Mngca Membership Info

[+Kitch]

Following the MnGCA Elections on 10/8/2005, any future participation in MnGCA decision making requires that you be an MnGCA Member in good standing, which includes that you agree to the Bylaws. Over the last few weeks, functionality to facilitate this requirement was created and went live on the MnGCA website.

 

With the short notice for the upcoming elections, it was decided by the 2005 MnGCA Board to not require that MnGCA Members update their accounts to be eligible for the 2006 MnGCA Board elections in the fall. Anyone, as of 6/9/05 at midnight, listed as MnGCA Members were eligible to vote.

 

Following the MnGCA Elections on 10/8/2005, any and all future MnGCA business requires that you be an MnGCA Member in good standing, which includes that you agree to the Bylaws. There is no “Grandfather Clause” or retroactive behavior. Every individual that would like to continue as an MnGCA Member in good standing must manually agree to the Bylaws on their cacher page here: http://www.mngca.org/register.php (you must be logged in to the website here: http://www.mngca.org/login.php for this to work). You may also verify your agreement at: http://www.mngca.org/register.php On December 1st, 2005 at midnight, all users listed as MnGCA Members that have not agreed to the Bylaws will be switched to “Cache Games Only”. On May 1st, of every year, anyone who has not logged into the MnGCA.org website in more than one year will be automatically reverted to “Cache Games Only” to purge our voter roles (if you save your session in a cookie when you log in this will only require that you visit the MnGCA main page to reset your last visit date).

 

This has also been cross posted to the main page here: http://www.mngca.org/articles.php?strArtType=12&strArtID=107

 

If you have any issues with attempting to agree to the Bylaws please contact the MnGCA Board here: http://www.mngca.org/board-contact/

[+King Boreas]

Can anyone translate this stuff? Cache Games Only sounds more fun, anyway?

[+Celticwulf]

From what I've been able to see, based on the bylaws n'stuff, there really is no difference in being a "member" or "cache games only" except when it comes to voting and being responsible for stuff. What it looks like being a "member" does is it gives the MNGCA board a solid list of people that are involved in this activity that they can present to various park boards and state officials. The reason they had to make the "membership" with bylaws is because a list of internet names doesn't mean much anymore because even the most outdated government offical knows that online membership can be inflated easily by a few people having multiple accounts.

 

So basically, from what I can tell, the only thing being a member does is make it easier for the MNGCA organiztion to be recognized as speaking for a group of real people. <edit for spelling and to add> I don't see any real restrictions placed on games only members. </edit> That seem about right?

 

Celticwulf

Edited November 9, 2005 by celticwulf

[+Arcticabn]

One of the reasons the bylaws exist is because the MnGCA registared with the State of Minnesota as a Not for Profit Organization. It was one of the steps last years board took to make the organization more litigit in the eyes of the state and various counties.

 

Being a member currently only requires that a member accept the bylaws. It allows the individual to participate in organization business, one of which is voting for the board. However, it has always been the goal of the previous board and of the current board to find a way to add value to being a member of the organization.

 

The newly offered geocoin is one of those benefits. Those that are members will be given priority for the lowest serial numbers when the coins get struck. It's not much of a benefit except to those that care about what number they have on the coin.

 

However, I believe that in the future the current board will be seeking input from board members (only) on various topics.

 

The MnGCA does not and has never said that it represents all of the geocachers within Minnesota. Only that it was created to help enhance the community. The purpose of the MnGCA is listed as follows:

 

The MnGCA was formed to provide a resource for Minnesota geocachers to organize activities and events that will improve the credibility of the sport and protect our natural resources. Our responsibilities include holding educational and informational activities to increase public awareness of our activities; to sponsor reports, meetings, and workshops for MnGCA members and the public on a wide area of topics, primarily about responsible land use and geocaching; to work with local, county, and state governments to promote geocaching as a family oriented outdoor activity; and to organize, promote, and participate in programs to help in the maintenance of parks and trail systems.

[+Arcticabn]

All if you haven't caught it. I did mean to say that I am sure that the board will be seeking input from MnGCA Members on various topics in the future.

[Pto]

Yeah, we got it

[Earthdog Patrick]

Yeah, we got it

yeah, we got it.