12/14/2010 General Membership Meeting

[Guest guest]

Dear List Mates.

Thanks to the many of you that attended the membership meeting last night,

December 14, 2010. I think what you saw last night was a board that realized

that they had upset the apple kart so to speak.

In all the years that I have attended chiropractic association general member

meetings, or the numerous other boards and/or associations I am or have been a

member of, I have never had the meeting open with an Attorney telling the

chairman, or president, that they had now officially met the qualifications

needed to start a meeting. Unfortunately this set the tone for the rest of the

meeting.

As has been posted already this morning, cooler heads did prevail and it appears

that some of the members-at-large, and a couple of board members will sit down

and at least open a dialogue to fixing some of what has happened this past few

weeks. As was expressed many times last night, unless that result is the

re-hiring of Dr. Saboe as our CHIEF lobbyist, the unrest will only continue, and

I see a dire future for the sustainability of the OCA.

It was wonderful to see the Gatti law firm en mass last night. They were

absorbing what was transpiring and I was happy they were there. Unfortunately,

they were not the law firm guarding over the meeting and controlling what was

said, and who got to say it. At the end of the meeting Dan Gatti himself

approached me and offered to mediate any meeting that was to take place to iron

our issues out. I think we need to take him up on this offer as he stated it

would not cost the OCA a dime.

I would like to formally challenge the entire board to stand up and have your

own voices heard. Don't let a few very strong willed individuals dictate what

is happening in board business, and within the association as a whole. I

realize you have done everything possible to show one unified voice since the

ODOC/CAO merger, but in hindsight this may have lead to the problems we are

facing today.

Argument and discontent is good for growth, just ask your spouse. What happens

in the Boardroom, stays in the Boardroom. Being afraid to stand up and be heard

is not good. I hope the new board takes notice of this and we have good,

strong, discussion for the betterment of the members, and chiropractic for

Oregon.

I would also encourage the new board to use the list serve as their

communication medium. It is immediate, as we have found out lately, and many

non-members read it. This is not a problem as has been the position in the

past, rather a great marketing tool, as many non-members may be driven to join,

if they see what we are doing. This will also ensure that the process remains

transparent, and forward looking.

Again, thank you all who attended last night. It was nice to see many of you I

haven't spoken to in many years. I apologize for not keeping in touch, life

gets in the way sometimes. And hopefully future " General Membership Meetings "

will occur more frequently, and with adequate dialogue from the field docs being

encouraged.

Ron Grice, DC