Haiku Northwest Officer Elections 2022 Positions

Haiku Northwest is seeking nominations for Officer positions for 2022, between October 11 and November 30, 2021.

Elections will be held online from December 1 through 8, 2021.

There are currently five Officer positions that comprise the Board of Directors:

  • President

  • Vice-President

  • Secretary

  • Treasurer

  • Website Manager

Of these, open positions are President, Vice-President, and Secretary. Current officers Curtis Manley (Treasurer) and Michael Dylan Welch (Website Manager) will be seeking re-election; this does not preclude anyone else from being nominated for those roles.

NOTES

  • Term: one calendar year, beginning January 1, 2022.

  • Eligibility: Washington-state residents are eligible to vote and to hold office. This eligibility applies to the December 2021 election only and this note does not describe an entire membership plan, which will be further developed by the Board and the organization’s constituents.

  • Board Meetings: Board meetings will be held over Zoom, or include other telecommunications solutions, to accommodate attendance from various locations around the state, if necessary.

  • Rollover to incorporation: Elected officers will be consistent with officers named in any Articles of Incorporation. Elected officers will appoint any additional Board members should those be necessary for such filings.

HOW TO NOMINATE OR BE NOMINATED

  • Candidates may nominate themselves or be nominated by someone else.

  • Before 11:00 pm on November 30, send an email to haikunw1988@gmail.com, stating the name of the candidate, their address, the position sought, and a short bio and statement of interest (who you are, past involvement with Haiku Northwest, why you are interested in the role).

  • If you are nominating someone else, please obtain their permission before submitting your nomination.

  • The Nominating Committee (Michelle Schaefer, Terran Campbell, and Bob Redmond) will confirm the candidates and publish a ballot, sharing with Washington State subscribers to Haiku Northwest’s email list according to the schedule noted.

Job Descriptions

As written by current office holders.

PRESIDENT (current: Michelle Schaefer)

Roles:

  • Establish and carry out organizational or departmental procedures, goals and policies.

  • Direct and oversee the organization’s budgetary and financial activities.

  • Establish the integrity and ethical tone of the organization. Represent the group as the role of the ideal citizen and lead the organization in developing and maintaining the goals of the organization’s mission statement.

  • Set policy and strategic direction for the organization currently and in the foreseeable future.

Tasks:

  • Set up monthly Officer Meetings facilitate and create agenda.

  • Facilitate yearly planning meeting including providing agenda.

  • If we incorporate, set up quarterly Board meetings and provide agenda.

  • Assign committees as needed.

  • Attend monthly meetings and facilitate as face of Haiku Northwest.

  • Send out communications as needed.

  • Set up ad-hoc meetings as needed.

VICE PRESIDENT (current: Gary Evans)

Basically, the years I occupied the VP position were quiet. I made myself available to conduct meetings in the absence of the president. I believe this happened once, but my recollection may be confusing this with another group.

As we wrestled with the topic of incorporation, things picked up. The frequency of Board meetings increased. In addition to attending these meetings, I also attempted to provide advice and insight into proposed policies and wording during the incorporation process - as did everyone on the Executive Committee. The president and I did hold a recent offline discussion once about HNW’s direction. Typically in organizations I have belonged to in the past, the president and VP are in very frequent contact, bouncing ideas off each other, with the VP helping provide advice and insights as needed. This should be an important part of the VP position in the future as Haiku Northwest matures.

Although my tenure was mostly quiet, as I state above, the activity will increase dramatically as Haiku Northwest comes closer to deciding the issue of incorporation and what a future Haiku Northwest will look like. The duties of the VP will certainly depend upon who is elected, but should absolutely include the goal of maintaining the integrity of Haiku Northwest and its goals, should seek to mediate differing opinions in an attempt to encourage respectful disagreements among Board members and members-at-large who attend Board meetings and should attempt to maintain a meeting atmosphere of respectful collegiality. In addition, the VP—indeed all members—should actively work to ensure new members feel warmly welcomed.

SECRETARY (current: Bob Redmond)

Secretary duties are:

  • Monthly (1st of month): send meeting report to HSA lead

  • Monthly (1st of month): send Haiku Northwest Newsletter via Mailchimp

  • Monthly (7th or so of month): send meeting reminder via Mailchimp

  • Monthly (for newsletter): set up Zoom meeting

  • Monthly: attend meetings whenever possible or get substitute to be admin for Zoom, take attendance, and write summary report

  • Ongoing: monitor haikunw1988@gmail.com email account and respond as necessary

  • Ongoing: attend officer meetings

  • Ongoing: take (or delegate) minutes-taking at meetings

  • Ongoing: file relevant documents in shared Google Apps folder

  • Ongoing: book meeting space for any in-person meetings (didn’t happen in 2021)

  • Seasonal: be part of Seabeck promotional planning (not requested in 2021)

  • Optional/ variable:

⁃ Produce monthly Featured Member section for newsletter

⁃ Track relevant contests and deadlines for newsletter

  • Logins to manage:

⁃ gmail account (secretary). This technically includes YouTube account but we have no channel and only two legacy videos.

⁃ zoom account: Curtis (or Treasurer) owns the master Zoom subscription, but the actual account (and only one, I believe) belongs to the Secretary, i.e., the gmail account. This might need a little revisitation to clarify.

⁃ Mailchimp account. Free account, registered via gmail email address.

TREASURER (current: Curtis Manley)

The Treasurer for Haiku Northwest oversees the group’s financial accounts and is responsible for paying (or reimbursing those who paid) for services and products approved by the group. Haiku Northwest has a small-business checking account and a CD at Bank of America. In addition to the Treasurer, at least one (preferably two) other Board members should be authorized to sign checks. This is necessary because the check with which Haiku Northwest pays the Seabeck Conference Center during the Seabeck Haiku Getaway is usually large enough (greater than $10,000) that a second signature is required. Haiku Northwest also has a PayPal account that is primarily used to accept payment of Porad Poetry Contest fees as well as donations.

Important financial activity during the year occurs as follows:

  • Winter/Spring: File State of Washington small business tax forms and pay tax owed. Report financial status and previous year’s activity to the Haiku Northwest Board.

  • Spring: Pay for Zoom account renewal.

  • Spring/Summer: Write checks to reimburse for printing the annual Seabeck anthology and for mailing copies to contributors.

  • Summer/Autumn: Track donations and/or entry fees (via PayPal) associated with the Porad Poetry Contest; write and mail award checks to the winners.

  • Autumn: Deposit Seabeck Haiku Getaway registration payments from attendees; write checks to reimburse volunteers for supplies and snacks, pay honoraria to speaker(s), pay the Conference Center; write and mail refund checks to registered attendees who cancelled or whose room reservations changed.

  • Throughout year: Review monthly Bank of America and PayPal statements for irregularities.

WEBSITE MANAGER (current: Michael Dylan Welch)

The Website Manager maintains and develops all content on the Haiku Northwest website, including maintenance of the www.haikunorthwest.org domain name (currently with www.name.com, with the next three-year renewal due by April 3, 2022). Content development includes coordination with other Board or committee members on posting such details as the agreed-upon yearly schedule, Porad Contest details, and Seabeck content. Website content and design seeks to present a balance of information for members and outreach to nonmembers in striving to fulfill the Haiku Northwest mission.