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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:03 pm
by Mark Bowles
The next DCS council meeting is on Wed 8th Nov at 9.30 in the Jersey Building at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.
Anyone wishing to attend to view proceedings need to give notice to the office 10 days in advance ( i think)
Mark
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:12 pm
by ann
Do you have to sign the official secrecy act, in theory we should be able to send a roving reporter to post back to the discussion board 
???
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:20 pm
by Peter thornton
Interestingly, our local Council allows anyone to attend any meeting (including cabinet meetings) with no notice whatsoever and to report anything that goes on. (With the exception of about 5% of business involving staff contracts etc)
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:48 pm
by ann
praphs they need ten days notice to order extra cream cakes and coffee :D :D
Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:47 pm
by groubearfarm
I am a new member of Council and find it rather disturbing that some of the members should hold the Council in such low esteem.
Council members all volunteer their time to further the breed. We need your support and constructive critism rather than derisive comments. The Society would welcome further active support from the membership at large - why not help us promote the breed. Fiona
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:13 am
by Peter thornton
I think that all members realise that Council members give their time to the society and are grateful for this.
But Council must realise that a significant amount of members are not entirely convinced that Council is responsive to their concerns. Why, for example should anyone have to give 10 days notice that they wish to observe a Council meeting? Perhaps you could ask this question at your first meeting?
In my experience, opening up the process is the first step to engaging the members in the whole process of the societies governance.
Let's also have Council minutes posted on the society website. It's really not rocket science you know.
Hopefully we can all pull together as a society as we enter an uncertain future.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:09 pm
by Mark Bowles
Just let me chip in an observation,
I have attended, not all, but most recent DCS AGMs. The number of members attending would probably vary between 90 to 110, reasonably constant.There are nearly300 people with, i presume, dexter interests registered with the dissussion board along with possibly 100-200 who log on as guests only. These are significant numbers.
Topics in the past have varied across all aspects of Dexter keeping, and beyond in some cases.
Topics on council and items that directly affect the membership have been discussed, in some cases with great vigour.
It is obviously correct to put thoughts and concerns through the proper channels, ie the agenda at the AGM,and through the various area groups, plus lobbying a particular council member, but i feel a little sad that comments on this site seem to be dissmissed and not taken seriously by the powers that be.
We are all members, well most of us i assume, of the dcs and deserve to be heard. Remember the comments of councils in the past on various occasions, " the listening council reaching out to the membership".
So please dont cast aside comments on this board as silly or glib, we are a sizable group of the membership.
Mark
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:57 pm
by groubearfarm
I would like make it clear that I take the comments of this discussion board very seriously, and am grateful that Mark has developed this forum for discussion. I would like to see the communication between Council and the members they represent improve, and hope this will be the case in the future.
With regard to the approved Council Minutes, these are sent to group secretaries, I personally always take them to group meetings and make them available for any members to read. This is one of the benefits of joining your local group. Fiona.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:30 am
by rodmet
From time to time I have sent comments to this excellent site about the problems facing our breed and my belief that our Council is letting members down both in what it is(and is not doing) and how it is doing it. I have advocated a Council run on transparent lines, asking what members are looking for,devising a strategyto meet those wishes, implementing that strategy to the best of their resources(part of which should be members not on on Council), regularly reporting on progress, and making changes in the strategy and implementation as circumstances and member's interests change.
I had hopes that my posts would start an open debate with the Council or its members would joining in, after all the issues are central to our Society. Having had absolutely no reaction from the Council at any time I thought I am approaching this incorrectly and recently chose to write to the Council directly.I sent them copies from some of my posts on the site asking them for their comments and also asking them a number of direct questions.
I do not need to paraphrase their reply as it is so short. "I refer to your letter dated 17.09.06 which,as requested, was discussed at the Council Meeting on 7.10.06. I have been asked to inform you that every effort will be made to move the date of the AGM in future to avoid the clash with the York Sale. Council have noted your comments regarding the website." The letter answered none of my questions,responded to none of the issues regarding the future of the breed and our Society and gave a qualified response to the York Sale issue. So much for talking to the Society directly.
I know Councillors are volunteers and make big sacrifices to contribute to the breed but why do they have to do it without consulting and involving members and with as much secrecy as they can get away with and what is wrong with addressing the current issues and needs and arriving at a strategy and implementation plan to meet them in an open way?????
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:15 am
by Martin
Having never been one to keep my opinions to myself I have contributed to the discussions about council, and some of the decisions reached by them.
If we think about how diverse the membership is you can see the difficulty, In the South East Group we have one member who earns her living from Dexters with her farm shop and her good name, (not many people havn't heard of Moomin), and at the other end of the scale we have a member that has two cows and only breeds from them on alternate years as they only need one carcase a year and do not want the hasle of selling any surplus.How difficult is it on certain issues to represent two such extreme herds.
There will always be those that are never happy with any decision made by council and there will always be council members that do not represent fully the veiws of the membership and have their own agenda's. At the moment I don't think the South East has a representative on council as people either don't have the time or don't want the job.
