ANC1B Commissioner Resigns, Special Election to Be Held if Necessary

At its regular monthly meeting on March 10, James Turner, Chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street, announced that Kevin Cain, Commissioner for district 04, had resigned that day. No reason for the resignation was given. Turner further announced the timeline for filling the seat.

The opening will be advertised in the DC Register on March 20. Blank petitions for the open Commission position will be available at the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (DCBOEE) starting March 23. Candidates must gather at least 25 registered voters who live in the ANC district. Deadline for filing the petitions will be April 13. There will be a three-day "challenge period" for signatures on the petition. The qualifying candidates will be announced on April 22.

If there is only one qualifying candidate, DCBOEE will declare the position filled. If there is more than one candidate, a special election will be held of the sidelines of the next ANC1B meeting after the challenge period ends. ANC1B normally meets on the first Thursday of the month, so the election might take place on Thursday, May 7. ANC1B normally meets at 7pm. The location of the May meeting has not yet been announced.

According to DCBOEE information here, candidates must be a registered voter in the ANC district they wish to represent, and they must have lived in that ANC district for at least sixty days prior to the day the nominating petition is filed.

District 04 is located just north of the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets NW), north of V street, west of 15th, east of 12th -- see map above.

ANC1B: Quorum Achieved, Some Habitual Absences, Norman Leaves

At its regular monthly meeting on April 3, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street had less trouble obtaining a quorum than last month. There was a quorum nearly from the beginning of the meeting.

(Image from ANC1B web site)

However, some Commissioners are making a habit of being absent. Commissioner Sedrick Muhammed (district 03) missed his fourth consecutive meeting. Commissioner Jeremy Leffler (02) missed his third consecutive meeting.

ANC1B Chair James Turner (09) announced the seat for 1B district 10 was now vacant. There will be a special election to fill it. District 10 was the former seat of Tony Norman. Norman was ANC1B Chair until January, when the ANC voted 5 - 4 to replace him with Turner -- see SALM blog post of January 3.

Attendance record of Commissioners

Commissioners who failed to attend this meeting: Leffler, Muhammed, and Juan Lopez (07).

(Full disclosure: I attended the meeting from 7pm, when it started, until 9pm. By that time, the agenda was over 80% complete. It is possible that Commissioners showed up after 9pm and therefore were not absent for the entire meeting.)

Commissioner Deborah Thomas (04) was 60 minutes late for the meeting.

Commissioners who arrived at the meeting on time: Marc Morgan (01), Ricardo Reinoso (05), Dyana Forester (06), Turner, E. Gail Anderson Holness (11), and Zahra Jilani (12).

Commissioner Emily Washington (08) resigned in February.

Below is ANC1B Commissioners' attendance record for the last six meetings, based on my observation. Just like airlines, I define "late" as arriving more than 15 minutes behind schedule. Meetings usually last between two and three hours.

• Morgan (01): Four present, one absent, one early departure*
• Leffler (02): Two present, four absent
• Muhammed (03): One present, five absent
• Thomas (04): One present, three absent, two late**
• Reinoso (05): Six present
• Forester (06): Three present, two absent, one late***
• Lopez (07): Three present, two absent, one late****
• Washington (resigned, 08): Two present, one absent
• Turner (09): Five present, one absent
• Norman (resigned, 10): Three present, two absent
• Anderson Holness (11): One present, three absent, two late*****
• Zilani (12): Six present

* missed at least 30 minutes of meeting March 26
** arrived 40 minutes late for March 26, 60 minutes late for April
*** arrived 20 minutes January, left same meeting after 90 minutes
**** arrived 25 minutes late January
***** arrived 90 minutes late December 2013 and February

Now two special elections

There is at least one candidate for the vacant seat in district 08. Mark Ranslem is aspiring to fill Washington's former seat, according to an announcement made at the meeting. Ranslem was present at the meeting but did not participate.

Candidates for an ANC must gather at least 25 signatures. The signatures must be validated by DC election officials, so candidates sometimes gather more than double the minimum to guarantee their place on the ballot. After DC election officials have validated the signatures, a special election is held. Often, it is on the sidelines of an ANC meeting. The special election for Washington's seat may take place on the sidelines of the ANC1B regular monthly meeting in May or June.

ANC Chair Turner also announced the seat for district 10 -- formerly held by former ANC Chair Norman -- was open. In three other cases I have seen, when Commissioners vacate their seats, they come to a final meeting, announce their departure, say how much they've enjoyed working at the ANC, and are thanked by their ANC for their work. In this case, there was no mention of Norman's name, and he did not appear. In fact, no one at the meeting actually said Norman had resigned -- only that his seat was now up for a special election. Norman had missed the two previous ANC meetings.

Norman was first elected to ANC1B in 2010.

ANC1B Again Fails to Have a Quorum

For the second time in four months, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street failed to have a quorum for its regular monthly meeting. Only five of 11 sitting Commissioners attended the meeting on Thursday, March 6. Six were necessary to have a quorum.

About 45 developers, architects, homeowners, businesspeople, and members of the community were left waiting, hoping an absent Commissioner would show up so the Commission could take binding votes on the matters on the agenda. The meeting, which began at seven, eventually broke up at 9pm.

Not enough for a quorum

The following Commissioners attended the meeting: Marc Morgan (district 01), Deborah Thomas (district 04), Ricardo Reinoso (district 05), James Turner (district 09), and Zahra Jilani (district 12).

