COLUMBIA AUDUBON SOCIETY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL E-MAIL VOTE

February 21-27, 2020

On Feb. 21, 2020, CAS President John Besser called for a final board vote, by e-mail, on the proposed $30,000 donation to the Boone County Nature School project for construction of the Council House facility. He noted that the board had good discussions about the project and donation beginning in December 2019 and leading up to the Feb. 19, 2020, special membership meeting about the proposed donation. He said CAS members showed their interest in and support for the proposal by attending in large numbers, participating in a lively discussion, and voting on the donation (27 in favor, 5 opposed). The special meeting fulfilled requirements of the CAS by-laws for discussion of a large expenditure with the general membership, but the board is required to make the final decision on the donation.

John asked board members to respond to his message with a vote in favor of, or opposed to, the donation. He noted that he would accept votes at least until Feb. 25, or later if necessary to achieve a quorum.

As of Feb. 25, John reported receiving votes via e-mail from 11 voting members of the Board of Directors of the Columbia Audubon Society regarding the proposed $30,000 donation to the Boone County Nature School. The vote was 10 in favor (Besser, Mees, Vaughan, Leonard, Bedan, Seaman, Bushmann, Wood, Hillman, Miller) and 1 opposed (Reuter). Jean Neely was inadvertently left off the mailing list for the original vote, but responded to John B on Feb. 26, voting in favor of the donation to the Nature School. John asked that the vote record acknowledge Jean’s vote.

John reported that the vote represented both a quorum and a clear majority of the CAS board and declared that the proposal has been approved. He notified Roger Still, Nature School fundraising team, about the board’s decision and requested that CAS Treasurer Eric Seaman contact Roger and arrange for transfer of the funds.

John B noted that the vetting and approval of the donation has meant a lot of extra work for many board members over the past few months. He thanked all members for their thoughtful contributions to the decision.