Governor Activity Rule - Motion 2010-5

[Bob Armstrong]

" Motion 2010-05 – Governor Activity Rule

Moved: Bob Armstrong; Seconded: Jason Lohner

( submitted on behalf of the CFC Constitutional Coalition, a grassroots’ group of about 40 ordinary CFC members and a few governors, named below in the Notes )
(I’ve [ Secretary Lyle Craver ] removed the list as it’s the same list presented in GL#1 – ed.)

There shall be added to CFC By-law # 2, a new section 23 as follows:

“ 23. Governor Inactivity Rule

Any governor, no matter whether provincial representative governor, or governor at large, including the Executive, appointees, etc., who does not vote, move/second a motion, or make a comment ( on a motion
or generally ), in two consecutive Governors’ Letters, shall be removed from office, and their position shall no longer be part of a quorum until their replacement, if any. Should it happen that in a GL there are no motions for either discussion or vote, then that GL shall not be counted for the purposes of this section. Once removed, the Governor and his provincial body/appointing body shall be notified. A request that a by-election be held to fill the vacancy shall also be made to the provincial/territorial organization or that the appointing body appoint a replacement, for the balance of the removed governor’s term. "

Commentary:

In the 2008-9 year, except for the first four motions of the year ( critical CFC restructuring motions in September 2008 ), all motions subsequently have received less than 50 % vote ( some much less ), including the motions at the outgoing governors July 2009 AGM ( including proxies ). Many governors seldom make any comments on motions for discussion, or generally. This participation rate by governors is abysmal. If governors do not want to be involved in governing the CFC, then they should not have stood for office, whether provincial representative, or governor at large representative. It makes the membership skeptical about the governance of the CFC by such neglect of participation. It demoralizes those who are active governors, because they are expecting other governors to share the load, and find there are not other hands to pitch in.
Lastly if a constitutional amendment to the CFC Handbook is brought outside of an AGM, the motion not only requires a 2/3 majority, but also a quorum of 50% of the eligible votes. With governors voting less than 50%, constitutional motions cannot be passed outside of the AGM – this is intolerable for an organization that is trying to keep itself legally up-to-date.

Some have suggested that the period of grace should be longer – no communication/vote for 3 consecutive GL’s. Others want the governors to vote on at least one motion every GL, or at least make a comment. We have picked the middle ground of 2 GL’s – no appearance for 2 GL’s, and the governor is removed.
Also, there is an issue of whether the Provincial Association/ appointing body should be able to replace a removed governor. We felt that allowing replacement let the provincial affiliate/appointing body off the hook. They elect/appoint the governors, and we felt they should be taking care that they are good active governors. If they can always replace deadwood governors with other deadwood governors, and never exercise responsible oversight on their governors, what incentive is there for them to ever take the CFC governance seriously? However, if it means they lose a vote for a full balance of the offending governors’ term, maybe next time they will be more careful about whom they elect.
However, it seemed many opposed our view on replacement. As well there was motion 2002-02 in 2001-2 GL 5 that said re governors who were not CFC members, or who had let their membership lapse:

Any provincially elected Governor found not to be a CFC member in good standing shall have his/her voting privileges suspended. Once suspended, the Governor and his provincial body shall be notified and requested to bring his/her membership into good standing not later that 30 days from his/her election or expiration of membership. In the event that the Governor's membership still not be in good standing 30 days after suspension, the president of the provincial/territorial organization and the Governor shall be
notified that the Governor's seat is declared vacant. A request that a by-election be held to fill the vacancy shall also be made to the provincial/territorial organization [ bolding added ]. "

This appears to be a strong CFC precedent for allowing replacement of “ suspended “ governors.
So we have abandoned our desired position, and adopted the procedure of this CFC precedent ( we are indebted to Governor Egis Zeromskis for drawing our attention to this motion )..
We tried to reduce the number of provincial representation governors ( Motion 2009-14 ) at the July AGM, and it failed to get the 2/3 majority required for a constitutional amendment. One comment from many governors was that an activity requirement rule should precede any action to reduce the number of governors. So we have listened to this criticism and are now bringing this activity motion, as seemed to be desired by many governors.
The CFC needs the help of all governors, and the contribution of all their opinions, to help the CFC run at its best. The first duty of governors is to govern; secondarily, it is expected that the governors will also promote chess in various ways. Governors need to debate with each other in the GL ( and on the Governors’ Discussion Board and the CFC members CFC Chess Forum ) in order to get sound governance decisions. That is why we have such an extensive number of governors. If they do not participate, one wonders why we have them at all. They are just deadwood, names on a website. And they
fail to represent the provinces/chess bodies who sent them.

We feel this activity criterion will significantly improve the voting record of governors, and the quality of CFC governance decisions.

Notes: [ see GL # 2 ] "

The governors have not yet started to discuss this motion, brought on behalf ot the CFC Constituitional Coalition, a grassroots group of about 40 CFC members and a few governors. Now is your chance to have input to your governors.

Do you want the governors to pass this motion? If so, or not, why? Post your opinions here.

Also, let your governors know what you want them to do.

Bob

[Jason Lohner]

I figure that by the time a governor is inactive enough to be removed, there isn't all that much time to elect another... most likely Provinces should elect a 'reserve' governor who is ready to take over the duties of the inactive one.

[Pierre Dénommée]

The motion fail to account for the parts of Canada in which there are no Provincial Affiliates. Those inactive Governors should also be replaced.