Hello, Planning Council Members,
As you know, we intend to comply with the expectations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Therefore, we are announcing the following process that will be followed to conduct our election of officers at our September 6th meeting.
1) Candidates for office will provide a written statement, if they wish, to be distributed to all members. In order to have this information distributed with sufficient time for members to review it, we ask that candidates e-mail their statements to Andrea Cooke at andrea.cooke@att.net not later than Friday, August 31st. These statements will be included with pre-meeting materials distributed to all members.
2) These statements will also be read aloud, verbatim, at the September 6th meeting.
3) The election will be held by roll-call vote. Each member present at the Springfield or Chicago site or who is participating by telephone will announce her/his choice for each officer position. The roll will be called by Ron Melka, Co-Chair of the Development Committee. Any member may abstain from voting if she/he wishes. Candidates who are present may choose to leave the room or drop off the call during the voting, but are not required to do so.
4) Current members of the Council who know that they will not be attending the meeting may submit a written ballot by mail or e-mail prior to the meeting. They must be received at Ron Melka's office not later than Tuesday, September 4th at 5:00 pm. The names of Council members who have submitted written ballots ahead of the meeting will be announced, as will their chosen candidates.
In addition, if the Development Committee proposes new members for the Council, that election will be conducted by voice vote as usual, but this election will be held later in the meeting after the election of officers.
It has been our pleasure to serve as your Council Co-Chairs.
Best wishes,
Andrea Cooke and John Shustitzky
