Council meeting???

[Alex McFarlane]

Ian, you seem to be contradicting yourself a bit. You claim one person decided but then you say that you were outvoted, ergo it must have been more than one person! But even if I accept your Covid excuse for one there were two missed AGMs weren't there?

The lack of actual chess should have meant plenty of time to check that policies were up to date.

My understanding of you being unable to use the website was that you were on a blacklist of IP addresses. For the benefit of others this was not a CS list but a more general one which the company organising the forum software employs.

With regard to points 1 and 3 I believe that your resignation letter was taken to mean a general resignation and not specific to one post.

If health issues did not impede the work of the previous administration what was the reason that policies were not revised? I assume you are not trying to say that it was incompetence. Is there another reason?

I will not be replying to Ian on a public forum in future. It does nothing to benefit chess to answer posts of that nature.

[Jim Webster]

Quote: A McFarlane
“it should be noted that this has been less of a problem in the current administration.”

 
I wish to bring to your attention that you were in fact an active, and attending, member of the Administration (Management Board) until, as Scottish Championship Director, resigned following issues raised following the 2019 Scottish Championships.
I should also point out the “administration” is not an individual by a collection of officials appoint to manage an organisation. Not one officer, including the chair/President, has authority over an organisation. It is managed by committee and decisions are a result of consultation.

Do two wrongs make a right?
The “current administration” is fractured with a minimal interaction with the Management Board (4 meetings in 2 years). Non-compliance with the constitution should have become your prime responsibility. Don’t blame others in the past, would it not be better taking ownership, in the present, of any perceived shortcoming and acting in a positive manner and deal with them. Blaming the past is not a way forward.
 

Quote: A McFarlane
Modern technology allows for many informal meetings between those involved in sub-sections of the full committee. As long as those outcomes are reported at formal meetings this seems a much better way of conducting CS business.
Obviously, the membership needs to be informed but I feel quite confident that they prefer to know that the work is on-going rather than being delayed to hold a meeting.

This quote directly contravenes the current constitution. See the quote below.

Quote: Minute of 2023 AGM Page 2
AMc We are bound by what is in the constitution.

Quote: A McFarlane
“Is this really a significant deterioration from before my time in office?”

See statement above

Some fact checking now
Ian Brownlee, in his latest post, crudely made a point regarding the “missing” AGM. Let me do some actual fact checking on points raised.

Quote: A McFarlane
“it is very annoying that the previous administration failed to actually hold an AGM one year,”

Fact Check #1

Statement on AGM (posted – Nov 2020)
With the current restrictions in place, it is simply impossible to have a face to face AGM at this present time. Management Board and Council considered the best way forward and it was determined that in November we would publish the Minutes, Annual report and accounts and at the first possible opportunity, whilst respecting the 6 week notification time, we will hold a formal AGM.
 
As soon as we are in a sufficiently low tier in 2021 to host an AGM, the remainder (motions and elections) will take place.

Link 1  https://www.chessscotland.com/news/agm-update/
Link 2  https://www.chessscotland.com/wp-content...tement.pdf
The deferred AGM meeting was then held on 31 May 2022
Link 3 AGM 2021 31-May-2022
 
You should also be aware that all notices regarding announcement of any AGM are the responsibility of the Executive Director in compliance with the constitution. However, you will see from these notices that these notices sought approval of the Management Board and Council prior to publication.
 
On 3 Nov 2021, the regular AGM was held as per the Constitution.
Link 4 AGM 2022  24-Nov-2022
 

Quote A McFarlane
“the previous Chair was in office for 7 years despite the constitution giving a maximum of 6”

Fact Check #2
This is both inaccurate and wrong.
I was elected at the 2015 AGM I was elected as President for a 2-year term as required under the then Constitution.
Incidentally – proposed A McFarlane, Seconded I Robertson
Vote count for President : Jim Webster 93 for, Ian Brownlee 36 for
Link #5 2015AGM.pdf (chessscotland.com)
 
In 2016 a new Constitution was in place and ALL director positions were reset to take effect going forward
 

Quote -- AGM 2016 calling notice
For Clarity after the change to the Constitution, the following positions are up for Election (along with the term of office. Please note we are splitting the terms to stagger the elections)
 
