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View Full Version : Ag. Item # 15 – Discussion Only of Motion 2010-11 – Role of the FIDE Representative (



Bob Armstrong
04-08-2010, 08:15 AM
In this thread, we will debate this motion. But we will not vote on it at this meeting, since in the GL it is only up now for “ first discussion “. The voting on it will take place at the July AGM. But we should debate it now, as the first discussion.

Here is the motion:

Motion # 2010-11 – New Section of Bylaw 3, Duties of Officers, Section 8D– FIDE Representative
Revision # 3, Dec.22, 2009

Moved: Hal Bond Seconded: Robert Armstrong

That there be added to Bylaw 3 , Duties of Officers, a new Section 8D dealing with “ FIDE Representative “, as follows:

FIDE Representative

8D. The FIDE ( Federation Internationale des Echecs ) Representative shall be an officer of the corporation and a member of the Executive, and shall:

i) be the official liaison between the Chess Federation of Canada and FIDE;
ii) be the FIDE Zone President for Canada
iii) deal with matters relating to the FIDE Americas Continent;
iv) if funding is available, at minimum, attend the annual FIDE Congresses;
v) work with the Public Relations Coordinator in dealing with mainstream media on chess promotion as it relates to FIDE issues.

Egidijus Zeromskis
04-08-2010, 09:35 AM
"with the Public Relations Coordinator"

I think there is no such position yet. Thus, the motion is with a flaw.

Bob Armstrong
04-08-2010, 09:56 AM
Hi Egis:

" Bylaw # 2

10. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Assembly and shall be constituted by seven persons, namely, the President, Vice-President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, FIDE Representative and Rating Auditor ( note that this seems to be an update that has been missed - the youth coordinator has now replaced the rating auditor on the Executive ) "

I think you are not right on this point. The FIDE Representative is an Executive position already, as above. We are just amending the Handbook to clarify his role in Bylaw 3.

However, in another regard, I think you riase a valid point - We had assumed the Bylaw # 3 amendments re the new Tournament Coordinator and Public Relations Coordinator were the only amdments required. But on seeing the Bylaw # 2, section 10 above it seems we also have now to amend this section to put these two positions into the Executive - it is not enough just to put their roles into Bylaw # 3.

So, it appears we must also amend the Bylaw # 2 section to now include the Public Relations Coordinator and the new Tournament Coordinator .

We will now bring this necessary companion motion. Thanks.

Bob

Egidijus Zeromskis
04-08-2010, 10:05 AM
Hi Egis:

" Bylaw # 2

10. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Assembly and shall be constituted by seven persons, namely, the President, Vice-President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, FIDE Representative and Rating Auditor ( note that this seems to be an update that has been missed - the youth coordinator has now replaced the rating auditor on the Executive ) "

I think you are not right on this point. The FIDE Representative is an Executive position already, as above. We are just amending the Handbook to clarify his role in Bylaw 3.

However, in another regard, I think you riase a valid point - We had assumed the Bylaw # 3 amendments re the new Tournament Coordinator and Public Relations Coordinator were the only amdments required. But on seeing the Bylaw # 2, section 10 above it seems we also have now to amend this section to put these two positions into the Executive - it is not enough just to put their roles into Bylaw # 3.

So, it appears we must also amend the Bylaw # 2 section to now include the Public Relations Coordinator and the new Tournament Coordinator .

We will now bring this necessary companion motion. Thanks.

Bob

Bob, I was writing only about "the Public Relations Coordinator" in this Motion. I think it is a bad practice to include terms/positions/officers in the Constitution who are not described in the Constitution.

Bob Armstrong
04-08-2010, 10:12 AM
Hi Egis:

Sorry I misread your post. We both agree the positions of Tournament Coordinator and Public Relations Coordinator must first be put into Bylaw # 2, Section 10. As I said above, we will now do that, to make our " roles " amendments valid. Thanks.

