Saturday, 25 April 2015

Dave Welsh Back on ACCG Board?


It says on his profile:
David was an early supporter of the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, for which he chairs the International Affairs Committee, and has become well known as a collectors’ rights activist.
The degree to which Dealer Dave is "well-known" is a moot point, but the use of the present tense is interesting since as is well-known, he resigned from the Board of the Ancient Coin Collectors' Guild (and was replaced by Doris Sayles the wife of the Executive Director, elected in May 2014 and installed August 9, 2014 at the ACCG annual membership meeting at the ANA convention in Rosemont, Illinois.).
Under the bylaws of the organization, the ACCG is governed by a board of seven elected members who serve for a term of four years. Elections are held every two years, with three positions being presented in one cycle and four positions in the alternate cycle. 
It is interesting to note therefore that in the presentation of the ACCG Board of Directors today, Dave Welsh is up there with the other six and no mention whatsoever of the person who was unanimously elected to fill his vacant place just a year ago. Where did Director Doris go? By what procedure was she ousted and an unelected officer replace her?

Why does an unelected officer head the International Affairs Committee? While the status of the ACCG committees is not specified in the bylaws, its functions are detailed in the 'organization' section of the website, it makes interesting reading in light of the fact that it is Dealer Dave who heads it (and apparently is its sole member):
2-5-1. The International Affairs Committee, appointed by and responsible to the Executive Director, compiles and archives information about foreign laws and import/export procedures in source countries. Among these, are actions taken under the British Treasure Trove law (sic). It tracks international events such as UNESCO, Unidroit and similar conventions that have an impact on ancient coin collecting. It identifies and maintains a dialogue with various organizations and government officials in countries outside of the U.S. The committee also serves as a liaison to individual members of the ACCG who live in countries outside of the U.S.  
Perhaps ACCG members, whose money is spent on supporting these committees might interest themselves in the degree to which the "International Affairs" Committee is fulfilling the tasks set it by the ACCG in the manner set out clearly in the blueprint here. In particular that "dialogue". They should note too point 2-0-4.
The Committee Chairperson or Task Force Leader shall keep a written or electronic record or journal of committee activities for purposes of corporate history, committee continuity and Board management. This record shall include details as appropriate from committee meetings, correspondences, expenditures, and other items of potential interest to Guild managers or committee chair successors. The Committee Chairperson shall be responsible for updating that committee's section of any electronic activity log maintained on the Guild web site.
The last entry on that log was made eleven years ago. I would say that log also needs some sort of entries to explain why the unanimous election by members of Doris Sayles has been ignored and Dave Welsh is now shown on the website as being on the board of Directors again little under a year afterwards, despite there not being any record of any extra-ordinary elections.

The ACCG which is such a stickler for attempting ensure that the US Gubn'mint stay within the bounds of law might make more of an effort to show that they themselves respect their own regulations and the principles of transparency and accountability to its members.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment