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.