The following remarks were delivered by CU President Mike van der Jagt to the annual general meeting in Stratford, Ontario on Sat 09 OCT 2010.
I would like to start by thanking all of you who have taken time out of your busy schedules to be with us here today to reflect upon the past years’ activities and to look forward to another great year ahead.
There are always contentious issues that crop up and the 2009/2010 BOD had to deal with their fair share.
Perhaps the biggest bombshell was the resignation of Monica Collins as the CRPU’s only full time employee. Monik had been the face and the heart and the soul of the CRPU for the past five years by providing honest, dedicated hard work. Monik cited the changing nature of the work at the head office as well as family and health considerations for her decision to accept a position with another organization. She left us with some very large shoes to fill, which is a process that we are still working on. We wish Monik nothing but the best, thank her for five excellent years of service and know that she will be successful and a credit to her new employer.
Like most things that come along, challenges can turn into opportunities. Just prior to Monica’s decision to leave the CRPU, I had commissioned an organizational review to look at all aspects of how the CRPU does business, and to make recommendations as to how and where we could find efficiencies and streamline operations. The complete review is posted on the CRPU website. One of the key recommendations was to diversify the office staff and reduce the risk to the organization inherent with having a single staff member responsible for the entire history and corporate memory of the CRPU.
If you look at the new organizational chart found in your handout package, you will see that we have done just that. By reducing the hours of the office manager and taking advantage of a federal government grant program, we have increased office staff from one full time and one part time employee to a full time receptionist/office administrator, an office manager, a part time office administrator, a multi-media coordinator and a data management position while only marginally increasing our staffing budget by approximately $6,000 annually.
This new staffing model offers many advantages that will significantly increase the ability of the CU to advance to objectives of the organization and dramatically improve member services.
Perhaps most disappointing to me personally this year were the two membership suspensions that we felt compelled to impose.
After a very tumultuous and divisive 2009 racing season, the Central Ontario Racing Pigeon Federation were ready for a fresh start in 2010. Scotty Reid of the Welland Club appeared to be an exception and the leadership of that organization suspended his membership. As per our constitution, the CRPU honoured the CORPF suspension and extended it to include suspension for Mr. Reid from the CRPU. No appeal was filed by Mr. Reid.
Mr. George Kolozsvari of Acton Ontario was also suspended by the CU in 2010. On 09 AUG 2010 Mr. Kolozsvari posted a false, slanderous and inflammatory attack on a public discussion site against the paid staff at the CU office. As our Staff does not get paid to take abuse of this kind from anyone, and particularly from a member, I personally contacted Mr. Kolozsvari and requested that he delete his false and offensive post and replace it with an apology. Mr. Kolozsvari refused to comply and responded to the request with an abusive and threatening email. I was subsequently forced to request that the site administrator remove the post, which he promptly did. As a result, at the BOD meeting held on 22 AUG 2010 the BOD voted unanimously to indefinitely suspend the CU membership of Mr. Kolozsvari.
On a more positive note, we have made huge strides in introducing a re-vamped awards system; one that will allow the CU to recognize true national champions courtesy of the new CU database. Like all new technology, there are growing pains and glitches to be worked out. We are confident that we will have a working system in time to honour the 2010 champions within a meaningful timeline.
The new technology will streamline the administration of the yearbook and award calculations. One thing required to ensure the integrity of the new award categories and to support the automation process was to require that affiliated clubs submit accurate and meaningful race results. Currently, the CRPU rule that has long been in place calls for five members from four different addresses to make a club legal. The CRPU board recognized that certain areas of Canada have struggled with declining membership over the years and sometimes struggle to meet this quorum. This reality has been accommodated by allowing race results showing less than five lofts competing. As the coefficient system that has now been introduced to award ace pigeon and ace loft awards requires certain minimum standards to be valid, races with less than three lofts competing simply eliminate any semblance of reliability and accuracy. The CRPU received a great deal of membership feedback on this point. The board was divided on this issue and in the end decided to accept the lower number of three lofts rather than five to qualify as an official race. Hopefully as our joint promotional activities start to bear fruit, this will become a moot point.
Clocking limits continue to raise a lot of concerns in some quarters. Once again this rule has been on the books for several years. The new awards system, using the coefficient calculation, also requires open results for the top 20% of the birds returning from a race to correctly calculate true national champions. For this reason, members wishing to apply for national awards must have an open race result on which to base their awards submissions. Clubs and combines are free to print results with clocking limits, provided they are also prepared to produce an open result for those members wishing to have their birds compete for national awards.
