Below was the Presidents Message from the November 2023 Rockhound Roundup. It has been almost a year since these words were written. If you have any suggestions on how to save AMLS, it is now or never. email: thelapidaryclub@gmail.com

Hello rockhounds.

     I've done a lot of thinking lately about our club's governance issues. And I have a question that maybe someone with first hand knowledge could answer. Why do you think the founders of Alabama Mineral and Lapidary Society decided to incorporate their little rock club? They were already having fun with their friends looking for rocks, swapping rocks, making stuff with their rocks, and just hanging out together at the lake with their families. Maybe back there in the fifties it was just the "thing to do" , harking back to the British learned societies of the nineteenth century and before. It may be that the only thing we have to go on to answer this question is the "Purpose" stated on page one of the bylaws: "The primary purpose of this Society is for persons interested in the study, collection and lapidary treatment of rocks and minerals, to associate as members. The general purposes for which this corporation is formed are to stimulate interest in rocks and minerals by furtherance of the activities of the members of this corporation in the earth sciences; to disseminate knowledge, methods and procedures for the collection, identification, classification, cutting, polishing, setting and mounting of specimens for these activities; and to promote good fellowship, proper ethics and conduct in the relations of said members with each other and with members of other earth science societies in pursuit of these activities." But do you really need a corporation to do this? Well, actually, yes. The club needs to be a legal entity to collect money, have a bank account for making payments, and for signing contracts. All quite necessary for renting a meeting hall, a workshop, and a show venue. So, if we do want to have meetings, operate a workshop, and pay for it all with the money we make producing an annual show, then we need to fulfill the legal formality of being a corporation. And that is why we need officers and a board of directors. (It would also be a great fringe benefit if those officers and directors managed things so that we could all have a good time. (see “Purpose”).

     So, as president pro tem, my number one objective is to make sure that all the necessary offices are filled. But that's not all I need to do. I need some serious communication, particularly with newly joined club members who will be enjoying the club from now on.  What our members really want from their club? Do we really want to continue monthly physical meetings? I can't imagine otherwise but maybe that is the way of the future. Do we want a workshop? If not then we don't need a show to pay for it. Then I hope that, with those questions answered and other suggestions taken into account, when our incoming government is fully formed, we can adjust our ways of running the club accordingly. (By the way, this will most likely involve revising the bylaws so I need volunteers to work on that. New member Anthony Piazza has already volunteered but this will take a bare minimum of three people, probably really five or six, some old members and some new) Our ability to get things right going forward is completely dependent on the quality of the feedback we get in the next few weeks. Fair warning to new members: you will be contacted directly in the near future regarding these questions. Please remember that this club does not have any employees. We have only part-time volunteers to run our operation. So guess what? If we can't get enough volunteers to do the work then everything falls apart. And I'm just being real here, that could happen sooner than you think. So I hope more members will do what I have done and decide to put more effort into the club for the next few months to put it in healthy condition for future success.

    Reggie Bolton
    AMLS president pro tem