President’s Perspective
Dave Brown, AMA President
AMA has lost a legend; Godspeed, my friend.
It is difficult to write this column because I have to tell you of the passing of a legend of AMA’s leadership. On May 21, 2004, District V Vice President (VP) Jim McNeill passed away after suffering a heart attack. It occurred while he was preparing to visit an event conducted by one of the clubs in his district.
Jim served on the Executive Council (EC) for 33 years, first as District V VP, then Secretary/Treasurer (now called the Executive Vice President), and again as District V VP. Although Jim was occasionally controversial, there was no one with a greater love for AMA and service on the EC.
I was asked to speak at his services, where it was obvious just how dedicated to AMA and aeromodeling Jim had been. Pictures of Jim from his youth in the early 1930s showed an ardent aeromodeler.
Filling EC vacancies and the bylaws
Whenever an AMA officer becomes incapacitated, it is necessary to fill his or her position on the EC. Somehow, the word “replace” seems inappropriate.
We turn to the AMA Bylaws for guidance, but they are difficult to interpret when it comes to a specific task. In the case of filling a District VP vacancy, the bylaws speak of a special election, but the next line in the same sentence refers to the EC appointing an interim VP if an EC meeting is called or scheduled within the nominating and voting period. Looking closely at our bylaws, conflicts such as this are common and require some explanation.
AMA’s bylaws were originally written in 1936 when AMA was founded, and they have served us well. Sometimes they seem confusing, but the meaning usually becomes more obvious if you look back into history and consider the way AMA operated in its first few years. In the early days, actual face-to-face meetings of the EC were rare. I don’t think the EC held regularly scheduled, in-person meetings until approximately the 1960s. A meeting of the EC was an important event, and the founders wanted to ensure that each AMA district was represented, resulting in the need for the EC to appoint an interim VP. The system is clumsy at best, and is made more difficult when the timing is so close to the normal election process.
This is not the first time that this procedure has been needed. The “conflicting” statements in the bylaws are difficult to interpret consistently. In anticipation of this situation, during the first EC meeting of the year, each VP is asked to provide the EC with the names of two people. These recommendations will be the candidates whom the EC nominates for a special election if that is called for. It also serves to identify who would be the VP’s choice if an appointment became necessary.
Ironically, it is up to the remaining EC members to come up with these candidates, yet it often results in them having no idea who to select. This process at least gives some semblance of reason to the appointments.
The need to revise the bylaws
Obviously, our bylaws need to be updated to manage the realities of our times. There is a big difference between the needs of an organization of AMA’s size now compared to those of 1936. The bylaws have been modified throughout the years, but such patchwork changes can only go so far. The time has come for a complete review and updating of the bylaws. The EC has been working on this for the last couple of years. The second day of our EC meetings has often been dedicated to this project, but we need to make this a higher priority.
Why would it be so important to appoint an interim VP to attend an EC meeting, yet if a VP is unable to attend an EC meeting, the person representing that district in place of the absent VP is not allowed to vote? How does that make sense? It is important that all AMA districts are represented at all meetings, and the representative is entitled to vote. This is one area we need to fix.
Dave Brown AMA President [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
