RIRA President On Encouraging Candidates For 2010 -12 Common Council, Election Process Difficulties, Openness & Telling The Truth To Roosevelt Island Residents & More

 Image Of October 2010 RIRA Meeting

Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) President Frank Farance sends the following report to Roosevelt Island residents. Mr. Farance addresses:

1. My penultimate column for the 2008-2010 term. The next one will be the last column and I plan on cataloging our accomplishments of the past 24 months, with contributions from Common Council members.

2. Reader Suggestion from Last Issue of the WIRE. So that people don't "game" the WIRE publication schedule, I've asked editor Dick Lutz if he will permit short candidates' rebuttals for any letter to editor in the next issue, the last one before RIRA elections.

3. RIRA Elections. Please consider running. The 2008-2010 term has been one of the most productive in RIRA history and we need your help for the next term. Good news! Joyce Mincheff has returned to Elections Committee Chair. However, the nominations process is not perfect and there are still irregularities. At this Wednesday's RIRA meeting, there was much complaining about the poor distribution of nomination forms (the WIRE is helping with an insert in this issue, thanks Dick! ). Ellen Polivy, RIRA Vice President, expressed her dissatifaction in comments at the meeting. I've been expressing my frustration in E-mail, here is an excerpt of my E-mail to the Common Council (yes, making these kinds of things public seems to be the only way to get cooperation):

Date: September 24, 2010 Subject: My very clear instructions on RIRA nominations and elections To: RIRA Common Council Members
Last week we elected a Nominations Committee Chair (Aaron) and an Elections Committee Chair (Joyce). Since then, there have been serious problems with cooperation and communications. It is my executive style to let each manager (committee chairs) handle their own portfolio of work. It is also my style not to shout, but now I will:

THERE SHALL BE COOPERATION!!!
THERE SHALL BE OPENNESS, FAIRNESS, AND TRANSPARENCY!!!
THE PRESENT SHENANIGANS SHALL STOP IMMEDIATELY!!!
THIS IS A DISGRACE TO THE COMMUNITY WHO TRUSTS US TO HOLD OURSELVES TO HIGHER STANDARDS!!!

THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO INSPECT OUR ELECTIONS!!! [...] Here is what our constitution says:

[Vice President:] The Vice President shall supervise: all RIRA elections; all communications, both internal and external, of RIRA; secretarial services that are not the responsibility of the Secretary; legal representation (in coordination with the Chairperson of the Legal Action Committee, should it exist); auditing of the finances of RIRA; membership participation and fund-raising. To perform the responsibilities of office, the Vice President shall supervise the Nominations Committee, the Election Committee, the Auditor, and, should it exist, the Communication Committee.
Thus, Ellen (RIRA Vice President) is in charge of nominations and elections.

[Nominations Committee:] There shall be a Nominations Committee to recruit candidates for the Common Council and the offices of President and First Vice President. The Committee shall ensure that at least one candidate is recruited for each position to be filled in each regular RIRA election. The Common Council shall approve by Majority vote of the Council Members a Chair to the Nominations Committee who will coordinate such activities.
Aaron is Chair.

[Election Committee:] There shall be an Election Committee to administer all elections in accordance with the provisions of Article VII. The Election Committee shall include representatives from at least five election Districts. No candidate for President or Vice President may serve on the Election Committee. Candidates for the Common Council may serve on the Election Committee but may not participate in the elections for their own election Districts. No member of the Election Committee may participate in the election campaign of any candidate other than himself/herself or give support to any other candidate. The Common Council shall approve by Majority vote of the Council Members a Chair to the Elections Committee who will coordinate such activities
Joyce is Chair.

I make the following requests:
1. For those of you who are participating in the Nominations Committee, please let Aaron know. Aaron, could you promptly send the officers the membership list? If there are updates to the list over the next couple weeks, could you promptly let us know?


2. Ditto for the Elections Committee. Joyce, I know you work is mostly at the end, but promptly let us know who is working on your committee.


3. The officers (Ellen, Elizabeth, Russ, myself) should be CCd on all communications so "we are in the loop".


4. All meeting announcements for the nominations committee and the elections committee should be CCd to the Common Council using the E-mail reflector.


5. Consider that residents outside the Common Council might wish to participate in the Nominations Committee and the Elections Committee.


6. Ellen, as supervisor of the Nominations Committee and the Elections Committee, could you forward information to all declared candidates (right now, Matt has declared he is a candidate for RIRA President, you have declared you are a candidate for RIRA Vice President; I don't know of other candidates).


7. Meetings shall be open to all those who want to participate.


IF THERE ARE ANY FURTHER PROBLEMS, GLITCHES, ETC., I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THEM IMMEDIATELY!!! Call me immediately on my cell phone or send me a text message on the cell phone. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation and service to the residents.

The same day Matt Katz responded

September 24, 2010 Dear Frank:

I share your frustration with the infighting between two essential committee chairs, and I hope it has now bee resolved. However, I see no benefit to airing our dirty laundry in public when presenting an amicable, flawless and impeccable election can only enhance RIRA's reputation. I hope we can keep it in the family through Election Day.

(Full disclosure on two items: (1) Mr. Katz was involved in the purchase of election machines (not permitted by the Constitution), but I agree with Mincheff that his help is valuable and will not negatively affect the quality of the elections. (2) As reviewed by Mincheff and by request of the WIRE, I have provided photocopying of the nominations forms for distribution.)

Let me be clear, I very much want to have elections that hold up to public scrutiny and making this right is an ongoing effort. However, I strongly disagree that we should "keep this in the family". When the public hears about these irregularities via word of mouth, they wonder what is going on. My approach is: acknowledge the truth and work towards mitigating these problems. As president of the corporation, I have a legal responsibility to make sure these rules are followed, but I accomplish that via delegation to officers and committees. As mandated by the RIRA Constitution, Polivy (RIRA Vice President), Hamburger (RIRA Nominations Chair), and Mincheff (RIRA Elections Chair) each have specific roles. By attempting to hide problems, especially in an elections process, we implicitly permit a slippery slope of what infractions are acceptable. By disclosing this to you, the public, you can know the full truth and can see for yourself. So far, I believe these irregularities are minor and are being addressed — this is no different than other elections processes.

4. Robots to continue 6-8 PM on Thursdays and (new!) Fridays at RIYP at 506 Main Street. We have at least a dozen new participants. Brian Dorfmann, Peter Blumen, and I are looking to transform this into a long term afterschool activity in the sciences. Pizza is served for children. For more info, call +1 917 751 2900.

5. Upcoming RIRA meetings. The first meeting of the 2010-2012 RIRA Common Council is on November 3 at 8:00 p.m. in the Good Shepherd Community Center.

A version of the RIRA President's message is also published as the RIRA column in the 10/9/10 Main Street WIRE.