When “Mama Bear” comes out, from GROWN ADULTS picking on my then 10 year old, you know it’s gotten bad. I am Sara Crowther, Jerry’s wife and Gavin’s mom. Our initial concern, brought to Eric’s attention at a Broward race, was that we would like for Gavin to be able to run in the powder puff class. This class is to give new to racing women drivers the opportunity to practice without running in heats with experienced drivers and more boats. We came with solutions – make this a novice class so gender had nothing to do with it and it would be only about gaining experience. We were told this was only for women and they would not allow for Gavin to run. At a later time, Kelly did tell my 10 year old son that he wouldn’t be allowed even if it was changed because he was too good. As an adult, I can handle that. How do you think a 10 year old felt about that? When Jerry and I continued to talk to Eric he said, “Well obviously, we already talked about that. I would never in a million years make that an intended consequence of anything that I do.” He went on to say that he is “very open minded and willing to listen.” Well, our concerns fell on deaf ears. We went right to the source – the district director – and were not given the time of day.
This leads to my second concern. How were we supposed to know that our concern, and solution, was brought to the board of directors? There is never an agenda posted, the “minutes” are minimal (and honestly, if you don’t know what they SHOULD be talking about, pretty much worthless), and there is not an opportunity to discuss with voting members our thoughts on matters. The Facebook group is controlled by Eric and Kelly. In fact, when I finally got tired of waiting for any sort of response, I wrote a post on my concerns. At what point do I have to continue to be nice? I’m a mom, my child is getting the crap end of a stick, and I’m tired of people not giving any serious thought to a simple problem with a simple solution. I tried to post this on the district 3 FB page:
The Dali Lama once said, "A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity."
The current hand-picked leadership team of district 3 is leaving a lot to be desired. The secrecy and lack of real information to the paying members in this district is creating a divided culture without any real thought given to those that just want to race boats fairly.
There are a few glaring concerns:
- Where is the information/rules/bylaws for District 3 posted? The website has disappeared. How are members supposed to know rules if they are not available?
- Directors: There are directors for Electric and Gas but not Nitro - Why? There is a large class of racers that are not being represented on the board. We have a new member director, but how many new members are there? I'm a new member and never once got anything from that director.
- Directors: Where is there a list of responsibilities for each director?
- Voting: As everyone pays yearly to be a member of NAMBA, there is a lack of voices being heard from its members. Technically, a quorum should be met in order to make any decisions. This means that 51% of the MEMBERS must vote in order for motion to pass. Facebook (since this is the main information source) has a poll feature that would allow for public voting.
- Board Members: How are they picked? How does one say if they would like to be chosen? Is there a voting process to put someone in place?
- Board Meetings: Agendas should be posted BEFORE the board meetings take place. All members should know what the board is discussing so they can offer input to their voting directors.
- Board Meetings: Should be public. We have all adapted to using Zoom and Teams. It wouldn't be hard to allow for members to listen to the meetings.
- Races: What's with the open classes? These are just duplicate classes to let people run their same boats more times in more classes.
- Races: Powder Puff vs. Novice. Who has made the decision to only allow a powder puff class and not a novice class? Why are women allowed to run in the powder puff class and then run the same boat in a class with men? And why are novice racers or young racers not allowed the same privilege? Running with 5 boats versus 30 is a giant difference. This was brought up to the board at the Broward Race, where there was ONE novice class. Who knows if it was ever discussed again? There are no agendas, no real minutes, and no public meetings.
As you can probably guess, my post was NOT approved. In fact, some of my concerns were suddenly “fixed” and up on the district 3 page – however, no mention of my post. So I posted it as a reply to someone’s comment. Why should I not be allowed to post my concerns for all to see? I went directly to the source and was ignored completely. And then, magically, a whole bunch of pictures were posted to hide my comment. Ironically, my picture post of my boys running boats with their dad, was not approved until 4 days later. And even now, I am blocked on some posts that my husband can still see. (see attachment)
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I now have taken my concern over Eric’s head, since it was not being properly handled. I have spoken with the current NAMBA president and a former one. I was informed that Eric wanted to use the basic NAMBA rules. However, this isn’t the case. NAMBA rules state that three boats make a class. Not in D3. It’s 5, UNLESS you are in the powder puff class, which is only 3. I am curious to know where the D3 rules are posted. Let me tell you, they are NOT on the D3 FB page. If this is where the majority of their info is being posted, why no rules?
This leads to being open and honest with ALL the members in your district. Why the secrecy? What are you trying to hide? Because, honestly, they are just miniature boats.
