User Blog:
Isles of Darkness: All Change on the Board
Written By: Mike Nudd
Date: 21 Apr 2010
On 9th April a motion of no confidence was forwarded to the Board of the Isles of Darkness. Although the exact wording of the motion has yet to be publicly circulated, it is suspected to be widely critical of the Board's lack of apparent activity and engagement with the society's wider membership.
As a case in point, since the society split from being an affiliate of the Camarilla US, the membership has been clamouring for a number of revisions to the member handbook, which provides the terms under which society games should be run. Two years on a new draft of the handbook has just been released to the membership, and many consider the revisions made to the document inadequate for the society's current needs.
Although the motion has not yet been ratified by the membership, two of the Board's five members have already resigned from their positions, and have been replaced by two newly co-opted members who were chosen by the remaining Board, and who will only serve until the society can vote for permenant replacements.
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has now been announced which will take place in London on 8th May. The sole purpose of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for the society's membership to vote on the motion of no confidence. Assuming it is supported, then a subsequent meeting will need to be arranged so that new Board members can be selected.
Although I've only been with the society for a short time, it's hard not to empathise with the sentiments expressed by the motion, and by many members online in the society's UK-General mailing list. There are serious issues with the way the society approaches its mission statement, and the way that society officers conduct themselves and communicate with each other. Since oversight of all these issues is the remit of the Board, clearly the Board has failed in its duty.
Although like many other members I'm keen to see a new leadership address of lot of the society's problems, I certainly don't envy them in terms of the work they have cut out for them. The society is loaded down with bureaucracy, and with repeatedly incumbent officers who are rather set in their ways. Resolving these issues would be tough even for the most pro-active of volunteers.
As a case in point, since the society split from being an affiliate of the Camarilla US, the membership has been clamouring for a number of revisions to the member handbook, which provides the terms under which society games should be run. Two years on a new draft of the handbook has just been released to the membership, and many consider the revisions made to the document inadequate for the society's current needs.
Although the motion has not yet been ratified by the membership, two of the Board's five members have already resigned from their positions, and have been replaced by two newly co-opted members who were chosen by the remaining Board, and who will only serve until the society can vote for permenant replacements.
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has now been announced which will take place in London on 8th May. The sole purpose of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for the society's membership to vote on the motion of no confidence. Assuming it is supported, then a subsequent meeting will need to be arranged so that new Board members can be selected.
Although I've only been with the society for a short time, it's hard not to empathise with the sentiments expressed by the motion, and by many members online in the society's UK-General mailing list. There are serious issues with the way the society approaches its mission statement, and the way that society officers conduct themselves and communicate with each other. Since oversight of all these issues is the remit of the Board, clearly the Board has failed in its duty.
Although like many other members I'm keen to see a new leadership address of lot of the society's problems, I certainly don't envy them in terms of the work they have cut out for them. The society is loaded down with bureaucracy, and with repeatedly incumbent officers who are rather set in their ways. Resolving these issues would be tough even for the most pro-active of volunteers.
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