Quartzfest bills itself as “a week-long ham radio, camping, living, and learning event. If you’ve ever seen Gordon West’s Quartzfest reports on Ham Nation, you’ll see what I mean. With all the activities and speakers they have, it just looks like a lot of fun.
This year, one of the featured speakers was Dick Norton, N6AA, the recently censured Southwest Division director. Randy, K7AGE, recorded his talk, and has graciously allowed my to post it here. (Thanks, Randy!) If you’ve been following the recent ARRL board saga, you should watch this. His talk lasts for about a half hour, and the subsequent Q&A session takes another hour.
- The ARRL is not in any kind of financial difficulty. According to N6AA, the ARRL has approximately $20 million in the bank that has not yet been earmarked for any particular purpose.
- Your emails made a difference. One director received over 1000 emails, while another received nearly 800. Not a single one was sympathetic to the board and bylaws changes.
- While the articles of incorporation and bylaws changes were withdrawn at this particular board meeting, they haven’t gone away. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see if they get put on the agenda for the next board meeting.
- A big deal was made by the ARRL Board that the “Code of Conduct” was recommended by the League’s lawyers who are familiar with Connecticut state law. N6AA kind of pooh-poohed that idea, noting that you can get lawyers to provide you with a position paper on just about any position that you want to promote.
- Furthermore, he apparently did a little research on his own and found the Connecticut Revised Nonstock Corporation Act. Sec. 33-1104 of this act spells out general standards for directors. Part (a) says, “A director shall discharge his duties as a director, including his duties as a member of a committee: (1) In good faith; (2) with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances; and (3) in a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation.” He believes that (a)(3) directly contradicts some of the wording in the ARRL’s Code of Conduct.
In addition to these topics, N6AA tackled questions on the Amateur Radio Parity Act, the ARES re-organization, and other current issues. As I said earlier, if you’re interested at all in the governance of the ARRL, make sure to watch this video.
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