oct 2 report to members

Reading this report left me with some questions and prompts some editorial comments;
questions:
1. it seems that perhaps the financial misrepresentations could have been comprised of two distinct parts. Actual misappropriation of ssa funds by someone and covered up. AND perhaps spending beyond society means. Misappropriation is covered, hopefully , by insurance. Overspending is not. The question I have is did the SSA overspend its resources while at the same time get ripped off? If it is a 100% rip off of funds, then the insurance company should make good our loss. If there is a significant element of simple fiscal irresponsibility, then the ssa is out of luck in terms of recovering the shortfall in cash.

2. No mention was made of any discussion of possible conflict of interest among the board. No mention was made of any discussion by the board of their potential personal liability, either as ssa board or as foundation board members. Was this topic discussed? I find it difficult to believe that no one brought it up.

3. No mention was made of services to be curtailed or the terms of the loan from the foundation. If they don't have a plan by now, we are in trouble big time. What services will be curtailed?

comments:
1. It seems as if Chip is back in the fold after going public with his concerns re board actions. We have yet to be told of his complaints to the board and what actions they took to satisfy his concerns. This seems to me to be of legitimate concern to members.

2. The resignation of the ED basically leaves SSA WITHOUT an effective lobbyist for our interests. Since this is one of the main reasons for the existence of the society, I would assume that some sort of outsourcing of this function will be undertaken.It would be nice for the membership to be informed of how this function is to be handled if at all during the repayment period and the restructuring period.

3. The issue of the magazine was not addressed. This seems to me to be an immediate item ripe for drastic cutback. It is the single largest annual expense. Was the option of going all electronic discussed??? A 12 month halt in print publication would probably save almost enough to pay the loan back.

4. The restructuring task force has a large job in front of it if it is to succeed. I would hope that a timeline is being formulated and that the task is structured such that the members are presented with a series of choices along the way. So far, the excom and rest of the board have not presented members with any choices. They have taken the position that they were elected to run the show and that job extends to the task of total restructuring.
I disagree. They were elected to do a job and they failed miserably at the task of oversight. They were elected to oversee an smooth running organization and they did not.
They were NOT elected to radically restructure the organization. This is NOT business as usual. I have no confidence in them at this point. The chair wrote in her second note to members "Once the Society emerges from this awful situation, our intent is to tender resignations in respect of our leadership positions, hoping that new, qualified individuals will assume these roles."

I would suggest that the current excom borrow the immediately needed funds from the BANK rather than digging their personal hole any deeper and then follow through on this promise to resign immediately. The immediate fires will have been put out and fresh faces should be enlisted to run the show during this next year.
5bg