square"> Education of new people into the hobby with proper methods of caring for corals and fish alike. Education of new “reefers” through information being available about how to join or contact the club at LFS’s. In addition to the education means below. Education of the people who have been in the hobby for a longer period of time. Through informative discussion and sharing of ideas and info between members. Through meetings and seminars demonstrating new advances in the hobby given by speakers brought in for the express purpose of those seminars/meetings. Through trading of properly cared for frags of corals and where possible captive raised fish specimens. This being done not for profit but to help spread the use of these captive raised specimens rather than store bought wild caught specimens.
[/list:u:8bc6216ac1]

For each of those it is going to take a bit of discussion to exactly where we go with those three. But to me that is what is important. EDUCATION and CONSERVATION.

With each of those we can branch out and get into detail as desired.

I do think we should have an “elected” body. Basically there for organization and running of the needs of the organization. My worry there is about power and who has it. I like Troy’s Idea of for now having the main two people being taken from the mainland and island. This keeps us together as it is at this moment. With the net it is nothing to sit and communicate easily.

Web Site/forum

KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid

We have a great forum here. And I have about 50 megs of space available for a club web page. That is all we need. Why change what isn’t broke? Web page only. Titus has given us an area(this forum on his BB) for the Vancouver reef club. Lets use that. The Web Page will be for member info, a shot of members web pages. Listings of upcoming events such as bulk purchases, corals and fish arrivals at LFS’s, meetings etc. Nothing fancy. Once we get fancy we introduce too many things to work on. KISS holds true here.

Membership

I think a yearly due is a good idea. I don’t know about implementing it right now but give it a couple of months to iron out the details of a full-blown club. We are going to need some time to iron out the kinks about the club on its own. By adding cash into the mix we are looking at too many details at once to figure it all out.

These dues should be used towards things such as web page, membership cards(or whatever), speakers being brought in to have a more personal information session. Delbeek’s angel rearing in captivity has me amazed. Who wouldn’t want to pick the brain of Dana Riddle? I don’t know that the people newer to the hobby will know all the names but in time will grow to appreciate the knowledge base these people have. If we were to have 30 members it would cost about $40 per person to get a visit from the western US by someone like Rob Toonen. This money could also be raised through raffles, car washes etc. Dues could also be used to a degree towards renting a hall for larger meetings ie annual meeting for election of a board etc.

Associations with LFS’s

Mainly for posting of the club’s info for shoppers who don’t know about us. If the LFS wants to have their banner on our page so be it. Something will be worked out with them at that time. If not the only need I think we have from LFS’s is for that express purpose. The discount from J&L was nice. But even without it I will still shop there and have no qualms about paying full price for what I need. Maybe, and I stress maybe if we are doing large pooling orders then approach businesses about some form of discount.

Another reason I can foresee to have this relationship is for donations of small items to be used in raffles for fund raising.

Harassing these stores about petty things such as discounts for each end every purchase is not a major thing to push for in my books. It will turn around to bite us and they may not want us to put up a poster or banner letting new or old reef keepers about us. Keep our dealings with them for a poster for the club and that is it.
IF the store decides on it’ sown to be generous in some fashion so be it. We start harassing he stores for a few cents off we are biting the hands that feed us in many respects. I know that in my experiences with stores if you are a return repetitive customer to a store they tend to treat you well in time. Treat them with the respect they deserve for doing something that keeps you doing what you like and they may in turn be quite nice to you when you least expect it. I had three stores help me when my tank crashed. And that was all kinds of offers for help and assistance. Nothing asked for in return.
Advertising

Short n sweet. LFS’s and Papers such as buy and sell, Georgia straight etc.. Get exposure. Period. More exposure means more members. More members means more knowledge.

In time we can get more detailed with regards to this. At this time I think it is time we look at figuring out where we want to start. Start small. Then once we get one goal completed we look to the next. If we try to bite off too much and expect too much at once we are going to have a hard time at succeeding. Small steps. Lets get a consensus from everyone who wants to join, next comes name, election of officials, then dues etc etc etc. KISS. Best saying in the world IMO.

Wow.. my fingers hurt..

