Board District Changes
As cooperatives grow, as SSVEC has done over the past 20 to 30 years, they often add more seats to their board of directors. From time to time, they need to step back and take a look at how big their board has become and our board of directors has done just that.
The goal is to find the right balance. Too few directors and not enough voices are heard. Too many and the board becomes too expensive to operate compared to the size of the business.
At one point we had 13 directors. The board consultant, based on experience at other cooperatives around the country, recommended that nine would be more appropriate for a system of our size and type.
While you don’t often see anyone elected to anything ever vote their own jobs out of existence, that’s what SSVEC’s board has done. That might be surprising to some, but not to anyone who understands that the prime duty of a cooperative director is to put the best interest of the membership first.
So, we have reduced our board size from 13 to the current 10 and it will eventually be reduced to 9.
Phasing it in will provide for a smoother transition and will also allow people to serve out the full terms to which members elected them. The board was careful to make sure that members rights are fully protected, that the size of the director districts are approximately the same, and that the districts were drawn fairly and sensibly.
You will be notified of your district election in the normal election process. Maps of the new district boundaries are available on website.