Our RCSC governance practices are broken and pose a threat to the future integrity of our community. Our governance documents (RCSC bylaws and RCSC board policies) do not, in some key respects, align.
In addition, where Robert’s Rules of Order would normally prevail in a given situation, unclear and reactive decisions made possible by our governing documents can override what most of us have come to expect when using Robert’s Rules, especially at committees levels.
As a result, and as it stands, a very small group of people are able to make decisions for our membership in a way that obfuscates transparency and accountability, resulting in loss of trust which leaves a trail of fractured relationships in its wake.
These issues form a perfect constellation of factors that lead to the confusion, drama, and turnover that we have experienced over the last year because of the way that our corporation is being managed. If there is no intervention at this juncture, all we can expect is more of same as time goes on, with continued threat to the integrity of our community.
Right now, our business model is dysfunctional and broken. It is my opinion that it cannot “fix” itself. We all understand the difficult job that our new GM is tasked with in his efforts to stabilize our corporation. And, we certainly all do understand and are grateful for the selfless and thankless hours that each board member contributes working tirelessly on the membership’s behalf. So, to our RCSC board and GM, I want to say thank you.
But, at this moment, I would sincerely request that the board and GM hit the “pause” button, take a deep breath and spend some time reflecting on my request. I request that the board move to hire an outside professional entity to conduct a “governance review.” A governance review can be conducted by an outside professional, who evaluates existing practices and makes recommendations to re-work the “white board” structure of a corporation, so that the corporation can become a healthy and functional business entity. Once accomplished, this outside professional will have created something that we can now more effectively manage. And, something in which we can now place our trust.
In other words, RCSC needs to hire a turn around specialist to help us help ourselves, so that we create a “new normal.” A “new normal” that is governable and functional and will allow us to move forward in to the future with hopeful air under our wings.
