By members of the Bylaws Revision Committee.
In the survey conducted by the CPNO Bylaws committee, 80 percent expressed a desire to vote outside of the monthly membership meeting. Folks with evening jobs and busy families are currently asked to attend a meeting held on a school night and wait up to two hours for an unpredictable 30-second voting period. This means major issues affecting our entire neighborhood are being decided by a small group.
After months of debate, the committee proposed a 48-hour window for eligible neighbors to cast their vote…but only on substantive issues that require prior notice. Basic votes for approving minutes, agendas and other housekeeping measures would still be done in real-time during the meeting.
Since the measure is a change to our organization’s bylaws, a 2/3rds majority is required. At the February meeting, the proposal fell short by three votes. A common complaint was that two days was too long, so we shortened the window to one day. The Board and parliamentarian unanimously supported this move.
The process of getting to a particular vote does not change. We still have the same procedures in place for informing the electorate of an upcoming matter, the same amount of time for debating the issue, for asking questions and for gathering information.
The only thing that changes is the amount of time an eligible person has to cast their vote. Instead of the 1-2 minute window during the meeting, CPNO members would have a whole day to decide.
The new proposal (the committee supported it 8-1) also stipulates that either the Membership Officer or another member of the board will certify all votes.
We hope you will support our efforts to be more inclusive by allowing all eligible neighbors the opportunity to express how they want our community to move forward and thrive. Please ensure you join or renew your CPNO membership by April 30 and vote in favor of the amendment at the membership meeting on May 20th.