Post by L Roebuck on Apr 10, 2009 7:07:22 GMT -5
Fellow cavers,
I have reached my limit with the foolishness and lack of leadership of the NSS officers and board of governors. I have decided to try to do something about it. I have declared my candidacy as a write-in candidate for the Board of Directors Election now in progress. I would appreciate your votes and support. I need about 1,000 votes to get seated, and there are many more cavers on TAG-Net than that. I would appreciate it if you could take the time to read the following statement and pass it along to your fellow cavers who may not be on TAG-Net. Feel free to post any comment or questions in this forum or to email them to me or to call me. I am mad a hell and I am going to do something about it.
Bill
(Please circulate this among NSS members)
-------
William O. (Bill) Putnam, NSS 21117LF Lawrenceville, Georgia
Write-In candidate for the NSS Board of Directors
Background
I am a Life Member and Fellow of the Society, having joined in 1980, shortly after I began organized caving. Before that I was an occasional spelunker and flashlight caver in the caves around Birmingham, Alabama, having been bitten by the caving bug while on a family vacation visit to Ruby Falls and a school trip to Rickwood Caverns.
I have served the NSS most recently as the IT and network support person for the NSS office since 2005 and as the Editor of American Caving Accidents (from 1996 to 2007). I am an Instructor for the National Cave Rescue Commission, and just finished teaching at the South Central Regional Seminar in Arkansas last week and at a special training weekend for the Dogwood City Grotto last month. I have also served as the editor of the Georgia Underground, the publication of the Dogwood City Grotto, of which I have been a member since 1980. I was the editor and principal author of the 1989 NSS Convention Guidebook, Caves and Caving in TAG, as well as two TAG Cave-In guidebooks. I have written and given presentations extensively on caving, cave surveying, safety and techniques, and cave rescue.
I cave actively in the TAG region, but have also been active in Kentucky (at Mammoth Cave with the CRF), New Mexico (Lechuguilla expeditions, including one last year and one this year), Wyoming (Tetons, Gros Ventres, and Bighorns), Mexico (primarily as a pit-bopping speleo-tourist to date, but I hope to get one a deep cave survey expedition soon). I will be an active caver and NSS member until the day I die. I love to survey and make maps. I am an aspiring cave photographer. I am a member of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Cave and Cliff Rescue Team, and have participated in many cave rescues over the years, including my own in 1987. My only regret in caving is that I did not find the NSS until I was 19.
I am a founding member (SCCi #6), incorporator, past Chairman (1994-1999), and the only director of the Southeastern Cave Conservancy who has served continuously on the board since its founding in 1991. The first organizational meeting was held in my living room. I currently serve as Acquisitions Chairman, and in that capacity just completed the acquisition by the SCCi of Surprise Pit and the majority of Fern Cave. I have participated in or directed the acquisition of almost every one of the SCCi's 26 cave acquisitions. I am a sustaining member of the SCCi at the highest level. In 1998 I was honored to accept a Certificate of Merit presented to the SCCi by the NSS for the acquisition of Neversink, which was negotiated by then Acquisitions Chair Mark Wolinsky and myself.
I am an Information Technology Consultant in private practice in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I received a BS degree in Physics from Georgia Tech in 1981, and the MS degree in Computer Science, also from Georgia Tech, in 1984. I have also done a substantial amount of graduate study in geophysics. I married a caver 26 years ago, and am still married to her (at least until she finds out about this) and my
two children are cavers.
Platform
The NSS is in a crisis, but it is not a financial crisis, a membership crisis, or a biological crisis: it is a leadership crisis. Our problems and challenges are but symptoms of this larger deficiency. The mis-management of the current election is an excellent illustration. It is time to address the root causes.
