RAFINO Report
ISSUE 20 - Spring 1998 - Return to Index

DUTIES OF RAFINO 2ND V.P.
REGARDING REUNIONS

ARTICLE VI -- TERM AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS Paragraph c. reads "The 2nd Vice President shall:  (1) Serve, when so instructed by the President, as the local point of contact for the Chairman of the Host Committee of the upcoming reunion; and (2) Perform such other duties as assigned by the President."  The practical application of the above since 1990, when adopted, has been that the member volunteering to host the upcoming reunion would be routinely nominated and elected to the office of 2nd V.P. for the upcoming two year period preceding the reunion to be arranged by that member.  The rationale behind this interpretation was that the reunion chairman and the 2nd V.P. being one and the same person could act with the authority of an officer of the Society.  It has worked reasonably well.

Our experience since then has been that it is most inefficient and unfair to each volunteer chairman in turn to "start from scratch" and have to "reinvent the wheel" in setting up each successive reunion undertaking.  Logically, it makes far more sense to retain our "reunion know how" as it is accumulated.  Further, it is logical to utilize a "reunion core committee" to apply that "know how" in carrying out certain repetitive aspects of reunion hotel selection, committee structuring, program planning, budgeting, and contracting.  Our President proposes that, while, it is not necessary to change the wording of the duties of the 2nd V.P., this officer be elected to serve a different purpose.

It is proposed that the membership approve by vote the sense that in the future, starting with the election in September 1998, the 2nd V.P. be charged by the President with the chairmanship of a standing committee entitled "The Reunion Core Committee."  This committee shall consist of the Chairman, and two or three members, one of which should be the volunteer to put on the upcoming reunion.  Others are to be members experienced in previous reunions.  This committee would select and contract for the reunion headquarters hotel, develop the necessary budget, set the dates for the reunion, develop the program, and set the registration fee.  The volunteer local committee, free of the above, would be concerned only with the local actions necessary to carry out those aspects outlined in the overall plan under guidance from the "Core Committee."  This concept will be discussed in more detail at the Business Meeting at Columbia, SC.