Dear valued members:
The Board of Directors of MassAccess met today and among other discussions, spoke at length about policies we would like to see implemented for our organization. As technology and media evolve, we at MassAccess feel it is time for us to grow as well. Part of our plan for future growth includes a revised mission statement and an updated policies and procedures manual – both designed to clearly define what it means to be a member of MassAccess. You will see the result of our efforts in the coming months, as we have set up sub-committees to deal with policy, with member benefits and with the development of a brand new massaccess.org, which we hope to launch by the end of 2016. There were three new policies put into effect at today’s meeting, and we wanted to be sure to bring them to your attention right away. They are as follows:
If an organization or individual joins or renews during the months of October, November or December, they will be credited membership for the following calendar year.
This policy seems to make sense for an organization which handles membership on a calendar year basis. It’s possible that in the future, we will switch to individual expiration dates, but for now we plan on keeping it based on the calendar year.
Only active MassAccess members may publish content, including job postings on massaccess.org. Organizations or individuals who are not members may request postings for a fee.
The board has been discussing benefits of membership for quite some time, and we feel publishing content should certainly be one of them. It’s not fair to members who pay faithfully if anyone can post.
Current MMX users will not be allowed to utilize the service after March 31, 2016 unless their MassAccess membership is paid and active. In future years, MassAccess members will have until January 31 of any year to renew their membership before their MMX use expires.
This was a difficult decision, but again, we feel use of the MMX is a benefit of MassAccess membership. In the past, our membership database and the database of MMX users have been two separate entities, so it has been difficult to track. This is one of the initiatives we’re working on improving this year and so we have to set a deadline.
If you’d like to keep using MMX after March 31, please be sure to renew your membership. If you are unsure about your membership status, simply email davidg@wincam.org to find out if you are active or not. We certainly hope that you will understand that these policies and any future policies are by no means an exercise in exclusion. Our board is dedicated to serving our membership and we feel as though we are headed in the right direction. Please feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns. And please don’t forget to save the date of our SPRING CONFERENCE – April 29, 2016.
Sincerely,
The MassAccess Board of Directors
Bill Nay, President
Melinda Garfield, Vice President
Erich Archer, Secretary
Stephen Kessinger, Treasurer
David Gauthier, Membership Chair
Eric Dresser
Zack Gorman
Dana Healy