We have been poorly served by our officers and directors for far too long, and good people have resigned in disgust or declined to run for reelection because they are fed up with the obstruction, obfuscation, and incompetence, and inaction of our leaders. The current board and officers know that these things are true, but some have ignored and suppressed them. It is well known to the board members that they have had difficulty each year finding candidates willing to run for the board - this year was a case in point. One reason for this is that no talented person wants to waste his or her valuable and limited time serving on an ineffective board. I have been solicited to run many times, but have declined repeatedly for exactly this reason. I know others who can tell the same story.
It is time to clean house, lead by example, and get the NSS back to its core mission and principles. We need leaders who are not afraid to take positions, answer questions, and make tough choices in the best interests of the Society and its members. I am such a person, and I ask you to write in my name on your ballot, and to urge your friends and associates to do likewise. NSS Board elections typically garner only about 1000 to 1200 ballot responses - less than 10% of the membership. Your vote and efforts will make a difference.
Further, I urge you to vote for or write in people you know or believe will be active, dynamic, and outspoken leaders, and not just chair-warmers. We need an activist board, where each director is expected to chair at least one committee and serve on at least two others. I will commit to do this and hereby challenge other candidates to do the same.
We need articulate people, who can speak, write, and provide thoughtful opinions and debate. We need people who are serious and committed, and who have taken the time and trouble to read our governing documents, attend board meetings, and give substantially of their time, talents, and resources to support the society in its mission and projects. We need people who will lead by example and walk the walk.
I have attended more board meetings in 30 years than I care to recall. I have served on and chaired NSS committees. I have supported the NSS as a Life Member and with targeted donations to the Great Ex purchase, the library fund, and other funds and projects. I have edited NSS publications and supported the NSS office with my professional skills, time, and talents as a volunteer.
Current Issues
I believe the NSS must be a leader in the research and prevention efforts related to WNS. We should support research in every way that we can, lead by example, reach out to the non-NSS cavers, and take an active role in partnership with BCI, ACCA, US-FWS, USGS and other
organizations as befitting the premier speleological organization in North America. We must also act to protect and conserve our own caves and do everything possible and reasonable to prevent harm by WNS, whatever its cause.
I believe the NSS office should remain in Huntsville unless that becomes economically impossible. I have considered and discussed the three proposals recently developed. I have concluded that the Indiana site is too remote from airports and interstates and would be too expensive to build and operate due to its rural location, and that the Kentucky site
would be too remote from airports and from a sufficiently large grotto or member base for adequate volunteer support. Huntsville, on the other hand, has a regional airport and is served by interstate highways. It has a large grotto with many active members who have historically supported the office in countless ways until alienated by the board and officers. We also have a substantial investment in our office staff, which will probably be lost if the office is relocated out of the Huntsville area, increasing training and staffing costs and reducing efficiency and member services.
The proposal to build a new facility across the street from the present Huntsville office, demolish the old office, and expand the Shelta Cave preserve is a good one - both environmentally and economically. It offers the least disruption of NSS office activities and operations. Its estimated cost is within the ability of the NSS fund raising activities, given adequate leadership, focus, and effort. It will be the quickest and easiest to implement. It will have the largest volunteer and member support base (assuming that we can repair the relationship with the grotto, as I believe new leaders can and should do). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is doable right now. The Cave Research Foundation conducted a similar sized project a few years ago with a much smaller membership base. I believe that the new office complex as
proposed can be designed to house, protect, and display the NSS library and museum, something that is long, long overdue.
I believe that the NSS should not seek to buy, own, or manage caves. That is the mission and competency area of the local and regional cave conservancies, such as the SCCi, IKC, MCKC, and others. The NSS should support those organizations - not compete with them for funds and other
resources. Buying, owning, and managing caves is demanding work, and it diverts energy, time, volunteers, money, and other resources away from our core mission areas. If a significant cave is offered in donation to the NSS, we should consider accepting, provided that we have the resources to manage and protect the cave, but we should first consider whether there is some better home for it, such as a local or regional cave conservancy.
The NSS should focus on its core mission:
"The purpose of this Society shall be to promote interest in and to advance in any and all ways the study and science of speleology, the protection of caves and their natural contents, and to promote fellowship among those interested therein."
