National Council meets in Baltimore . . .

Your Region IV Councillor was on the road once again . . . this time to attend National Council meetings in Baltimore from Friday, October 8 thru Monday, October 11.

The meetings on Friday and Saturday meeting were led by Dennis Elwell, Councillor for Conventions. In attendance were all regional councillors and convention coordinators for the 2013 (yes, 2013!) regionals. Tony Roof, coordinator for the 2013 regional convention in Columbia, South Carolina, joined me as Elwell and members of CORC (Committee on Regional Conventions) outlined the convention guidelines. Thanks to the Columbia chapter for hosting in 2013!!

On Saturday afternoon, councillors from the nine regions met. On Sunday afternoon, the rest of the national council joined us for a discussion of the Long Range Planning survey. (You'll be pleased to know that, yes, your participation in the survey matters!)

Monday was spent getting down to business (i.e., motions, votes, and the like!) What items are most interesting? Well, here is my rundown of the the 'top six topics of interest at the National Council Meeting':

6: Approval of Houston as the host site for the 2016 national convention
5: Approval of a variety of POE code of conduct documents
4: Approval of Boston as the host site for the 2014 national convention
3: Approval of the budget for the 2012 national convention in Nashville
   (Go Region IV!!)
2: Implementation of national dues collection, hopefully, by the next dues cycle. We may have a bit of a learning curve here, but I think it is a move in the right direction!
1: After a weekend of meetings, confirmation that all members of the National Council are committed to the mission of the guild.

We each, in our own way, are vital parts of this organization that we call the American Guild of Organists. Let me know if there are things that I, as councillor of Region IV, can do to assist you!