Quorum Anybody?
This month’s message is a “re-run” from last year about Quorums. We’re having elections for Chamber Board positions on May 18th and we need a Quorum!
In reverse alphabetical order, the following members are running for election: Tami Racaniello, Marianne Plummer, Andrew Lamkin, Alan Goldberg, Bob Cohen, Francesca Carlow, and Jim Baker. Click here to read more about them and why they’d like to be elected to the Board.
Quorums are critical to the orderly running of society. Baseball teams must field 9 players; football teams can’t have more than 11 on the field and basketball teams need 5 players on the court. Chaos would rule without quorums. And speaking of courts, you can’t have a jury trial on a civil case with less than 6 jurors. I am currently handling a lawsuit where an organization amended their constitution with only 40 members present—their quorum requirements required two thirds of their membership to be present, which would have been equivalent to over 100 members. They didn’t adhere to their quorum requirements……
My favorite research resource, Wikipedia, states that in Ancient Greece a quorum of 6,000 was required for ostracism and for grants of citizenship. Under Jewish tradition a quorum of 10 ten male adults is necessary for Jewish communal prayers. The United States constitution provides that a quorum for the House of Representatives and the Senate is a majority.
Sound complicated? What does our Chamber require for a quorum? Our By-Laws only require that 25% of members in good standing constitute a quorum. Since our Chamber has grown by leaps and bounds to 175 members, our quorum requirement is now 43 3/4 people. Who wants to volunteer to be the 3/4 person?
Mark the date, May 18th at Somerset Gardens! We’re going to have a great meeting, an election for Board members and a sumptuous breakfast spread (not just muffins…..) hosted by Pam Winter and her staff at Somerset.
As we grow as a Chamber, we need to be mindful of the future and the larger community. What’s the future of Plainview-Old Bethpage? Of Long Island? How will we attract young families to live and work here? As we grow older, how will we continue to afford living on Long Island?
At our May 18th meeting, Michael Dubb of the Beechwood Organization will provide an update on the Country Pointe Plainview project. How will this development impact the community, our businesses and the future? Come on down and listen to Michael Dubb’s presentation, and ask questions.
Check out the Chamber Calendar for upcoming events: Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 30th (great T-shirts to be given to all marchers!) and our annual BBQ at Haypath Park on Tuesday, June 14th. The 911 Memorial Committee continues to work on planning for a suitable memorial. We had a great networking event hosted by Bryan Trugman, Jeff Trugman and David Choit of Attitude Financial Advisors. We’re working to plan a multi-chamber networking event with Hicksville, Farmingdale, Westbury and Syosset Chambers. The Fair Committee is in full swing planning the Fair which will be held on Saturday, October 1st. We continue to update our 2016 Membership Directory–the most up-to-date version is easily accessible on our website. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DIRECTORY
These are great events and provide terrific opportunities to connect and do business with each other. We want you to get involved and participate. Just say the word and you’re in!
Looking forward to seeing you on May 18th!