It’s Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than it is to Get Permission: 8224 Old Courthouse Road, Vienna, Virginia 22182. Plus, Board Minutes, Nominating Committee, and Advertising for ER reporter in MN.
Wow! A lot of discoveries since the last time we posted on this blog.
We here at WAKE UP NCRA got really curious about the sale of NCRA’s building back in 2015. There is a short blurb about it in the 2014-2015 Annual Report: “In 2015, NCRA sold its headquarters in Vienna, Va., which resulted in an extraordinary gain from the sale of the building.” **
Our sleuths here Googled “8224 Old Courthouse Road, Vienna, Virginia 22182” and, according to The Washington Post, the building was sold for $5 million. Our simple reading of the 2014-2015 Annual Report reflects a net gain on disposal of property and equipment of $2.695 million.
Membership deserves a FULL accounting on the sale of our most precious asset. For instance, we want to know what happened to $2.3 million – the difference between the sale price and the $2.695 million reflected in the annual report.
We looked at board minutes of the NCRA meetings and cannot find mention of the sale of the building. As a matter of fact, NCRA’s board minutes don’t say much at all about what goes on in those board meetings. Since it’s the secretary’s responsibility to “manage meeting minutes” we are looking to her to supply complete and detailed minutes of all future board meetings. For instance, it would have been nice to know which board members agreed with the sale of the building and which ones opposed it, and why. Full and complete board minutes will also allow membership to make informed decisions about the members that we want leading our 118-year-old organization – or more importantly, who we don’t want in those executive and director positions.
It’s, once again, the time of year for the Nominating Committee to meet and come up with “candidates” for the Board of Directors. Where does the time go? We noticed that one of the “candidates” is one that lost resoundingly for the vice-president position last year. Hopefully, the “Nom Com” will still listen to membership’s wishes. The cliques and the secrecy must stop! NCRA is at a fork in the road. Perhaps it’s time for the Nominating Committee to redeem themselves and go outside the “nominations” and beg the real leaders of our profession to roll up their sleeves and turn the ship around. Find the leaders who aren’t looking for aggrandizement. Find the leaders who don’t want to sit at the “cool girls’ table.” Find leaders who are truly altruistic and will not use their past “service” as a marquee for future gain. They are out there, Nominating Committee. Find them. That is your duty.
Speaking of using past “service” for future gain. Whose idea was it to allow an advertisement to fill an ER position in Minnesota in this week’s classifieds of the JCR blast? We wonder if Minnesota’s recording system is FtR.
Wake Up NCRA!
Frank N. Sense
** Now it’s become clear WHY the business meeting wasn’t streamed on Sarah’s last day of being president. Remember that to-do?