[Canadian]

Darren, would you care to elaborate on the concept of "...properly cared for frags of corals...?" I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at here. I presume, by the context in which you wrote the above quote, that it pertains to ensuring that existing club members and potential future members not haphazardly frag corals for each monthly meeting in an attempt to either pocket some cash or make trades. And that those who do bring frags to meetings do so with the intention of helping out other hobbyists and contributing to the distribution of captive raised corals thereby furthering the hobby locally.

Is this what you were getting at? images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

I'll post my thoughts about the club a little later when I'm not so busy studying.

[ 28 January 2002: Message edited by: Canadian ]</p>

[Reefmaster]

darren - just a follow up thought. i hope my post didn't suggest we should nickel and dime the stores that we shop at. actually, i was thinking of bulk orders of lr, ls, and even calc playground sand, things that could be MUCH cheaper if ordered in volume. just making sure that wasn't muddled in my earlier post. shane

[DJ88]

Nah Shane,

Got ya the first time. images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Bulk orders are a good plan.. and I think as more people want orders the web master for the site adds to the page up to the date of the order. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

My fear is if we start trying to nickel and dime the stores or pester them for discounts on individual purchases we may burn bridges.

This isn't a cheap hobby, but if we can make large orders they may be more willing to be "generous".

[ 28 January 2002: Message edited by: DJ88 ]</p>

[SuperFudge]

Some awesome idea`s!
I would gladly pay a due aswell.

Would this guest speaker talk only for an afternoon`s lecture?

Im also kinda partial to the Kiss method images/smiles/icon_wink.gif .


Marc.

[Silverfish]

Hmmm... there are some great ideas here. Keeping it simple has it's merits, as does going all-out and having a fully organized big-time club.

I have no problem with paying membership dues to help out in any way.

The discount idea is great, but it would not really affect me too much right now, so I can take it or leave it. I have resigned to the fact that this is too much fun to worry about nickels and dimes. images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

I like the meeting up part the best, and in a lot of ways you can get the most out of a club just from discussing ideas, and seeing what others are doing, or plan to do with their reefs.

Just one more thing... when do the nominations for the executive begin? images/smiles/icon_cool.gif

[Troy F]

I would suppose as soon as some people step forward and volunteer or nominate someone. I guess we should decide how many positions too.

[Acro]

Troy,Last I heard there were 101
(woops wrong board) images/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Troy F]

[ 31 January 2002: Message edited by: Troy F ]</p>

[Troy F]

Does anyone want to take the initiative to get this thing rolling again? We need people to step forward for positions to run the local club. It appears you are all to shy images/smiles/icon_wink.gif . If you are interested in the following positions: president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary, could you either private message or e-mail me. From there we can have Titus set up an on-line ballot like he did for the Tank of the Month. Let's get this thing going.

[DJ88]

Hey Troy,

I'll go for Chair. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Ok everyone else, let's get this thing started.

[canadawest]

I would like to take an exec role that isn't as critical as the ones mentioned above. How about VP of Membership or something similar?

[christyf5]

I would like to do something but being on the island I'm not sure if I can make it to all the meetings.

[BCReefer]

I would also volunteer. I am new to reef keeping but I have lots of experience in clubs and on councils.

May I suggest the following positions are required:

President/Chairperson
Vice President/Chair
Secretary/Treasurer
2 – 3 other members of the board who would hold internal positions like responsible for member ship, websites, putting together any club activity, marketing, advertising, etc.

Should we vote for people to form council, and then they would decide on who gets what position or vote for people for a particular position?

Patrick

[Troy F]

Christy, you don't have to make every meeting to be a part of the governing body/council, with e-mail, chat rooms and telephone you can be as involved as anyone.

[Silverfish]

I will volunteer for a position.. (except treasurer..don't want to handle the dough)

How bout you Troy? images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[SuperFudge]

Treasurer still open?....one for you,two for me....one for you,seven for me..... images/smiles/icon_wink.gif .J/K


Nothing big,im gunshy.....but im sure i must be good for something. images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif

Lemme know what i can help with,Marc.

