Monthly Committee Meeting – Rescheduled

The SCRC meets the 2nd Monday of the month.  The agenda will be posted 7 days in advance of the meeting.

As everyone knows, our regularly scheduled meeting of January 14, 2019 was cancelled due to inclement weather. It is important that we have a January meeting. Therefore, I rescheduled it to JANUARY 24, 2019 AT 7:30PM, same location.

I am not going to repeat what previously stated in my Chairman Notes for the January 14, 2019 meeting. However, there are a few items that need to addressed:

MEMBERSHIP AND ATTENDANCE:

There needs to be clarification as to when members are removed from the membership Roll; and if/when public officials count towards quorum.

Members:

The SCRC bylaws states:

A member automatically loses his/her status as Member if absent three (3) consecutive meetings without representation by a person holding a proxy. Membership may be restored without additional membership application or payment of dues by a majority vote of the SCRC.

The term “meeting” does not require quorum. Therefore, if you miss 3 meetings where there has been notice to the membership, you will be automatically removed from the Membership Roll. What that means for our current membership is this: If you missed September and October (either in person or by proxy), and you miss the January 24, 2019 regular meeting, you will be removed from the roll for the February meeting. We did not have a November meeting, and since the primary function of the December meeting was to hold a Christmas party, we did not call roll when it appeared that we would not have quorum. HOWEVER, if you came in December, and missed September and October meetings, then that means that your attendance in December does not count in your favor either.

PLEASE NOTE: I will not be affirmatively reaching out to those who have missed the September and October meetings. If anyone has any questions regarding whether or not they may be removed from the Membership Roll for failing to appear at the January meeting, please reach out to me and I am happy to let you know.

Additionally, if anyone has any general questions regarding membership and attendance, please feel free to email me, but I will not be answering individual questions in piecemeal. Rather, I will address said questions to the membership at the meeting. You can also just ask any questions that you may have at the meeting.

Elected Officials & Endorsed Non-Partisan Elected Officials:

As to elected officials and whether they count towards quorum, here is the rule: Elected officials are automatically ex-officio members with full voting power without paying the membership fee or completion of a membership form (even though we are still willing to accept your checks…). Elected officials count towards quorum so long as they have not lost their voting rights. An elected official loses his/her voting rights by failing to attend 3 consecutive meeting either in person or by proxy. If an elected official does lose his/her voting rights, he/she remains on the Membership Roll, but does not count towards quorum and may not vote. An elected official may have his/her voting rights restored by the membership.

Per the SCRC Bylaws, non-partisan elected officials who have been endorsed by the SCRC, have non-voting ex-officio membership status. This means that they are part of the membership without voting rights and do not count towards quorum. For non-partisan elected officials to become voting members of the SCRC, they must complete the Membership Form, pay the membership dues and be voted in by the membership in the same manner as all others seeking membership.

Proxies:

If you cannot make the meeting, please make an effort to have someone attend as your proxy. For a proxy to be valid, you must have the form completed, naming the person holding your proxy, sign the form, and have it witnessed (not notarized). Additionally, said person MUST be someone who is a registered Stafford County voter and is NOT already a member of the SCRC. Being a registered voter needs to be verified. Therefore, if you intend on using a proxy for your vote, you can submit the name of the person to me via email so that I can verify their status. However, if I do not receive the name of the Proxy at least 24 hours before the meeting, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to verify their voting status before the meeting. Your proxy, can also confirm their voter status by simply bringing their voter ID card to the meeting. Please note that if you have already been previously determined to be a valid proxy, you will not need to reverify your status.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS:

There are many who have requested to join the SCRC, and the list is growing. I have included all the names of the individuals who have requested to join thus far. If I receive more applications before the meeting, I will be adding those names as well. However, I will not have sufficient time to vet any applications that are received within 24 hours of our meeting. Those applications will not be entertained until the February meeting.

Since there are so many new applications, we will be passing out a ballot with everyone’s name who is seeking membership. Said ballots will be passed out before we hold our discussions about each person. After every potential member is discussed, members will submit their ballot for tallying.

IMPORTANT NOTE: discussion of the new members has been moved up on the Agenda, this is ONLY to allow us time to tallying the votes and determine who has received sufficient votes to become a member of the SCRC. Said results will not be announced until the end of the meeting, and new members will not able to vote until the February meeting.

Additionally, there are some elected officials who currently do not possess voting rights. The membership will vote to restore those rights at the end of the meeting.

FEBRUARY REGULAR MEETING:

Lastly, we will still be holding our February meeting on February 11, 2019. Please note that at the February meeting we will be choosing the methods of nomination for our local races. Also, all the local offices will be voted on by the membership as a whole and not by Magisterial District, including the Board of Supervisors races.

Thank you all for your dedication to our committee. See you on Thursday.

Yours in Liberty, yours in Freedom,
Adela C. Bertoldi
Chairman