NPU-S Officer Elections - what you need to know!

Want to become more involved with your community and the City? Elections are coming up!

This November, Neighborhood Planning Unit S will hold its biannual officer elections. The Nominating Committee wants to make sure that all members of the NPU understand how these elections work in accordance with the NPU-S Bylaws.

Nominations and Elections

Nominations are managed by the Nominating Committee, currently chaired up by Karen Babino. To run, contact Karen at kbabino@gmail.com or (770) 912 3922.

Nominations may also be made from the floor during the November meeting by members of the NPU.

Elections will be held by ballot. In the case of a vote with multiple candidates where nobody wins a majority of ballots, successive rounds of runoff voting will be held, with the candidate with the lowest number of votes eliminated at each round.

Relevant bylaws: Article VII, sections 1-3 (Elections). Runoff procedures are not specifically covered by the Bylaws and have been determined by the Nominating Committee.

Officer Positions and Terms

There are five elected Officer positions for NPU-S:

• Chair - presides over NPU-S Body meetings and Executive Committee meetings; appoints ad-hoc committees; ensures NPU-S representation at APAB; maintains records; and etc
• Vice Chair - acts as Chair in the absence of the Chair; is primary delegate of APAB and Chair of the Policy Committee
• Financial Secretary - maintains financial records for the NPU; disburses funds; heads up fundraising
• Recording Secretary - takes minutes, maintains records
• Assistant Recording Secretary - assists Recording Secretary

The elected officers serve a two-year term with a retention election held in the middle of the term.

Relevant bylaws: Article VI, sections 1-7 (Officers); Article VIII, sections 5+6 (retention elections)

Who Can Vote, Who Can Run

Unlike votes to change the bylaws, which are open to the entire NPU community, officer elections are no different than any other vote held by the Body. Therefore, only NPU-S residents and business representatives who have attended at least three meetings in the past year can vote in the Officer Elections.

Officers are members of the Executive Committee, and are thus bound by the eligibility requirements for the Committee. To qualify as an Executive Committee member an NPU-S member must have attended at least 6 meetings in the past year.

Relevant bylaws: Article IV, Section 3 (voting); Article V, Sections 2+3 (executive committee composition and eligibility); Article IX, Section 1 (Bylaws votes)

Term Limits

An officer may not serve more than two consecutive terms unless they receive a two-thirds supermajority vote to retain them for additional terms.