Post by Poor Richard on Jul 9, 2022 11:25:00 GMT -7
Candidate Nomination Deadline Passes
Ballots to be mailed on July 15, 2022
Ballots to be mailed on July 15, 2022
The deadline for submitting a nomination form to run for the Glastonbury Landowner's Association (GLA) board of directors passed at 5 pm on July 6. Unlike previous years, 2022 forms were handled by Swandal law firm instead of the GLA Board. Sources tell us that many candidates waited until the last few hours to submit their forms. More than enough were received to cover all twelve open positions. However, the exact number of forms submitted may never be known.
The next step in the election process is to validate the candidate nomination forms. This will require a combined effort between Swandal law firm and GLA President and Dissolution litigant, John McAlister. Forms will need to be checked for missing information, incorrect information, all three signatures and if the nominees are in "good standing". Good standing requires that all assessments be paid in full and that the candidates do not have any Covenant violations. In the past candidates have often forgotten to include all three signatures or their correct parcel number. These oversights are considered to be clerical errors by state law and thus normally forgivable. Unlike past years the nomination form unequivocally states:
The above condition opens the door to abuse. It allows a person who is suing the GLA to place the Dissolution team's agenda above the interests of landowners he is sworn to serve. Will candidates supporting Dissolution have their clerical errors corrected? Will candidates who are opposed to splitting Glastonbury have their candidacy invalidated because of a missing signature? Or an incorrect date or parcel number? Or will they be judged NOT in good standing even though they are? Financial errors by the Treasurer caused one candidate in the last election to lose three votes and barely tie for a board position. Only when the landowner contacted the Board did the candidate win his seat. We may never know what or how many candidates are removed from consideration or for what reasons.
Nominees will only be considered if the application is entirely complete and signed. Nominees with missing information will not be contacted.
The above condition opens the door to abuse. It allows a person who is suing the GLA to place the Dissolution team's agenda above the interests of landowners he is sworn to serve. Will candidates supporting Dissolution have their clerical errors corrected? Will candidates who are opposed to splitting Glastonbury have their candidacy invalidated because of a missing signature? Or an incorrect date or parcel number? Or will they be judged NOT in good standing even though they are? Financial errors by the Treasurer caused one candidate in the last election to lose three votes and barely tie for a board position. Only when the landowner contacted the Board did the candidate win his seat. We may never know what or how many candidates are removed from consideration or for what reasons.
Several landowners have told the Forum that the Dissolution Team will be fielding multiple candidates in North and South Glastonbury. Their apparent goal is to win a majority on the GLA Board seats and use their board power to split or dissolve Glastonbury. If that is true, it presents a huge conflict of interest by allowing the current President and Dissolution litigant to privately handle nomination forms and possibly correct some errors and/or disqualify candidates.
Several requests were made on the GLA Board email system for GLA President McAlister to share the candidate list and nomination forms with other directors. All requests have gone unanswered. The ballots will be printed in a few days and are scheduled to be mailed on July 15, 2022.