We should direct our efforts toward promoting the study and science of speleology, supporting the protection of caves and cave life, and promoting fellowship and community among all members of the caving community at large. We do not have to conduct science, buy caves, or throw parties to do these things. We can produce publications, create and give scholarships, give grants, raise awareness, create educational programs, sponsor conferences, conventions, and expeditions, and do many other things that no other organization in North America is doing. We should not compete with other organizations or institutions where our
interests overlap - we should support and cooperate, and allocate our resources wisely.
I believe the NSS should investigate and seriously consider spinning off a National Speleological Land Trust, an entity similar to the National Speleological Foundation that manages the NSS financial assets, so that we can transfer title to our cave preserves to a separate tax=exempt land trust dedicated to their care and management. This will allow the NSS to substantially reduce its liability insurance costs while providing greater protection to bother the Society's other assets and to the caves themselves. Cave conservancies already follow this successful model - it works, and it takes the management of our caves out of political hands and micromanagement and puts it into the hands of the people who know and love them best.
Finally, I believe that the NSS must work harder and more effectively to recruit, train, nurture, and retain talented volunteers. The BOG and officers have had a terrible track record for volunteer management, alienating both individual volunteers and even entire grottos over the last decade. We are losing talented people, valuable donors, and priceless opportunities because of mismanagement miscommunication, and just plain misbehavior. It is time for this to end, and for the NSS leadership to conduct itself in a rational and professional way. I have personally experienced this, and I believe I can help spearhead the effort to make the necessary changes.
Please feel free to email me at bill@putnamconulting.com or to call me at 678-371-4517 to discuss any NSS-related questions or concerns that you have that I have not addressed here. I will also continue to monitor the Cavechat forum and other distribution lists and will be happy to respond to any questions or comments there as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for your consideration. If my message resonates for you, I would appreciate your write-in vote, and your help in getting word of my candidacy to all your friends and fellow NSS members. I need about 1,000 votes to get seated. If I do, I promise that it will be, at the very least, interesting.
Bill Putnam NSS21117LF
I have reached my limit with the foolishness and lack of leadership of the NSS officers and board of governors. I have decided to try to do something about it. I have declared my candidacy as a write-in candidate for the Board of Directors Election now in progress. I would appreciate your votes and support. I need about 1,000 votes to get seated, and there are many more cavers on TAG-Net than that. I would appreciate it if you could take the time to read the following statement and pass it along to your fellow cavers who may not be on TAG-Net. Feel free to post any comment or questions in this forum or to email them to me or to call me. I am mad a hell and I am going to do something about it.
Bill
(Please circulate this among NSS members)
-------
William O. (Bill) Putnam, NSS 21117LF Lawrenceville, Georgia
Write-In candidate for the NSS Board of Directors
Background
I am a Life Member and Fellow of the Society, having joined in 1980, shortly after I began organized caving. Before that I was an occasional spelunker and flashlight caver in the caves around Birmingham, Alabama, having been bitten by the caving bug while on a family vacation visit to Ruby Falls and a school trip to Rickwood Caverns.
I have served the NSS most recently as the IT and network support person for the NSS office since 2005 and as the Editor of American Caving Accidents (from 1996 to 2007). I am an Instructor for the National Cave Rescue Commission, and just finished teaching at the South Central Regional Seminar in Arkansas last week and at a special training weekend for the Dogwood City Grotto last month. I have also served as the editor of the Georgia Underground, the publication of the Dogwood City Grotto, of which I have been a member since 1980. I was the editor and principal author of the 1989 NSS Convention Guidebook, Caves and Caving in TAG, as well as two TAG Cave-In guidebooks. I have written and given presentations extensively on caving, cave surveying, safety and techniques, and cave rescue.
