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Transparency This is one on which I've made known my beliefs and opinions on other forums and to many members personally but had not yet included it here until now. I am in favor of transparency of the KCBS. I believe that EVERY member (not just those who are fortunate enough to grab a phone line or live close by) should have access to the Board of Directors meetings. With the availability of technology today, there's no reason we cannot provide some method to allow broadcast over the Internet. Podcasts, streaming video, etc. While I am by no means an expert in technology, I believe it must be possible. Even the EFFORT being made to attempt new methods to make meetings available to as many folks as possible would give members faith that the Board wants to communicate and keep members informed rather than in the dark! We need to see full minutes, not quick notes and vaguely worded reports in the Bullsheet. The members also should be able to request and view copies of the budget and other financial dealings, including details of the contract with MMA. It's YOUR money being paid in sanctioning fees and dues. Let's see where it goes! There are two instances where I would carefully weigh transparency options vs. not being transparent... one, we can't spend outrageous sums of cash to allow members to listen in on board meetings. That's not the best use of our funds. There must be relatively inexpensive options. And two, if disclosing certain financial information would compromise the organization, I would vote against it. Otherwise, let's be honest, forthcoming and open. Don't you agree? Growth of the KCBS It's inevitable. We all know that. Look at the huge increase in membership over the last five years! Yes, a lot of that growth comes from certifying judges but as more teams jump on the competition bandwagon, cooks numbers are shooting up as well. That's a great thing! There are those who believe KCBS should not grow so large because of where we came from and the belief that we will lose sight of our origins. Those folks should definitely consider supporting my campaign and here's why. In the small community I call home, the population has grown from around 4,000 a few years ago to approaching 7,000 today. Being a close-knit, small midwest town, there are many who do not embrace this growth. I currently serve as President of the Parks and Recreation Board of Directors and it is the goal of everyone associated with leadership in the community to promote growth and prosperity in our town while still retaining the small town "feel" and values. We're doing a great job of that. This is the attitude and philosophy I want to bring to the KCBS - to be able to grow the organization and create a solid revenue flow while still remembering where we came from and how we got started. As I've said from the beginning, we cannot forget or abandon why we came to be and the founding philosophy as we look to the future of the organization. My experience in this area is what the KCBS needs as it faces a similar situation to what my own community is facing. Temporary Parsley Ban and a Non-Quorum Vote I have several thoughts on this and how it should have been handled. First of all, the reaction by the board was knee-jerk. If they really wanted to protect people from possible salmonella, they would have issued an advisory a week earlier. As it turns out, according to the FDA, the tainted parsley has now all been accounted for and it is completely safe to use what's out there and available. The reaction by the board was decided upon without a full knowledge the situation. The KCBS rules are in place to help create a level playing field. By banning only parsley, they just made the playing field un-level, giving those who always do lettuce boxes an advantage over those who have perfected the "parsley putting green". A huge advantage? Nope. But an advantage just the same. I am a firm believer that rules should only be changed AFTER the season. Had there been an actual emergency to which the board needed to respond, there should have been a better way, such as disallowing all garnish for one weekend. Finally, it's now come to the public's attention that the vote to ban the use of parsley for one week was not a vote by the full board or even a quorum! From the report by one board member who was left out of the decision, the ban was enacted by four members of a twelve person board. Not even close to a quorum. It is unfathomable that our board would act in this manner. Had I been a member of this board, I would have been extremely angered to have been left out of such a decision. It's simple - non-quorum decisions cannot be allowed to happen. As of this writing, I still see no evidence in the KCBS by-laws that allows a so-called executive committee to act on pressing issues without a quorum. Kids and the Future of the KCBS I recently had a member email me with some issues and concerns, one of which is what the KCBS is doing to promote barbeque to the youth of America. I must say, I am very interested in this topic as I have an eight year old daughter who is actively involved with Kids Q events at many of the contests at which we compete. She's done quite well, earning four wins and a really nice 3rd place finish in a Great American BBQ event that had 41 kids entered. Needless to say, I'm proud of her. I know all of you who have kids doing these contests are just as proud of your kids. I hope one day down the line, my daughter is ready to go and step in for her mother if Tammy cannot attend an event. I teach her at every opportunity to help get her to that point. A very valid point was made in this email that the KCBS could team up with another organization, if necessary, to help teach more kids about barbeque and in addition to cooking good food, be sure they learn other things such as sportsmanship, leadership, time management, budgeting, team work and barbeque as a cultural heritage. As the father of a child who has an interest in competitive cooking, I believe such a program, as long as it it well