I've been contacted by at least a half dozen people since receiving word of Bob Moorehead's resignation, about what will happen on Thursday. I'm not on the board, so I have no idea of what they might do, but based on everything I know, there is only one thing they can legitimately do; namely nothing.
The by-laws make it clear that when a vacancy occurs, the
board shall assign someone to fill that position until the next annual meeting.
The timing of Bob's resignation would lead some people to think that meeting is
on Thursday, but I don’t believe that is the case.
Off the top of my head, we have had no less than six board
members resign since I've come to Sherwood Glen. Resignations happen with all
boards and any board can function if there are enough members to make a quorum.
We all know that especially here at Sherwood, with some board members being
snow birds, meetings are often held without board members present.
NH law HR-353 makes it clear that all board decisions must be made a properly advertised and conducted meetings. The only exception is emergencies. Being a member down is certainly not an emergency situation. Therefore, there is no time to do this before Thursday.
NH law HR-353 makes it clear that all board decisions must be made a properly advertised and conducted meetings. The only exception is emergencies. Being a member down is certainly not an emergency situation. Therefore, there is no time to do this before Thursday.
All previous resignations were handled in basically the same
way.
- · The board put out a call to the community asking for applicants interested in filling the seat.
- · The board reviews the applications and in many cases, interviews the applicants.
- · The board appoints someone to fill the vacancy.
All of this must be done during properly advertised and
conducted meetings.
There are at least a half-dozen other reasons involving the advertisement
of the election in the annual meeting package, the printing of ballots, the disenfranchisement
of people who submitted proxies based on three seats being filled, and the
inability of other candidates to come forth.
Finally, can ANYONE tell me how having the board throw out
past practice and proper procedure to select someone to fill a vacancy for one
meeting serves the community interest?
The vacancy can only properly be filled by new board. Anything other
than that will at best, result in more animosity and confusion, and at worst,
it could result in the invalidation of the entire election.
