The change to SER by-laws regarding terms of officers and directors overwhelmingly passed in the referendum which ended December 15, 2017.

 

The affected bylaw article is Article VII, Section 3 -Terms of Office of SER bylaws.

 

At present the 2-year election cycle and term limits on the Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary positions as well as the President, who at present has no term limit, means that all these positions come up for election at the same time. Should there be no candidates for these positions, the slate could be “wiped clean”, creating a vacuum as far as continuity and intellectual memory is concerned. To avoid this possibility, the BOD unanimously approved a change that would effectively stagger elections for two of these officers so that, effective in 2018 (even-number years) there would be elections for the Vice-President and Secretary and in 2019 (odd-numbered years) the President and Treasurer.

 

Effectively, this change would place a term limit on the President for 2 two-year terms, except in the first year (2018) where the President and Treasurer would be give a one-time 1-year extension to their terms to affect the staggered election in the following year. 

 

The BOD also approved the change to the term of the four Directors from two terms of 4-years to two terms of 2-years with the same 1-year extension of the terms of two directors in 2018 to accomplish the staggered elections moving forward. 

 

The new SER by-laws, effective December 19, 2017 may be found on the SER website.