[ SHOWGSD-L ] BALLOTS/LONG
- From: DaniaKarloff@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 03:35:50 EDT
_InquestGSD@xxxxxxxx (mailto:InquestGSD@xxxxxxx) writes:
.....But, it would be interesting to know how he came to us, him and any of
the other
possible contractors. What does it take to bid on our contracts? .......
==============================================================
I came home from work, went out to dinner and came back home to over 200
posts (less than three hours, folks) - all about Ballots. I first read
Ileana's
e-mail because her posts usually make sense and she is fair minded. This is
an attempt to answer her concerns.
Over the years, the GSDCA had been awarding the balloting company contracts
routinely to the same vendor, Honest Ballot. And, if anyone has been in this
club and in this List more than one year, please don't tell me that you did
not hear all the bad comments and innuendoes spoken in recent elections -
last year the crescendo of complaints rose to serious accusations that it went
all the way to AKC. It was agreed by all that we needed to be more
business-like - the monies spent are considerable and this is an important
process.
The original people involved in the balloting vendor selection process were
Giny (president); Sharon Allbright (correspondence scy); Bill Pfeiffer
(Treasurer); and Lamar Frederick (GSDCA advising attorney). I don't know how
the
bidders knew of our needs for this service nor if there was a formal Request
for Proposal offered, but the selection committee (see above) brought all the
bids to the July board meeting. The rest of the board did not get copies of
the bids but we all received information during the meeting and asked many
questions from the committee before taking a vote. Personally, I asked for
references since I believe this is a most important vendor's component (I
regularly evaluate bids and RFPS as part of my day-to-day job) - I was told by
the
committee that this company had peerless references and that we were likely
the smallest group they had done business with. Prepaid postage for
submitted ballots was part of the bidder's response but, as I remember, we
asked that
it would be quoted separately because we needed to ensure the Club would pay
only for actual returned envelopes and not for total membership numbers
since some members routinely do not vote. Every board member had the
opportunity
to ask questions or express their thoughts regarding each of the bidding
companies. We selected this company and I believe it was an unanimous vote
and
that means we all approved of their offer.
I know that a number of things have gone wrong or not as planned during this
initial election process but you must understand that there may have been
some miscommunications between the balloting company and our club's
representatives. It is possible they misunderstood our directions or that we
may
actually need to refine our own processes. None of the current problems
indicate
to me that the company is incapable of doing the job correctly or full of
irregularities that would preclude us from doing business with them again. In
a
very wise decision, the board approved a full after-the-facts review of the
balloting process by our auditors, Rhea and Ivy, so we will know more how some
of the errors may have occurred.
Now that I have recounted the board's involvement in the selection process
of the balloting company, I can go ahead, erase the other 199 e-mails and go
to bed. I also think I will set myself to no mail while I contemplate
whether to stay active on the List or remove myself from it. This has been
the
nastiest, ugliest election I have ever witnessed and the taste in my mouth is
getting much too sour. I need to go and play with my puppies, pet my old dogs
and try to remind myself that I do this for fun; that I have a family and
friends that mean a lot to me; and that I am only involved in the club's
affairs because I want to give some of myself to a breed and an organization
that I
dearly love.
Until Concord.... Good night all.
Dania
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