Minutes - Election Committee

Minutes of the Meeting of the

ECIA Election Committee

Held on May 12, 2021

  1. Time, Place and Attendees. A meeting of the ECIA Election Committee (“EC”) was held on May 12, 2021. The meeting held was in hybrid mode where some were in attendance in person and others via ZOOM on the OWL system. Specifically, committee members, Bette Knight, Mary Cassidy, Kathie Graham and Butch Gorsuch were in attendance in the ECIA Classroom. EC member Jody Price attended via Zoom as did Ciara Walsh as ECIA Staff representative and Zoom administrator. No Board Liaison in attendance. Meeting was recorded by ECIA Staff. All five committee members were in attendance hence quorum achieved.
  1. Approval of Previous Minutes. Butch reported previous minutes were unanimously approved via email by a 3-0 vote on April 21, 2021 and were posted to the website on the same day.
  1. Approval of Agenda. Jody moved to approve the agenda as posted. Motion seconded by Mary. Approval of agenda as posted passed by 5-0 voice vote.
  1. Open Forum. No attendees of the meeting asked to speak to the Committee in Open Forum.
  1. Board Liaison Report.

Given no Board Liaison in attendance the EC has no official report. Bette reported the Annual Meeting of the Members was held in classroom (due to potential inclement weather). All current Board Members (current at the time) were in attendance plus 12 Members of the community.   Several representatives of HOAMCO were in attendance including the organization’s CEO. Twenty-Five Members of the community were in attendance via Zoom. (Note: quorum for the meeting was obtained via proxy as counted by the EC during Director’s election on April 30, 2021.

Bette also reported that during the meeting Nancy and Melicent resigned from the Board. This leaves three positions open on the Board. Three people have already been interviewed for the positions with a fourth interview scheduled May 12th. Erica Penczer was assigned as a liaison of the Road committee.

  1. Old Business.
  1. Election Checklist 2021 Update – Processing of late returning envelopes (Item 46) will be completed on the 13th of May by Bette. Certification letters (Item 45) have been sent and received by Board Secretary.
  2. Election Cycle Document Update – The committee updated the current Board of Director’s election cycle given recent election and resignations.
  1. New Business.
  1. Post Mortem – BOD Election

Issue 1 - Staff to be interviewed regarding postmortem on training by Bette. Bette to update the postmortem document with results of her interview. Board to be given a copy.

Issue 2 – EC reviewed issues with different types of security paper used by the printer, and how some security paper clearly showed “void” when photocopied and other security paper could barely be discerned as “copied”. Committee agrees that one type of security paper needs to be used by printer and that any photocopying of the ballot needs to be clearly discerned.

Issue 3 - Confusion about lot owners with multiple lots being confused by receiving multiple packets. Committee discussed ideas of having staff send those members with multiple lots a specific letter advising them of receiving multiple ballots. EC might advertise this fact in communications.

Issue 4 – Is there confusion about the nomination petition about submitting a complete petition (and submitting a signature page)? Jody stated he didn’t believe it was confusing. EC agreed that later this year the committee would review the current format of the Nomination Petition for possible improvements.

Issue 5 – Mary brought up potential issue as to what comprises a valid Quorum Proxy Statement. Committee agreed to review Election Procedures to see if any changes need to be made as to current description of invalid proxies.

Issue 6 – Committee agreed the OWL system along with Zoom worked well for counting ballots and should be continued in future.

Mary also suggested we should make it clearer that write in candidates not allowed. Jody thought it was clear. Mary referenced Kathie’s previous email comments about providing information on candidates via forum, etc. that will put people at a disadvantage.   Jody mentioned the Association is a corporation and not a government entity as such the Association does not have to allow write-in candidates. Additionally, he mentioned the Bylaws prohibit write-in candidates. This is a Bylaws issue, not an Election Procedures issue. (Note: This discussion item not added to Postmortem)

Motion by Mary: Move to approve the 2021 postmortem issues document and send it to the Board along with supporting material for their perusal and comments. Butch Seconded. Voice vote to approve passed by 5-0.

  1. Bette provided statistics on Ballot and QPS.
  1. Adjournment.

Committee discussed future meetings to be held this summer. All agreed meeting each month not necessary. After several options discussed, Kathie moved the Election Committee to cancel the June and July meetings unless circumstance dictate we have a meeting. Jody Seconded. Motion passed via voice vote 5-0.

The next regularly scheduled monthly meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, 3:00 P.M. in hybrid mode (In-Person and Zoom).

Meeting adjourned at 4:24 PM.

For the ECIA Election Committee

By: __________/s/____________________   _5/20/2021       

Secretary Butch Gorsuch                                            Date