Chamber members: consolidation vote approaches, June 22
June 08, 2011
MISCOAST, MAINE - Midcoast — If you can't make the vote, cast your proxy: it's easy!
Exciting times: we have a vote coming up on June 22 at 6pm at the Strom Auditorium of the Camden Hills Regional High School on the question of consolidating with the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce to form a new regional chamber of commerce.
Voting members of the CRL Chamber have been sent a packet containing the Plan of Consolidation, bylaws, and other supporting documents that you are being asked to vote on June 22 as well as an official meeting notice and a proxy vote form.
We ask that you review the documents carefully and that you either attend the vote in person on June 22 to cast your ballot or cast your proxy vote in advance by returning in a sealed envelope to the CRL Chamber office (any time through 5pm on June 22) for CRL Chamber president Gil Fifield to cast on your behalf as per your instructions at the meeting. If you have mislaid your proxy form (the green sheet of paper) Karen Brace has extras at the CRLCC office.
Voting by proxy is easy: simply mark your preference on the ballot, fill out the business information section, and mail it to drop it by the Chamber office any time through 5pm on June 22. And note, we only ask for you to indicate the business name so we can ensure 'one member, one vote': your ballot remains private within the Chamber.
The actual counting is being done by a neutral third party known as the Inspector of Election. This will be the law firm of Eaton Peabody who have kindly agreed to handle this for us on the 22nd (the proxies will be ‘voted’ and counted only on that night, along with the ballots of those present). Eaton Peabody and their helpers (all attorneys, and thus bound by ethics and confidentiality rules) will be the only ones who tally the votes at both meetings. The Chamber- staff or board- aren’t involved in the counting. When we check the proxies in we aren’t looking to see if the vote portions are filled out; we check only to see if the member information is correctly filled out (ensuring everyone’s vote will count) and then checking off the proxy as received so that nobody votes twice (by proxy and in person).
In advance of the vote there will be a 'town hall' style meeting on June 9th at the Rockport Opera House at 5:30pm for members of both chambers who may have questions about the Plan of Consolidation and other elements of the process. We expect this meeting to last about an hour to ninety minutes and all members with questions are urged to attend.
As part of this process we need to ensure that your business or organization has the correct contact person listed, as they are the representative that will be allowed to vote on June 22. If you either need to change the primary contact or would like to designate a different voting representative of your business or organization please contact the chamber with the updated information by June 10, 2011 so we can prepare the ballots correctly. Again, that deadline is 5pm 6/10/11.
Thank you for your participation in this important process and for your patience in reviewing the documents. Member involvement is the key to a successful chamber and regardless of how you plan to vote we sincerely hope you either come out to vote or cast your proxy for June 22.
Courtesy of the Village Soup
By Dan Bookham
