Neighborhood Meeting Set for 4/28

The Bi-annual meeting of the Memorial Park Civic Association has been scheduled for Tuesday April 28, at the Northside United Methodist Church, 2799 Northside Drive.

We have been promised a special board meeting in March to create an agenda. Keep watching for the date, time and location.

Four vacancies are up for election to the seven-member MPCA board of directors at the April meeting. The board should have appointed a nominating committee in January, composed of three people from the general community. The by-laws specifically require the creation of this committee in the month of January.

The reason for a nominating committee is to insert some outside influence into the process and keep the board from being insular and self-perpetuating. As it is, when there is a vacancy during the term, the board can appoint someone to fill it, but even that small power has been overridden repeatedly by President Glenn Cartledge, due to the rest of the board's extreme acquiescence to his bidding.

There has been no announcement of a nominating committee and no announcement of a slate, just like last year, when democracy and inclusiveness were discarded in favor of a hand-picked board.

I keep my ear close to the ground, and have not heard of anyone being asked to serve on a committee, nor have I heard of any slate. The board certainly has not communicated on this or any subject. There has been no call for volunteers to serve. There has been no report from their meeting Thursday night or any other meeting since the October meeting, which wasn't actually reported either for those who didn't attend. In fact, there has been no newsletter in many months. One has been promised soon, though.

I am guessing that all the current board whose terms are expiring, Loulie Reese, Lesley Wainwright, Lynda Houser and Bill Warren, will be reaffirmed for another term and the current situation of absolute unity will be perpetuated. (If I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to say so.)

I'm not saying that anything is wrong with those four, or that they ought not have another term. They have all done stellar work for the community. It's just that, as former association treasurer Bill Hope famously said, "the process ought to be followed."

Also, it wouldn't hurt for every single board member to open their mouths once in a while and have something come out that didn't originate from Mr. Cartledge's brain.