Andy:

Being a relativley  new member I did not know anything about previous problems like the ones you mentioned.  I must admit I wondered what the deal was with Mary Ann since she was great to work with when my brothers and I needed manuals from the muesuem.  She always seemed to have a big interest in the HPOCA in addition to her job at the muesuem.

As to whether or not Sherry should have been allowed to attend the exec session of the board I would agree she did not need to be there if they were going to talk other business, but if they were only meeting to discuss her employment I think it would have been the thing to do to have her there.  I guess she wasw there during the regular board meeting, so I would think that she would have been able to stick around for the exec board meeting.  I take your point about her wanting to fire Don Barnett when he was not at the board meeting.  However, the board did not have to sink to that the level.  They could have taken the high road and invited her to the meeting.  I really think they should have tried to tell her in person when the decision was madt to let her go.  That would probably have avoided most of the uproar  in the ranks of the members. 

I'll admit I don't know anything about her contract.  But were you saying that she was being paid as a fulltime (40 hour a week) employee to edit and publish the magazine.  I just figured she was paid so much to publish the magazine and that she would have to work as necessary to do the job. If she could get it done in 3 days more power to her.  If it took 60 days so be it.  Just publish the magazine on time.

This has been interesting to watch and comment on.  I can't imagine how much  of a commotion the muesuem in the old Oliver plant would have caused.

Catch you on the flip side.

Bill Brandt

[quote:ljdfmdvu]You know Bill, those are some of the very same arguements I made the month prior to Penfield, in attempting to get her contract renewed. I didn't get her contract renewed, they accepted her version of a contract, which I thought was remarkable considering the environment we were working under. I did go to great pains to get this done, then she can't maintain the continuity of the situation, that is really insulting to me, it would had been so easy, as I did put my credibility on the line. But, it is just an issue, and that is the way I must look at it, otherwise I might hurt other members, as well as drive myself insane, if I am not already there. One thing I think really hurt her was when she told the members she would not take care of the booth in Louisville anymore because she didn't have the time. This was a provision made in the original agreement, and at that time she would do just about anything to get a full time contract. The board has been hearing her say 'I don't have the time' too much lately. Now, we know how much time it took to put out the magazine, and that dog don't hunt. When she was part time it would take her 3 full days. The board has provided her with state of the art desktop publishing hardware and software, everything she asked for. This both reduced the time, and cost needed, as well as improved the quality. Granted the magazine improved, but most of the time factor was offset by technology. I guess the board gave her all the free time they could, now she can do whatever she wants with the time she was being payed for, she just doesn't get payed, now she has the time. Anyhow, what my greatest selling point was to get her a new contract is, we know from data available that only about 15% of the membership will attend 1 event or more, let's account for any possible error and say 20%. That leaves 80% that are only members to get a magazine. Since they are happy, why change. This dog did hunt for a while, she should had fed the dog a little better though. Because after the termination I was confronted with the reverse of the issue, which was impossible to deny. This arguement is as follows; If 80% are members only to get a magazine, then they are just buying a product, who produces the product has little bearing on the situation, so long as they are satisfied with the product, and how many subscriptions do I take where I know the editor. I guess that dog does hunt, because the only magazines I get that I know the editor is HPOC, and Antique Power, the rest I don't know, and frankly I don't care, just as long as I get what I pay for. I think this thing will eventually go away, we have had bigger problems in the past, and they went away. I wonder how many of the people complaining about the boards decision now, were complaining about the magazine being 3 issues behind, that was 3 or 4 years ago, back before we had a website, and before Sherry was terminated by Kurt Aumann. It would be interesting to know, and it would be interesting to know what problem Kurt had with her, as they are very good friends. Another issue that I feel is interesting, some folk feel she should had been allowed to come to the exec session to defend herself, I find it amusing that when Don Barnett was webmaster, and couldn't be present at a board meeting it was Sherry who brought up the subject of firing Don, when he wasn't there to defend himself, and pushed the issue until a committee was formed, Don was not made chair, but just a member. He resigned, and dropped out of the association. Granted, he wasn't taking care of the website, it was junk, but she should had brought up the subject in his presence. By the way, I heard Don just sent in his dues. There is a history of this sort of thing. Mary Ann Townsend was pushed into resigning in a similar way, and Mary Ann never did anything but good for the association, and the members. You can still call the Floyd County Museum, and ask for her, tell her you are a member, and she will still go out of her way to help you research Charles City records. Of course I wish all this hadn't happened, I wish it wasn't necessary, just like the bylaws, I wish we had no need for them, but it did, and we do. So, I guess it is just something else to deal with. [/quote:ljdfmdvu]