FMCA Insights
By Ross Boyer, F268985
Great Lakes Area Vice President
February 2008
FMCA has committees that research and recommend changes in direction and improvements for the benefit of FMCA members and report these findings to the Executive Board and the Governing Board. The committees are made up of volunteers who care about the association and are willing to work to make it better.
Most of FMCA’s committees meet during a two-week period in the months of November and May. The Policy and Procedure Committee is one of them. The current committee members are Paulette Boyd, F205624, Western Area; Gary Smith, F155557, Rocky Mountain Area; and Beverly Stear, F210259, Midwest Area. I am the Great Lakes Area vice president and committee chairman.
Gary Smith is the only returning member to the committee from last year. All the rest of us are new, but we are experienced in working with procedures or bylaw writing and revising from other positions or work experiences. In addition, Connie Pool, FMCA national president, is an ex officio member and past chairman of the committee. Don Eversmann, FMCA executive director, is the adviser to the committee.
The committee members are from different geographic areas of our organization, providing the views of a cross-section of the membership, and not just of one faction or group.
This past November the Policy and Procedure Committee was the first to meet during the committee meetings at the Cincinnati office. We had a very full agenda to accomplish in a one-day session. Twenty-six Policies and Procedures were reviewed by the committee. Most of these were needed because of the 2008 budget, as approved by the Governing Board.
The amount of work that was accomplished in this short meeting could not have been done had the committee members not prepared themselves in advance. We had about one month before the meeting to review the proposed documents. Via e-mail, we shared comments related to these proposals. Some were resolved through the e-mail discussion and others were not. But whether we agreed or disagreed, the result was that we all were well prepared to present our opinions for discussion and resolution when we met.
The meeting resulted in 21 recommendations being forwarded to the Executive Board for their review, and requests that three Policies and Procedures be reviewed by other committees before our committee could take further action. Two other Policies and Procedures were reviewed, but no action was taken on them at that time.
FMCA’s Bylaws state that the Policy and Procedure Committee, a standing committee, “initiates and/or considers all proposed changes, additions, deletions, amendments, or revisions to FMCA’s Member and Volunteer Handbook, and reports to the Governing Board,” and “The Committee presents proposed amendments to the Executive Board for its review, discussion, and/or approval as appropriate.” That is the reason the Policy and Procedure Committee is needed and continues to function.
One might ask why FMCA members want to serve on this committee. Each member would have a different reason, but their reasons could all be classified into wanting to contribute to an organization that they have served in the past in other positions, having related experiences that would make them useful in this particular committee “” plus, for the fun of it. Yes, the fun of it. Although a lot of hard work goes into being a committee member, the personal satisfaction of doing a task well makes the work rewarding in its own right.