NER Elections

[dragonbill]

I have not seen any information about the upcoming elections.  Can anyone tell me who is standing for election this year?  In the past candidates had written a brief summary of their qualifications and what they could bring to the board, is that info available?

Bill Gendron

[ChrisFranson]

I have not seen any information about the upcoming elections.  Can anyone tell me who is standing for election this year?  In the past candidates had written a brief summary of their qualifications and what they could bring to the board, is that info available?

Bill Gendron

Bill,
This information is in the Pit Talk issue that is either in print or has gone to mailing and it will be following online shortly as well. This year we have 5 vacancies and 5 candidates so it once again will be an uncontested election.
The candidates are:
Hal Denham
Chris Franson (incumbent)
Brian Megliola (incumbent)
Peter Morrison
Jerry Rigoli (incumbent)

-Chris

[dragonbill]

Chris,
Thanks for the info.  It is now December 22 and I haven't seen Pit Talk or any web updates, but I am sure they will appear soon.
I am more concerned about the election itself.  If there are 5 positions opening and there are 5 candidates (including the 3 incumbents) there is, in effect, no election.  Instead we have 2 new board members selected by the search committee to serve.  This is much less than a majority of NER members.
I guess that the committee was unable to find more than 2 souls who would like to serve NER.  That surprises me, as I know of a couple of folks who have tried to run in the past and would be pleased to take this duty.
Given the exciting nature of the economy and the large project that NER is involved with I am personally unhappy with an un-election.

PS I wonder how many NER members realize that the only way that they can vote at all this year is to personally request a ballot or show up at the annual meeting?  This seems like an important bit of news.

Bill Gendron

[ChrisFranson]

PS I wonder how many NER members realize that the only way that they can vote at all this year is to personally request a ballot or show up at the annual meeting?  This seems like an important bit of news.

Bill Gendron

Yes, you would think there would be more interest from the membership in the various NER projects. In spite of regular monthly board meetings, we haven't seen any members at large at our board meetings and I haven't really gotten many questions this past year from members as I see them. As mentioned in my column, we haven't been able to provide much detail anyway. We will have more detail at the annual meeting.
The official notice of the meeting, complete with the ballot process details, will be going out the Monday after Christmas. Last year, we received many complaints that the mailing was lost in the holiday mail rush so we decided to mail it after the holiday. Just goes to show that we can't please all the people all the time, I suppose.

[ChrisFranson]

You have a column?!?

One. It's a start.

[focus137]

This is very interesting ... will the mailing include some information on the candidates for the Board?  ... and if there is any interest how could one apply to become a candidate?  I never understood the process ... and know some individuals that have expressed an interest ...

Wish I could attend the Board meetings, but they have generally conflicted with other long scheduled events ... would it be possible to post minutes of the meetings and votes on the web site or send via email?

Thanks,
M. Steere

[ChrisFranson]

This is very interesting ... will the mailing include some information on the candidates for the Board? 

The information is on page 6 of the current Pit Talk and will be available at the meeting and online. Not sure why it isn't yet on the website but will track that down.

... and if there is any interest how could one apply to become a candidate?  I never understood the process ... and know some individuals that have expressed an interest ...

A broader group of candidates can only be a good thing for the club's membership. The process is that a candidate needs to get 10 nominating signatures from other NER members and the form must be submitted to the secretary 60 days prior to the election date, which is at the annual meeting. We are currently past the deadline for the 2009-2010 term. I do attend a pretty large number of NER events through the year, as do all our other directors, so please feel free to ask any of us questions about the process. I would definitely like to see more candidates.

would it be possible to post minutes of the meetings and votes on the web site or send via email?

The minutes are published in Pit Talk. We're working on some better integration of web and Pit Talk content so they will soon be available online as well. As for a general emailing of minutes, no. It's just too much work to manage that.
Thanks,
Chris

[dragonbill]

A member can still submit their name for the election?  I was under the impression (from the paperwork in PiTalk) that the process for applying as a write in was closed on November 1.  This would have been a real challenge for some, I got my copy in late September.

BG

[Chang]

Chris posted in the previous post that it is too late for 2009-2010 term.  You still have time for the 2010-2011 term.  Get your nominating signatures now.

[ChrisFranson]

A member can still submit their name for the election?  I was under the impression (from the paperwork in PiTalk) that the process for applying as a write in was closed on November 1.  This would have been a real challenge for some, I got my copy in late September.

BG

As I mentioned in my earlier message, the nominations must be sent to the NER secretary 60 days prior to the date of election. As shown on the nomination form available for download from the main page, that date was November 24. If you received your PitTalk copy at the end of September, that's 60 days to collect 10 signatures. Seems reasonable to me.

[dragonbill]

Chris, 

I have been very busy, so I didn't have time to respond to your post.  I would like to suggest a different equation:  Pit Talk was delivered very late in September between the Solo Nationals and the Runoffs.  The nomination form in the officiall NER publication, Pit Talk, states that Nov. 1 is the deadline.  If you stayed home in October you had about 30 days max.  If you participated in both our club's National Championships (for pavement racing) you had about 14 days to get it done if you had nothing else on your plate (hah! that'll be the day!).

BG

[Kathy Barnes]

Bill:

I would say you had the PERFECT opportunity to get nomination papers filled out  - there certainly were enough NER members at the Runoffs to get 10 signatures.  This is not a new process,  and you have shown that you can contact the RE,  the Membership Chair or even your Director when you have a concern or something to offer to the club. 

As for the need to request a ballot - you did last year and received it before the meeting.  The pink cards mailed  this year to every member indicated a phone number, email address and USPS address to use for that purpose.  Approximately 70 ballots were sent out this year.

As a member of this volunteer managed organization,  I appreciate your concern and will bring a nomination form for the 2010 election to the Annual meeting so that you may have sufficient time to collect signatures.  With your busy schedule,  I hope you have enough time to be a fully partipating member of the board.w

KB