Motion to Reduce Number and Make Regional Representatives Elected At-Large Mover: Hector Roos Summary: In order to “provide the strongest possible group for the handling of any task that may arise within the province of the committee” as described under Robert’s Rules of Order 12th Edition Revised Section 50:18 this proposed motion would reduce the size of Libertarian Party of Florida’s Executive Committee (LPF EC) from 21 members to 15 members by reducing the number of Regional Representatives from 14 to 8. Regional Representatives will be elected at-Large at the Annual Business Meeting instead of at Regional Caucuses. Vacancies among Regional Representatives will be filled by direct appointment of the LPF EC like other positions. The position of Alternate Regional Representatives will cease to exist. I move to change the following sections under LPF Constitution and Bylaws as follows: Amend and strike language in Article III, Section 2 in the LPF Constitution: Change “one (1) Regional Representative for each region elected at the Annual Business Meeting within the provision of the By-Laws” to “eight (8) Regional Representative elected at the Annual Business Meeting within the provision of the By-Laws” Therefore, language in Article III, Section 2 in the LPF Constitution to now read: The Executive Committee shall be composed of the Officers, three (3) Directors-at-Large, eight (8) Regional Representative elected at the Annual Business Meeting within the provision of the By-Laws. The powers and duties of the Executive Committee shall be prescribed in the Bylaws and Standing Rules, to provide the control and management of all the affairs, properties, and funds of the LPF consistent with this Constitution. Deficit spending shall be prohibited. Strike language found in Article III, Section 3, “Executive Committee”, in the LPF Constitution second paragraph: “Regional Representatives for each region shall be elected at each Annual Business Meeting by a majority of delegates present that reside in the region. Any LPF member may be elected to any Regional Representative seat regardless of region of residence. These Executive Committee members shall take office upon the close of the Annual Business Meeting and serve thereafter until the final adjournment of the Annual Business Meeting at which their terms expire. Each LPF region may select up to two (2) Alternate Regional Representatives. The first alternate selected shall be the higher ranked of the two alternate(s).” Amend and strike language in Article III, Section 3, “Executive Committee”, subsection E, in the LPF Constitution as follows: Strike Sentence 1: “Each LPF region may, by the same procedure for election of Regional Representative, select up to two (2) Alternate Regional Representatives. The first Alternate selected shall be the higher ranked of the two Alternate(s).” Strike from Sentence 2: “the higher-ranked Alternate shall immediately assume the seat and not be subject to a confirmation vote.” Strike from Sentence 3: “Should no Alternate exist, the Executive Committee shall elect a Regional Representative” Therefore language in Article III, Section 3, “Executive Committee”, subsection E, in the LPF Constitution to now read: E. Should a Regional Representative seat become vacant, the Executive Committee shall elect a Regional Representative at the next Executive Committee meeting for which the agenda is not already published. Strike language in Article III, Section 3, “Executive Committee”, subsections F and G, in the LPF Constitution in its entirety and adjust subsection letters in order accordingly. Amend and strike language in Article III, Section 9, “Affiliate Support Committee”, subsection B in the LPF Bylaws as follows: Strike the word “their” and replace the word “Representative” with “Representatives” in the language “…responding to informal inquiries from county affiliates, and assisting in creation of new affiliates in coordination with their Region Representatives.” Therefore language in Article III, Section 9, “Affiliate Support Committee”, subsection B, in the LPF Bylaws to now read: B. The committee may be tasked with conducting training courses for county affiliates for best practices on running and growing county affiliates; soliciting, obtaining, and documenting feedback from county affiliates about their needs and about LPF performance; responding to informal inquiries from county affiliates, and assisting in creation of new affiliates in coordination with Region Representatives. The LPF Secretary may also direct the committee to assist him or her with credentialing and reaffiliation procedures. This committee shall have no Vice Chair. This committee shall adjourn sine die after 50% of the counties in the state of Florida are affiliated. Rational: This reflects a desire in Robert’s Rules for an organization to determine the composition and size of its executive committee where a small board is considered 12. Clearly, the LPF has no problem filling at least 15 LPF EC positions with good workers but have historically failed to fill all 21 positions (particularly the 14 Regional Representative positions) at the Annual Business Meeting or to maintain these positions filled by direct appointment by the LPF EC. This motion identifies and resolves two problems with the Regional Representatives structure: 1) Regional Representatives are chosen from a small pool of candidates from a specific region which means the positions often go vacant if no one from the region attends or fails to volunteer to join that position (sometimes there is only one attendee to the regional caucus or who are divided and thus fail to elect a regional representative); and 2) there is not a sufficient pool of available and committed members to volunteer to fill these positions by direct appointment by the LPF EC. We will still call these positions Regional Representatives but they will be elected at-Large so ending the need for region caucuses. This proposal also preserves the nomenclature and emails, etc. for the transition. The new total number of LPF EC members will be 15 total (minus 6 Regional Representatives). The new Regional Representatives will be numbered from 1 to 8. Robert’s Rules of Order 12th Edition Revised Section 50:18 reads: “Proper Composition of Committees. The members of a standing committee should be chosen so as to provide the strongest possible group for the handling of any task that may arise within the province of the committee.” Robert’s Rules of Order 12th Edition Revised Section 49:21 reads: “Procedure in Small Boards. In a board meeting where there are not more than about a dozen members present, some of the formality that is necessary in a large assembly would hinder business.” Original version of this floor motion can be accessed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LUVlkqg8lTrJMVa6L5v0CdIS2avJxJE9/view?usp=share_link |