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IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS
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If you are an annual USAT Member, you will receive a ballot shortly asking for your vote on certain bylaw changes. Some of these are as a result of requirements of Congress and the USOPC. Some are not. While many of the changes are beneficial, I encourage you to consider a few sections that will dramatically affect the nature of USAT and your participation as a member:
  • 1. The composition of the board with your approval will reduce the number of directors who are elected by you from 6 to 4. There is no compelling rationale for this in my opinion. USAT has always been a membership organization and this change will alter that. Our members are our backbone and pay the bills in the form of their dues, race sanctioning fees, etc. It seems that they should have more than a 1/3 representation on the board.

  • 2. The 4 directors elected by you, our members, will no longer be elected on a regional basis, but nationally based upon candidates placed on the ballot by the Nominating and Governance Committee. While directors do not “represent” the interest of their region as opposed to the interest of USAT as a whole, you would likely be far more familiar with candidates who come from your region. And while board members have a duty to act in the best interest of USAT as a whole, we bring a “regional” voice in terms of how members feel in different parts of our Country.

  • 3. Perhaps one of the most important changes: You will no longer, as members, have a right to vote on any bylaws change. Over the past six years, your right to vote on changes has been limited to just a few sections of the bylaws that effect your membership. You will no longer have that right. So, as example, if a board in future years decides not to have any general directors at all (eliminating the four that would exist should these changes be approved), you would have no say in that.

As a director, I am told that I have a duty to support resolutions passed by the board whether I agree with them or not, however, I believe I have a responsibility to ensure that you are clear on what you are voting for, along with the possible down-side to voting in favor. All I ask is that you seriously consider the above prior to voting. If the proposal is defeated, you will be asked later in the year, to vote on those changes that are required by the USOPC and other sections that would be beneficial, yet preserve the nature of USAT and your membership. But however you feel, please vote!
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [ChuckG] [ In reply to ]
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ChuckG wrote:
If you are an annual USAT Member, you will receive a ballot shortly asking for your vote on certain bylaw changes. Some of these are as a result of requirements of Congress and the USOPC. Some are not. While many of the changes are beneficial, I encourage you to consider a few sections that will dramatically affect the nature of USAT and your participation as a member:
  • 1. The composition of the board with your approval will reduce the number of directors who are elected by you from 6 to 4. There is no compelling rationale for this in my opinion. USAT has always been a membership organization and this change will alter that. Our members are our backbone and pay the bills in the form of their dues, race sanctioning fees, etc. It seems that they should have more than a 1/3 representation on the board.

  • 2. The 4 directors elected by you, our members, will no longer be elected on a regional basis, but nationally based upon candidates placed on the ballot by the Nominating and Governance Committee. While directors do not “represent” the interest of their region as opposed to the interest of USAT as a whole, you would likely be far more familiar with candidates who come from your region. And while board members have a duty to act in the best interest of USAT as a whole, we bring a “regional” voice in terms of how members feel in different parts of our Country.

  • 3. Perhaps one of the most important changes: You will no longer, as members, have a right to vote on any bylaws change. Over the past six years, your right to vote on changes has been limited to just a few sections of the bylaws that effect your membership. You will no longer have that right. So, as example, if a board in future years decides not to have any general directors at all (eliminating the four that would exist should these changes be approved), you would have no say in that.

As a director, I am told that I have a duty to support resolutions passed by the board whether I agree with them or not, however, I believe I have a responsibility to ensure that you are clear on what you are voting for, along with the possible down-side to voting in favor. All I ask is that you seriously consider the above prior to voting. If the proposal is defeated, you will be asked later in the year, to vote on those changes that are required by the USOPC and other sections that would be beneficial, yet preserve the nature of USAT and your membership. But however you feel, please vote!

in my opinion, chuck, this thing of USAT's directors all having to toe the party line is a crock. it grew out of the then-USOC's desire to place USAT under its thumb. this is a further erosion of the power of the member. the problem is, this ballot is going to go out, and there ought to be a place for both assenting and dissenting opinions on bylaw changes, but i would be very surprised if we see anything like that.

i'm a big fan of our federation, and i'm a big fan of who runs it, at the executive level. but as to a membership run org, that ship sailed a decade and a half ago.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [ChuckG] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks, Dan. Totally agree. There has been an evolution toward a "corporate" or foundation type board which selects its own successors and has little room for participation by membership. If this passes, my fear is that it will be the final blow. Future boards can and will go the next step and eliminate ALL general directors and have a board consisting of HP athletes and independent directors. Nothing will be in the way to stop that since bylaw changes will be completely up to the board.

I'm hoping that the ship has not sailed. I'm constantly reminded by others on the board that only 1% of our members care enough to vote. I get that people generally just want to pay their dues and race, but USAT has never done anything to encourage members to vote. Just sending out a ballot and asking for a response within 30 days is not encouraging participation by those who pay the bills.

