Election

[Beth Curran]

As you know, this is an election year, and there will be several open seats on the board. I am not running for reelection - between two major surgeries in the last 3 months and a middle schooler becoming increasingly involved in sports and extracurricular activities,
I feel I'm spread too thin to do the job justice.

I have appointed Sue Paolini and Becky Howie as Election Commissioner and Assistant Election Commissioner, respectively.

Any member who wishes to run for office and/or nominate someone for office should notify the club secretary by no later than October 1st, 2018. Ballots will be mailed out on October 15th, 2018, and must be received back no later than November 1st, 2018.

Please note that this is a quick turn around, so we need to pay close attention to deadlines!

[Suki]

I think I answered this somewhere else.  I guess there are two calls out there.

[Beth Curran]

You posted under the thread for the 2019  national, but I'm not sure how to move it over here.

I cannot find the Constitution, but as of this year only directors of two year standing can run for Sec.  Anyone can run for directorship that fits the category of a Classic Member -- joined at the start and not a member of the ABC.

The constitution is on our main site under downloads: http://ameraucanaalliance.org/download.html

Unfortunately I can't cut and paste because my tablet doesn't like pdf files, but it says that nominees for PRESIDENT must have served 2 full 2 year terms on the board (effective  1/1/18) but I don't see that requirement for any other position.

Charter members with no lapse in membership are eligible to serve on the board as long as they are not members of any other Ameraucana organization, to avoid potential conflict of interest (or even the suggestion of).

[Suki]

You posted under the thread for the 2019  national, but I'm not sure how to move it over here.

John has to do that.

I cannot find the Constitution, but as of this year only directors of two year standing can run for Sec.  Anyone can run for directorship that fits the category of a Classic Member -- joined at the start and not a member of the ABC.

The constitution is on our main site under downloads: http://ameraucanaalliance.org/download.html

Unfortunately I can't cut and paste because my tablet doesn't like pdf files, but it says that nominees for PRESIDENT must have served 2 full 2 year terms on the board (effective  1/1/18) but I don't see that requirement for any other position.

Well I did request a while back that it be removed for Charter members.  It used to say as of 2018, the requirement for officers was different. I never heard about my proposition, but I posted it on FB as well and many others were surprised by that, so maybe it was dropped.

As for the lapse, that's what I thought, once you lapse your former suppport is over.  Pity. 

[Suki]

Article 8 - Election of Officers Officers shall be elected every two years. No member may hold more than one Board office at a time. Any charter member without a lapse in membership (becomes “Any continuous member for at least 5 years”, on January 1, 2020) that is not also a member of another Ameraucana breed club (due to any possible conflict of interest), may be nominated as a candidate to office.
Nominees for President must also have first served at least two full two year terms on the Board of Directors, before taking the office of President (effective 1/1/2018). Nominations must be received by the Secretary by October 1st . Ballots shall be prepared by and mailed by the Secretary to members by October 15th . Completed ballots must be received by the Election Commissioner by November 1st . When only one member accepts the nomination for any office that person will be elected by acclamation.
==============================


I believe that the EC should be in charge of the whole process not the Secretary. 
Ballots should go to the EC and Asst. 




Separate issue:  If no one votes for the nominated person -- beyond themselves -- I don't think that thy should win by acclamation.


Next one:  I also put forward that the Constitution should be in HTML text format for easy viewing not PDF, nor should there be two versions they can easily get out of sync.

[Beth Curran]

The EC, not the secretary, receives the completed ballots. The secretary mails out the BLANK ballots, because the secretary handles most club correspondence and has supplies on hand to do it.

If there is only one person willing to run for a position, they win by acclamation because the alternative is to leave the position vacant. In which case the president has to select and board vote for someone to fill it. And if there's only one person willing, there's only one person to select.

You will get no argument from me on PDF files. I loathe them with every fiber of my being and would eradicate every last one if it were within my power, but other people seem to like them. Getting rid of them would require some evidence that the majority of members prefer something else.

The procedure for requesting an amendment to the constitution is outlined in article 12, which I again cannot cut and paste because it's a PDF, but the jest is you submit it to me, I present it to the board for vote, a majority vote by the board gets it on the ballot, with a majority vote by the membership the change goes into effect January 1 following the election. So with this being an election year, now is the time to present proposed changes.

[Suki]

ok.  thanks Beth.  What's your email?

[Beth Curran]

bncarey (at) hotmail (dot) com

[John W Blehm]

Note that contact info for all our Alliance officers is on the last page of each Newsletter.

[John W Blehm]

As you know, this is an election year, and there will be several open seats on the board. I am not running for reelection - between two major surgeries in the last 3 months and a middle schooler becoming increasingly involved in sports and extracurricular activities,
I feel I'm spread too thin to do the job justice.

I have appointed Sue Paolini and Becky Howie as Election Commissioner and Assistant Election Commissioner, respectively.

Any member who wishes to run for office and/or nominate someone for office should notify the club secretary by no later than October 1st, 2018. Ballots will be mailed out on October 15th, 2018, and must be received back no later than November 1st, 2018.

Please note that this is a quick turn around, so we need to pay close attention to deadlines!

Beth is busy with a hurricane coming her way and asked me to post this for her...

...Also, Sue officially resigned as EC, Becky will be EC and Harry Shaffer will be assistant. Can you update on the forum? Thx!

FYI...EC=Election Commissioner.

[Suki]

John reminded me that we must notify the secretary by the end of month.  I do believe that is another change and should be the President.

[John W Blehm]

John reminded me that we must notify the secretary by the end of month.  I do believe that is another change and should be the President.

It will be if my proposed constitution is accepted.

[Suki]

That is a good point John.  I do think that the Constitutional changes deadline should be moved earlier so directors/president and nominees know what they are getting.  Right now the deadline overlaps so those running are basically putting themselves in the position of a pig in a poke.

[John W Blehm]

Here are our members that are running for offices.  I'll update this post (Reply #13) as others notify me.

As of 10/1/2018:
President:
John Blehm

Secretary/Treasurer:
Sue Paolini

Club Director (4 positions):
Russ Blair
Stan Alder
Jeff Sonsalla

Please note that according to Article 5 of our constitution...

All Board members are expected to help with Secretarial duties at the request of the Secretary and upon appointment of the President.  These duties may include the placing of club meets, reporting meet results for the newsletter, sending club awards to members, tallying exhibitor points, publishing the newsletter, acting as webmaster and other duties related to the internet and social media, organizing and facilitating the club’s National Meet and any other areas as needed.

[Suki]

Thanks.  Hopefully they'll be more than just Russ and me turning out.