Another major undertaking of the BOD this past year was to take a look at the constitution and race rules. There has not been a comprehensive review of this document since it was first written in 1944. We were fortunate to have Steve Walsh, from the Tillsonburg Racing Pigeon Club, available to assist us with this task. Steve recently retired as a commissioned officer with the Ontario Provincial Police. He was also the Secretary Treasurer of the Commissioned Officers Association and had recently been heavily involved in the re-writing of the constitution for that organization. He has invested over 100 hours to date in reviewing the current CRPU constitution and has made a multitude of recommendations to modernize and clarify this document. Steve has just recently made a detailed submission to the BOD that included the third draft of the CRPU constitution re-write. Some of the highlights of the proposed changes include:
- Improved index;
- Re-organization of the document into three parts,
- the body of the constitution,
- ii. the roles of the various standing committees,
- iii. race rules;
- Clarification and streamlining of the stated purpose of the CRPU;
- Allowing for the head office to be located anywhere in Canada and not restricted to Ontario as currently stated;
- Clarification of affiliated, individual, family and junior memberships;
- Rights and responsibilities of affiliated clubs;
- Calling meetings;
- Dealing with Board vacancies;
- Roles of the various executive officers;
- Suspensions and appeals; and
- Elections
The last point is a big one, and I will spend a little time speaking to the proposal, as it will directly affect every member before the next annual general meeting in Niagara Falls in December 2011.
Under the current constitution one election is held annually where either 3 or 4 directors are elected to a two year term. The executive consisting of the President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary are then elected by these seven directors from out of this group.
The revised constitution proposal will call for these executive positions to be elected directly by the membership. In other words, instead of voting for either 4 or 3 directors on alternating years, and then the directors picking the executive from among the seven elected directors, the membership would vote directly for a President, Vice President etc. This is a more direct form of democracy and more in keeping with modern hobby organizations.
The proposal calls for a three year term and all seven members of the board to be elected at the same time, with one exception. To ensure continuity, the past president would remain on the BOD for an additional term as a non-voting member.
A nomination committee, independent of the currently sitting BOD, would ensure that each position had a least one qualified member running, and of course nominations for each position would be open to the entire membership.
The disappointing fact that not one person was nominated to run in the 2010 election year created a rare opportunity to allow us to introduce this process for 2011, as all seven current terms will be expiring at the end of 2011.
Moving forward, it is imperative that these proposed changes be presented to the membership for ratification with sufficient lead time to run the next election in December 2011. To allow for this, the BOD will be finalizing the proposed constitutional amendments over the next month or two, submitting the finished product to legal counsel to ensure it conforms to the laws of the land, and then distributing the final draft, highlighting each proposed change, to the entire membership. In order to receive ratification from the membership, a special general meeting of the members will be called the first weekend in April, which will give the membership ample opportunity to study the document prior to the vote. Should the document receive membership ratification at the April meeting, the nomination committee will be struck, and the election will proceed from there. The first executive elected directly by the general membership will assume office at the Niagara Falls convention on SAT 03 DEC 2011.
Special Events Coordinator
On a final note, we launched a bold promotional initiative this year by funding a part time Special Events Coordinator through membership donations. The idea was hatched during the job search for a part time office administrator, when one of the candidates brought the ideal skill set to the table.
Funding for the position was through a three pronged membership donation drive. It started with some of the Board of Directors reaching into their own pockets to the tune of $3000. The second phase of the fundraising was a direct challenge issued by me as President to a number of members that had previously demonstrated a commitment to the promotion of the hobby in the past. The final phase was an appeal to the entire membership.
Based on the early success of the fund-raising, Naomi Armstrong was offered a 6 month contract and the special events coordinator’s position became a reality.
In her short time in the position, Naomi was able to complete some outstanding work. A new youth initiatives committee was created with membership right across Canada. This committee is currently developing programs by working with groups such as 4H, Junior Farmers, Scouts Canada and Girl Guides. It is also revitalizing the Help a Beginner program and researching promotional opportunities with other community groups. Naomi was the chair of this committee, pulled the membership together and hosted two teleconferences, as well as contacting numerous other potential partners.