Bob

Les Bunning
04-08-2010, 04:43 PM
WE do not have to amend BYLAW #2. It already provides for the appointment of officers. Officers are not members of the Board of Directors nor should the be.
Les Bunning

Bob Armstrong
04-08-2010, 05:02 PM
Hi Les:

We did not just want the Tournament Coordinator, and Public Relations Coordinator, to be officers, like the Master's Representative, the Women's Coordinator and the Rating Auditor. They are not governors nor part of the Executive.

We want these positions to have weight - we want them to be governors, and we want them to be on the Executive, elected by the CFC Governors at the AGM. Here they can have some serious influence in carrying out their respective roles, and in influencing the course of the CFC by having a vote in the executive.

Is there a problem with this that we don't see? Increasing the Board of Directors by 2 with the Ministry isn't a problem legally, as far as I know - just some paperwork.

We are doing this by amending both Bylaw 2, section 10, and Bylaw 3, Duties of Officers, in the same motion. I have now filed the amended motions with Lyle.

Bob

Les Bunning
04-08-2010, 05:57 PM
All persons elected or appointed as CFC officers are governors, except the executive director. In my opinion expanding the number of members on the CFC executive is non productive. Bob, you seem to want to have your say in the governance of the CFC but do not want the responsibility of being on the executive.
Please send me your "legal opinion" on the role of the governors. I can advise that this matter was discussed extensively when the CFC was first incorporated and at that time ABE YANOFSKY Q.C, a prominent winnipeg lawyer and grandmaster was of the opinion that the CFC governors were the equivalent of the shareholders.
Les Bunning

Les Bunning
04-08-2010, 06:03 PM
ByLAW #2 article 20 specifies that all officers are governors except the executive director.
Les Bunning

Bob Armstrong
04-08-2010, 11:22 PM
Hi Les:

With all due respect to Abe and you, I think you are both wrong.

I'll forward the article.

As to all officers being governors, I was told the Masters' Rep, the Women's Coordinator and the Rating Auditor were not governors, though non-executive officers. I don't remember if I checked the Handbook at the time to confirm this. I will now, in light of your comment - and I will review Bylaw 2, section 20. Thanks.

Bob

Christopher Mallon
04-09-2010, 05:44 AM
I agree with Les. The Executive is big enough.

Hal Bond
04-09-2010, 10:41 AM
Sorry to disappoint you Les - but I agree with you!

We don't need to expand the Executive. Various Co-ordinators are consulted when their input is sought. In my experience their input does have weight.

Bob Armstrong
04-09-2010, 11:09 AM
Hi Hal:

Who ever hears " boo " from the current non-Executive officers - Masters' Representative, Women's Coordinator, and Rating Auditor??

No weight because not on the Executive !

Bob

John Coleman
04-09-2010, 11:15 AM
I believe that at least two of the three you mention don't contribute because they are not interested in chess governance. Probably a sign of wisdom. :)

I fail to understand why people volunteer for a position, and then don't do anything at all. The first requirement for a volunteer is willingness.

Christopher Mallon
04-09-2010, 06:21 PM
We can go years without the rating auditor doing anything at all (apparently).

The Master's Rep actually was on the executive one year at least (2006-2007) to maintain an odd number, with no Past President.

Bob Armstrong
04-10-2010, 02:48 AM
Hi Les:

Bylaw # 2

18. OFFICERS

The Officers of the Federation shall be

the members of the Board of Directors;

the Masters Representative;

the Women’s Co-ordinator;

the Junior Co-ordinator ( note - by motion, the position of the rating auditor and junior coordinator ( properly called now the Youth Coordinator ) were switched - so the Youth Coordinator is now on the Board of Directors/Executive, and the rating auditor is now a non-Executive officer );

the Executive Director; and

any other general Officer who may be elected at the annual meeting of the Assembly or appointed as an Officer from the Assembly by the Board of Directors between the annual meeting at the Assembly. Upon the vacation from office of any officer between the annual meeting the President may fill the vacancy for the rest of the term by way of appointment.

.....................

