ORIGINAL: carrellh
Our club is small, approximtely 30 currently, and pretty informal. About half of our members fly. Some quite often, others just occasionally.
I think we are typical. We are a group of guys who mostly want to play with our toys and escape for a few hours.
Our officers are re-elected forever unless they say they do not want to be an officer the following year; and getting someone to volunteer is very difficult. My brother is president and I am secretary. I think 2011 will be my 5th year as secretary. My brother was VP in 2009 before being 'promoted' when our multi-year president had to step back because of his work hours. Our treasurer and safety officer have been in office for 3 to 5 years.
We are extremely fortunate to have a great place to fly. One of our members owns the property and does at least 95% of the work related to field maintenance. He also maintains the small tractor that the club owns. If it needs parts the club pays for them but he will not accept any payment for his labor. When other work needs to be done, he lets the membership know and a small group comes out for a work party. Like most clubs, the same core group comes for most of the work parties. We had dirt hauled in this year to fill low and rough spots in the runway. The guys brought tractors with blades, and a small dozer, and knocked it out.
Carrell
I belong to a couple of clubs.
One is informal, and is almost like carrellh described. This is the best field and it's maintained by a couple hard working members. The other members help when needed.
The other is county owned, and basically a disaster waiting to happen. It's a scaled down version of the Basin. Basically, it's not out of the question to see one or two fist fights a month. The field is owned by the county, but a few members think they own and control the field without consent from the membership. They (a handful of officers) vote people in and out of the club based on popularity and the buddy system. It's a sham.