Other activities Naomi became involved with included:
- An outstanding blog from a beginner’s perspective;
- Established liaison with the Small Flock Poultry Industry Council;
- Developed outreach initiatives to attract former members;
- Developed a new member incentive package;
- Researched sources for government funding;
- Assembled a youth promotions package;
- Created a glossary of terms for new members;
- Created a report on membership retention and recruitment incentives;
- Established a youth initiatives discussion area and the CU website;
- Contacted community newspapers resulting in several positive articles on racing pigeons;
- Established liaison with the Royal Winter Fair;
- Developed promotional tools to be used at the International Plowing Match;
- Explored various uses of YouTube;
- Developed promotions material for the Calgary Stampede;
- Promoted live bird releases at local events; and
- Developed a promotional CD.
Unfortunately, the leader and general fund-raising initiatives were unsuccessful generating only a total of $3000 from 32 donors and Naomi’s contract had to be terminated after 22 weeks. As promised, the position was funded by the donations with Naomi’s total wages and expenses totalling $6100 and total donations just over $6100. This amount included a laptop computer, which remains in the general inventory of the CU.
Naomi made a significant contribution in just 22 weeks and many of the materials and programs she created will continue to pay dividends. Her contributions also opened the dialog on the unlimited possibilities that employing a permanent promotions staff member could lead to. An example of one of these possibilities relates to the feedback that we received following a very successful promotions booth at the International Plowing Match:
The CU booth was visited by:
- several school teachers that indicated a keen interest in adding topics relating to pigeon racing to their classroom curriculum, including an open invitation for classroom speakers;
- several previous flyers that indicated a willingness to return to the hobby with a little encouragement;
- several recent immigrants that had raced in their homeland and were not aware of the hobby in Canada;
- Several media outlets looking for follow-up stories; and
- A request for a presentation to a senior’s home.
These are all areas that a permanent promotions person could follow-up on that would have an extremely high probability of recruiting new members and no cost education of large segments of the population and all from just one booth at just one event.
I am sure that the various volunteers that assisted at the IPM will attest to the big effort required to hold a successful promotional activity. We were lucky to have Steve Walsh to spearhead this effort and recruit the needed volunteers. What is needed is a sustained effort in this regard. Something a permanent promotions staff member could provide.
It is obvious that the membership fund-raising route is not a viable method of funding such a position. We will be researching government grants and other options in the coming months. We may have solutions to offer the membership in the coming year.
Thank-you to all the donors.
| Date | Donation | Donor | |||
| May-25 | $1,000.00 | J. Erwin | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May-25 | $200.00 | C. Beuving | |||
| Jul-08 | $20.00 | D. Taylor | |||
| Jul-12 | $50.00 | J. Mawbey | |||
| Jul-27 | $25.00 | P. Sciortino | |||
| Jul-27 | $1,000.00 | M. Van der Jagt | |||
| Jul-28 | $30.00 | J. Koster | |||
| Jul-29 | $40.00 | J. Black | |||
| Jul-29 | $20.00 | L. Farkas | |||
| Jul-29 | $100.00 |
Cal Murray |
|||
| Jul-30 | $50.00 | R. Mantha | |||
| Jul-30 | $20.00 | B. Roseblade | |||
| Jul-30 | $50.00 | D. Skinner | |||
| Jul-30 | $50.00 | T. Degroot | |||
| Jul-30 | $20.00 | J.P. Formosa | |||
| Jul-30 | $20.00 | J. Hartmann | |||
| Jul-30 | $15.00 | G. McNamee | |||
| Jul-30 | $200.00 | G & N Soldon | |||
| Jul-30 | $100.00 | J. Duncanson | |||
| Jul-30 | $20.00 | A. Camilleri | |||
| Aug-05 | $50.00 | G. Harway | |||
| Aug-10 | $250.00 | N. Caine | |||
| Aug-10 | $20.00 | M. Iwinsky | |||
| Aug-13 | $30.00 | R. Leupolt | |||
| Aug-19 | $50.00 | R. Ridder | |||
| Aug-19 | $50.00 | B. Harris | |||
| Aug-19 | $25.00 | Z. Hubert | |||
| Aug-19 | $20.00 | S. Whetstone | |||
| Aug-19 | $20.00 | G. Hendron | |||
| Aug-19 | 50.00 | P. Kamstra | |||
| Aug-27 | $50.00 | S. Brooks | |||
| Aug-27 | $1,000.00 | O. Devries | |||
| Sep-10 | $1,000.00 | J. Stevenson | |||
| Sep-22 | $500.00 | N. & E. Oud | |||
| Sep-28 | $20.00 | J. Trocki | |||
| Sep-28 | $25.00 | K. Lawrie |