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TEA looking to scale back size of board |
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Wednesday, 20 February 2008 |
The Taber Exhibition Association (TEA) continues to work on considerations with regard to re-organization of its board.
By Sharon Ulrich
Taber Times
TEA president Troy Terry indicated the main push of the board is to read bylaws, policies and procedural manuals in depth, with changes to be considered at the annual general meeting in August.
"We have a bunch of committees and that has been part of our focus to just update our policies and procedures manual, review our bylaws, add some new ones that might need to be because they're outdated or don't qualify for the way the building has changed over the last 20 years."
An ongoing process, Terry explained a couple of years ago the board implemented a policy that required user groups to have somebody regularly attend meetings. The reason was two-fold, he noted - to give them more support at the board level but also, and maybe more importantly, to keep people informed of what the board was doing for the individual user groups. That decision, however, has since been revoked.
"The board this year decided that we had enough representation and they eliminated that policy, and we've yet to see how that will affect us."
While Terry explained the board is bound by the Alberta Agriculture Society Act, that states it must have a minimum of 10 members on its board, there is no maximum. He noted they are also bound by the Taber Exhibition Association bylaws that state they have a representative from the Town of Taber and the M.D. of Taber.
Although he said there are currently 18 board members, he noted they are trying to get closer to the 10 members. Like any organization, however, he noted if the membership does not vote in favour of some of the changes, there is not a lot that can be done.
"We as board members can only make suggestions and propose changes and resolutions to bylaws and policies, but they need to be passed at a meeting. And if the membership that attends the annual meeting decides that's not what they want, then that's the way it goes."
As the M.D. of Taber representative, Coun. Dwight Tolton extended assistance with regard to restructuring the board and having it move forward.
New to the board, Tolton explained he recognized some difficulties with board structure at his first meeting. He suggested 25 members on a board is unworkable, and terms need to be more than one year, and staggered.
He said they do not want to tell TEA board members what to do but only facilitate restructuring, and moving the board forward with continuity so decisions reflect the betterment of the facility and its users on a long-term basis.
While committees can still be appointed from that board to get research and information, Tolton explained there are advantages to get the board down to a more reasonable size.
"The amount of discussion is limited and different points of view are still going to be reflected but the more people you have in the mix, the more difficult it is to have a consensus. The decision-making needs to be by a smaller number, and they need to be there the next year to live the decision they made, and that's part of the continuity."
To this point, speaking only for the last four or five years he has been involved at the board level, Terry sajd there has been a really good working relationship with the M.D. He noted in particular, the M.D.'s representation by Deputy Reeve Greg Sekura, who now serves as alternate, has been a positive.
"He's represented us well to the M.D. and I think he's represented the M.D. well to us," said Terry, who added that goes in a long way in the relationship between the TEA and M.D.
Insofar as the way the board is made up, Sekura said he has been quite impressed by the way the board has progressed over the past few years, as far as handling some of the grant applications and the funding end of the building. However, as far as the make-up and governance of the board, he said that is something the board needs to sort out.
"I'm not going to pretend to tell them what's best for them. If they ask for advice, we'll offer that. If the way they are set up right now is working, then I encourage them to continue on that way but if there are ways they can make it better, they can look at it as well." |
