2012 Election News

No, it’s not Barack Obama and some yet unknown Republican challenger we are writing about, it is your Hamilton County Chapter elections. According to our Chapter bylaws we have an election of all officers and directors in even years. The five officer positions are President, Vice-President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. The seven director positions are Credentials, Education, Membership, Program, Research & Preservation, Publications and Director-At-Large. The Nominating Committee selects candidates (there can be more than one candidate for a position) and there is an election at the regular spring Chapter meeting of attendees, this year at the 21 April 2012 meeting at the Public Library (see the Chapter calendar for meeting details). All members are eligible for all positions with no previous experience required.

While it may be unlikely a member will phone or email me so I can put them in touch with the Nominating Committee Chair and say they want to run for the President’s position or some other position on the Chapter Board of Directors, you may want to learn about what, where, when and how we do what we do to keep our Chapter in existence and continue our process of educating members and preserving Hamilton County records. At the time I am writing this article, I assume we currently have at least one candidate for each position, although each current officer and director has yet to be officially contacted and asked if they will run again for the Board. However, you may certainly “throw your hat in the ring” at any time. As a Chapter we want to be inclusive and “new blood” on the Board can many times be useful and invigorating for an organization.

All members are welcome to attend any Board meeting. The next number of Board meetings will be held at the Perkins Restaurant in Mt. Healthy at the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway exit on the 3^rd Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. If you would like to attend and see what the individual officers and directors do and how the business of your Chapter is conducted, you might be more inclined to run for office or join in the work of our many committees that do a variety of different activities throughout the year. Please feel free to join us. Our meetings are friendly and last to about 8:30 p.m. or a little later. The greatest advantage to being on the Board is that you know what is going on way before everyone else and you learn more about the resources available to make you an even better genealogist. You can always phone or email me before any meeting to make sure there have been no changes in the meeting details. Once you feel more comfortable learning what and how each person on the Board functions, I believe you will want to get more involved with your Chapter.

Kenny Burck, President, 513-956-7078