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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:47 pm
by Phatcows
From the gossip i hear, it was all down to a certain 4 or 5 council members being really horrible to her. Personally i think it`s about time we called an Etraordinary general meeting and gave a vote of No Confidence in the Council. Maybe we`d get somethings sorted then
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:47 pm
by Phatcows
From the gossip i hear, it was all down to a certain 4 or 5 council members being really horrible to her. Personally i think it`s about time we called an Extraordinary general meeting and gave a vote of No Confidence in the Council. Maybe we`d get somethings sorted then
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:38 pm
by redhill
having been a cost accountant in a past life the one thing that is obvious to me isa that by changing the secretary every two years is not viable the only way we can substain this is for the membership to go up by something like 200%,
its not just the fact that we have to find a new secretary but the cost of interviewing, training and all the add ons.
we cannot aford it, I am afraid that we will be seeing more and more unregistered dexters as those of us who are dedicated to the dexter but have to make our living from them will not be able to aford the membership fee let alone the registration fee, perhaps we should be thinking of joining one of the foriegn society's and registering our stock through them or not registering at all, after all we cannot rely on a up to date herd book the best we can expect at the moment is a herd book that is 10 months out of date when we get it even though we pay for it in january, just think of the interest you could have on that money if you left it in a deposit account until you recieved the herd book, I think we should be able to order the herd book when we send in our herd return and only pay for it when we are notified it is ready for posting, in real terms your herd book cost you something like £14 not the £10 you think it does, and what else do we get for our membership? I've been waiting for nearly 12 months for an acknowledgement of a letter I sent to the society re online registration.
has the DCS come to the end of its realistic life?
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:12 am
by moomin
Mark, I am deeply saddened that Yvonne is resigning. She loves the job and is a most excellent secretary.
A council meeting has been called for Thursday 1st. November at 09.30 hrs. probably in the Jersey building, RASE, Stoneleigh Park.
Remember members are entitled to attend council meetings as observers, Article 27.3 in our constitution.
They are supposed to give 10 days notice but this is negated if members have not been notified of the date.
Di Smith
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:49 am
by Woodmagic
I wish I were in a position to attend, I hope as many as possible will do so, and make it clear that we do not want to lose the best Secretary we have had for several years. It has become clear over the last few months that things were at last beginning to move. Requests put up by the membership were being fulfilled. Tasks were being undertaken in a business like fashion.
As Redhill says continual change of secretary is just not viable, it takes time to work oneself into the job, and the membership has to find the cost. Good secretaries are not easy to find, and I know that Yvonne has genuinely enjoyed doing the job, but it appears that some Council members seemed unable to appreciate her value. I very much hope sanity will prevail.
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:01 am
by Martin
Have council members really got the breeds best interests at heart or have some their own agenda? Since becoming a member I have spoken to quite a number of old established herd owners that have their doubts. I don't think it would not be right to have a witch hunt, but questions have to be asked and truthfull answers given. I know it can be a thankless task and can take up valuable time when sitting on bodies such as council and we should be thankfull that there are people willing to do it.
Is there somewhere we can view a profile of council members? It would be interesting to see how many cows each has, what show successes they have, how long they have been breeding etc. It would certainly give an idea as to the mix within council and wether it reflected the membership.
The problem we have now is that on hearing about the turnover of secretaries will anyone with the right atributes want the job?
Martin. Medway Valley Dexters
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:30 am
by Broomcroft
I have heard nothing but praise for Yvonne. Great shame.
Numerous people have said to me that they could not stay on or would not offer to join Council because of bad treatment, and that the situation is getting worse. That's what the grapevine says. If true, it needs sorting ASAP in my view.
Council members must know who doesn't gel and is pernickitty or whatever and can't fit in. Time to be open about it and 'difficult' people, or a little clique with their own agenda, probably the latter, should go.
