Monday, February 20, 2012

There's an OOPS In Our PBCA Election

At the January  PBCA Board Meeting, an association member announced that she had told a member of the nominating committee that she wanted to run for the Board in the upcoming election, but, she pointed out, her name was not on the ballot, which had arrived in most members' mailboxes that day, along with annual reports and an annual financial report.

The reason for the omission was not clear, but might have been related to the fact that the usual procedures for conducting an election were not followed this year. Ordinarily, the Board names a nominating committee in December and sends information about the upcoming election to all association members immediately afterward. This mailing normally includes information about dates for applying to run for office as well as forms to fill out and filing instructions for potential candidates.  Once the cut-off date has passed, ballots are compiled and mailed to all members well in advance of the February annual meeting, at which time all ballots are counted and election results are announced.

None of that happened this year. 

There was an announcement on the two community bulletin boards that the annual meeting would be delayed until March because of a problem with the annual financial report.

An announcement giving the names of nominating committee members was posted on the bulletin boards several weeks before the ballots arrived in the mail.  In fact, that notice was still up on the bulletin boards the day the ballots arrived.

In view of all this confusion, the board decided at the January meeting to have a "do over."

In response to my inquiries, an email from Board Chairman Bob Cumby, received last Friday said: "The repeat nominating/election process is in motion.  A community notice will go out as soon as the dates are set.  Tentative date for the Annual Meeting is April 17.  Nomination mailings will go out today or tomorrow."

If you have had second thoughts about running for the board, you now have a second chance.

If you have already voted--sorry; you get to vote again later.

If you have not voted yet--don't worry. That first ballot is no good anyway. Pitch it, but save the annual reports. 

Mark your calendar for April 17, tentatively, for the PBCA Annual Meeting and election.

Watch for new election information in your mailbox.