Candidate for Director of District 4 – Lil Peck
(California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Hawaii. International: Mexico, Central America, Pacific/Asia)
My “first rabbit life” began in 1992, when my children were small, and we fell in love with Angora rabbits. We owned English, French, and Satin Angoras. In 2002, I took a 10 year break, and then returned to the hobby in 2012, when I retired. Since the mid-90s, my articles, “The Angora Rabbit Online Technical Manual” have been online. My website, AngoraRabbit.com, is the oldest continuous Angora Rabbit website, and has been a source of useful information and news about Angora Rabbits. Margaret Bartold’s “Angora Rabbit Guidebook” is also featured on the site. In the past, I have served as a District Director, twice as NARBC newsletter editor, and I was the first NARBC webmaster.
As a candidate for Director of NARBC District 4, some items that I think NARBC ought to address are:
Redundancy/Backup for Officers
To set up redundancy or backup options in case an officer or key committee member becomes temporarily unable to perform their duties. I think NARBC should to consider moving as much as possible to “the cloud,” and making sure that Executive Board members can easily, if necessary, step in to do another’s job. I understand that this idea may elicit a few sighs of exasperation, but I think it is something that ought to be considered. Margaret Bartold’s recent automobile accident is of course what brought this to mind.
NARBC Website
The “Internet Committee” part of the NARBC Constitution needs to be rewritten with the involvement people who understand web development. We have an Internet Committee Chair, Melissa Dietrich, who does the best she can with what we allow her to do, but we have tied her hands and restricted her effectiveness. The “Internet Committee” part of our constitution seems to have been written as an attempt to prevent an out-of-sorts webmaster from going rogue. However, there are better ways to accomplish that goal. According to the Treasurer’s Report in the August 2014 newsletter, $417.49 had been spent on the website, from a budget of $500. We pay a 3rd party a minimum of $250 annually to host the website, and we pay him more money each time updates are posted. One of the changes I would suggest is to consider a free alternative for hosting, and to pay our internet committee chair, Melissa $150 per year, as we do our newsletter editor. This would save the club up to $350 per year, and would allow Melissa to keep the website updated in a timelier manner, without having to go through a 3rd party. Our current website’s design is also an embarrassment for a club full of artistically inclined people.
NARBC Logo
Speaking of a club full of artistically inclined people – I think it is time to redesign the NARBC logo, with a modern, contemporary style. I for one do not buy any NARBC garments or patches just because I dislike the logo.
Sweepstakes
I would like to see ideas about how our NARBC Sweepstakes could be renovated. Perhaps we could add district or regional sections to it. Perhaps in addition to the overall national high point awards, we could have another section that would count only each exhibitor’s top ten shows. Tracking sweepstakes points is one of secretary Margaret Bartold’s duties, so her input would be required, because one would not want to impose an unduly large burden on her.
Newsletter
Printing costs about $2000 per year, and postage for it is about $1200 per year. I think we should require each member who wants a printed copy to pay an additional subscription fee of $25 per year to cover the cost of printing and mailing their copies. More members would be motivated to sign up for the newsletter as a PDF file. Our Newsletter Editor would be able to bring her/his full creativity to their job, no longer constrained by the expense of printing costs; therefore we would get a more interesting, beautiful, and informative newsletter.
Committees
Committees should have minimum of three people and should be required to meet at least once a year. It would be okay for them to meet via electronic media.
Methods for Meetings
We should take advantage of what technology as to offer, for membership, board, and committee meetings. For example, Google Hangouts are free real-time video chats that allow up to ten people to participate. If a larger audience needs to be reached, the Hangouts can be webcast via YouTube as “Hangouts on Air.”
Contact me: LilPeck@gmail.com