Burgh Bees is at a crossroads.
As an organization, we are both at the brink of an exciting new phase in our development . . .
. . . and we are also experiencing the growing pains that change and progress inevitably bring.
The direction of the organization – and its success as a viable nonprofit with a mission in the community and to its members – will be determined over the next few weeks by those individuals in the community and among the membership willing to participate in the process.
The timetable is tight and will require members to accept the challenge of an extremely crowded agenda on July 29th – discussion of the proposed bylaws, voting on the bylaws, sorting through the qualifications of all nominated candidates, and voting eight of those candidates into office.
But I feel confident that the membership will bring to next Thursday’s meeting a clear willingness to engage the myriad issues on the table. As Burgh Bees grows our pool of talented members grows accordingly, and I’ve met and worked with some extraordinary individuals from the second class of students, this year’s 2010 graduates. Yet the first Burgh Bees class of students and potential beekeepers, the class of 2009, was unlike any other that will follow, and not only because it was the first. Everyone – everyone – sensed both the clear-eyed commitment to a worthy cause and the generosity of spirit that permeated everything these community leaders offered. As the Burgh Bees leadership changes, and as the identity of the organization inevitably changes with it, I know that I am not alone in hoping that the new directors will chart a course that retains that generous spirit of community as part of the Burgh Bees mission.
As for the Burgh Bees Community Apiary Blog, there will be changes here as well.
When the Apiary Committee first began discussing our purpose and plans, documentation of this first year was an important topic of conversation. We talked over format and content and agreed that an interactive, fluid rather than static medium, would best serve our purposes. It was decided that a blog documenting the apiary’s first year of activity, with that record later collated into electronic “book” form, would be easiest for a corps of volunteers to manage. And I think that’s served us well these first 4 months. But just as Burgh Bees will evolve into a more structured and representative organization as it grows larger, so too will the Apiary Blog and the website become more “managed” as the official tools of communication for our organization. This is a good thing :-)
On July 6th I sent an email to our regular columnists, and to the Directors, suggesting that the blog editorship be rotated, among those interested, on a quarterly basis. I knew I would be redirecting my energies toward returning to work fulltime in the fall, but I also felt that we needed to return more closely to our original vision of a fluid, interactive forum for documenting apiary events. I asked that anyone interested in taking on the blog editorship for what remained of the next quarter, through the end of September, get in touch with Director Jennie Wood. This was before news of the developing restructuring. Now that we will be voting on a president over the next few weeks, and that new officer will appoint a webmaster to manage both the website and the blog, the length of tenure for anyone taking over is also fluid and interactive :-) But I am pleased to report that Jeff Irwin, our current Pollinator Periscope columnist, has agreed to do just that. Jeff will serve as blog editor until we have a new Burgh Bees president, and I hope he will not find the job too daunting – and will be considered for the office of webmaster when that becomes available.
In closing, I will repeat what I said to our blog columnists and our current Directors: “I’ve felt very fortunate to have taken part in launching the Burgh Bees Community Apiary Blog, and to have helped shape the structure and column formats for this first quarter (April-May-June). But I feel most fortunate to have worked with each of you as contributing columnists, and have been very proud to be associated with such excellent writing – and writers . . . Thanks for your insight, your dedication, and your absolutely first-rate columns – we’ve done good work together :-) Linda”
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