Constitutional Amendment

Good Morning NE Ohio,

I hope this finds everyone well and looking forward to warmer temperatures and dryer days.

I wanted to let everyone know about the new OATA constitutional amendments that have been introduced. The first deals with the current External Vice-President into two separate positions - an elected Vice-President position and an appointed liaison position to GLATA. This change would go into effect at the end of the December 2011 Executive Committee meeting. This constitutional amendment would then rename the External VP to Vice-President of Intra-Association Affairs and the Renaming of the Internal VP to Vice-President of Governmental Affairs - this renaming would then go into effect immediately upon passage. The second constitutional amendment, that has been introduced, would remove the reference of "Roberts Rules of Order" when discussing how meetings will be run and will be replaced with "in accordance with the OATA Operations Manual".

Both of these changes have the ability to make our state association become a more efficient and well run organization. By splitting the EVP position into a VP and a separate GLATA rep, the association will enjoy the ability of the new VP of Intra-Association Affairs to deal with more than just GLATA and really steer new relationships to help both the organization and athletic training in the state of Ohio. This split will also allow the new GLATA rep the freedom to concentrate on the growing information and responsibility of representing Ohio to our region. By concentrating on the GLATA responsibilities the association will be represented well without the worry of losing touch with our new relationships and unions. This non-voting appointment will truly represent Ohio and keep true the statement "As Ohio goes so does the nation".

The second constitutional amendment is truly an amendment to help the association and all of its parts work at the most efficient level possible. Roberts Rules, as they are written are a highly organized and laborious way to conduct meetings. Through the use of Roberts Rules organizations have been bound to every nuance and level of the meeting rules. Unfortunately to know the use and require it to be utilized as it is intended requires a very long and arduous study of the rules. This being said, the organization as it is now needs to have the ability to move quickly and yet still adhere to rules that allow for meetings to be conducted in a highly organized manner. By moving this out of the bylaws and into the operations manual the association will capitalize on the ability to move quickly and still allow for highly organized meeting structures. This change does not get rid of the meeting organization, it allows for the freedom and ability to change and update our structures without missing a beat.

Both changes are good for the association and in such should be voted for to allow the association to move forward and be in the position to continue to lead as Ohio has always done.

Have a great day and be careful out there.