On Monday, February 21, 2022, I received notice from our sitting Director of Administration (DOA), Ethan Feng, indicating his resignation from the position, effective immediately. This leaves the organization with a vacancy in the DOA position, since—although Executive Board elections have taken place for FY23 and there is a new DOA-elect—newly elected Executive Board members will not be sworn into their positions until the End of Year Banquet, on April 20, 2022.
Per our Constitution—and since Legislative Council is still in session—vacancies on the Executive Board are to be temporarily filled by the person next in gavel order—who will subsequently and temporarily serve in both their current and newly assigned role—until a new officer can be dutifully elected. In this case, Joel, our sitting DOC, is next in gavel order and, by policy, is slated to assume DOA responsibilities until a new DOA can be elected. Vacancy policy also dictates that election procedures should begin at “the next available meeting of the presiding legislative body”—here, Legislative Council.
It is my intent to, as Executive President, pass legislation at the next Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, to indicate a vacancy procedure—for this vacancy only—that differs from that which is explained above and listed in our Constitution. Provided that there are fewer than two months left until the current Executive Board’s term ends, it does not make sense to hold elections to identify an individual to serve in the DOA role from now until April 20, 2022. To train a new individual to serve in the role and adequately catch them up to speed on all things RHA would take nearly the full two months left in the current term to do; the return on investment simply does not make sense, especially when current Executive Board members can spend their time directly assuming duties of the vacant DOA position instead of spending that time training somebody new on how to do those duties. Accordingly, the legislation that I will write will propose that this position not be filled and simply remain vacant through the end of the term.
Duties of the DOA will be distributed as follows:
- The Executive President will assume ultimate responsibility for all DOA-related duties and assist with day-to-day DOA tasks related to SharePoint, Office 365, and the RHA website. The Executive President will also take over mentoring responsibilities for Nelson-Shell Hall Council.
- The Director of Development will assist with day-to-day DOA tasks related to Hall Council operations, bill submissions, and other systems built on Microsoft Power Automate. The DOD will also take over mentoring responsibilities for Woodruff Hall Council.
- The Director of Finance will assist with day-to-day DOA tasks related to finances and DocuSign.
Respectfully signed,
Bryan M. Gomez, 2021-2022 Executive President
