At the meeting tonight where the newly elected board gets together to vote on who will be president and who will hold other officer positions, board president Jennifer Helfrich said that before the vote could take place they needed to discuss an issue that had arisen at the annual meeting last week.
Nine board candidates signed onto a sort of statement of beliefs that basically said the board should act in an open and transparent way; four of those candidates won board seats.
Helfrich said this statement of beliefs could be seen as an alternate ballot and that it implied the current board is not open and transparent. She also said she had obtained a copy of an email between the candidates, and that the email showed they were working to affect the outcome of the election. She added that these actions meant the board technically could remove the four newly elected members from the board.
The board then went into closed session for 35 minutes to discuss “disciplinary matters.” After the meeting was re-opened, the four newly elected members had not been removed from the board. I asked Helfrich after the meeting what rule they were thought to have broken, as I can’t find anything in the bylaws that prevents them from signing a statement of beliefs or that prevents them from emailing each other prior to an election. She declined to discuss specific rules but said “there was an interpretation of rule breaking.” She added that, “Everything was hashed out and worked out and there was no motion or formal action. We agreed to work together in a positive way and it really cleared the air and everything is fine.”
She also said she is working on a proposal to amend the bylaws to clarify that the board can not extend members’ terms.
During the open session later, the following board members were elected as officers for one-year terms; all positions were held by the same people last year with the exception of the job of vice president:
Jennifer Helfrich – president
Bryan Tillman – vice president
Janice Moore – treasurer
Jay Dunn – corresponding secretary
Carol Zielke – recording secretary
The board is looking for people to help fill its committees and reiterated the fact that you do not need to be on the board to serve on a committee. Committee assignments will be one of the topics on the agenda at the October 11 meeting.