First Federal Division - Updates!

Pictured Below - A Detachment from the U.S. Muddy River Battalion - marching with the 1st Federal Division at the 155th Gettysburg event 

Update from 1FD as of Oct. 15, 2018


General Minton has asked me to make the announcement that he will be stepping down as Commander of the First Federal Division, and is not seeking re-election to that position for the 2019-2020 biennium.


Therefore, it will be up to the Member Organizations to elect a new Division Commander at our next meeting, which will most likely take place in the latter half of January 2019.


At this time, it would be appropriate for any individuals who have an interest in becoming the next Division Commander of FFD to make their announcements of that intent well before the next meeting, to give time to the voting members to give consideration to those candidates.


According to our By-laws, the following paragraphs from Article III include the requirements and duties for Commanding Officer, as well as the election process (paragraph 3.4 concerns removal of a Commanding Officer):


3.2 Resignation and Nomination. When the Division Commander indicates his desire, in writing, to step down,

an election will be called. Nominations for a new commander are made by the Member Organizations, which

will consider all nominations, and may solicit candidate statements prior to voting. A candidate for Division

Commander must be a member in good standing of one of the Division’s Member Organizations.



3.3 Election


3.3.1 The Current Chief of Staff will be in charge of the election process. He will be responsible for providing ballots for the election and for ensuring that the process proceeds efficiently and fairly.


3.3.2 Election shall be by written secret ballot, listing the names of all properly nominated candidates. Each member Organization shall have one (1) vote per round of voting.


3.3.3 To be a valid election, at least 2/3 of the Member Organizations must cast votes during the balloting.


 3.3.4 A Nominee must receive at least fifty‐one percent (51%) of the total votes cast in order to be elected. If no Nominee receives the required number of votes on the first ballot, additional rounds of voting shall take place in which the top two (three, if there is a tie for second) Nominees from the first ballot shall be the only nominees considered for election.


 3.3.5 If only one Nominee has been named, the ballots shall list the Nominee's name at the top of the ballot, with lines marked for "Yes" and "No" votes below it. The Nominee must receive at least a 51% "Yes" vote to be elected.


3.3.6 The results of the election shall take place as follows:


A) If at the Annual Meeting: Immediately following the meeting.

B) If at any other time: Immediately upon completion of the election.


 3.3.7 The election for Division Commander may be done by electronic means if it cannot conveniently takeplace at the Annual Meeting, preferably by conference call.


3.5 Duties of the Division Commander. The Division Commander is a military organizational role and serves the Division by providing field structure and coordination for Division events. Additional requirements and duties of the office of Division Commander may be codified in Operational Guidelines of the Division in the field.


Due to the importance of this and other matters within the Division, our 2019 meeting shall be a face-to-face meeting, rather than by remote means.  It will be most helpful in setting up this meeting if the Member Organization commanders can inform me whether there are any scheduling conflicts for the following weekends in 2019: January 18-20, January 25-27, and February 1-3.


Also, I would like to locate this meeting at a place that does not put an undue burden of travel to any particular unit commander. As much territory as the Division covers, there is no one place that best fits that bill for all, but it is my desire to find the best possible.


The sooner the unit commanders get their information to me, the sooner I can set up the meeting.


For your information, the Division checking account presently has $453.20 in it. Figure some of that will need to go towards a meeting room for our next meeting.


YHS,

Bernard Biederman

Chief of Staff - FFD