Could Be Worse - SSA

From the SSA e-news service, I assume this it's on the member web site too:

"State of New Mexico authorities have already informed us that no
interest or penalties will be imposed. We are working diligently with
the IRS to mitigate federal penalties and interest."

Also, it sounds like the Society has endowed funds that may be able to
pull its (our) ass out of the fire -this time- at the cost of the
endowment and, no doubt, incurring the ire of those who've funded it.

Shawn

The news also included a comment about referring the mater to the SSA's
attorneys and the Hobbs police dept, with no further details. It would have
been nice if they had shared more information on what was going on.

Mike Schumann

"Shawn Curry" scurryfifenynteam@comcastdotnet wrote in message
. ..
From the SSA e-news service, I assume this it's on the member web site
too:

"State of New Mexico authorities have already informed us that no interest
or penalties will be imposed. We are working diligently with the IRS to
mitigate federal penalties and interest."

Also, it sounds like the Society has endowed funds that may be able to
pull its (our) ass out of the fire -this time- at the cost of the
endowment and, no doubt, incurring the ire of those who've funded it.

Shawn

It seems to me from the latest letter that most of the effort is on focusing
the blame on the CFAO instead of the BoD. IMO, the core fault is on the
Board for not implementing the audits they were required to do, as quoted
here from a letter:
"Over the ensuing years, the Board decided not to spend funds on audits,
instead allocating money on other tasks felt necessary to grow the Society."

Therein is the core problem. Had they done the audit, this would not have
happened.


"Mike Schumann" wrote in message
ink.net...
The news also included a comment about referring the mater to the SSA's
attorneys and the Hobbs police dept, with no further details. It would
have been nice if they had shared more information on what was going on.

Mike Schumann

"Shawn Curry" scurryfifenynteam@comcastdotnet wrote in message
. ..
From the SSA e-news service, I assume this it's on the member web site
too:

"State of New Mexico authorities have already informed us that no
interest or penalties will be imposed. We are working diligently with
the IRS to mitigate federal penalties and interest."

Also, it sounds like the Society has endowed funds that may be able to
pull its (our) ass out of the fire -this time- at the cost of the
endowment and, no doubt, incurring the ire of those who've funded it.

Shawn

"Jim Vincent" wrote in message
. ..
It seems to me from the latest letter that most of the effort is on focusing
the blame on the CFAO instead of the BoD. IMO, the core fault is on the Board
for not implementing the audits they were required to do, as quoted here from
a letter:

"There but by the grace of God, go I." Had I been on the BoD, given the
same information, knowledge and assumptions as the others on the board, and not
armed with the "rear view vision" that the group here at ras now is blessed
with, I might well have voted right along with them. I think the board honestly
felt at the time that skipping the audits was a reasonable risk, and now the
assumption is that they realize that they were wrong.

I thank the board for their service and hope they can get us out of this
mess.

I also respectfully look forward to a rational explanation of why our
professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I have not yet heard even
the beginnings of one.

Vaughn

Vaughn wrote "I think the board honestly
felt at the time that skipping the audits was a reasonable risk, and now the
assumption is that they realize that they were wrong."

There are several points this statement brings up;
1. The board had no RIGHT under the bylaws to take that "reasonable risk" . They did it KNOWINGLY.
there was nothing HONEST about the decision. they knowingly chose to ignore the charter that they were elected to uphold as that is the board function.
2. A PIC of an aircraft may HONESTLY feel that he can ignore FARS when they don't suit his immediate needs and HONESTLY believe that he is not placing himself or his passangers in harms way. But in so doing he is exposing himself to legal as well as financial jeprody should something unexpected go wrong. We, as pilots do not have the option of rewriting or disregarding regulations at our pleasure. Neither did the board.
3. Acting as an unpaid volunteer does NOT give anyone a free pass when harm is done as the result of taking a "reasonable risk" that was in fact in direct violation of bylaws or an FAR.
This whole discussion brings up the need to reorganize the structure of the ssa. Having a large board of volunteers scattered all over the country essentially sets up the situation whereby the executive board makes the decisions and presents information to the rest for approval. So now we have a large group of board members who screwed up by not questioning the core board..

how about reducing the number of board members to 3 or maybe 4 and holding their feet to the fire with annual elections. How about the regional directors being reclassified as regional advisors whose purpose in life is to advise the board of broad policy interests of their region. The current situation makes it clear that a large board of volunteers has a difficult time dealing with the nitty gritty of administrative matters.
5bg


"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message ...

"Jim Vincent" wrote in message
. ..
It seems to me from the latest letter that most of the effort is on focusing
the blame on the CFAO instead of the BoD. IMO, the core fault is on the Board
for not implementing the audits they were required to do, as quoted here from
a letter:

"There but by the grace of God, go I." Had I been on the BoD, given the
same information, knowledge and assumptions as the others on the board, and not
armed with the "rear view vision" that the group here at ras now is blessed
with, I might well have voted right along with them. I think the board honestly
felt at the time that skipping the audits was a reasonable risk, and now the
assumption is that they realize that they were wrong.

