This went to the BOD yesterday:
There are a lot of arguments and accusations on both sides of the propane issue floating around on Facebook. Here's how it looks to this cook:
Propane goes against all of the traditions and principles that the Kansas City barbecue Society was founded on. The society's charter lists preserving barbecue tradition as one of its covenants. Allowing propane is at odds with this covenant and KCBS looks very hypocritical for considering it. Allowing propane is not a simple rule change such as changing the pork rule. Allowing propane will fundamentally and forever change KCBS in a way that there will be no going back.
The reasons for considering propane that have been given seems specious. It's along the same lines as reducing the maximum amount of toy points that was done a couple years ago. "It will help increase membership" seems to be the rallying cry for controversial proposals such as the decrease in toy points and LP gas with little to no solid reasoning behind them. If it's simply a membership numbers issue there's a simple solution. Require membership to cook contests. KCBS shouldn't have any more difficulty convincing the American Royal and Brown-Forman of allowing a mandatory membership then they would of allowing LP gas. You have to be a KCBS member to cook Sam's Club contests yet many of those are qualifiers for the Jack draw so even that seems to be a moot point.
There is a lot of discontent in KCBS right now. If membership is decreasing one would think the focus would be on retaining current members versus simply looking to expand the pool at the same or greater attrition rate. Currently the KCBS product brand is fading.
- KCBS used to require a guaranteed prize pool letter. As a cook when I saw a KCBS contest I was confident that the prize money advertised would be the prize money paid. KCBS removed that requirement and now contests are defaulting.
- KCBS judging has become wildly inconsistent. The judging system badly needs an overall. If anything this is where KCBS should be focusing its resources and efforts. The phrase "we're working on it" is no longer sufficient, the board should present an outline of a plan to the membership and regular updates on how this problem is being addressed.
- KCBS continues to hold judging schools (although that number has decreased) and pump new judges into an already saturated market. People come, take the judging class, then find they can't get into any events for at least a year. They lose interest and move on.
- True or not, justified or not, this proposed rule change to allow propane appears to be about one thing, money. Past KCBS boards have a history of granting exceptions and making special rules where sponsors are concerned so skepticism in this regard is justified. We hear phrases such as "grow our business", "increased sponsorship"and "additional sponsorship opportunities" yet the question remains for who? Even at contests that are advertised with major sponsors the amount of entry fees that are returned as prize money are generally less than 50%. With the exception of Sam's Club almost every contest prize pool is funded by entry fees. Cooks are not naïve, they recognize that infrastructure and rental expenses are a part of barbecue contest life yet yet cooks aren't gullible either, where is the money going? Yes Charitable giving has always been a big part of the barbecue world but since cooks have to pay taxes on winnings, if 50% of their entry fee is going to a charitable organization why are they not reaping the benefits of that with a charitable donation letter ?
Adding propane or LP gas as a fuel source is not a simple thing. Many municipalities and communities have strict regulations regarding the use of these fuels at public functions.
While there are many commercial manufacturers of propane fueled cookers who submit their cookers to rigorous testing and certification program such as UL, there are many cooker manufacturers who are not engineers, nor do they submit their cookers for testing and certification. How will you regulate this? The comment has been made that only certain cookers will be allowed and there will be inspections but who will do this? How will they be trained? Will they be trained and certified by KCBS as propane cooker inspectors? If so, what kind of liability for their actions will KCBS be assuming in case of an accident?
How will this affect organizer and facility liability insurance? Will the propane fuel source be something that organizers can restrict or deny at will based on their municipality codes? Will KCBS not sanction events where the organizer submits that they cannot allow propane or LP gas? It's very possible that allowing propane and LP will result in a decrease in the number of contests as they cannot accommodate the LP rule and still get sanctioned.
In summary this is not a decision that should be made lightly. We cannot afford ready, fire, aim in this instance. The board should table the use of propane and LP gas as a fuel source until at least 2019 while a special committee is appointed to research and look at all the ramifications of this change. That committee should then submit and publish a complete set of rules and procedures detailing these changes to be approved by the membership before implementing such a radical change.