I'm betting that that 1% who vote are the ones who care enough to want to participate, and to be able to continue to vote in the future, and so they will, with encouragement, vote on this proposed change to defeat it and force the board to come up with a proposal that is responsive to the only mandate that we have: that 33% of the board be comprised of HP athletes. That's the ONLY thing that's being required by Congress and the USOPC. All else is sub-committee ideas.
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [ChuckG] [ In reply to ]
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Kudos to the OP for shining a light on matters that otherwise would have passed below the radar of 99% of the membership—exactly as the existing board intended.

I don’t feel strongly about the need for regional representation, but limiting ability to alter bylaws and reducing the number of representatives is highly suspicious.

Over the years, and to the limited extent I have paid attention, it has struck me that many of the board members represented themselves as people deriving a livelihood from triathlon, as opposed to people participating in and paying dues for the sport. The kind of cronyism that flows from that is a threat to the integrity of the organization.

The ST masses easily could rally votes behind a competing slate and force real accountability. Perhaps it is time to do so.
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [ChuckG] [ In reply to ]
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i stepped into the fray in 2004 or 2005 or thereabouts, and only to keep the federation from what i felt was a total moral collapse. yes, they're right - those who say on 1 or 2 percent vote - however if you go on USAT's website right now, where is anything about any election on that site? i don't know. i didn't get a ballot. i don't know what's on it. so, yes, you're right, if you don't foster a culture of membership interaction, you probably won't get any membership interaction.

for many board members, what's in it for them to have member interaction? why would the elite athletes want age groupers to be interested in federation governance and budget? why would boardmembers who have a common vision want to have an iconoclast on the board?

we used to have board meeting minutes on the website. resolutions passed were on the website. we used to have demographic studies done, annually, published on the website. if any of that exists now, it's a byzantine process to find it.

mind, i think the federation is exceptionally well run, at the office level. so, the board is going a very good job of fostering an environment that allows the office to run as it should.

but, transparency? a representative board? a member managed federation? we used to have that. we don't have that now. i can't rightly say that the federation is worse off because of it. it's running well, at least as far as i can tell. my fear is what happens when the federation needs help, or input, or if it needs a rallying of the membership behind it. the members have no stake any longer. the federation is now just a service provider. it's no different really than active network. the loyalty folks used to have to the federation, does that exist? i don't know. that's the downside to keeping the membership in the dark, and then using as evidence for your autocracy a membership that is in the dark.

the one thing i would tell any boardmember is this: resist the pressure from other boardmembers to remain silent. yes, the board president should be the only "voice of the organization." but it should not be the only voice on the board. if you think something bad or wrong is happening, your duty is not to the board. your duty is to the organization, for sure, but you represent owners, and boardmembers are not owners. the USOPC is not an owner. only annual members are owners. boardmembers serve them. there should be a pathway for a boardmember to register his respectful dissent. does that pathway exist? there is nothing moral or proper about a bare majority of a board enforcing silence on the bare minority.

maybe things have changed. maybe it's not like that. it was like that, and i never found enforced silence of a boardmember a hallmark of proper governance.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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No, not all board members derive their income from the sport. I'm an aging age grouper, who's been around for awhile and has been proud to be elected by my peers to serve. And I take that role seriously. I don't believe those promoting this change have il intentions, They just have a different point of view. USAT is not just about the Olympics and medals as USOPC would have us be. We need to remain what we've been, and what has made us one of the most successful NBGs that exists!
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Re: IMPORTANT for USAT Annual Members- PLEASE VOTE ON PROPOSED BYLAWS [ChuckG] [ In reply to ]
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ChuckG wrote:
No, not all board members derive their income from the sport. I'm an aging age grouper, who's been around for awhile and has been proud to be elected by my peers to serve. And I take that role seriously. I don't believe those promoting this change have il intentions, They just have a different point of view. USAT is not just about the Olympics and medals as USOPC would have us be. We need to remain what we've been, and what has made us one of the most successful NBGs that exists!


you're so right. the federation begun as a way for RDs to find a safe haven for rules, insurance, etc., and i remember during the early 1990s, when the whole country had a liability insurance crisis - there was just a freeze on available insurance - and the federation saw the RDs through. back in the 1990s, if i recall correctly, the then-USCF actually had a period when it was functionally uninsured, because its broker didn't fund the carrier or some such thing. USAT has been a rock.

but that huge base of annual membership, this occurred because there wasn't this wall between the organization and rank-and-file members. there was a real loyalty. me, i had USAT send me 15,000 hang tags a year, and i put a "support your federation" hang tag on every wetsuit i made. at no charge to the federation. because i believed in the need for a strong federation.

we have a very visible CEO. but we have a less visible board, and i think that's a shame. board work is hard, thankless, and sometimes expensive. but, well, here's the pathway to find anything about governance.








4th page in from the home page, and nothing really in those headings to suggest that governance sits back behind there. i would like to see a more obvious and prominent pathway to our federation's pages on governance and performance.

i really like our board. don't get me wrong. i really like our board. but i don't think that connection between the membership and the board exists any longer, like it used to, because we have an extremely talented and hardworking board, and i would like to see that connection between board and membership strengthened.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Last edited by: Slowman: Mar 1, 21 15:50
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