The following Commissioners did not attend: Jeremy Leffler (district 02), Sedrick Muhammed (district 03), Dyana Forester (district 06), Juan Lopez (district 07), Tony Norman (district 10), E. Gail Anderson Holness (district 11)

Commissioner Emily Washington (district 08) announced her resignation at last month's meeting. She is moving out of her ANC district.

In December 2013, ANC1B also failed to have a quorum when a meeting was held on the same day as a Christmas party for ANC Commissioners -- see SALM blog post for December 9, 2013.

Recent attendance record of ANC1B Commissioners

Below is record of ANC Commissioners' attendance record for the last four monthly meetings, based on my observation. Just like airlines, I define "late" as arriving more than 15 minutes behind schedule. Meetings usually last between two and three hours.

• Morgan (01): Three present, one absent
• Leffler (02): Two present, two absent
• Muhammed (03): One present, three absent
• Thomas (04): One present, three absent
• Reinoso (05): Four present
• Forester (06): One present, two absent, one late*
• Lopez (07): Two present, one absent, one late**
• Washington (resigned, 08): Two present, one absent
• Turner (09): Three present, one absent
• Norman (10): Three present, one absent
• Anderson Holness (11): Two absent, two late***
• Zilani (12): Four present

* arrived 20 minutes late, left same meeting after 90 minutes
** arrived 25 minutes late
*** arrived 90 minutes late twice

March meeting: making the best of it

To productively fill the time while hoping in vain that another Commissioner would eventually arrive, ANC1B Chair James Turner asked newly-appointed ANC1B committee chairs to speak and take questions from the audience about their work. Alcohol-policy committee Chair Nick Baumann, Transportation Committee Chair Ben Klemens, and Design Review Committee Chair Lela Winston spoke.

This turned out to be a surprisingly effective use of time. The committee chairs outlined the responsibilities and current concerns of their committees. Members of the community spoke up to ask questions about how the process worked. Several people who seemed somewhat baffled by the proceedings received clarification. One urged the committee and community members to use fewer abbreviations and jargon, so novice members of the audience could more easily understand.

After that, several members of the community who had hoped to get ANC endorsement on various projects spoke up. The longest presentation was by the developers of Portner Place (1450 V Street NW), who sought ANC endorsement for their appearance before D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) later this month. The ANC Commissioners in attendance asked about the concerns raised when the developers presented before the Design Review Committee on February 26 -- see SALM blog post of March 3.

Members of the current tenants' committee of Portner Place spoke up in favor of the design and plans to move families out while construction went on. The commissioners in attendance seemed to approve of the development.

In addition, the aspiring proprietor of Peace Lounge (2632 Georgia Avenue) and a homeowner from the 1300 block of S Street also wished to tell the committee they needed ANC endorsement this month for their projects, because they would soon be appearing before various DC government bodies. Commissioner Turner suggested they could get letters from their ANC district representatives praising their projects and explaining why the ANC failed to vote. While this would not carry the "great weight" of a conventional ANC decision, Turner said, it might help.

At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Turner announced there would be a special election to fill the place of Commissioner Washington, and urged interested members of the public to pick up nomination papers from the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics. No date for the special election has been set.

Special Elections in ANC 2F and 1B

Three Commissioners of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) 2F/Logan Circle and 1B/U Street have moved or will soon move out of their districts, so must vacate their seats. There will be special elections to fill their vacancies.

From ANC2F web site

According to the web site of the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (DCBOEE), anyone can run for ANC commissioner if he or she is a registered voter in DC, has lived in the ANC district for at least 60 days, and holds no other elective office. A candidate must gather 25 signatures to appear on the ballot.

ANC2F: Districts 03 and 08

At its regular monthly meeting last night (March 5), ANC2F Chair Matt Raymond (district 07) announced that this was the last meeting for ANC Commissioner Chris Linn (district 03). Linn is buying a home in Columbia Heights. The Commission passed a resolution thanking Linn for his work.

In January, Commissioner Matt Connolly (district 08) left the commission. On an announcement on the ANC web site, Connolly said he was moving back to Boston. At its January meeting, ANC2F thanked Connolly for his service.

At last night's meeting, Raymond announced nominating petitions would be available starting this Monday, March 10. Prospective candidates would have until Monday, March 31, to file their petitions. There would be a "challenge period", during which the validity of signatures on nominating petitions could be challenged.

Assuming that there is more than one candidate for at least one of the ANC2F positions, special elections will be held at the next possible ANC2F meeting. Raymond said this would probably be ANC2F's May meeting, currently scheduled for May 14.

ANC1B: District 08

From ANC1B's web site

At last month's meeting of ANC1B (held February 6), it was announced that Commissioner Mary Washington (district 08) was attending her last meeting as a commissioner. She is also moving out of her district. It was announced that there would be a special election to fill her seat, but no other details were given.

Further details may be announced at ANC1B's next meeting general meeting, which will take place tonight, March 6, at 7pm, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets NW).

ANC special elections do not draw a great turnout and are often decided by a handful of votes. For example, last year's ANC special election for a open seat in neighboring ANC 2B/Dupont Circle was won by a vote of 34-12.

Find out what ANC district you live in here.

A blank DCBOEE declaration of candidacy form is available here.