Alexc Jones  <hgfa.sgm> writes:

Fellow HGFA members

Thank you for your support which has culminated in a (postal) Special General Meeting.

As Brian Webb has been removed from the Committee, Bill Moyes has complied with a request to resign and the Exec has appointed three new Committee members our path forward is not as clear as it was when we began this process.

Paul Coffey wrote in an email to me yesterday that scrutineering would be allowed which would satisfy the transparency requirement if all the postal votes were to be collected unopened, then opened in the presence of scrutineers after the poll has closed. He has not yet stated that this will be the process to be used, merely "scrutineering will be allowed". I will ask him to commit to the full transparent process.

Please feel free to comment on our "Future Vision" document. All the proposed interim Committee members have provided input and we believe it represents a way forward that most HGFA members would be happy with. That being said, we would like input from all members who would like to contribute. We realise it is impossible to satisfy all members but believe it is essential that the majority of the members agree with the policies and practices of the Committee and the role the HGFA.

Consensus is a much harder barrow to push than dictatorship but we are willing to try our hardest to make the consensus model function within the HGFA.

The background:

For the first time in the thirty year history of the HGFA there is to be a Special General Meeting (SGM) invoked by more than five percent of the membership signing a request. The motions on which the membership is to vote are to remove five members from the Committee (Board of Directors). We, the "yes" supporters, have taken this course of action because we believe the Committee has demonstrated a history of not acting in the best interests of the members since taking up their positions in April 2008.

From their first meeting the Committee has displayed an authoritarian policy attitude, making a number of decisions that have caused the membership much discontent. Two of the more contentious decisions were to increase the fees by 56% and to implement the SARSIG project, in which the thirty year practice of returning the state fee component of the membership fee back to the state associations was discontinued. Many and varied reasons have been given for the changes but no documentation to support these decisions has been released despite frequent requests from members. Almost universally, information requested by members' enquiries has not been provided by the HGFA. The opposite should be the case.

Our constitution guarantees members the right to examine and copy HGFA documents. The current Committee policy of refusing access to documents is contrary to the Rules in our Constitution and the spirit of our organisation. For thirty years, until fifteen months ago, the HGFA Committee's culture was one of servant to the members - being frugal, supportive, consultative, responsive, flexible, transparent and dynamic. For the past fifteen months the public face of the HGFA, through the main contact points of Chris Fogg, Javier Alvarez, and Paul Coffey, has become one of 'The Master' in a time when expenditure in many cost areas has increased - some by over 100%. The culture has been unsupportive, dictatorial, unresponsive, inflexible, secretive and stagnant.

We, the group of members who have invoked the SGM, believe the HGFA Management needs to return to policies and practices focused on service to members. This approach has proven effective over thirty years. The recent departure from it has produced dispute, conflict and loss of members. The following document, "Future Vision" contains our policies and a list of agenda items to be addressed. We believe most members support this vision and urge you to vote "Yes" to all the motions on the ballot paper being posted to your Soaring Australia address.

Future Vision Document:

HGFA Policy Review

· The Strategic Plan will be reviewed to change the focus of planned expenditure to that of a low cost provider of essential services.

· HGFA administration will be responsive, transparent and accountable.

· No HGFA document will be deemed to be confidential except notes kept by Committee members pertaining to unresolved issues.

· HGFA documents will be available to any member on request by email or hard copy.

· The confidentiality clause currently used by HGFA admin on their emails will be reviewed and changed to ensure members feel free to distribute the contents of emails to other HGFA members.

Action Plan

1. Budget Control and Annual Membership Fee Review

· All budget cost centres will be reviewed and each budgeted expense item will be examined to assess the necessity of the expenditure.

· The members will be consulted as to the whether or not they support discretionary items planned or budgeted for since April 2008.

· The Committee will roll back fees as soon as possible. The membership fee will be adjusted to a level which is commensurate with the reviewed budget and, if possible, the difference between $390 ($350) and the reviewed fee will be refunded to members who have renewed their membership since the fee increase.

· Budgeted items will be reviewed on a three monthly basis by the Committee to ensure budget control.

· The HGFA Public Liability Policy will be reviewed to ensure there is a balance between the benefits and the cost.

· All expenses attributed to the GM since July 1st 2008 will be reviewed.

· Restructuring will occur to minimise bank charges.

2. Management of the GM.

· The GM will be performance managed by the Committee.

· All operational decisions will be reviewed by the Committee on a monthly basis.

· All receipted expenses will be examined on a monthly basis before the GM is reimbursed for adequately justified expenses.

· All issues raised with the Committee by the members will be acknowledged, reviewed and ruled on.

· Members will be invited to have GM decisions made since April 2008 reviewed and ruled on by the Committee.

· The work load of the GM will be assessed and his job description modified to align with the Committee's assessment of appropriate duties.

3. SARSIG project/State Fees.

· Implementation of SARSIG Model 3 will cease.

· The issue regarding the HGFA collecting and returning State fees will be resolved.

If the State and Regional Associations can not agree on a common solution, the issue will be decided by a referendum of the membership.

4. Benchmarking of HGFA/Ops Manual Review

· The HGFA will be benchmarked against comparable organisations.

· Ops Manual review:

    1. To reflect realities of modern flying and sites

    2. GM discretionary powers

    3. Compliance with NPRM Part 103

    4. Compliance with industry standards

5. Project to Recover Lapsed Members.

· All ex-members who have let their membership lapse between January 1st 2006 and the date of the SGM will be offered an incentive to rejoin HGFA. These ex-members will be able to rejoin HGFA by paying a discounted membership fee of $100 for full membership which will expire on June 30th 2010. After membership renewal there will be a mandatory skills check before the Pilot Certificate is validated.

6. Committee Meetings

· Video conferencing will be the first preference for all Committee of Management meetings except the AGM.

7. Committee of Management Election System

· Members will be consulted regarding the system of electing the Committee of Management.

The Gliding Federation of Australia operates on a Federal Collegiate election and voting system with the Executive members exercising one vote each, seven in total at Board meetings. In their system, the Non-Executive Board Members, representing each State, have two votes each, 10 in total thereby ensuring an effective review of the Executive. If 75% of HGFA members want the present system changed to the GFA model a Special Resolution will be drafted and put to the membership.

8. All future work will be tendered to the membership first where possible.