Looking back…

Getting involved throughout the province.

The past few years have seen incredible growth, not just in the membership (from 1600 to 2300), but in boots-on-the-ground representation outside the Lower Mainland. We’ve tripled our number of Regional Officers just in the past year, and they’re becoming more and more active in their communities, liaising with governments and stakeholders, and hosting meetings, runs, and events.

Thanks to the persistent efforts of those officers, we’ve recently gained partnership agreements for three more rec sites outside the Lower Mainland: Windfall Creek near Chetwynd, 0-5km of the Alexander Mackenzie Trail near Prince George, and Hut Lakes near Squamish.

Last year also saw the launch of our Wheeling Wisely education program with a weekend-long training event in Prince George followed by two in the Lower Mainland. This year the program is expanding to Vancouver Island, Kamloops, and Kelowna.

All told, we’ve been working hard to change the image of the Association as a “Vancouver-only” organization.

Looking ahead…

Getting the rest of the province involved.

One of the challenges of being a truly provincial organization is allowing those members spread across BC’s 944,735 km² to add their voices to the democratic process. So far, voting for your Board of Directors has taken place in-person at the Annual General Meeting, limiting a say in those decisions to the few dozen who could attend and the proxy votes they carried – in short, less than 100 votes speaking for nearly 2500 members BC-wide.

The next step is extending the ability to vote for your Board to the rest of BC… and we’re pleased to announce that we finally have the means in place to make that feasible. Leading up to this year’s AGM on March 21, we’re implementing electronic voting, available to all members with an email address.

NOMINATIONS

The process will be overseen by a Nomination Committee comprised of trusted long-term members who have no aspirations to the Board, and will be as follows:

• Nominations may be submitted by email to nominations@4wdabc.ca. Include the person’s full name, email address, and phone number,
• Nominees and Nominators must be a Member in Good Standing through March 21, 2020.
• Nominations will close at midnight Saturday, March 7, 2020.
• Nominees will be contacted by the Nomination Committee to ensure they agree to run.

See below for a listing of the positions and related duties.

CAMPAIGNING

• Accepted nominees will submit a bio and photo (if desired) that will be distributed by emailed newsletter, posted on our website, and on our social media channels beginning Monday, March 9, 2020.
• We will create a Forum area on the website where they can campaign and field questions.
• We will also create a Units post in our main Facebook group, one Section per candidate, where they can campaign and field questions. There will be no other campaigning allowed on our social media channels.
• Campaigning will end at midnight Saturday, March 14, 2020.

VOTING

• Voting will commence Monday, March 16, 2020, with an email sent to all active members. The email will contain a unique link that the recipient may use to access an online poll.
• The first question of the poll will be whether the voter would prefer to vote in the online poll, or in-person at the AGM.
• If a voter chooses the former option, for each position it will give them a set of choices for each of the nominees, or for no selection. Once the poll is completed and submitted, the link will no longer be valid.
• If a voter chooses the latter option, the poll will end, and their link will no longer be valid. They will then be eligible to vote in person at the AGM.
• Voting will close at midnight Thursday, March 19, 2020. This will allow the Nomination committee time to view and prepare the results for presentation at the AGM on March 21.

Additional Information

Positions up for election in 2020

President (2-year term)

1. The President presides at meetings of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia and of the Board of Directors.
2. In the absence of the President, these duties shall devolve upon the Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer in that order.
3. The President shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia and shall be an ex-officio member of all committees.
4. The President is tasked with innovation and leading the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia.
5. Upon receiving communications from members regarding local activities, issues, or events, and not full provincial activities, will have those members contact the appropriate Regional Officer to deal with the local activity, issue or event, as well as notifying the Director of Regions.

Secretary (2-year term)

1. The Secretary conducts the correspondence of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia and reports thereon to the Board of Directors.
2. The Secretary gives due notice of all meetings of the Board of Directors and the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia and attends same.
3. The Secretary keeps adequate records (minutes) of the proceedings of the meetings of the Board of Directors and the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia. ​​If not present at a meeting, the Board will appoint another member to take minutes, recognizing that business needs to be slower due to the inexperience of the appointee.
4. The Secretary gives immediate notice to the Board of Directors, club representatives (designates), corporate designates, and other members and committees of all votes, orders, resolutions and proceedings affecting them or pertaining to their respective duties.
5. The Secretary has charge of the records of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia, ​except those required to be kept by the Treasurer, ​or shall give Power of Attorney as the Board of Directors may determine for signing such documents of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia.

Merchandise Director (2-year term)

1. Coordinates creative concepts for merchandising
2. Coordinates implementation and design by getting quotes on costs and times
3. Coordinates the promotion of sales of merchandise.
4. Coordinates ordering of the appropriate stock
5. Coordinates the warehousing, storage​, and inventory control​ of our merchandise
6. Coordinates packaging, shipping, and other distribution of our merchandise
7. Coordinates with the Treasurer on receipts and remuneration from merchandise

Membership Director (2-year term)

1. Generates memberships within all four classes.
2. Promotes, solicits, and liaises re Corporate Sustaining Members
3. Receives and processes applications.
4. Notifies of renewal time (note: annual membership is by the calendar year and membership are to be paid up by the time of the Annual General Meeting.)
5. Keeps the list of all members, including name, address, email, and phone/cellular that adhere to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations. All email communication that is sent out en-masse SHALL BE BY BCC (blind carbon copy) ONLY

Special Resolutions

The four Administrative positions (Communications, Regions, Membership, Merchandise) were initially created with a one-year term; however, experience since has indicated it would be beneficial overall to make them two-year terms to match the Executive positions, with two being voted on each year. A Special Meeting in February saw these changes ratified by the membership as Bylaw Section 8.2; however, this left open the question of how to deal with the interim year for two of the positions. Therefore, the following resolutions will be presented at the AGM:

NOTICE OF SPECIAL RESOLUTIONS OF THE
Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia 

The following Special Resolutions will be proposed for approval at the Annual General Meeting to be held Saturday, March 21, 2020:

Special Resolution # 1 

BE IT RESOLVED by a special resolution that the Association puts Special Resolution #1 into effect immediately upon completing a majority vote.

• Special resolution #1: For the Year March 2020 – March 2021 the existing terms for BOD positions of Communication and Regions shall be extended for a period of 1 year to align themselves with our bylaw section 8.2.

Note: if Special Resolution #1 Passes, special resolution #2 would not be voted on.

Special Resolution # 2

BE IT RESOLVED by a special resolution that the Association puts Special Resolution #2 into effect immediately upon completing a majority vote.

• Special resolution # 2: Extend the existing term for the positions of Communication and Regions until June 20-2020. By June 20-2020 an online vote would be held for the positions of Communication and Regions. This new interim period would be in effect until the 2021 elections.
• For the Year March 2020 – March 2021 the positions of Communication and Regions shall be for a period of 1 year to align themselves with our bylaw section 8.2