I thank the board for their service and hope they can get us out of this
mess.

I also respectfully look forward to a rational explanation of why our
professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I have not yet heard even
the beginnings of one.

Vaughn

"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

I also respectfully look forward to a rational explanation of why our
professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I have not yet heard even
the beginnings of one.

Just for the record, I am STILL respectfully looking forward to a rational
explanation of why our professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I
don't understand why we are not hearing a general clamor for such an
explanation.

Vaughn



Vaughn

Perhaps we'll have more after the Sep 30th BOD meeting.

Frank Whiteley

Vaughn Simon wrote:
"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

I also respectfully look forward to a rational explanation of why our
professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I have not yet heard even
the beginnings of one.

Just for the record, I am STILL respectfully looking forward to a rational
explanation of why our professional ED was not on top of this a year ago. I
don't understand why we are not hearing a general clamor for such an
explanation.

Vaughn



Vaughn

...It would have
been nice if they had shared more information on what was going on.


"It would have been NICE," you say?

The SSA leadership is not trying to be nice. They are trying to do
the right thing. They are working very hard trying to solve this
problem. They are taking financial and legal advice from experts.
They have your interests at heart.

If they had "shared more information on what was going on" earlier, it
probably would have made the problem worse. And knowing this, they
decided not to entertain you with sensitive news. They are smart
people. They are working for you.

They are motivated by their love of the sport and their sense of
responsibility. Their tangible reward for this work is zero.

Each week, after working on the real problem, and at a time when I'm
sure they'd like to take a small break, the Executive Committee
composes and publishes a remarkably complete and carefully worded
update for the membership. They aren't doing it to be nice; they are
doing it to keep you informed. They think you deserve it. I'm not so
sure.

Quit your sniping.

-Pat

The following is a copy of a recent newsletter I sent out to subscribers:

The SSA problems are going to be very expensive. Not only for the
organization, but the SSA Directors who are volunteers.

Phone bills and travel expenses will be enormous and most have full time
jobs as well as families. Back when I was a director, it cost me about
$3,000 each year for the privilege of serving the members. Those who hold
leadership positions within the society spend much more each year.

Each of us needs to consider helping our local directors with financial
support during this present crisis.

Tom Knauff

www.eglider.org

For the sake of this discussion, I will acknowledge your basic premis that the board is acting in WHAT THEY perceive to be our best interests.
that said, they are, imho, compounding a bad situation by creating THE APPEARANCE of covering their collective asses. The update news note in which the attorney obviously tried to deflect responsibility by saying that after the first year the audit was never even discussed and thus the error was one of OMMISSION rather than COMMISSION, was a clear statement that the attorney is working hard to save the directors from responsibility.
further, there has been NO MENTION whatsoever, about the professional responsibility of the accountants. NO MENTION of hitting their E&O policy for compensation. What has happened is that the board actually used these guys to file the back reports and I think to conduct the forensic investigation. How can you possibly go after a firm for professional malpractice if you continue to employee said firm???
Finally, I do not understand why the ED is still around. nor the assistant cfo. ..
The APPEARANCE is beginning to develop that the board is trying to isolate the assignment of fault and responsibility to the cfo. While he appears to be a truely bad guy, he was able to do whatever it was that he did because of inattention and overt actions by the board to their basic job, compounded by professionally poor work by the accountants.

A credible resolution to the mess requires the appointment of an independent master who reports to the members through the board and is truely independent.
point by point now
1. They are taking advice from "experts who have agendas that are perhaps in conflict with the membership
2. Are they also working to save themselves from potential personal liability while seking to represent the ssa?
3. Telling someone to "quite your sniping" when they raise legitimate issues is bull****. We trusted these individuals to supervise the operation and they failed to do so. Both the accountants as well as the board. It is NOT SNIPING to raise the issues of real responsibility.

4. Reading between the lines of the last note, it appears as if the board made a decision to somehow "borrow" money out of special funds to cover the immediate cash requirement. My question becomes which fund did they borrow from and under what terms? Further, i wonder if they actually had the right to divert such funds.. either under te bylaws of the ssa and/or under the endowment terms? Another poster said that contributors to an endowment that is raided might be a bit miffed.. Did the board's hole just get dug a bit deeper???





"Pat Russell" wrote in message ...

...It would have
been nice if they had shared more information on what was going on.


"It would have been NICE," you say?

The SSA leadership is not trying to be nice. They are trying to do
the right thing. They are working very hard trying to solve this
problem. They are taking financial and legal advice from experts.
They have your interests at heart.

If they had "shared more information on what was going on" earlier, it
probably would have made the problem worse. And knowing this, they
decided not to entertain you with sensitive news. They are smart
people. They are working for you.

They are motivated by their love of the sport and their sense of
responsibility. Their tangible reward for this work is zero.

Each week, after working on the real problem, and at a time when I'm
sure they'd like to take a small break, the Executive Committee
composes and publishes a remarkably complete and carefully worded
update for the membership. They aren't doing it to be nice; they are
doing it to keep you informed. They think you deserve it. I'm not so
sure.

Quit your sniping.

-Pat