A dogpile of things we already asked UMCA to do

NOTE: All of these have not been addressed for 8-40 months. Update: #4 and 6 were finally addressed in the fourth election after failure to do so in first three elections

1) Improve the look of the UMCA magazines. (We were told to pay for this if we wanted it enough.)

2) Allowing more authors to write articles. (For many years, some authors were discouraged from writing articles for the UMCA magazines partly because they have different training ideas/philosophies than the current managing director's.) Not all training ideas/techniques work for everyone, so the more varied the input, the better the magazine.

3) Have a Letter to the Editor section added to UMCA magazines for member feedback.

4) Change the voting system to boost the turnout by having it done with a few clicks of the computer mouse. Honor the rights of paying members in a non-profit by conducting a democratic election. Make an effort to solicit the votes from all members. The UMCA must not pick favorites and then assist them to be elected. Allow the democratic process to function properly. Do not attempt to silence members who have opposing points of view on UMCA related issues. Allow for the free exchange of ideas to direct the UMCA through democratic voting, rather than the ideas of a select few through back room dealings.

Update:The UMCA formed a special committee in November 2007 to improve voter turnout for the next election.

This was an interesting new development in the UMCA management. After rejecting suggestions to improve the voter turnout for the past three years, (especially in the months before the May 2007 “questionable” election), the UMCA finally formed an election committee. It appears that the UMCA may attempt to do the right thing, but only after there was widespread public disfavor among members regarding the elections.

Update after 2009 election:UMCA took a step backwards, once again buring the election in the UMCA magazines and the voting turnout went down from over 400 to only 76 in 2009.

5) E-mail all of the members with e-mail accounts on record and announce the election for Board of Directors. (The UMCA is fully aware of effective election methods used by RUSA.)

6) Put the election announcement on the front cover of the UMCA magazines. (An ignored bit of advice for the first three elections.)

7) Disband the Executive committee and give the entire Board the chance to be involved.

8) Create a feedback system for the Board to get the UMCA member's input and find where the majority of the members are standing on the issues.

9) Include an ultra mountain bicycling wing to the UMCA. The “no pavement” wing.