There has been a lot of criticism of the Directors on RAS. However,
when you have a couple dozen well-meaning (but basically unqualified)
persons on the Board, and you get in this type of situation, probably
the problem is with the system rather than with the individuals. Put
another two dozen randomly selected soaring pilots on the Board, and the
same thing would have happened.

If the SSA survives, it really needs to hire an outside consultant who
is an expert on non-profit membership organizations, and who can advise
about the proper governing structure. For example, is it good to have
so many directors? Would it be better to have a much smaller governing
body, where each individual is directly responsible for something,
rather than the current situation where any individual is just a face in
the crowd, and bears no direct responsibility for his/her mistakes?

If the Board had hired such a consultant a few years ago, the Board
would have learned about the necessity of an outside audit, and also
would have been told to set up a system of checks and balances, so it
would have been difficult for an employee to create the current
problems. So we wouldn't be in the present mess.

This leads to a point that someone else recently made on RAS -- maybe
what the SSA really needs is to hire someone (perhaps only as a
part-time advisor) who is knowledgeable about running a non-profit
organization, and who can provide continuing advice. Such people
probably are a dime a dozen in Washington. This may is the best
argument for getting the SSA out of Hobbs -- you just aren't going to
find the right people in Hobbs.