Status of CTARS Club

sassAwrasse · Nov 29, 2018

Hello CTARS Members,

For those of you who were not able to make it to our last meeting, the Board wanted to update you all on the status of the club:

On October 22nd the nominations thread for a new Board of Directors was posted on reef2reef, and later on, posted on Facebook. We left the nominations open until November 16th. The current Board also announced that we would all be stepping down from our positions. Although there were 3 people suggested for nominations, only 1 of them was seconded. Out of those 3, none were accepted by the actual people nominated.

At our meeting on November 18th, we discussed the possibility of the club closing with the CTARS members in attendance. We wanted to address it in person with the members that regularly attend and support the meetings before we put it online. We tried to address any and all concerns expressed regarding the club closing. We said that we would leave it open until the end of December, but if we didn’t have a full Board in place that we would have to move forward with steps to dissolve the club.

A few members expressed interest at the meeting about possibly filling in one of the Board Positions, but we have not heard anything since then.

We will discuss again at our next meeting on Saturday December 8th at 5:30pm at the Lutz Children’s Museum in Manchester.

Again, if anyone has interest in being a part of the Board for next year, please join us at the meeting and/or reach out ASAP to discuss.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Nichole, Mike and Jason

JMetaxas · Nov 29, 2018

Man, I wish I could contribute, but it's impossible with my life/work etc..

Kudos to those who donate their free time this club.

AshleyR · Nov 29, 2018

Would it help to list how involved and time consuming the positions are? Is there information that’s going to be passed down? Etc...

AquaMama13 · Nov 29, 2018

The election thread has all the positions listed.

sassAwrasse · Nov 29, 2018

AshleyR said:
Would it help to list how involved and time consuming the positions are? Is there information that’s going to be passed down? Etc...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2019-ctars-board-nominations-elections.482912/page-2#post-5415862

sassAwrasse · Nov 29, 2018

The current board would pass down to the new board and get them set up.

Vaiodude · Dec 2, 2018

As Nichole stated we will definitely pass knowledge down and help transition to the new BOD, we are not going away just all need to take a step back after several years of volunteering. My hope is that we get 3-4 volunteers to take the roles. Remember we don’t necessarily need monthly meetings or even Fragtoberfest every year. I’d rather have the club move forward in a smaller capacity than to not exist at all. Many folks have helped establish and maintain this club for over a decade and it would hurt me to see all that go to Waste. If anyone has questions please reach out to Nichole, Mike, or I. Thanks, Jason

Vaiodude · Dec 8, 2018

Bump to the top

jjflounder1 · Dec 8, 2018

PM sent

kgstei · Dec 8, 2018

It would be a shame if the club doesn't move forward. It's such a great resource for new reefers, giving people an opportunity to connect with more experienced hobbyists. Perhaps it will be worthwhile to look at maybe decentralizing the Club instead of meetings every month in Manchester perhaps divide the state into 4 or 5 sub chapters and have meetings in each one of these on a rotating basis. These meetings can be informal get togethers, group diy projects or frags swaps. My thought is that types would take some of the workload off of the BOD. I've got to believe organizing for Fragtoberfest takes a lot of time and effort, maybe that should be a paid position. Just some thoughts.

Mike_J · Dec 9, 2018

Any updates?

sassAwrasse · Dec 9, 2018

Mike_J said:
Any updates?

Several people expressed interest at the meeting yesterday. We will gather those interested after the holidays to formulate a plan. Updates to be posted as they progress.

sassAwrasse · Dec 9, 2018

kgstei said:
It would be a shame if the club doesn't move forward. It's such a great resource for new reefers, giving people an opportunity to connect with more experienced hobbyists. Perhaps it will be worthwhile to look at maybe decentralizing the Club instead of meetings every month in Manchester perhaps divide the state into 4 or 5 sub chapters and have meetings in each one of these on a rotating basis. These meetings can be informal get togethers, group diy projects or frags swaps. My thought is that types would take some of the workload off of the BOD. I've got to believe organizing for Fragtoberfest takes a lot of time and effort, maybe that should be a paid position. Just some thoughts.

We have tried moving the meetings around the state. It seems, for the most part, that the same core group attends all the meetings regardless of location, while those that had requested closer meetings didnt attend.

It's a tough climate with everything being online these days.

As for Fragtoberfest and paid positions, that could be something we could discuss in the future.

sassAwrasse · Dec 9, 2018

On those notes, we had a great turnout the past 2 meetings, so I would love to see that continue.

When the Holidays settle down, we will figure out the next plan of action with those interested.

Mike in CT · Jan 17, 2019

Maybe we should start a post that asks members/potential members what keeps them from seeking a position on the board. Some people might be intimidated by the prospect of coming up with monthly meetings, while quarterly meetings seem doable , or a big event like the fragtoberfest might be more then they can take on. I'm kinda thinking of maybe a "reef club light" to keep it alive until maybe someone comes along who wants to take on more responsibility.
I have not been a member for a few years because my tank has been in hiatus for a few different reasons, but I was always hoping to return when I had more time to devote to the hobby.

sassAwrasse · Jan 17, 2019

We discussed all of these options at several meetings.

There were several that stepped forward at the December meeting to say they would like to be involved when the reality of the club possibly dissolving finally hit everyone.

At this point, we are trying to get all of them in the same room so we can work out details and get the club moving forward.

Unfortunately, a poll at this point might just delay things further. I do greatly appreciate the input, though, and hope to see you at a future meeting.