National
Director National
Director
I would like to explain some of the significant resolutions that will be presented at the upcoming convention in Woodland Texas. There are seventeen, but I won’t cover all of them, just those I consider important.
The first addresses repeats and inconsistencies in the National Bylaws. They
displayed fifteen pages of the bylaws after they made changes. From what I have
read and tried to understand, it appears they have cleaned them up pretty well.
This should help with decisions that will be based on these items as the need
arises.
The second resolution concerns itself with people working in a paid position or an officer position at the Chapter while at the same time holding the title of National Director. They dislike a Chapter President or another elected officer attempting to be National Director. Their trepidation is that the individual will be unable to do what’s best for National without thinking about their Chapter. It is an honorable concept, but most Chapters don't have enough qualified members for all positions. However, they report according to the PVA Administrative Manuel, Code of Ethics, Standards of Conduct and Conflict of Interest of Policy, Page I.63 – I.68, the Chapters with members serving as an officer of their Chapter and the National Director, arguably are in violation of this policy. This may help validate their dispute.
The fifth resolution deals with Membership Eligibility in the PVA. The proposed
changes are as follows:
“Membership eligibility is determined by impairment of the spinal cord.
A member must have impairment of the spinal cord. Impairment of the spinal cord
refers to neurological dysfunction caused by injury or disease to the spinal
cord resulting in impairment of sensory, motor or autonomic systems. An illustrative
listing of the different types of conditions of spinal cord origin can be found
in the PVA Medical
Requirements
for Membership in the PVA Administration Guide.
Life membership in the Paralyzed Veterans America is available solely to individuals
who are American citizens who suffered from spinal cord dysfunction as a result
of trauma or disease and who were accepted for or served on active duty in the
Armed Forces of the United States or its allies and whose separation from such
service was under other than dishonorable conditions.”
The
sixth resolution, originating in our Chapter, is a request to retire a chapter
from competition for a set amount of time after that Chapter has won an Award.
It is my hope that preventing repeat awards to the same Chapters will encourage
other Chapters to enter. There are some nice looking publications being produced
which are going unrecognized, and many Chapters have improved their other ‘award
eligibles’ but do not get recognition.
Once
again from our Chapter we present the (lucky) thirteenth resolution. If you
have a great idea that can save the PVA money, you submit it, and PVA saves
money with it, you get reimbursed for the idea at 10% of the savings for one
year. I truly hope that new ‘going green’ ideas will sprout from
within our ranks and be implemented. I believe this could be a win-win proposal
for all of our offices.
Steve Kirk
