The FRC has voted to censure and remove incumbent board members during an emergency members meeting.
St Petersburg, July 6, 2017
Summary:
The Florida Repeater Council, Inc. (FRC) membership has voted at an emergency meeting to censure and remove the board of directors and call for a rewriting of bylaws. The ongoing corruption of the board extends back over ten years and recently was exposed by members at the annual meeting in Orlando. During the Orlando meeting the Board voted to expel all members from the FRC and re-elect itself, in violation of the Articles of Incorporation and state law. Bylaw changes giving the president dictatorial like powers were approved and not disclosed until June 28, 2017.
The rebuke of these now former directors by the members and subsequent election of an interim board shows the radio amateurs of Florida have taken the first steps to correct this mismanagement and check the arrogance which permeated the FRC.
Background on today’s actions:
The background of mismanagement by the former board extends over the past decade. Over the past three year members have questioned the board of directors and made formal requests for information from the FRC. Each request for information was met with contempt and even reported to law enforcement as a means to intimidate the membership.
The FRC Reform caucus (http://frcreform.org) was started in 2015 by Bryan Fields W9CR, to shine a light on these matters. In support of these efforts, FRC members assigned proxies to Mr. Fields to be used during the annual members meeting in Orlando February 2017. During this meeting the board refused to recognize Mr. Fields supporters and claimed it was a closed non-members meeting, though it was announced as the annual members meeting. Board member James Deuel N0XIA, further tried to intimidate the assembled members by calling police over a supposed fire code issue a half hour after taking count.
At this Orlando meeting all members were removed from the FRC by the board in violation of the articles of incorporation. The proposed bylaw changes were not presented for review and a request by Mr. Fields to inspect them at the meeting was denied. These new bylaws were finally released on June 28, 2017. These changes gave the president dictatorial like powers and the board became a rubber stamp to presidential fiat.
An emergency members meeting was called July 6, 2017 by Director Mike Gonzalez N2FSU, to address these issues as he was shocked by the actions of the board. At this meeting the only directors who attended either online or in person were President Glenn (Mike) Fletcher NI4M and Secretary Dana Rodakis K4LK.
During the course of this the meeting the membership presented its charges against the directors and board. President Fletcher and Secretary Rodakis were called to explain the mismanagement and their conduct to the members. The only mitigating argument presented was one of “the board has eliminated membership, you are no longer members of the FRC”.
Our members saw through this and voted to censure the board members, remove them from office and call a constitutional convention to rewrite the bylaws. A new board was voted in and tasked with auditing the FRC and correcting the mismanagement. Further it was resolved during this interim time no FRC funds would be spent without unanimous consent of the board and then only for legally required matters.
Censured and removed directors:
Glenn (Mike) Fletcher NI4M
Dana Rodakis K4LK
Ralph Betts W4ORL
Norman Scholer K4GFD
Steve Lowman N4SGL
Douglas Steward KI4NAD
James Deuel N0XIA
Mark Filla N4DES
Joaquin Pidal KZ4TI
Barry Isbelle N2DB
Chuck Lavender W4CLL
Frank Butler W4RH
New FRC board members:
Chairman:
Jon Pearl W4ABC
Directors:
Ryan Owens KJ4SHL
Mike Gonzalez N2FSU
Lu Romero W4LT
Bryan Fields W9CR
About the Florida Repeater Council:
The Florida Repeater Council, Inc. is the recognized coordination body for amateur radio repeaters in Florida. In addition the FRC is responsible for amateur band planing above 50 MHz. The FRC is a non-for-profit members organization and seeks to represent all users of amateur radio spectrum above 50 MHz in the state.
Contact information:
For more information you may contact Chairman Jon Pearl W4ABC or Director Bryan Fields W9CR at 727-409-1194 as the main FRC website (http://florida-repeaters.org) has yet to be migrated.
Members are encouraged to join the FRC Facebook group for more information and updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FloridaRepeaters/