How to Petition to be Added to the Ballot for Election to CCA’s Board of Directors
Stockholders in good standing, also known as Voting Members, can petition to be on the ballot for election to the Board of Directors. The definition of “in good standing” according to Bylaw Article 2, Section 2.2, “…A Voting Member shall be deemed in good standing if during the prior fiscal year the Voting Member shall have purchased not less than the Required Purchase Amount of goods and services from the Cooperative… “. The Required Purchase Amount is defined in Bylaw Article 2, Section 2.1, which states, “…the member must purchase not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) of goods and services (the “Required Purchase Amount”) from the Cooperative each fiscal year. The Required Purchase Amount may be increased or decreased from time to time by the Board of Directors”.
To petition for a spot on the ballot, the petitioner needs to obtain the required amount of signatures from Voting Members in good standing. According to Bylaw Article 5, Section 5.4, “Nominations. Directors may be nominated by the Board from a slate proposed by the Nominating Committee. Directors may also be nominated by petitions signed by at least fifteen percent (15%) of the Voting Members in good standing and submitted to the Board at least sixty days before the date of the Annual Meeting”.
Once the slate of nominees is available, petitioners must obtain official Board of Directors authorized nomination papers from the Member Services Office. The papers will contain only the number of pages needed to meet the required number of signatures that will be filled in consecutively on the numbered pages. No copies can be made.
A listing of the names and addresses of the stockholders eligible to vote will be provided to the petitioner. This list is not to be copied and must be returned to the Member Services Office. Acceptance of these conditions is noted by signing a Petitioner’s Confidentiality Notice.
The petitioning stockholder must personally circulate the papers and personally obtain the needed signatures. These actions must be certified when the petitions are submitted to the CCA office by the due date, which is 60 days before the annual meeting.
In order to ensure that all petitioners have equal time to campaign, no nomination papers or stockholder lists will be released until after the Nominating Committee’s slate of candidates have been approved, which is typically in early December. When the due date of the nomination papers falls on a weekend, the petitioner’s papers must be submitted to Member Services by the close of business the Friday before the due date.
Questions may be directed to the Member Services Office, 715-839-5272, or mega.members@megacoop.com.
