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Hanover,Ontario,Canada

Growers: The NEW Constitution is about to be posted on this site. The Steering committee would like to thank Marvin Meisener for his contribution to the process. Marvin - you have been a big help. Dave McCallum

1/10/2005 6:30:24 PM

Ohio

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1/11/2005 5:34:28 PM

Ohio

Okay. There is now a set of bylaws . Has this been approved by the members? When will the GPC be holding elections? The Steering Committee was self appointed and no doubt they are ready for an election and willing to step down thereafter unless they are chosen by the members to continue. They are to be congratulated for getting us this far. They have "steered" us along. They are pretty much good guys but they have not been elected by the membership. It will be great to have officers in the GPC who have actually been elected by the members. Now that the Steering Committee has completed its task we are moving in the direction of a democratic organization. The bylaws are not perfect. But they are better than nothing and a move in the right direction. Hugh Wiberg did a fantastic job during his tenure and it is unfortunate that he could not have continued on. But now we move to the next level and it should be this way as the organization has grown from 4 clubs to well over 20 sites. Hugh got us there with his leadership along with the other Steering Committee members ingluding Parks who recently resigned.

1/11/2005 5:34:51 PM

Rhode Island

to all concerned

in direct answer to the above statement let me say that when hugh wiberg intrusted me with taking over his position on the gpc steering committee i did so with no elusions

i knew that no matter how hard a person tried to be fair and impartial that there would always be those that would like to see it done a different way, and i can understand that fully

to that end i must state that for the present steering committe to hold elections of officers now, without being given a chance to show the club and site coordinators what they are able to accomplish as your steering committee, would not accomplish anything
further more who would conduct the elections? who will vote?

in fact elections now would just cloud the issue and send the gpc backward rather than forward

your president and the rest of your steering committee have spent countless hours just in the past few weeks developing a simple set of bylaws that will benefit everyone, future replacement of officers encluded

presently we are working on some rule modifications that will open the gpc to additional clubs, with our eye on additional weighoff sites and expanding competition, etc


rules that will help the gpc grow and prosper

i believe in elections of officers
i also believe that if nominations and elections were conducted regarding hugh , tim and joels under the past rules ( there were none ) that the gpc would turn into a huge mess, something your new steering committee members did not want to see happen

especially out of respect for our former officers

please be patient, im sure everyone will see that club and site representatives under the gpc flag will have a voice in nominations and future elections

thank you

dick wallace

1/13/2005 11:08:15 AM

Utah

Here is the BP link to the CPG by laws ... (in case you are like me and have message board linked ... not the home page.)

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/attachments/GPCBylaws2005.pdf

1/13/2005 11:21:51 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Since I helped put the Bylaws of the GPC, as designed by the GPC Steering Committee, into words, I thought it might be helpful to those members who visit this site, to summarize them. This is only a summary and if you want the in depth details, you must refer to the bylaws themselves. The GPC is now defined as a multinational organization in that members will come from Canada and the USA and probably other countries as well in the future. The basic purpose of the GPC is to promote giant pumpkin growing. The GPC will be overseen by an Executive Committee which will replace the Steering Committee and which will have 5 officers. Each of these officers will come from separate regions which though not yet defined in writing will include the USA and Canada. The members in each region, by way of their representatives, who will actually cast ballots, will nominate for a regional vote, and then later elect, one officer to the Executive Committee. Each of these officers will serve a four year term. Each weighoff site will have up to three votes which will be cast by their club representative, by the site representative and the site coordinator. The club representative and the site coordinator will be chosen by the local club members. The site representative will be chosen by the site(which as an example in the case of the PGPGA would be Sam's Club). At the first meeting of the Executive Committee following an election, the members of the Executive Committee will determine by a vote who will be the President, Secretary and so on of the GPC for the next year. A member of the Executive Committee can serve for two consecutive terms, if reelected for a secone term, and then must be off the Executive Committee for one term (4 years) but may serve again after that if elected. These are the basic elements of the bylaws as I understand them.

1/13/2005 11:28:11 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

continued:

As stated, the Steering Committee of the past will be replaced by an Executive Committee whose members will be elected by the club and site representitives on a regional basis as outlined above. Any individual who enters a fruit at any GPC Weighoff will become a member of the GPC.

The Steering Committee spent a lot of time developing these bylaws which may in the future be amended should the need arise.

Marv

1/13/2005 11:29:03 AM

Ohio

Okay. So there will be no election. When will there be one? Four years from now? What could have taken place was that the Steering Committee could continue on until the representatives were chosen from the clubs and sites and then an election could have taken place in the fall. Not going to happen? So what is?

1/14/2005 3:42:39 PM

Hanover,Ontario,Canada

See new message

1/14/2005 8:00:21 PM