Proposed Bylaw Changes for January 2014 Meeting
West parents:
The proposed bylaw changes have been developed to create a more stable structure to ensure the long term success of West. Board membership has been challenging to keep stable due to size requirements and the nature of the board definitions themselves, and this bylaw change has been developed to ensure that West has a more stable future with a smaller more focused board without artificial term limits (if someone wants to serve, let them) and with a focus on the core reality that the head coach, while requiring oversight, is the central force behind any successful team.
The high level summary of changes for these bylaws are:
The board size is cut from 7 to either 3 or 5 depending on need. Board positions are ‘self perpetuating’ which means that instead of artificial end points, they are simply evaluated by the board each year and each member choses to stand for continued service or not, and then the board itself votes to accept the continued service or replace from nominees. Nominees will actively be sought each year to ensure the board has options for replenishment or for changes in size. This puts the burden on the board itself to ensure its continuation, which is a more sensible approach on a swim team with many changing members each year.
The Head Coach will serve as the President of the board but can never be a majority and will always be accountable to the bylaws and the majority of the board, which will include swim team parents and interested community members, just like today in many ways, but with more emphasis on building the swim team long term under the direction of the head coach. Today the board and the management team are artificially separated and it has created many years of confusion, politics and inefficiency. This structure aligns the two more closely while still providing the protection of bylaws to ensure that the swim team has a core function and set of requirements that supersede the short term wants and needs of management or the board.
For the most part, outside of clean up, that is it. The intent is to reduce the turn on the board (currently very few board members serve full terms, and executive members almost never have during the last half dozen or more years) and increase clarity of communications between the ‘customers’ of West and the management of West. This structure more closely aligns with what the vast majority of swim teams have in place while still recognizing the unique nature and requirements West has as the manager of a swim facility with community requirements and responsibilities. West is a unique organization that must have consistency and long term vision and team stability to succeed. This set of bylaw changes puts in place a new structure that is more self sustaining and less stressful upon board members and management staff. It is my belief that these bylaw changes are fundamental and critical to the future success of West and can put an end to what has been an incredible long term struggle to find and maintain board members, especially senior ones.
