The council voted today to delay the annual meeting until next year!
The zoom video is available to view: May 21, 2022 - Special Meeting
The Voting Case Settlement
The Superior Court determined that residents have a right to vote at the Annual Meeting (or any special meeting), regardless of whether they own property in the District.
To comply with that decision, the District has agreed to a settlement that and proposed judgment provides that any person residing within the District for 30 days before the Annual Meeting will be allowed to vote.
The Judge has not formally signed off on the settlement and court judgment, but she is expected to do so within the next few weeks.
Under the terms of the settlement and court judgment, the new 30-day resident voters would need to be registered, but there will not be time to accomplish that within the period between the Judge’s formal approval of the settlement and judgment and the normal Annual Meeting date (last Thursday in June).
In addition, the settlement provides for creation of a five-member charter review committee to be appointed by the District Council. This committee will be charged with developing amendments to the District’s statutory charter that will be in accord with the judge’s decision on issues in the voting case. When the committee’s work is done, the proposed charter changes will have to be approved first by the General Assembly and then by voters in the District.
Postponement of Annual Meeting
The District’s By-Laws contemplate that there could be an inability to conduct the regular Annual Meeting “at any time or for any cause any and all business which might have been transacted at such meeting may be transacted at the next succeeding meeting, whether special or annual.” By-Laws, Art. I, sec. 1.
Because of the limited time to prepare voting lists that comply with the settlement and court decision, and to permit the charter committee to perform the work that the court judgment assigns, it will not be possible to conduct this year’s Annual Meeting on the last Thursday in June.
5/21/2022
