PRESIDENT'S CORNER
February 6, 2012

Dear NAEFO Members,

Please allow me to take a moment to explain the reasoning of NAEFO announcing a second Annual Membership Meeting that was to be held on January 7, 2012, as well as the cancellation of that meeting. 

According to the NAEFO ByLaws:

ARTICLE III.
MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Section 1.  Annual Meetings.  An annual meeting of all Members will be called by the Board of Directors.  The purpose of the annual meeting will be to present the Members with a financial statement for the fiscal year then ending, to elect Individual Directors, and to consider proposed Bylaw changes and any other business that the Board of Directors may determine to be appropriate.


The Annual Meeting reference above is typically held during the NAEFO conference in September and is specified as the Annual Membership Business Meeting.  

However, during the 2011conference, I mentioned to The NAEFO Board of possibly hosting a second Membership Meeting in January 2012.  The Board agreed and the meeting planning was started upon return from the conference. 

The meeting was intended to be held after the January Board meeting and would allow the members to review, discuss and approve the 2012 budget.  As well as discuss any important matters for the upcoming year.

However, during the January Board Meeting, it was brought to my attention that there was confusion regarding the announcement of the second Membership Meeting.  Members had expressed their confusion and concern as to why NAEFO was hosting an Annual Membership Business Meeting in January when they had just attended one in September.  It was also confirmed that The Board does not need the approval of the membership to approve the budget. 

Also included in the NAEFO ByLaws is:

ARTICLE III.
MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Section 2.  Other Meetings.  Meetings of the Members may be called from time to time by the Board of Directors.  The time and place of any meeting will be set by the Board of Directors in a reasonably expeditious and timely manner.

According to the above reference section, the NAEFO Board can call a meeting of the Members at anytime with proper notification.  It is my goal that NAEFO can host periodic meetings for the members to encourage more involvement, nationally, locally and in general.  These meetings would not be held as Annual Membership Business Meetings, rather as General Membership Business Meetings.  I believe that some of the confusions came from NAEFO announcing the January 2012, meeting as an Annual Meeting.

I will work with the ByLaws Committee Chair, Communication Committee Chair and Membership Chair in the future to determine a better course of action regarding other meetings involving the membership.

NAEFO cancelled the General Membership Meeting due to a lack of a quorum. 

According to the NAEFO ByLaws:

ARTICLE III.
MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Section 4.  Quorum.  Twenty percent (20%) of the active Members present in person or by proxy at any duly called membership meeting will constitute a quorum.

As of December 30th, there were only 10 members registered to attend the meeting, which resulted in a shortage of members required to form a quorum.  It was felt that it was better to cancel the meeting than to have members attend knowing we did not have the required number of members for a quorum. 

After further discussion of the details during the January Board Meeting, it was determined that the meeting could have taken place as there was no need for a membership quorum and the meeting was set and expedited in a timely matter.

NAEFO apologizes for the inconvenience to those members who were planning to attend and to those members who expressed confusion and concern.

NAEFO encourages and welcomes members and non-members to attend the quarterly Board Meetings.  The next Board Meeting will be held on April 14th at the Clark County Fire & Rescue Station located at 911 N 65th Avenue, Ridgefield, WA 98642.

Mark Kreutzer
President, NAEFO