District Convention
Our Woodside Terrace A. M. Kiwanis Club made a good showing at the 87th annual Cal-Nev-Ha District Convention in Reno in August. Mike Akana, Gil McCoy, Glenn Behm, Larry Graves and Lynne Mercer all attended. The scheduling for this convention was quite tight, with 3 rounds of seminars each morning, an official lunch (the Awards Luncheon on Friday and the Interclub Luncheon on Saturday) and then a General Session and House of Delegates Session both afternoons. Somehow we had to also squeeze in time to visit the exhibit booths, visit with friends, gamble, and shop.
The seminars this year included a healthy mix of both Kiwanis related topics such as Board Responsibilities & Risk Management, How to Increase and Maintain Membership, Fund Raising, etc., etc., and “fun” stuff such as Salsa Dancing, Wine Tasting, The History of Gambling, etc. I had planned to mix it up a bit and include both Salsa and Mediterranean dancing in my list of seminars, but a (thankfully mild) bout of food poisoning caused me to miss much of the first day. So, I felt obliged to attend the more Kiwanis related seminars on the second day and I didn’t get my dancing lessons in. Oh well!
One thing that was different this year is that International President, Nelson Tucker, Immediate Past International President, Steve Siemens, and current Kiwanis International CEO, Rob Parker, were all heavily involved in the convention, both as seminar presenters and as emcees and speakers on stage at the general sessions. I have been to many, many District Conventions and this is the first time I have seen this level of participation by the higher levels of Kiwanis. Needless to say, their seminars and presentations were remarkable.
Another thing that was different was that there were 2 House of Delegate sessions. That is because, even though there was only one Amendment to vote on, that Amendment changed the way that Cal-Nev-Ha is governed by eliminating the requirement for the Lt. Governors to act as trustees for the Cal-Nev-Ha Board and instead creating 18 regions and having a trustee for each region, each trustee to serve for 3 years. The idea is to create continuity from year to year and to create a body that is more in tune with the business of Cal-Nev-Ha as a whole. The amendment passed, although not without considerable discussion.
The other important function of the House of Delegates is to elect the new Governor for the upcoming year and the Governor Elect for the following year. As expected, Oscar Knight was elected to be Governor for 2007-2008, and Dan Connelly from Division 12 (San Jose) was elected to be Governor Elect. The installation dinner and ceremony was Saturday evening. Our Lt. Governor Dan Hoppe was also retired Saturday evening and our new Lt. Governor, Bill Menafra, was installed (both to become effective Oct. 1.).
by Lynne Mercer
Changing our Ways
At the District Convention in Reno in August, delegates passed an amendment to the Cal-Nev-Ha Bylaws that will change the way the District is governed. Currently the Lt. Governors in the Cal-Nev-Ha District have duties at both the local Division and at the District level. At the local Division level they are expected to visit all of the clubs prior to installation to be introduced to each club, participate in all of the club installations (both at the beginning of their year and at the end to assist the new Lt. Gov., visit each club at their regular club meeting at least once during the year, attend at least one Board Meeting for each club during the year, take his or her replacement around towards the end of the year to introduce them to the clubs, hold a DCM each month for the club Presidents and secretaries (but open to all), host the Governor’s visit during the year, and attend any number of other events. All of this is intended to keep the Lt. Gov. aware of how each club functions and what each club is doing, and to assist clubs by providing a forum at the DCM to disseminate and share information.
Many Lt. Governors did not realize until they arrived at Bass Lake for their Lt. Governor training that they were also expected to attend and vote as Trustees at 2 District Board Meetings during the year!! Because of their already heavy workload and because, in preparation for the District Board Meeting,
they had to read through and try to interpret up to 200 pages of information on various issues that they would be voting on, most Lt. Governors would defer to the wishes of the Governor and just rubber stamp the items on the tale. Obviously that is fraught with the potential for abuse, and that is what the new amendment seeks to address.
The New System:
Under the new system, Lt. Governors will retain all of their other duties and responsibilities, but they will no longer act as trustees for Cal-Nev-Ha. Instead, 18 Trustees, 1 from each of 18 “Regions” (groups of Divisions), will be elected for staggered 3 year terms. To start the process 6 Regional Trustees will serve for a 1 year period, 6 more will serve for 2 years, and the last 6 will be elected for 3 years. From then on, once a year, 6 Trustees will retire and the Trustees’ successors will be replaced at a 1 day Regional Conference in March. Each club president and immediate past president (or their duly elected alternatives) present at the conference shall have 1 vote in electing their replacement Trustee.
Other details are more complicated and some have yet to be worked out. However, the intent is to free the Lt. Governors from what was sometimes an onerous burden, but also to institute some form of continuity from year to year and also to have Trustees that are more experienced with the working of the District. This should greatly increase the efficiency with which the District is able to govern.
by Lynne Mercer
International Convention
San Antonio, Texas, July 2007
Glenn Behm, Larry and I all attended the International Convention in San Antonio over the July 4th holiday. I have all been to a good number of conventions in the past, but in my mind this one ranks among the best.
San Antonio was a wonderful surprise and not at all what I expected. It is a beautiful, lush, historic, and vibrant city. Our hotel was just 1 ½ blocks from the Alamo (much to my surprise… I somehow though it would be outside of town, not right in the center of the city) and right at the end of the Riverwalk. This is a long (at least a couple of miles I would guess) loop of the San Antonio River bank that has been transformed into a beautiful pedestrian walkway lined with gardens, excellent restaurants (often in historic buildings), outdoor entertainment and shops. If you are too tired to walk, you can flag down a water taxi to take you to your destination. Because of the holiday, the Riverwalk was alive with activity and it was great fun to just sit on one of the benches and people watch. We lucked out on the weather too, which is usually very hot and muggy this time of year. The torrential rains that flooded much of Texas blew over us for the most part but the cloud cover kept the weather comfortable and most of the rain missed us completely.
The convention center was just 1 ½ blocks away from our hotel and very modern. All of the seminars Larry and I went to were excellent and the delegate sessions went very smoothly. Due to the large number of proposed Amendments, there were 3 delegate sessions. It helped a lot that, for the first time, they used written ballots and electronically counted the ballots. That not only saved a lot of time, but it also removed any question as to whether any ballot issued passed with the required simple or 2/3 majority (see Larry’s separate article for results.) Instead of having long speeches from each of the candidates for office, they had a shortened speech and then each candidate was asked a series of questions by the moderator. It really personalized the process and made it much easier to decide who to vote for. In fact, there was a notable shortage of speeches at this year’s convention, which was a refreshing change.
As with all conventions, socializing is part of the game, and this year was no exception. On July 4th several bus loads of Cal-Nev-Ha Kiwanians went to the Don Strange Ranch (about 40 miles out of town) for a Texas style rodeo and BBQ. We thought we were out of luck as it rained hard all the way there, but the rain stopped shortly after we arrived so they went ahead with the rodeo (despite the mud.) Of course, there was plenty to eat, a live band, and lasso lessons and armadillo races to keep us entertained. At other times we were on our own, but there was no shortage of restaurants and bars where we could socialize with our fellow Kiwanians that we have made friends with over the years. Overall the 92ND Annual Convention was a lot of fun and a great learning experience in a beautiful, beautiful setting. Would I go back to San Antonio any time soon? You betcha I would, in an instant!!
by Lynne Mercer
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