Election of Directors of CNPS
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS OF CNPS November 3, 2015.
Dear fellow members and supporters,
With over 50% of our paid membership voting, members have approved unanimously to accept the Operating Agreement as the by-laws governing our society.
Now that our by-laws have been approved, we are now proceeding with the election of our directors.
The by-laws call for an eight-person board. In this our initial election, four of our eight directors will be elected for three-year terms and the other four will be elected for two-year terms.The four of the elected directors with the highest vote counts will have three-year terms and the other four elected directors will have two-year terms. In case of a tie or ties on who gets the two- or three-year terms, the board will decide the term allocations of the tied directors. In future elections, all the terms will be three years.
Nominations of candidates may be made by email to nominate@naturalphilosophy.org. Nominations by members must be of candidates who are prepared to serve as directors. Self-nominations are also permitted. Nominations must be submitted by November 18, 2015.
Ballots that list the candidates will then be sent to our members and supporters. Each paid-up member may vote by email for up to eight candidates. The final date to vote will be Nov. 27, 2015.
Election results will be announced as soon as possible after the votes have been counted.
As with the vote on the approval of the Operating Agreement, the right to vote for the directors is limited to paid-up members. If you wish to become a paid-up member, please follow the instructions on our Pay Membership webpage.
It is likely that we (the five incorporating members) will develop and submit a list of candidates we propose for election. If you have any suggestions as to names we should consider, please get in touch with any of us. The fact that we will likely be proposing a list does not mean that members should not nominate other candidates. Indeed, such nominations are encouraged, it being the will of the members that underlies the CPNS.
Once the election of the board of directors has taken place, the next step is for the newly elected board to elect the officers of the CNPS. Descriptions of each of these positions are set out in section 5.1 of the Operating Agreement. Here are some examples:
Chief Scientist: The Chief Scientist provides overall scientific guidance to the Society.
President: The President convenes the Board and provides overall guidance as to the day to day activities of the Society. The President is responsible for the development of the agenda for Board meetings and for determining when an election is called for, according to the election guidelines set forth in this document. The President will be responsible for recruiting candidates for Board Members. The President is also responsible for assuring that the provisions of this Operating Agreement are followed.
Vice President: The Vice President assists the President in the conduct of his/her activities and is a stand in for the President when the President is unavailable or incapacitated.
Secretary: The Secretary records the proceedings of all Board meetings and is responsible for making the minutes of these meetings available to the membership. The minutes will be posted on the Society’s website. Each member will be notified by e-mail that the minutes are available on the website. Meeting minutes will be approved at the next Board meeting and any corrections will be likewise communicated. The Secretary is also responsible for posting the notices of upcoming Board meetings.
Treasurer: The Treasurer is responsible for recording and managing the finances of the Society. The Treasurer will record the reason for all the expenditures. The Treasurer will make payments, and only such payments, which have been authorized by the Board consistent with the Operating Agreement. The Treasurer will present the annual financial report at a Board meeting and will be responsible to post the annual financial report on the Society’s website with e-mail notices to all members as to the availability of the financial report. The Treasurer will also be responsible for completing all reports required for L3C organizations by the State of Michigan and the Federal Government, in a timely fashion.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Shaw, on behalf of the incorporators of the CNPA:
Lou LaFollette,
Nick Percival,
David de Hilster,
Greg Volk, and
Duncan Shaw
23Nov2015 – Hopefully the ballots will be receive soon, in time for 27Nov2015 vote. I am looking forward to having an elected board in place. I find the new CNPS website and postings very well done and interesting, and especially miss the Saturday morning webcasts (although I had trouble with the new fuze software upgrade with Linux on an old computer).