DEC Meetings

After several attempts to be a member of the DEC, I was finally sworn in during the last committee meeting. The swearing in portion of the agenda almost did not happen for reasons that I still cannot understand. I hope what happened at this meeting is not an indication of the importance the DEC gives to the acceptance of new members.

A couple of suggestions I would like to make, in order to help the meetings run more smoothly, are as follows:

• Once the meeting has started, and quorum verified, members should stay in the room until all the items in the Agenda have been discussed in the order scheduled.
• Publish the minutes of the meetings in the website within one week of the meeting, to inform the membership, especially those who were unable to attend. It is also useful to give an opportunity to the attendees to clarify any misunderstandings, as well as to incorporate any points discussed but that were not included in the minutes. Publish reports of the Treasurer and Budget details of revenues and expenses in the website in order to give transparency to the financial dealings of the organization and to make the leadership accountable for the good use of financial resources.

I look forward to attending more productive and smoother meetings. Our objective should be doing all we can to be effective and organized to win elections.