Guest ziggykmtb Posted October 19, 2021 at 08:06 PM Report Share Posted October 19, 2021 at 08:06 PM Our bylaws provide for the election of officers and directors every December with their terms to begin in January. Officers serve one year and Directors serve two year terms (5 directors, staggered 3 and 2). Due to COVID-19 we were in lockdown for the election and the Board voted to hold all officers and directors over until 2021. We are now approaching nominations in November so we need an immediate answer to how to re-stagger the terms. " The elected President, Vice President, shall become Directors for their term of office. No member of the board shall have more than one vote no matter how many offices they hold. The five (5) Directors elected by the membership shall be elected for two (2) year terms each, staggered so that two directors will run one year and three will run the next year. " Due to the Board's decision, without consulting the membership, to keep all offices and directors in place for 2021, the staggering now puts all elected officers up for election. How do we reinstate the staggering? Our by-laws do not provide any language on how to restart this. We also have a Director who was fulfilling the last year of a two year term vacated in 2020. This director was to serve one year but now has served two. Others have now served three instead of two. Do we elect all positions or do we temporary change terms (three one years, two two-years and restart the staggering? We have a board meeting tomorrow night and at least one member will fight to not have to be re-elected after serving 2 years instead of the elected term of 1 year. Any advice is helpful. Thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 19, 2021 at 11:05 PM Report Share Posted October 19, 2021 at 11:05 PM I don't understand the fight to not have to be reëlected as you described it. It seems to me, if I understand you correctly, that all five seats will be up for election. There are basically two ways to have the election: A group of three seats to be elected to three-year terms, and another group of two seats to be elected to two-year terms (or you could reverse the numbers) and essentially hold a different vote for the three-year terms and the two-year terms. You might specify that all candidates for the board are automatically nominated for both offices. Or let candidates choose to run for one, or the other, or both. And then see how things shake out. It might get confusing. Or, hold the election for all five seats, and from those who get a majority, fill the seats in order of the highest vote count down, with the two-year seats being assigned last. In any case, to be elected, a majority of the ballots cast are required to be elected to anything. If an insufficient number are elected on first ballot, second and subsequent ballots are held as needed to fill the remaining seats.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ziggykmtb Posted October 20, 2021 at 03:48 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2021 at 03:48 PM Thank you! The fight to not have to be reelected is a power grab - it won't happen. We will have an election if we can get around these few obstacles.. We never took an official vote to suspend the nominations and election. There was a brief discussion that due to COVID-19 we could not hold an election in 2020. All present at the Board meeting agreed but there was no official vote. One Board member is suggesting that we just go back to what would have been the offices open for election in 2020 (President, Vice President, three directors for two-year term). Does the fact that there was not an official vote affect our position at all? Would doing a reset to the 2020 open positions work IF those directors who will be going into a third year to keep the terms staggered agree? Do we need to get a membership vote to do this? Also, we have not had a quorum present for our last three monthly member meetings and may not get one for November when nominations are due to be made from the floor. What do we do in that instance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 23, 2021 at 06:13 AM Report Share Posted October 23, 2021 at 06:13 AM You have to get a quorum to have an election or to make nominations. If you can't get one, one of the few things you can do is set the time to which to adjourn, picking a time and date when it might be easier to get a quorum, and then adjourn, to meet again at that time, which is essentially a continuation of the session of the first meeting. Otherwise, publicize the meeting heavily, and bribe members with free beer, door prizes, or gummi bears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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