 President (3 years)
 Executive Director (2 years)
 Finance Director (2 years)
 Admin Director (1 year)
 International Director (2 years)
 International Director (Junior) (1 year)
 Home Director (1 year)
 Home Director (Junior) (2 years)
 Marketing & Sponsorship Director (1 year)
 Arbiter and Rules Director (2 years)
This one-time anomaly resulted in the situation that the possibility of the 7-year tenure for the President could manifest itself.
Vote count for President – 36 for, 0 against, 1 abstention

 
At the 2019 AGM I was re-elected, in accordance with the rewritten Constitution, for a second term.
Vote count for President -- 58 for, 3 against, 5 abstentions
 
Fact Check #3
During the discussions and implementation of the rewritten Constitution that came into effect from 2016 onwards you actually participate as a nominated scrutineer being one of 3 delegated scrutineers for on behalf of the Constitution Working Party.
 
Additionally.
Since you were directly involved in the creation, scrutinising and implementation of the 2016 Constitution, I find it strange that you are now, potentially, promoting a new constitution with alleged shortcomings which you were already party to.

To close this post, I recommend that you actually take the time to read the linked contents referred to.

Jim Webster.

[Ianbrownlee]

Its OK Alex my questions can wait until the AGM but it was a helluva assumption to make and to remove me from my other work at Chess Scotland was a strange one at that. You know why I resigned and I still dont see why you came to that conclusion. I also suggest you speak to Andy McHarg directly regarding the details of my blocking. After being assured by the exec and stating nothing could be done I CONTACTED Andy McHarg directly and he whitelisted me in minutes
With the decision not to hold the AGM at my time, let me clarify, I wanted the AGM at that time but the President and Executive put forward a case not to have it at that time so I was outvoted 2-1 , seems clear enough. 
I am not surprised at your response , its not the first time I have heard that.
I'm sure Jim has clarifed your other points. 
You're right in one aspect, let's wait until the AGM unless someone asks some particular questions at Council

[Alex McFarlane]

Jim,
As indicated I do not believe this is the place to carry out this conversation.
However, you have asked me to read everything. You state "In 2016 a new Constitution was in place and ALL director positions were reset to take effect going forward". Can you please also provide a link to where that is stated as I cannot find it.
Certainly, for other positions going forward that would be the case as there is no limit of time set but it would apply to the President unless specifically stated otherwise.
But regarding your Fact Checks
1. Many organisations moved to on-line meetings. Covid is not an excuse for not holding an AGM. But in addition, another AGM was only called when there was a threat from members
2. 2015-2022 is 7 years. Otherwise covered above.
3. Correct and I made 14 points. However, I was asked only to comment on what I was presented with and to highlight obvious omissions. I was not asked to propose a constitution which contained what I might have wanted in it.

[Ianbrownlee]

Alex
There was a concern that zoom meetings were being hijacked by people bombing into meeting unannounced. Andy Howie had the concern that this might happen. Zoom's security was upgraded which at that some point Andy was then satisfied. To be frank if Andy doesn't call the meeting, theres not much we can do about it. The AGM wasn't cancelled, it was postponed to a point that Andy was satisfied.

If we cant have a discussion here , then where and when? Are you suggesting this can be brought up at the AGM? m still unclear as to whether I can attend the council meeting. Incidentally I think the post of Admin Director is two years, the post came up for renewal twice in two years due to the delayed AGM and then the catchup

[Alex McFarlane]

I'm not saying there shouldn't be discussion here. Indeed I would encourage much of it.

However, potential sponsors often look at websites, etc. The type of attempted point scoring in this thread is not a good advert.

[Ianbrownlee]

so if not here Alex where? where is the accountability? council? AGM?

[Alex McFarlane]

Much of the above probably should have been done by email,  sometimes to the appropriate official, sometimes to a group of officers.

You do have a number of league reps who could be asked to bring it up as well as individual members reps.  Indeed sometimes asking someone like that to raise a point might start a conversation when an alternative way of solving a situation may be found.

Nor am I suggesting that anything needs to wait until a Council meeting or AGM.  There is usually a senior official at events and an appropriate time can usually be found to approach them.

Often the quicker a 'problem' is raised the quicker it can be resolved (before it grows).

[Ianbrownlee]

well i did send an email to the exec committee but got nowhere I considered standards but thought it pointless to go further down this route

[Alex McFarlane]

Ian, I believe you got an answer.

Things are not the same when people do not like the answer they got. Then I suggest they should discuss it with someone they trust and who is neutral and consider the merits of escalating, what by then is seen as, a grievance.