A Van Dusen Report Card

[Bob Armstrong]

Eric Van Dusen's administration has now completed 2/3 of its term ( July 2009- March 2010 - 8 months ) - only 4 months left to accomplish their 1st term priorities.

How have they done? Should they be re-elected at the July CFC AGM? ( Eric, President, is running again; Maurice Smith, Treasurer, is not; Stijn de Kerpel, V-P, Lyle Craver, Secretary, Michael Barron, Junior Coordinator, and Hal Bond, FIDE Rep., all have not yet disclosed their intentions ).

Here is my report card on the outstanding issues as I see them:

Here is what I have observed ( if I am incorrect on any of these, please post corrections ):

A - Accomplishments

#1 - Member Services - Newsletter - Canadian Chess News - for members only
#2 - World Championship - CYCC team Canada to World Championship
#3 - World Championship Preliminary - 2009 Canadian Champion to World Cup
#4 - National Tournament - found bidder for 2010 Canadian Open
#5 - National Championship - found bidder for 2010 Canadian Junior
#6 - National Championship - found bidder for 2010 CYCC

B - In Process

#1 - Modernizing Governor Decision-Making - The Subcommittee has reported its model and the Procedures' Committee ( myself as Chair, and Eric ) has approved it and now authorized a " trial " meeting for April 1-7. The Subcommittee is now preparing the governors/executive on the procedures.
#2 - Modernizing AGM - the Subcommittee on AGM Modernization now has 2 models for a modernized AGM that it is fine-tuning within the Subcommittee ( one has been posted and received public input already ).
#3 - Handbook Updating - Maurice has done most of it, and the Handbook sections have been updated ( except 2 ) to my knowledge. But there is no porcess in place to continue the task. I as Chair of the Procedures' Committee though, intend to make a recommendation that this task be assigned to the Procedures' Committee ( and I have a potential volunteer who may become a Handbook Updating Subcommittee of one ).
#4 - New CFC Website - GL # 2 stated:

" the CFC will be issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) regarding a creation of
a new website. I am currently in consultation with a website professional, who is in the process of creating a Statement of Work (SOW), which will form part of the RFP. This expert will also assist in the Technical Evaluation of Bids. This procurement process will take a period of time, but considering the
website's importance to CFC operations, the CFC needs to create a robust website that will look professional as well as be secure. "

In GL # 3, Eric stated:

" I will redouble my efforts by involving more resources so that publication of the Request for +Proposal on the CFC website occur as soon as possible. "

- nary a peep out of the executive on how the volunteer is doing on the Statement of Work, no sign of issuing a Request for Proposal, and no status report.
#5 - 2010-11 Budget - Maurice has met with Gerry Litchfield, ED, who keeps the day to day financial records and prepares the statements. He has now agreed to a governor-requested March 31 deadline for presentation. This will be a recent first for CFC to have a budget approved before the start of the fiscal year ( on May 1 ).
#6 - National Standards for Canadian Closed - a motion has been filed by Bluvshtein/Armstrong - there has been no executive comment on the proposed changes or how they may affect bidding ( the motion was posted for public comment and no executive commented ).

C- Languishing/Failure

#1 - Communication by the President/Executive - In GL # 1, Eric stated :

" Communication with the President

I will try to post a message approximately every few weeks on the CFC boards."

- never happened ( Eric has posted on this board and the Governors' Discussion Board on an infrequent basis; some governors have called for more communication ); governors posted questions have been left unanswered ( this happened when Eric failed to answer governors questions about the revised 2009-10 budget ).

Eric also stated in GL # 2:

" I do receive many emails and I apologize for the slow turn-around time in responding. Please be patient and I promise that a response will eventually come your way. "

- crucial e-mails on CFC business have gone unanswered, or been answered very late.
#2 - the revised 2009-10 Budget - In GL # 1, Eric stated:

it is my goal to have it distributed to the governors the week ending 28 August 2009.

- It was not presented 'til December 2009, and then was rejected " in principle " by the governors because of lack of executive answering of governors' budget questions before the voting deadline.
#3- CFC Fundraising Committee( with special focus on the Olympiad this September ) - In GL # 2 Eric stated :

" Amanda Benggawan was a strong junior who now works at an accounting
firm. She wants to give back to chess and she has agreed to chair. Gary Gladstone, a professional fundraiser in the Toronto area has also agreed to sit. I would very much appreciate representation outside the Greater Toronto Area. .... A forthcoming task is fundraising for the next Olympiad, which is next year, but the CFC needs to begin shortly.