I cave actively in the TAG region, but have also been active in Kentucky (at Mammoth Cave with the CRF), New Mexico (Lechuguilla expeditions, including one last year and one this year), Wyoming (Tetons, Gros Ventres, and Bighorns), Mexico (primarily as a pit-bopping speleo-tourist to date, but I hope to get one a deep cave survey expedition soon). I will be an active caver and NSS member until the day I die. I love to survey and make maps. I am an aspiring cave photographer. I am a member of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Cave and Cliff Rescue Team, and have participated in many cave rescues over the years, including my own in 1987. My only regret in caving is that I did not find the NSS until I was 19.
I am a founding member (SCCi #6), incorporator, past Chairman (1994-1999), and the only director of the Southeastern Cave Conservancy who has served continuously on the board since its founding in 1991. The first organizational meeting was held in my living room. I currently serve as Acquisitions Chairman, and in that capacity just completed the acquisition by the SCCi of Surprise Pit and the majority of Fern Cave. I have participated in or directed the acquisition of almost every one of the SCCi's 26 cave acquisitions. I am a sustaining member of the SCCi at the highest level. In 1998 I was honored to accept a Certificate of Merit presented to the SCCi by the NSS for the acquisition of Neversink, which was negotiated by then Acquisitions Chair Mark Wolinsky and myself.
I am an Information Technology Consultant in private practice in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I received a BS degree in Physics from Georgia Tech in 1981, and the MS degree in Computer Science, also from Georgia Tech, in 1984. I have also done a substantial amount of graduate study in geophysics. I married a caver 26 years ago, and am still married to her (at least until she finds out about this) and my
two children are cavers.
Platform
The NSS is in a crisis, but it is not a financial crisis, a membership crisis, or a biological crisis: it is a leadership crisis. Our problems and challenges are but symptoms of this larger deficiency. The mis-management of the current election is an excellent illustration. It is time to address the root causes.
We have been poorly served by our officers and directors for far too long, and good people have resigned in disgust or declined to run for reelection because they are fed up with the obstruction, obfuscation, and incompetence, and inaction of our leaders. The current board and officers know that these things are true, but some have ignored and suppressed them. It is well known to the board members that they have had difficulty each year finding candidates willing to run for the board - this year was a case in point. One reason for this is that no talented person wants to waste his or her valuable and limited time serving on an ineffective board. I have been solicited to run many times, but have declined repeatedly for exactly this reason. I know others who can tell the same story.
It is time to clean house, lead by example, and get the NSS back to its core mission and principles. We need leaders who are not afraid to take positions, answer questions, and make tough choices in the best interests of the Society and its members. I am such a person, and I ask you to write in my name on your ballot, and to urge your friends and associates to do likewise. NSS Board elections typically garner only about 1000 to 1200 ballot responses - less than 10% of the membership. Your vote and efforts will make a difference.
Further, I urge you to vote for or write in people you know or believe will be active, dynamic, and outspoken leaders, and not just chair-warmers. We need an activist board, where each director is expected to chair at least one committee and serve on at least two others. I will commit to do this and hereby challenge other candidates to do the same.
We need articulate people, who can speak, write, and provide thoughtful opinions and debate. We need people who are serious and committed, and who have taken the time and trouble to read our governing documents, attend board meetings, and give substantially of their time, talents, and resources to support the society in its mission and projects. We need people who will lead by example and walk the walk.
I have attended more board meetings in 30 years than I care to recall. I have served on and chaired NSS committees. I have supported the NSS as a Life Member and with targeted donations to the Great Ex purchase, the library fund, and other funds and projects. I have edited NSS publications and supported the NSS office with my professional skills, time, and talents as a volunteer.
Current Issues
I believe the NSS must be a leader in the research and prevention efforts related to WNS. We should support research in every way that we can, lead by example, reach out to the non-NSS cavers, and take an active role in partnership with BCI, ACCA, US-FWS, USGS and other
organizations as befitting the premier speleological organization in North America. We must also act to protect and conserve our own caves and do everything possible and reasonable to prevent harm by WNS, whatever its cause.
