You, the membership, approved the RUSA Constitution in December 1999. With that done, the RUSA Board has become a notforprofit corporation. Next on the agenda is, holding an election. When we formed RUSA in August of 1998, we promised to hold elections within two years of founding the organization. It's time to honor that pledge with elections this fall.
We are soliciting candidates in this newsletter. We will publish candidates' statements in the August newsletter, and print a ballot in the November newsletter. If necessary, we may put the candidate statements and ballot in the November newsletter. Regardless, RUSA will have elected officials for 2001 by ballot in November.
To that end, we need candidates for six memberelected Board positions and one RBA elected position. If you review the Constitution, you'll see that the first election requires varying terms in order to establish a cycle whereby two Board positions are up for elections each year. Elected Board members will be assigned 1, 2, or 3 year terms based on the vote count from this first election. After that simple majority votes will elect two Board members each year to serve threeyear terms, with no one person allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms. The RBA position is filled by an election amongst the RBAs themselves and is for a term of one year. RBAs will need to coordinate with David Buzzee, the current appointed RBA rep., to hold an election for the RBA position. A board position and the RBA rep. position cannot be held by the same person at the same time.
Current Board members who are standing for elections are:
- Jennifer Wise (RI) Bill Bryant (CA)
- Dave Jordan (MA) Lois Springsteen (CA)
Current Board members who are not standing for elections are:
- Johnny Bertrand (KY) Charlie Henderson (CO)
- Sherry Reed (OH)
We need at least two candidates for the member elected Board positions. Any RUSA member can be a candidate for an elected Board position. To become a candidate, one must simply fill out the form on the next page as a statement of candidacy for publication in the newsletter. All nominations must be submitted to the newsletter editor before July 1.
Clearly, we'd like to have a good group of high quality candidates. These need to be folks who have the time and energy to fulfill the positions' requirements, and most importantly folks with a desire to see randonneuring grow in the US and to be part of that process. It would also be nice to retain the regional diversity of the current Board. Try to avoid nominating folks who already have a plateful of obligations to other organizations, work and family. Being a RUSA Board member will be demanding, ask any of the current Board members.
Once an elected Board is in place, several committees will need to be established. The Board will decide exactly which committees are needed and their makeup, but these are likely to include committees for: membership, the web site, rules, publications, special events, etc. We need knowledgeable data processing volunteers with database and computer skills to help standardize the data collection process. If interested contact Johnny Bertrand or Lois Springsteen.
Please speak with anyone you would like to see as a candidate and encourage them to put their name in the hat. If RUSA is to thrive long term, members must be involved and care about the organization. You must be willing to do more than just ride, you must participate fully. You must vote.
Johnny Bertrand
Secretary
Randonneurs USA