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I am confused… our current documents include a number of committees as voting members of the district cabinet, but this proposed has completely eliminated them. The removal of these cabinet positions should be a point of discussion. I understand there are a considerable number of cabinet members, but this should be determined by the District membership.
The current documents say:
“Section 2. DISTRICT CABINET. The district shall have a district cabinet composed of the
district governor, the immediate past district governor, the first and second vice district
governors, the region chairpersons (if the position is utilized during the district governor’s term),the zone chairpersons, Global Membership Team district coordinator, Global Leadership Team district coordinator, Global Service Team district coordinator, LCIF district coordinator, a cabinet secretary-treasurer or a cabinet secretary and a cabinet treasurer, the following Committee Chairpersons: Audit, Awards, Bland, Broom Sales, Budget, Bulletin Contest, Burkeville Lodge Representative, Chaplain, Constitution & Bylaws, Cultural/Community Activities, Diabetes Awareness, Diabetes Camp, District Directory, Environment, Ethics, Fall Conference, Hearing Conservation, Historian, Information Technology, International Convention, International Relations, Leader Dog, Leo Club Advisor, Lions Alert, LCI Liaison, LOVF Representative, Lions Charity Foundation Representative, Lions Medical Eye Bank Liaison, Central LMSHU Liaison, Southeastern LMSHU Liaison, Lions Quest, Central Lions Services for Children/SPOT, Southeastern Lions Services for Children/SPOT, Long Range Planning, Parliamentarian, Peace Poster/Essay, Pediatric Cancer Public Relations, PR-Constant Contact, PR-Newsletter, PR- Parades & Float, PR-Website, Sight Conservation, Special Needs Equipment & Health Issues, Special Olympics, State Convention, Tail Twister, Trading Pins, Traveling Leo, VLHF Liaison, VLERC-Southeastern Liaison, White Cane, Winter Conference, Youth Exchange & Camp, and such other club members as may be included in this section as amended in accordance with the amendment procedures contained herein. Each such cabinet member shall be a member in good standing of a Lions club in good standing in the district.”
Answer: In trying to conform with the LCI standard / model C&BL these positions should go away. LCI wants club participation in the voting process and has set up the Zone and Region meetings as the way for the clubs to express their opinion. Then the Zone and Region chairs vote on the matters at the District Cabinet meetings.
If you look at these committees most of them are one person committees. I think you would agree that it does not make sense to extend voting to extend voting to the one person committees and not be able to extend the same to the club presidents.
Additionally, you have the difficulty of getting a majority (Quorum) of such a large group of Lions together to pass things like the budget.
As to your suggestion that removing the committees should be up to the entire district membership. To remove or modify the committees as voting members you must amend the C&BL, you are not able to do it as a direct vote of the membership. When you look at the current 24-I C&BL dated 1 Jul 2019 on page 10 Article IX Amendments, Section 1 Amending Procedures it states: “This constitution may be amended only at a District convention, by resolution of the Constitution and By-Laws Committee and adopted by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the delegate votes cast.” A resolution has been submitted and we are obligated to follow the procedures set out in our C&BL.
I feel sure that this will be discussed at the State convention. If the resolution fails then the current C&BL will remain effective. I hope that you will attend the state convention and express your opinion as well as that of your club.
This process will also include a policy manual. One reason for the policy manual is that there are a number of Policy and procedure papers floating around the district. None of these papers have properly replaced the older documents so confusion can come up. This policy manual will properly eliminate all of the older documents and make it easier to administer the district.
I firmly believe that the administration of the District should be transparent and easy for all to see and follow.