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:14 am
by rodmet
I am told I must stop being kryptic! Rugby was the in sport recently so many of you will know that a rolling maul is a way of one team keeping the ball, some players drop off the maul but the nucleus remains the same. For a number of years now there has been a rolling maul on Council with a nucleus of the same people holding the ball. Now that would be fine if the objective of the rolling maul ie to go forward was being pursued in Council but it isnt. What we have is a self perpetuating group of people, more interested in power than progress who have successfully protected themselves through ensuring that they stamp out any movement towards transparency and letting the voice of members be heard or especially responded to.
Organisations are like businesses in that they are only as good as the people that run them and the track record of our organisation reflects that. It is time for a new team and new approach. If I felt there was any chance of the meeting on Nov. 1st really tackling this issue I would be sat in the front row but I fear the maul will simply regroup and prevent any chance of the ball coming into play.
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:56 am
by welshdexterboy
Moomin you say we can attend as observers but what good is that if we cannothave a say? I only met Yvonne once at the AGM but i have emailed her several times for help or advice and shehas always responded swiftly in my case. It would be a terrible loss to us to lose her and unless the reasons are personal to her we need to know.I am not familiar with the personalities on Council but i agree that some people once they are in that sort of position they are harder to get rid of than ringworm. Mark has a good idea about having a profile on each Council member as long it is not to intrusive. Also, perhaps there should be a ruling you stand for so long, can be re-elected once and then there is an enforced break of 2-3 years before standing again? Perhaps this already exists in which case i will shut up and leave this to the experts.
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:21 pm
by Jim Taylor
I had a Dexter registration problem a while ago and Yvonne sorted it quicker than you can blink. She is very good and it will be a disaster if she goes.
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:50 pm
by Rob & Alison Kirk
Di says that "Yvonne loves her job" - Ted Neal resigns at the end of the Society AGM; there is obviously a problem within Council. I think the President should give a statement to the membership regarding the current situation.
It is very clear to me and to others that some Council members do have their own agenda. Why should there be a need to be "horrible" to a Secretary who has already moved the society to a new level and, in my opinion, would continue to further improve the Society given the opportunity. I agree with Redhill that the Society cannot affort to have their Breed Secretaries resigning every two years, with all the costs involved and expect the membership to pay.
The Dexter Cattle Society must appear to other societies to be unprofessional in the way they operate, when they consistently see advertisements for a Breed Secretary in the farming press. Who in their right mind is going to apply for a job that will only probably last for between 18 to 24 months, because by then they will have been "hounded" out by some members of Council. This is not the way to run a major breed society.
Alison and I would be prepared to go to the Council meeting on Thursday 1 November to support Yvonne. Would like-minded members be able to attend? Is the next step an Extra Ordinary Meeting?
Robert Kirk
Boram Dexters
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:56 pm
by Mark Bowles
Is the next step a EGM indeed?, there fails to be any kind of response, either here or on the official site. I too may be inclinded to attend on 1st Nov.
Mark
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:04 pm
by welshdexterboy
I would be willing to go as well Mark but like i said earlier what is the point of going if we can only observe?
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:08 pm
by Mark Bowles
Hopefully an insight into what is going on and what has gone on!
Mark
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:17 pm
by ann
the current ruling re council seems to be that after so many years you have to come off for one year only before being eligible to be voted back on.
This IMHO needs to be 3 yrs at least.
BTW Does anyone know why Ted Neal resigned?
One thing that does really concern me is that all my dealing with Yvonne have been handled in a very professional way and I found her extremely pleasant which can only have been a great asset to the society as most members queries are over the phone. If she has in fact left because of verbal or emotional abuse from one or more council members and wishes to take this further the £6500.00 in the DCS bank could be come very depleted if she decides to claim for compensation due to loss of earnings.
Plus all the costs as previously mention regarding finding a new secretary and will anyone with farming experience apply? the way the bush telegraph works why would a good secretary want to apply when there are plenty of jobs out there if you have the skills with out getting a load of aggro.
Personally unless a good reason is given for her resignation I think we all should write in to council demanding that she is asked if she will reconsider her decision.