Directors to Vote
On Revised GTF Recommendations
PAR Board of Directors will make a final decision on the Governance Task Force (GTF) recommendations at the Board Meeting on September 27.
The GTF recommendations have been revised based on members’ input over the last year and include:
• Increased and comprehensive member outreach
• Streamlined committee structure with term limits
• Reduced legislative/public policy infrastructure
• Two-year treasurer term
• New composition and size of executive committee
• Change in composition and size of board of directors
The changes reflect a desire for the board to become more agile, timely and accountable to serve the future membership. They allow the board to become more strategic and plan for the association’s future, as opposed to being operational in nature.
“Your task force has explored the issues and we have done our homework,” says GTF Chair Guy Matteo. “We have responded to the desire of the membership and now we also have responded to the concerns that the board of directors expressed about the changes. Adopting these modified recommendations will make PAR a better, more effective, strategic organization, without making too drastic a shift in the culture of the association.”
The most significant modification that the task force will present moves the board of directors back to a representational model (seating at least one director from each local association) while still incorporating various perspectives from the industry and results in a board membership of about 100 people. The original recommendation, which reduced the board from its current 220 to 65 and shifted the representational component to a regional approach, was met with resistance from many members of the board.
The recommendation that has not changed – and the one that has become a hallmark of the group’s work and Matteo’s chairmanship – is the adoption of critical strategies for member outreach and input. PAR has already incorporated many of these tools for gaining input from the greater membership, rather than just those volunteers who are active at the local and state levels. These feedback and input mechanisms expand the informational base that PAR directors will use to make their decisions.
The recommendations will help facilitate progress and remove barriers that can hinder success, Matteo notes. “The GTF recommendations include greater use of task forces, reduce the formal committees and call for a smaller board of directors. All help us achieve our goals of having a greater focus on strategic objectives. We believe this will lead to more meaningful and rewarding involvement for PAR leadership and membership,” he adds.
The full text of the GTF recommendations, a summary sheet and an FAQ are available on the PAR web site at www.parealtor.org.