[christyf5]

Well okay then. I'll volunteer for something. I don't really know what. Whats still up for grabs?? Jamie you got that list of 101 positions?? images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Aquattro]

Christy, tell us more about this list!! images/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[StirCrazy]

Ha, er... nevermind http://jabot2000.homestead.com/files/emoticons/ignore.gif

Steve

[Troy F]

Hi everyone, I count seven names so far. Christy, Darren, Andrew, Bruce, Marc, Scott and Patrick. With the exception of Darren, no one has specified what position they like the best images/smiles/icon_smile.gif (apparently Darren likes to be on top images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif ).

We can vote on the President/Chair and Vice-President but the position of treasurer/secretary should be given to the person that wants it unless there is more than one. It will require money management and taking notes at meetings.

Bruce, thanks for the vote of confidence but I go mad with power, oh yeah, and I'm lazy images/smiles/icon_wink.gif ...ps, don't forget that I hold veto power images/smiles/icon_smile.gif .

[christyf5]

Well I'm down with the whole treasurer/secretary thing. I love spending money, ahem I mean, I can certainly take notes during the meetings images/smiles/icon_razz.gif
But if anyone else wants it speak up. I don't think I'd be so hot as the prez/vice-prez. I'm a follower not a leader.

Christy images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[DJ88]

Hmmm Troy, Troy, Tory.. images/smiles/icon_wink.gif LOL!

[kris]

hey guys, and Patrick i can help out with any desighn stuff like logos, banners, web site desighn. i am set up to do that sort of thing so just let me know if i could help out with anything

[Troy F]

Darren, I don't understand, why are you chanting my name? images/smiles/icon_cool.gif Looks like there is lots of interest in running the club, I only hope there's as much interest when it comes time to pony up for the membership fees.

Patrick, with the membership size of say 25-30 would you agree we probably only need 4 people in the governing body? Oops, make that five (my position as the omnipotent veto holder lest you forget).

[BCReefer]

Have we decided on how many people we would like to elect?

As an example the Toronto club has 7 members on council with about 60 – 100 paid members that belong to the club. They have seen quite the rise in members over the past few months and the I spoke to the President last week just to see about how they started their constitution and bylaws. He is sending me a copy of their news letter as a reference and he gave me some useful information that I could pass on to the appropriate people i.e. like how to get advertisements by local or national companies in a quarterly newsletter etc.

If I was to promote myself for a position I would love to work with something like marketing/advertising newsletter type of position.

Patrick

[BCReefer]

For any size of club we could get away with 3 people, as everyone will always be helping anyways. If we wanted we could start with 4 – 5 people with a review in 6 months or we can just wait until next year. At that time the people on the council would have a good idea of how many people are needed.

The Toronto example was just to show how a fellow club is doing it. I agree with Troy that we could start off with 5 and go from there.

I really believe that we will start with 25 – 30 people but grow to 50 or more by summers end. I for one, am really excited about this club as it is going to give me a chance to not only see peoples tanks but to learn from the experts on stuff like lighting and fraggin, etc.

Just an FYI. To has seen quite the rise in member ships. They are currently getting 60 people at the last few meetings. They charge $25.00 per person and $35.00 for a family (spouse and young children only). They have given us permission to copy their bylaws etc and we could make any changes that we want.

Patrick

[Reefmaster]

here's an idea for consideration.
two vp's, one for lower mainland and one for vi. generally vp's are movers and shakers and the pres orchestrates the focus of others to reach the end goal.

i'm going to step up and make a couple nominations because that's usually how it is done:

1. troy for president because he's got tact
2. darren for vp-lower mainland because he is a mover and shaker
3. bruce for vp-vi because a guy as grey as him has gotta be really knowledgable
4. christy for secretary/treasurer because she can count to 101
5. patrick for communications (newsletter, marketing etc.)

if i could suggest addl positions be appointed as needed and those who want to be involved as more than members be appointed on council as "memers at large" - basically they are available for varied assignments. i think we need to get these nominations up and voted on to get this framework established before spring.
shane the one armed reefer

[StirCrazy]

something to concider that if you set up a bank account for the club and it required two sig's, (usaly the presadent and the treasur, set up this way so if the positions change it is simple to change at the bank) but they should be on the same side of the pond. otherwise it will be a logistical nightmare getting anything that requires money done.

Steve