ANNUAL MEETING
Thursday, November 18, 2021, 3 PM
There are two items of business that must be covered in the annual meeting: elections and dues. To provide some context on those two items, here’s some background information.
Elections
The bylaws provide for a Chair, Treasurer and Secretary as the officers of the Coalition as well as a Steering Committee which includes the officers and is responsible for “overseeing the Coalition’s direction, affairs and property”. The Steering Committee has up to fifteen members authorized by the bylaws. The Chair, Treasurer and Secretary are elected for two-year terms. Those positions are currently held by Charles Curry, Chair; Barry Waller, Treasurer; and Fred Lugo, Secretary. All were elected at the Annual Meeting in 2020 and will begin the second year of their second term with 2021 Annual Meeting. Therefore the meeting agenda will not include officer elections this year as there are no officer positions vacant. Because the bylaws prohibit officers from holding the same office for more than two consecutive terms, the current officers will be ineligible for election to the office they currently hold at the Annual Meeting to be held in 2022.
Steering Committee members are also elected for two year terms but are not limited in the number of terms they can be elected to serve. Our current Steering Committee members that began their current term with the 2020 election include: Toby Johnson and Dylan Lowery. In addition the Steering Committee may appoint individuals to serve in vacant positions between Annual Meetings but those appointed must stand for election at the next Annual Meeting. We currently have one Steering Committee member, Paul Gilmore, who was appointed by the Steering Committee since the last Annual Meeting. The Steering Committee voted to nominate Paul for election at this year’s meeting. An additional Steering Committee appointee, Abi Steinsiek, has returned to a full-time student load and will not stand for election.
Additional positions on the Steering Committee may be filled by nominations at the Annual Meeting. Members are encouraged to review responsibilities involved as outlined in the bylaws, investigate the possibility of serving on the Steering Committee and stand for election at the November meeting.
The agenda for the Annual Business Meeting will include an item for elections to the Steering Committee.
Dues
The bylaws also provide for membership dues to be set each year at the Annual Meeting and require that the Steering Committee make a recommendation on the amount of the dues and provide that along with notice of the meeting at least thirty days in advance. At the Steering Committee meeting in September a recommendation to the membership that dues remain at $0 for the next fiscal year was unanimously approved. In light of the ongoing expenses of the Coalition which at this point have consisted primarily of charges associated with providing a website as well as occasional promotional expenses the Steering Committee has ongoing discussions about revenue options including charges for newsletter advertisements and organizational/business membership dues.
The agenda for the Annual Business Meeting will include an item to set the dues for the next fiscal year with the Steering Committee recommendation being $0.
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