A little inside baseball . . . . . .

I am going to talk about how our club is organized and the time requirements and expectations for the leadership positions in hopes of generating your interest in joining our team. The Montgomery County Beekeepers Association Inc. is a not for profit 501 (c)3 organization. It is all-volunteer with no paid positions. MCBA, as you know, is run by a small group of nine people acting as officers and members of the board. We have annual elections at the November meeting.  Nominations are accepted for all positions and are elected by a majority of those attending the annual meeting. We accept nominations in advance and on the floor.

For the last two years, the board has pretty much divided responsibilities between its member not by title, but by interest and enthusiasm. At the board meeting following the November elections, I ask those attending to volunteer to take a leadership role for one of the club’s activities. My list of these activities is below. For example, Allison Abernathy, our vice president, is responsible for finding speakers for our meetings. “Finding speaker’s” isn’t a traditional “vice president” duty, but Allison is willing to take that on (and we are very appreciative). In fact, the treasurer, Jim King, is the only position where the title and duties align.  On a personal note, I ’ve helped ensure that all responsibilities are passed to others, leaving the President’s position with no duties at all except to shake hands and smile appropriately. (Ok, I also write this column). I probably average less than 5 hours a month doing MCBA business.  The board typically meets quarterly and will email back and forth a little. The club has a largely predetermined schedule and calendar of annual activities. While we like to tweak things here and there, we are not breaking new ground.

There are two big annual undertakings; the New Beekeeper’s course in February/March and the Agriculture Fair in August.  We are fairly well organized with board members knowing what they need to do and when they need to do it. We’ve got a nice list of what needs to happen and when so there are few surprises.

What I ’m trying to say is that being on the MCBA board isn’t that much of a time commitment. I find it enjoyable and rewarding and believe that other board members do as well. I certainly acknowledge that the new beekeeper’s class and the fair can be a spot of work for a short duration. So why am I talking “inside baseball?” Yeah, I know, you guessed it; November’s elections are just around the corner. Please consider taking a leadership position. I f you are interested, send me an email and I ’ll answer any additional questions you have.
My list of MCBA leadership projects / tasks:

•  Brookside Nature Center Observation hive (manages and maintains observation hive)
•  County Ag Fair (coordinates club’s participation in fair and manages honey show)
•  Educational Outreach (seek ways to better inform the public and school children about honeybees)
•  Extractor Czar (house and control club extractors)
•  Harvest Festival (coordinates club’s participation in October festival)
•  Holiday Party (organizes annual holiday party)
•  HoneyPot editor (edits and publishes Monthly newsletter)
•  ListServ (manage the email listserv)
•  Meeting Refreshments (provide refreshment at meetings)
•  Meeting Speakers (find topics and schedule speakers for monthly meetings)
•  Membership (maintains and track membership records)
•  Montgomery County Zoning (ensure beekeeping is not negatively impacted by the zoning rewrite)
•  MSBA Rep (represents MCBA and Montgomery County’s interest at the State level)
•  Short Course (organizes new beekeeper short course)
•  Treasurer (collects and distributes club’s financial assets, maintain records)
•  Web Site (host and maintain web site)