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F O R E W O R D
This is a lengthy email, but please take the time to read it as it covers a
number of changes that will be occurring within NELUG in the immediate future.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
NELUG has certainly grown since it started in 1999. Over the last year or so,
we have seen the club begin to strain under the informal organization that has
carried us up until now. As we have grown, questions about who has the
authority to make decisions, the process of making decisions, accountability of
NELUG’s assets and financial resources, and even trying to define who is a
member have all surfaced. These kinds of questions and needs continue to grow at
an increasing rate.
Up until now, two members have basically filled a vast majority of the
administrative aspects of the club. While this has worked fairly well, neither
member was elected to this position. As a result, what happens if someone else
wants to take on certain responsibilities? How do we go about this? What do we
do if either member no longer wants to continue handling the responsibilities?
How do you hold them accountable for anything? How does the outside world know
who to contact? Who controls our finances? The list goes on. In short,
NELUG’s informality has become a barrier to its own future.
B Y - L A W S
To keep NELUG a fun and enjoyable club, a group of active and founding members
got together to discuss the need for change and how we wanted NELUG to evolve.
Two important results have been produced from these conversations. The first is
the formation of By-Laws. The By-Laws outline how NELUG operates. It no longer
is a matter of one or two members deciding something or needing to have the
entire membership gain consensus before something can be done. Further more,
great care has been taken to keep the By-Laws simple and meaningful without
being too restrictive. Contained within the By-Laws is a list of the 19 members
who participated in its creation. You will find a link to the By-Laws below.
E X E C U T I V E C O M M I T T E E
The second result to come out of the discussions is the formation of an
Executive Committee (EC). The EC consists of five members, each with a five
year term. Each term is staggered so that one position of the EC will open up
every year. For the purposes of getting started, the 19 active members who
helped create the By-Laws voted in five consecutive elections to implement the
first EC. Each candidate had to be nominated and seconded by a different
member. The following members have been elected into the EC for the following
terms:
5 year term – Eric Kingsley
4 year term – Joe Comeau
3 year term – Dave Eaton
2 year term – Jamie Berard
1 year term – Tom Duggan
The EC is accountable for all of NELUG’s assets, member tracking and event
decision making among other things. For a full list of the EC’s
responsibilities, please refer to the By-Laws (a link is provided below). You
may contact the EC directly at: ec AT nelug DOT org.
While the EC is responsible for establishing the Policies and Procedures of
NELUG, it will not do so to the exclusion of the membership. As needs arise,
changes occur and questions come up, the EC will weigh the input and feedback of
members in its decision making.
M E M B E R S H I P
In order to address the growing concerns over the definition of a member, we are
now enacting membership requirements and dues. The requirements for membership
remain simple:
1. Must be 18 years of age or older
2. Must reside within one of the six New England states
3. Must pay dues on time
Dues have been instituted in order to accomplish a number of things. First, it
removes any ambiguity over who is a member and who is not. Having dues also
smoothes out NELUG’s revenue stream to make it easier to plan out and pay for
NELUG’s operating expenses. Funds collected from dues will be used on a variety
of items which include among other things:
• Trailer Expenses
i. General Maintenance
ii. Registration
iii. Excise Tax
iv. Outfitting
• LEGO Supplies
i. Track
ii. Baseplates
iii. Trees
iv. Other display related items as necessary
• Site Expenses
i. Domain Name Registrations
ii. Web Hosting
• Other expenses
i. additional tables
ii. duct tape
iii. power strips
iv. extension cords
v. tools
vi. hardware
vii. banner(s)
viii. color business cards
ix. other periodic expenses like long distance phone calls to clients and other club business
Having a predictable revenue stream also opens up new possibilities such as
potentially pre-paying for shirt orders, keeping a small amount of merchandise
on hand for new members, and setting up a NELUG-sponsored event.
The cost of a membership will be $24 per calendar year. Since we are nearly
half way through 2005, dues for this year will be $12 which must be paid by May
31, 2005. There are two preferred methods of payment which is either through
PayPal or personal check. You may also pay with cash though it is the member’s
responsibility to ensure that the record of his/her payment is properly
recorded. PayPal payments can be sent to finance AT nelug DOT org.
All members, regardless of tenure or participation level will have the same
access rights, privileges and voting rights.
W E B S I T E & M A I L I N G L I S T S
Our site, www.nelug.org, has undergone a dramatic change. Our existing site has
been retired and replaced with a much more useable, community-centric site that
will serve as the club’s backbone. Like our former site, it contains references
and links to past events, however, we will now be able to include much more
information about each event through the new story feature. Additionally, the
site has a member gallery, polling capability, a master calendar and most
importantly, a forum section. Only members will have access to the forum
section and the forums will replace the existing nelug-list AT nelug DOT org
mailing list. While forums are a “pull” source of information instead of a
“push” like email, it is a superior way to organize topics and conversations.
Any member, new or old, can look back to the beginning of any topic unlike
jumping into the middle of an email thread.
The EC has already been using a special EC-only section of the forum to discuss
a large number of topics. When future members of the EC join, they will no
longer have to wonder why certain decisions were made or what issues existed in
the past.
You will need to sign up for an account which you can do right from the home
page. Instructions can be found here should you need them:
http://www.nelug.org/faqman/index.php?op=view&t=9. You may try out the new site
through May 31, 2005. If you decide that you do not want to be a member, simply
do not pay your dues and your account will be deactivated. The nelug-list AT
nelug DOT org mailing list will be retired on June 30, 2005. Also, the private
AT nelug DOT org mailing list that was used to discuss financial and other
non-public matters has been retired effective immediately.
Non-members will still be able to see the stories, calendar, and galleries so
the public can still be informed just as they are today.
Lastly, you may find a copy of NELUG’s By-Laws near the top of the home page
under “By-Laws” or at the following link:
http://www.nelug.org/staticpages/index.php?page=bylaws.
C L O S I N G
We are very excited about this new direction that NELUG is taking and firmly
believe that it will help NELUG remain a fun and enjoyable club. Adding a
rudimentary structure and clearly identifying responsibilities enables NELUG’s
membership to focus far more on our hobby and far less on the administrative
burdens of the club. Establishing membership requirements and dues clearly
identifies our membership and eliminates the guessing game that we sometimes
encounter when dealing with other organizations. Finally, we believe NELUG’s
membership will draw far more value out the new Web site and make NELUG more
accessible to new members. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee
- Eric Kingsley
- Joe Comeau
- Dave Eaton
- Jamie Berard
- Tom Duggan
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: NELUG Announcement
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| I'm not sure congratulations are in order (congratulating on adding structure?) but I'll offer them anyway because it feels like you've achieved a very significant milestone. It's clear that a lot of thought went into this. When you contrast it with (...) (19 years ago, 18-Apr-05, to lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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