Health & Wellness election

BLUE RIVER: The delayed election of board members for McKenzie Valley Wellness (MVW) will be held on August 30th. Ballot counting that had been planned for the non-profit’s regularly scheduled annual meeting on May 3rd was delayed while changes to the membership section of the organization's bylaws were updated.

Four incumbents are now on the new ballots: Jane Wilson, Val Rapp, Kelly Shaw, and Josh Cloke. The names of two people who had announced they would be running as write-in candidates will be listed on the ballots as well.

In his announcement last April, Tony Casad had asked people to vote for him for Position 3, currently held by Rapp. Tia Cloke said she was running to be elected to Position 2, which Wilson holds now.

Voters will be able to check a box to select among those six or write in the name of someone else. This week, Steve Severin of McKenzie Bridge announced he’s running as a write-in candidate for the board.

The ballot instructions direct people to vote for only four choices or their submission will be invalid.

“Our MVW bylaws require that a candidate get a majority to be elected. Thus, if votes are split so much that there is not a clear majority for a position, we will have a runoff election in the future,” according to MVW president Val Rapp.

New board candidates can’t be nominated at the August 30th meeting. It’s expected most members will vote by mail, but they must be sure their marked ballots arrive by 5 p.m. on August 29th at POB 391, Blue River, OR 97413. Only people who were members by July 30th will be eligible to vote. If someone joins MVW at the meeting they won’t be able to cast a ballot.

Voters will also be given a chance to voice their opinion on two ballot measures dealing with old bylaw language for membership that previously included a reference to the “McKenzie River Clinic.”

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Upper McKenzie Community Center in Rainbow. People can also log in via Zoom by emailing a request to [email protected].