thought out and operated the right way, could be a huge boost to the future growth of the KCBS and I will look for opportunities to make such a program a reality. Bickering and Fighting on the Board This simply has to stop. One way or another, it must end, whatever must happen to make it a reality. In visiting with many KCBS members, I've found that out of all the issues people have with the organization, this issue is one of the most displeasing. If leadership is in turmoil, it cannot lead. In addition, it is embarassing to members to constantly read about these situations. The KCBS and its members deserve better. Mostly, however, it goes completely against the original philosophy and the belief that barbeque folks are supposed to be a close-knit group where our friends are most important. Is this how we treat people we're supposed to be friends with? Not the way I was raised, it isn't! We should be able to disagree on issues and still be friends and respectful of each other. If elected to the KCBS Board of Directors, one of my main goals will be to help bring back harmony and the spirit of friendship and cooperation on the Board and throughout the organization, regardless of what it takes to make that happen. Rules Changes in Mid-Season From issues such as the pork parting debacle to changing the way KCBS reps do things at contests, too many things get changed in mid-season or with short notice. How can cooks keep everything straight when the rules are being re-written as we're firing up the smoker at a contest? Rule changes should only be considered during what most of us outside of Dixie and the West Coast would consider the off-season. And I would propose that highly debated and major changes be given more than a couple of months before being implemented. What would be the harm in making something effective a year later? For instance, a big rule change might be voted on and passed in January but the implementation date might be January 1 the following year (or even two years out in the case of things that would be major changes from how the rules are currently stated). As a Board member, I would not vote to approve a rule change in mid-season or without a proper and lengthy notice to all involved unless a serious urgency made a more immediate change the prudent thing to do. CBJ Training I do not often judge but when I do, I sometimes need to refresh myself on the process prior to going into the judging area, just to be sure I don't make any mistakes that might damage a team. And listening closely to the CD at the judges meeting is vitally important as things change. How many CBJs do we have who were trained many years ago when the CBJ concept was first initiated? And from there on forward, we have multiple "generations" of judges who have been trained under varying rules. So who brings ALL these judges up to speed each time the process changes? Do we just hope they'll listen to the CD at the next contest they judge? This is highly unfair and somewhat disrespectful to the teams who are out there competing! There should be a continuing education program for all judges that is required every year or two. For a reduced fee over first-time CBJ classes, each CBJ should be required to brush up and re-acquaint themselves with the rules and judging procedure. They should be reminded that bites should be taken that are sufficient to accurately and fairly assess each entry. They should be reminded that water and crackers serve a specific purpose on the judging table and that is not just as a barbeque side dish! They should also be taught that their job is not to judge down a style of barbeque that they might not personally like but rather, they should assess the entry by determining whether they believe the cook presented a good representation of the style of barbeque he or she attempted. Should I be elected to the Board, I will advocate continuing education for all CBJs at least every two years. Micro-management At times, I am completely stunned at the agenda items being discussed. The pork debate. Barking dogs at contests. Judges and coolers. These are just a few examples. To quote one KCBS member, we're "getting into the thick of thin things". There are so many important issues that need our attention that these types of issues just aren't worth the time spent discussing. Some of these types of issues should be left to others, such as organizers. For instance, barking dogs - great, I agree that this can be an annoyance. Did you take it up with the organizer or better yet that team that had the dog? The board's time should not be wasted. Judges and coolers is another. While many people know how I feel about it as a cook, this should be left up to the organizers to decide at their individual contests. Let's get on with the business of solving the deeper issues and leave the small stuff to others. Computer Scoring Software How many times do we hear contest reps complain about the problems they experience with the software KCBS uses for tabulating scores? How many times do we see errors that aren't always the fault of reps? From what I have been told and from board minutes of the past, I know the issue of buying and implementing new software has been discussed many times over. So what's the hold-up? We know it needs to be replaced. Do we not have a KCBS member somewhere out there who is a programmer and who would be willing to write a new program for maybe something as simple as adequate recognition and maybe a lifetime KCBS membership? Maybe that's an over-simplified idea but let's look outside the box and stop playing politics with something so important. How can it be this difficult to get something finalized and done? As a Director, I would push for a resolution to the software issue to bring the KCBS into modern times with a system that has no bugs. NOTE: Additional issues will periodically be posted here. Please check back often and feel free to contact me with the issues that are important to you and how you feel we might best attack them to get them resolved! |
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