20. OFFICERS ARE GOVERNORS

With the exception of the Executive Directors those Officers who are not members of the incoming Assembly of Governors shall:

enjoy the same rights as the members of the incoming Assembly during their term of office and they shall be regarded as Governors at large not representing any particular province,

unless otherwise provided hold office until the next annual meeting of the Assembly or until their successors are elected or appointed in their stead.

Clearly from this you are correct. The non-Executive officers of Masters; Representative, Women's Coordinator and Rating Auditor are indeed governors, contrary to what I was advised when I became a governor. I will now add them to my list of governors and give them in future notices of this meeting.

Although section 20 allows for other non-executive officer positions to be created, GM Mark Bluvshtein, Michael von Keitz and myself are still of the view that the Tournament Coordinator, and Public Relations Coordinator, should become Executive officers, expanding the Board of Directors/Executive to 9 persons from 7 ( 6 currently since the Past President position is vacant ).

Bob

Hal Bond
04-10-2010, 09:30 AM
Bob - the Co-ordinators are heard from when their input is saught. The Master's Rep and Women's Co-odrinator are typically involved when the National Championships are pending, and the Olympic Co-ordinator gets busy at the appropriate times. Frankly I have less of an issue with their executive/non executive status than I have with your vision of Governors running the Federation.

Gordon Ritchie has articulated this position already. We need to simplify and streamline, not complicate and bloat. In the context of Governors, the higher the expectations, the bigger the diasppointment. How many times have you lamented the lack of Governor involvement? There simply isn't the interest at the Governor level to support increased responsibility. Who then would wish to serve on the Exec, where the will be judged for a performance that is hardly their own?

Bob Armstrong
04-10-2010, 09:50 AM
Hi Hal:

You ( Past President ), Chris Mallon ( Past President ), Les Bunning ( Past President ) and Governor Gordon Ritchie have all indicated you do not support the Tournament Coordinator and Public Relations Coordinator going onto the Executive. I consider this significant opposition - there has not been a lot of input into this issue by other governors, so I do not know if we may still have a majority of support for our position that to be influential, these positions must be actually on the Executive. I am aware of your concern that the Executive not be expanded, because CFC already has difficulty finding Candidates for the existing 6 Executive positions.

So, I will send your post and my reply post here, to GM Mark Bluvshtein, and Michael von Keitz, to ask them to review our position, and advise me if they still want to proceed with our 2 motions as is.

Thanks for your clear input on this - this is what governor dialogue is supposed to do - help each of us to evolve our positions on issues.

Bob

Patrick McDonald
04-10-2010, 10:42 AM
I will make this note: The year(s) that we had the Masters Rep as a part of the executive, he was most definitely an ACTIVE PARTICIPATING and valued member of the executive.

I know that I appreciated his input that (those?) year(s).

Bob Armstrong
04-10-2010, 11:42 AM
Please note that this is a thread on the FIDE Representative.

If you wish to continue the discussion on Tournament Coordinator or Public Relations Coordinator, there are now 2 " New Business " threads for this - Agenda Items 17B & 17C. Please make your posts there now. Thanks.

Bob

Egidijus Zeromskis
04-13-2010, 12:12 AM
Could anybody explain me, how Canadian representative(s) voted during the FIDE President elections. (a personal decision, a decision made by Execs, etc)

Christopher Mallon
04-13-2010, 12:14 AM
In the 2006 Election I believe it was an executive decision. In the past the Governors at the AGM have voted to give him specific instructions.

As far as FIDE is concerned though, the FIDE Rep is the Zonal President and doesn't necessarily have to answer to anyone lower except at election time.

Bob Armstrong
04-14-2010, 05:56 PM
Little debate – it was noted that the position requires a fair time and effort commitment. Also a question arose about our FIDE rep voting in the upcoming FIDE Presidential election ( expected to be between Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, incumbent and Anatoly Karpov ( former World Champion ) ). In the 2006 FIDE Presidential election , the vote by Canada was an executive decision. In the past the Governors at the AGM have voted to give the FIDE Rep. specific instructions.

As far as FIDE is concerned though, the FIDE Rep is the Zonal President and doesn't necessarily have to answer to anyone lower except at election time.

Is this summary generally satisfactory?

Bob