I appreciate what council do on my behalf and thank them for it, what they must do is to realise the diversity within the society and come to decisions that do not alienate parts of the membership. It must be difficult not to represent yourself and your own interests.
Martin.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:24 pm
by forestblaze
If council was made up of one elected member from each of the local groups we may have a more balanced view presented at council meetings .This would enable the elected member to report back to his or her own group. Regards Sue Osborne.
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:54 pm
by Woodmagic
As an ex-Council member, I have been following this discussion with great interest. I would point out that ‘Council’ is not a single entity. I can vouch for the fact that over the years, some Council members have struggled to meet some of the concerns voiced in this column. For instance, I fought a long battle with the help of at least one other member, to get minutes out earlier to the membership. I have always argued the Council is elected to represent the membership and should have no secrets from them. I think there has been some improvement on this one.
I have also said for years that the whole implementation should be thought through, and brought into the 21st century. Martin says that the South East has no representative, and it is suggested we should have a representative from each region. I understood Di Smith was now a Council member, but in any case the failure would be, in not putting a representative forward and voting for them, the option is there for any group to do that. A full-page ad in the Bulletin produced practically no volunteers, countrywide. I believe the problem is that few folks can afford to spare a minimum of five working days to attend. I also know that at the end of day, consisting of 10 hours in travelling, and perhaps seven hours at the meeting I would often return home feeling thoroughly dissatisfied with the accomplishment of the day, and I know I have not been alone.
Most of our sister Societies abroad use teleconferencing and e-mail, partly because long distances make anything else impractical. They may meet physically annually. This system could improve the volunteering, most can find a limited amount of time, and it is the prospect of a full day, which can be inhibiting. Proper preparation by e-mail, with papers submitted and circulated, backed up by correspondence and telephone, could provide contribution from all parts of the country, instead of being confined to the favoured few living in central parts, or super human effort on the part of some, I always admired Mike making his long journey from Cornwall. Toward the end I know it was only because his wife was prepared to cope alone at home, while he stayed overnight. near Stoneleigh.
As Mark says only around 100 usually attend the AGM, it cannot be considered representative. Postal vote should be considered for any major changes. We must not ignore those who have not moved into the computer age.
Why don’t some of you complainants tackle a Council member, you can ask them for answers and go back, if you don’t get them? It does not have to be a member of your local group. All Council members should be responsible to all the membership. During the whole of my term, I was never asked to submit any proposals, although I made a point of saying I was available.
Finally, I would say we have had several changes recently, I should give the new team a fair start, and not assume things will carry on as before.
Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:11 pm
by rodmet
For long enough I have been advocating change in the Society and I thought it may be useful to put forward one way in which the Council could manage the process of change.
1. Produce a well thought out(you only get one good shot at this so it wants to be as comprehensive and user friendly as possible) questionnaire to be sent to all members with two key objectives - to find out member profile and to get to know their views and what they are looking for from the Society.
2. Choose/seek volunteers to form a group look at best practice in other animal Societies.
3. Set up a group to look at the results of the Questionnaire and the research into best practice and charge them with coming up with recommendations for changes into what the Society does and how it does it.
4. Council consider the recommendations and consult members with the outcome in a two way process.
5. Decide future action and produce an implementation plan.
I for one would volunteer to help in any capacity if such a process was proposed
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:15 am
by Woodmagic
The referendum proposal; in many ways is attractive. Unfortunately it is usually difficult to secure sufficient participation, and I suggest a third of replies would probably be all one could anticipate. The question is then whether the type of person willing to take part would skew the result.
I would hazard a guess at the following:
Geography would influence, to the extent that most, in the further parts of the country, would require their stock to assist to some extent in providing some income, in addition to their main occupation. Nearer to central Britain the breeders would on the whole have acquired a few acres as a hobby, happy to use the excuse to collect vat on household expenses. Most breeders would be using the chance to provide a reliable food source. While practically all members would have developed love for their Dexters, the majority will have a life term of 8-9 years Few will remain lifetime serious breeders.
There will be glaring of exceptions, but I would bet this is a fair picture overall. What worries me is that the loss of headage payments and the escalating bureaucracy of Government and the Society itself may detract from the pleasure to the point where some members will give up. If it is too many, fees will have to go up to prop up the mounting expenditure
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 5:53 pm
by Kathy Millar
How true, Beryl, in regards to asking folks to let you know of any concerns and then not hearing from anyone. I can't remember how many boards I have been on and presently sit on and very rarely do I have feedback from anyone.
However, if there is a complaint, I always ask for their ideas on a solution. I also feel for the hardworking editors of the many little newletters out there as those poor folks generally end up writing most of the thing themselves!
And it must be remembered that you don't have to have a complaint or problem to take to your council member. You may have a positve contribution to share.
Long distance meetings are difficult and here in Canada most council meetings are now held by phone with a lot of e-mailing before and after. I just don't feel like travelling 2000 miles to attend a board meeting in Ontario!!!