We will hold our 4th General Election for Officers on Saturday, May 31st from 10am to 4pm in Szold Hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4545 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Voting will be in person. Bring a photo ID. Members should have received the Official Notification of Election and the Call for Nominations which was mailed to Members’ home addresses in late March. Our Union is a democratic body and we elect new officers every two years in May. All Members in good standing are eligible to vote. Any inquiries should be directed to the Election Committee at oldtownteachersorg@gmail.com
The three vacancies are for Co-President (2 positions) and Secretary
The Candidates are: Dona Benkert and Renée Nanzer for the 2 Co-Presidencies and Will Fancher for Secretary
We will also be voting on Amendments to our Constitution
Proposed Amendments
Change the title of our Constitution from “OTTO Constitution” to “OTTO Constitution and Bylaws”.
Article I, Section 2 (a & b) – Rather than hold an election for delegates to IFT’s and AFT’s national conventions, as outlined in Article I, the two Co-Presidents are already delegates by virtue of their office (see Article IV, Section 20). Should additional delegates be needed, we will then hold an election. This change will bring Articles I and IV into harmony. Proposed text: . . . The two Co-Presidents are delegates by virtue of their office. Should an additional delegate or delegates be needed, the Election Committee will convene to hold an election.
- Article IV, Section 4 (f) – Because we are small and our revenues are less than $50,000/year, we do not need to arrange an independent audit as outlined in Article IV. Our Budget and Finance Committee can perform an internal audit. Proposed text: Section 4 (f) provide an internal audit of the finances of the organization annually and make same available to the Steering Committee and the membership.
- Article VII, Section 1 – Add the Labor Dept. document titled, “Conducting Local Union Officer Elections (A Guide for Election Officials)” to the AFT and Labor Board election requirements. As it stands, we’ve already been following these guidelines for the last several years.
- Article VII, Sections 4 and 5. Extend the election notification deadlines to bring them in line with the Labor Board and AFT requirements mentioned above. We’ve already used the longer deadlines twice. Once in 2023 and again last year for the Special Election for Co-President. Proposed text changes: Section 4- Notification of Election – change 30 days to 60 days. Section 5 (a) – Nominating Petitions Due -change 15 days to 30 days.
