Hanover Co-op Announces Election Results

Members of the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, Inc. (Hanover Co-op) returned incumbents Benoit Rosin and Liz Blum, and elected first-time board members Thomas Battles and Ann Shriver Sargent to its board of directors for three-year terms. Don Kreis, a member of the Hanover Co-op Board from 2003 to 2013, earned a one-year term to fill the remaining year in a seat left open by a director’s resignation last year. Term-length for board candidates was determined by the number-of-votes received. During the month-long April voting period, Hanover Co-op members also approved three changes to the cooperative's bylaws.

For bylaw changes, members authorized the board to correct bylaw wording that previously left four board seats unfilled for about six weeks between the Co-op annual meeting and the following month’s board meeting. Now, a board of 12 directors shall serve three-year staggered terms so that the regular terms of four directors expire at the start of the first regular board meeting following each election.

Co-op members also approved the board’s recommended change to the Class B share component of patronage. Any newly issued Co-op Class B shares will now feature a fixed maturity date. This change also allows for the redemption of existing Class B shares and the issuance of new Class B shares with a fixed maturity date. Co-op members who currently hold previously issued Class B shares have five years from the date the bylaw amendment was adopted (April 30, 2017) to exchange old Class B shares for new ones.

Finally, Hanover Co-op voters endorsed a new process whereby any member may easily seek to be a candidate for the board of directors. The Co-op board will establish an Election Committee to standardize the work of encouraging members to become candidates, informing membership about candidates and organizing the election. The new Election Committee will not reject candidates. Instead, the committee and the board will count on an informed membership to pick the right candidates. All new board members will still need to pass the states’ background checks.

CANDIDATES: TOTAL VOTES

Benoit Roisin, Croydon, New Hampshire: 582

Elizabeth Blum, Norwich, Vermont: 573

Thomas Battles, Lebanon, New Hampshire: 551

Ann Shriver Sargent, Norwich, Vermont: 536

Don Kreis, Concord, New Hampshire: 501

TOTAL VOTERS: 771 

B SHARES

YES: 669 (86.8% of voters) 

NO: 21

EXPIRATION OF TERMS and BOARD CANDIDACY/NOMINATIONS: 

YES: 634 (82.2%)

NO: 51