- nary a peep out of that committee; no information whether the executive found other committee members ( I know from conversation with Gary Gladstone that he is crazy busy right now with the Toronto mayoralty campaign - doubt he is able to do much at present ); no fundraising for the Olympiad, only 6 months away now. Also, David Cohen volunteered to fundraise for the Olympiad on a paid commission basis, and he advised he was turned down. No other paid fundraiser hired.
#4 - Management Committee - GL # 2 stated:

" The Management Committee deals with budget and the CFC's relationships
with various organizations that handle the CFC office and business functions. Both the Treasurer and the Vice-President are on this committee, but it also needs to governors to work on this committee. "

I volunteered to sit on this Committee. I have never been contacted. There have been no announcements of other committee members. I am not aware of it even functioning.
#5- Ethics Committee - GL # 2 states:

" The Ethics Committee examines on a case by case basis unethical behaviour of CFC members. Currently, the CFC needs a chair and governors to sit on this committee. "

- nary a peep about this committee. Seems it never got formed.
#6 - FQE - In GL # 2 Eric states:

" I have also been negotiating with the FQE regarding re-affiliation. These negotiations are extremely complicated and progress is incremental. "

- nary a peep on this from either CFC nor FQE; has goodwill from FQE holding the 2008 Canadian Open been squandered?
#7 - National Championship - no bidder yet for Canadian Closed
#8 - National Championship - no bidder yet for Canadian Women's Closed
# 9 - National Championship - No discussion on Canadian Girls' Championship
#10 - CFC Membership - No membership drive
#11 - Chess Promotion - No generation of discussion within the CFC of a) how we start to do this; b) how we make the Canadian public more aware of the benefits of chess, and c) how we get chess into the mainstream media.
#12 - Provincial YCC's - Last year the CFC passed a motion to promote these and made them qualifiers next year for the CYCC - nothing publicized on how the CFC is going to go about promoting these for 2010-11, for the 2011 CYCC. Nothing on promotion of them for the 2010 CYC -though the regime was decided not to apply to 2010, this doesn't prevent their promotion nonetheless, as initial steps in the implementation campaign.

I see this as a somewhat divided result.

What do you think of this track record?

What grade do you give this administration so far?:

A - Excellent
B - Good
C - Passable
D - Poor
E - Failure

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

A number of interesting points arise out of this poll:

1. After only 12 hours, there were 119 people who came and viewed the post. This shows both that the CFC Chess Forum is continuing to attract more viewers, and that this topic is of great interest to CFC members / former members/ and the public. This is a good indication for the CFC - people are concerned about the health of the CFC, and how it is functioning.

2. If the voting sample is meaningful ( admittedly a small sample of only 13 voters ), it can be said that the Van Dusen administration is generally viewed by a significant minority as being effective enough. And it is not seen by the majority as a total failure either.

About 23 % see it as " excellent/good ", and another 15.5 % as " passable ". One could say the positive side of the ledger totals 38.5 %. 46%, however, see it as " poor " ( only 15.5 % see it as a " failure " ).

3. It would seem there is a clear message here that the administration has some improving to do, to get the majority on side. The administration has 4 months left to pull up its socks. I hope that good progress by the CFC is what is desired by members/former members/public, and that the administration will get the support it requires if it shows leadership and progress towards CFC's goals. It seems there is work to be done here to garner the support needed for a second term.

Bob

[Christopher Mallon]

One minor issue with the poll Bob - you have 3 "positive" type answers and only 2 "negative" types. In this case, I would read "Passable" as being a 50% mark. Which I personally wouldn't consider "effective enough" ...

An extra option like "Very Poor" might have made it more balanced.

[Alex Ferreira]

Hi,


I have not voted because I consider myself quite ignorant on CFC affairs. Can't help but to wonder... of the ~15 people who voted here, how many would be willing to do Van Dusen's job, similar or different.
What I mean is that it must be quite tough to be on the executive of the CFC, do it voluntarily, take care of tasks decided on by governors, and reporting back to them in monthly governor letters. It seems to me that a responsible governor who remains on top of things, to do a great job will spend easily 10+ hours a week on CFC matters. Imagine a president?

Maybe my comments above belong in the "Structure of CFC" thread.

About Van Dusen and this administration... is it being compared with previous years, or with whether goals were achieved, or whether CFC is doing terribly or super (this could question the goals) ?

Personally I am disappointed in that Van Dusen ran on a campaign of communication and apart from a couple of instances throughout the year, it was overall awful (at least in the forums).


Alex Ferreira

[Peter McKillop]

...

Personally I am disappointed in that Van Dusen ran on a campaign of communication and apart from a couple of instances throughout the year, it was overall awful (at least in the forums). ....

Jeez, Alex, take it easy on the poor guy. Didn't you hear? He was sick for three weeks.

[Peter McKillop]

Bob, I thought a person couldn't vote twice in these polls (how else do you explain the result for 'excellent'?)