The Direction of SCMAS...Please Read.

racer69

New member
I am writing this post to help fellow SCMAS members understand and discuss what is happening with the club. This is going to be an informative post and there should be no arguing or personal attacks on this post.

First I would like to give a brief background of how this club was started: A little over a year ago Eric L, Robert, Paul M, Joey(not involved) and myself met to discuss forming a separate club from CRMRC. We determined that these people in attendance would make up the Board Members. We thought a separate club, due to logistics and a few other issues, would be in our best interest. At this meeting, we came up with the club name, and determined what we would like to become. We all agreed that the meetings would usually be held at a members home and it would be a social gathering with information sharing, open discussions, and viewing of the hosts tank. We also contacted Reef Central and were granted web space to have our own forum that could be shared by all.

Since the first post on our forum, we have grown with new members and the meetings have been well received. There have been many new relationships built and a wealth of knowledge shared. But as any organization grows there will be some growing pains. We are at that stage and are trying to take steps to make this a well functioning and enjoyable club.

There was a meeting held Friday (10-06-06) at Roberts residence with five members that I consider the Board Members. Eric L, Paul M, Eric D, Robert, and myself met together to discuss the issues of the club. These five members all have different views which I believe represent the entire club. I also believe that it is necessary to have conflicting views to have a fair outcome. If you have everyone agreeing all the time then there is no common ground and things are going to be one sided. At the meeting we discussed creating by-laws for the benefit and well being of the club. There are differences of opinion, which is good, and there is some work to be done. Our goal is to have the by-laws done by the end of the week or there abouts.

After the by-laws are drawn up, they will be posted on the forum for everyone to read. We may then proceed to nominate officials at a future date to continue the day to day operations and running of the club. It is my request that only members with the passion and dedication to make this club knowledgeable and enjoyable to everyone be the ones nominated.

Please read this and understand that everything should work out for the future success of our club. I have met many people in this club that I have shared information with and become friends with as well. I think this club can continue to grow and be something special for all of us. You can disagree with your friend and still remain friends.

Thank you and please be patient,
Todd
 
Very nicely said Todd. I look forward to hearing more and seeing everything in writing as I am sure everyone else does. It is nice to see several people are working on this. I'm not trying to attack Eric, but I assumed it was all up to Coreefer to make descisions ( based on the posts and him being the responder to club issues posted by members here on RC) I am glad to see it is more than that.
I look forward to getting back with you guys after reading this post from you. I nominate Todd for pres. ;)
Chris
 
I would like to state for the record COreefer was never the only one making decisions for SCMAS. He and I have bounced ideas off
of each other on how to improve and grow the club for four years now. In hindsight maybe we should have gotten more people involved sooner and been more transparent with what is going
on to improve the club. The reason it may appear COreefer is the one pushing everything is because he is much more active on the forum than I have been. Most of you that now know that I'm pretty introverted and don't often comment on any topics in this or any other forums.

Robert Pershing
 
Thanks Chris and Robert for the positive posts. I believe this is the way to accomplish a positive objective. For the record, this club for the past year has had communication among the board members, it just hasn't appeared that way. We have relied on Eric to be the spokesman for the club without giving him any support. That is now changing as myself and others are taking the initiative to be more vocal and understanding. This is no one persons club and it should remain that way. We just need more communication and cooler heads in our discussions on all matters. I apologize for not take a more proactive approach in vocalizing our direction. Remember everyone, this is a hobby, and a beloved one at that. Anytime other life forms are left to the responsibility of us, we should be passionate, and compassionate as their survival depends on it.

Please continue the positive dialog.
 
Very well said. We do need positive and constructive communications amongst all members. This is a club for the members and we need their input as well. I agree with Todd that only people who can truely be dedicated to make this club work need to be nominated to be on the board of directors. I see the club moving in a positive direction and hope it keeps going that way.
 
Wow,This is a great thread and a very positive outlook on things. I do not know what happend in the past, but this looks like a very promising future. Debating and discussing is a great way to make progress if it is handled in the right way. I have liked this forum and got a great wealth of information from and hope to continue so. Would just like to say it was great for the FIVE individuals to take the time to talk and resolve some issues and present some new ones to us. Anthony
 
I don't post to this forum much, but I do go to quite a few of the meetings. It is through the members of this club that I have been able to learn about how to care for a reef aquarium - the first aquarium I have ever owned - and to make it a successful endeavor.

Here is what I have liked the most about the club. It is an informal gathering where we can socialize, maybe trade a frag or two, see what others are doing with their aquariums, and pick up some useful hints. Once in a while, a person gives a demo of something he/she is doing with their tank, but its not a required part of the meeting. We don't have to have a formalized meeting with by-laws and elected officials. Its a relaxed, informative, fun atmosphere.

Here is what I don't want to see. I don't want this to become bureaucratic; with a bunch of rules, dues, and elected officials. We are doing just fine with the very loosely organized situation that we now have. The guys who care the most about this club are the guys who are organizing things, and it has been running just fine, thank you. We don't need to create or foster a situation where the running of the club becomes a power struggle. That just creates divisions among the officers and the club members and will undermine what we are all here for. For this reason, I don't see a reason to have by-laws. If this starts to become too much like attending the meetings I attend at work all week long, I'm not going to be nearly as interested or motivated to go to the club meetings.

It ain't broke, so what needs fixing?
 
I truly wish it was still that simple also. However there have been some threads and some talk of change. Our goal is to still have the same atmosphere and loose meetings, but we need a few rules. These rules have been loosely in place since the beginning, but they have not been in writting or available without asking the right people. This is simply an adjustment period that shouldn't affect much of anything. I feel we all want things to continue as they have in the past and I believe they will. None of us want to have formal meetings. We have always had a board or a committee and there may be cause for some of those board members to want someone else to assume some or all of their responsibilities. For this to happen we would need to have some form of nomination process and election.
 
I am glad that this ordeal sounds like it is after the apex and calming down now. Everything sounds positive. Keep up the positivity. Dan N
 
You know it was growing pains maybe. I think everything is cool right now but could be a mess quickly. The Club still needs these rules, and a clear board formed someday. Its not an easy task I am sure. Hopefully it will happen soon and in the meantime everything keeps going well. But you know history repeats itself it seems.
Chris
 
No, look at the dates of this, its way before your time, hell you probably were still in diapers back then ;)
 
lol oh boy alright......so why you said butch butch butch because it was bad or a long story.......that is what im gathering but at any rate.....i dont know lol lol
 
There you go Butch you have figured me out ;) too long to talk about, ancient history, why re-hash it, yada yada yada.
Now get back to work researching stuff for you ballin 6 G.
 
alright sounds good im just waiting for it to cycle so there is nothing to do......besides think about a lid or not or a ATO cuz evap is crazy (you might have already seen my thread about that but anyway.....)
 
Why not just have a jug of water next to it? dump some in morning and night?
I can't imagine an ATO for a 6 gal. Unless you got a hold of a dosing pump for cheap. Or drip it in, I used to drip kalk with an IV type pinch valve, but its a pain and you have to constantly tweak it to get the drip rate constant.
I'd just mix up or buy RO water and then transfer that to 1 gallon water jugs and pour some in daily.
If you have enough light a lid will surely overheat the tank quick. That could be bad for 6 gallons.
 
I was in a FW club back east. It's probably safe to say that every club has the same issue, the struggle for control. Best of luck to your club.
 
Back
Top