I believe the NSS office should remain in Huntsville unless that becomes economically impossible. I have considered and discussed the three proposals recently developed. I have concluded that the Indiana site is too remote from airports and interstates and would be too expensive to build and operate due to its rural location, and that the Kentucky site
would be too remote from airports and from a sufficiently large grotto or member base for adequate volunteer support. Huntsville, on the other hand, has a regional airport and is served by interstate highways. It has a large grotto with many active members who have historically supported the office in countless ways until alienated by the board and officers. We also have a substantial investment in our office staff, which will probably be lost if the office is relocated out of the Huntsville area, increasing training and staffing costs and reducing efficiency and member services.
The proposal to build a new facility across the street from the present Huntsville office, demolish the old office, and expand the Shelta Cave preserve is a good one - both environmentally and economically. It offers the least disruption of NSS office activities and operations. Its estimated cost is within the ability of the NSS fund raising activities, given adequate leadership, focus, and effort. It will be the quickest and easiest to implement. It will have the largest volunteer and member support base (assuming that we can repair the relationship with the grotto, as I believe new leaders can and should do). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is doable right now. The Cave Research Foundation conducted a similar sized project a few years ago with a much smaller membership base. I believe that the new office complex as
proposed can be designed to house, protect, and display the NSS library and museum, something that is long, long overdue.
I believe that the NSS should not seek to buy, own, or manage caves. That is the mission and competency area of the local and regional cave conservancies, such as the SCCi, IKC, MCKC, and others. The NSS should support those organizations - not compete with them for funds and other
resources. Buying, owning, and managing caves is demanding work, and it diverts energy, time, volunteers, money, and other resources away from our core mission areas. If a significant cave is offered in donation to the NSS, we should consider accepting, provided that we have the resources to manage and protect the cave, but we should first consider whether there is some better home for it, such as a local or regional cave conservancy.
The NSS should focus on its core mission:
"The purpose of this Society shall be to promote interest in and to advance in any and all ways the study and science of speleology, the protection of caves and their natural contents, and to promote fellowship among those interested therein."
We should direct our efforts toward promoting the study and science of speleology, supporting the protection of caves and cave life, and promoting fellowship and community among all members of the caving community at large. We do not have to conduct science, buy caves, or throw parties to do these things. We can produce publications, create and give scholarships, give grants, raise awareness, create educational programs, sponsor conferences, conventions, and expeditions, and do many other things that no other organization in North America is doing. We should not compete with other organizations or institutions where our
interests overlap - we should support and cooperate, and allocate our resources wisely.
I believe the NSS should investigate and seriously consider spinning off a National Speleological Land Trust, an entity similar to the National Speleological Foundation that manages the NSS financial assets, so that we can transfer title to our cave preserves to a separate tax=exempt land trust dedicated to their care and management. This will allow the NSS to substantially reduce its liability insurance costs while providing greater protection to bother the Society's other assets and to the caves themselves. Cave conservancies already follow this successful model - it works, and it takes the management of our caves out of political hands and micromanagement and puts it into the hands of the people who know and love them best.
Finally, I believe that the NSS must work harder and more effectively to recruit, train, nurture, and retain talented volunteers. The BOG and officers have had a terrible track record for volunteer management, alienating both individual volunteers and even entire grottos over the last decade. We are losing talented people, valuable donors, and priceless opportunities because of mismanagement miscommunication, and just plain misbehavior. It is time for this to end, and for the NSS leadership to conduct itself in a rational and professional way. I have personally experienced this, and I believe I can help spearhead the effort to make the necessary changes.
Please feel free to email me at bill@putnamconulting.com or to call me at 678-371-4517 to discuss any NSS-related questions or concerns that you have that I have not addressed here. I will also continue to monitor the Cavechat forum and other distribution lists and will be happy to respond to any questions or comments there as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for your consideration. If my message resonates for you, I would appreciate your write-in vote, and your help in getting word of my candidacy to all your friends and fellow NSS members. I need about 1,000 votes to get seated. If I do, I promise that it will be, at the very least, interesting.
Bill Putnam NSS21117LF
