From: Fiorini & Skiles
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2000 12:39 PM
To: (list of dozen ABANA Presidents)
Subject: Recent letters
ABANA Chapter Presidents,
Enclosed please find my reply to Patty Draper in regards to her letter to
all Chapter Presidents. ABANA is not trying to rule the chapters. The
ABANA Board is trying to follow the bylaws of ABANA . The ABANA Board is
your board. We are only trying to keep some type of order for a
overwhelming membership. The membership of ABANA is our concern. We are
here for the membership and want input from all of you. I hope you will
help us in developing a strong relationship for the organization. A lot of
rumors have been spread over the last few weeks that are not true. Many of
the items have only been in discussion, not brought before the board as
motions. Even when a motion is made we must follow Robert's Rules and
process the motion. This does not mean the motion will pass, but is needed
to process that agenda. With a large board, discussion must take place in
order to weed out the ridiculous and retain the valuable. Please bear with
us in trying to carry out your interests.
Sincerely,
Bill Fiorini
ABANA President
Dear Patty,
I am a little disturbed that you sent a message to all ABANA Chapters
regarding ABANA business and left myself and the ABANA Board out of the
loop. I have however received a copy of your letter and would like to
respond.
Yes, there are two motions on the floor. Once a motion is made and
seconded, there must be a vote on the issue. The first is in regards to ANY
Chapter of ABANA violating bylaws or disregarding ABANA rules. The second
one does deal with removal of a Board Member. The first motion is in line
with bylaws, the second motion will fail because bylaws state
that a Board Member can only be removed by the membership.
Lee Ann stated that she would send you a copy of the insurance papers
when we received them from the insurance company. Your statement that ABANA
refused your request is totally false. I would like to see a retraction of
this sentence sent to all Chapter Presidents.
If you go to the ABANA web site you will find the published minutes of
the Flagstaff meeting as well as the Financial Statement of ABANA.
Although we do not sanction your event, being a chapter of ABANA does
target us for liability.
There is no faction of membership on the ABANA Board. We are all there
to deal with ABANA policy on an individual basis, with one vote each. The
sentence "The faction of the board behind the motions also wants to remove a
chapter if all of its board members do not join ABANA, and if the chapter
does not maintain a set percentage as ABANA members (25% in 2001; 50% in
2002)." is also false and should be retracted by you in correspondence with
the Chapter Presidents.
There are a lot of rumors going around on this issue. I have asked for
input from all chapters on the membership and other related matters, with
very little response. Rather than sending questionable letters to the
chapters, it seems that it would be more productive to call myself and/or
other ABANA board members and try to work with us for the betterment of
Blacksmithing and the general membership.
I regret having to respond to this letter in this manner, however you
leave me no other alternative considering I explained to you in a previous
letter all of the details regarding the ANVIL SHOOT. I hope that ABANA and
FABA can work together in the near future.
Sincerely,
William Fiorini
ABANA President
Koka Metalsmiths
Fiorini & Skiles
