Every year at the General Assembly Meeting on the third Monday in October, we have elections for the next year’s Board of Directors for the Eliot Neighborhood Association. The term starts in November and runs through October of the next year. Then, in November, the new board directors elect the officers. According to our bylaws, the officer positions include “Chair, Vice-Chair (or Co-Chairs), Recorder, Treasurer,  and if agreed upon, Newsletter Editor.” The bylaws can be found here on our website: https://eliotneighborhood.wordpress.com/association/bylaws-and-policies/bylaws/

Other elected positions on the board are Community Outreach, the NECN (Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods) representative for Eliot, and Webmaster.

The Board of Directors’ responsibilities are few but very important to commit to. Directors are responsible for attending monthly board meetings (70% attendance or better desired) which are held on the 3rd Monday of each month from 6:30-8:30 pm. To be respectful of the board and guest speakers’ time, a director is expected to arrive at the meeting on time or to notify the Chair if an absence is unavoidable. They are asked to suggest topics for the board to discuss, read all minutes from the previous meeting before the current month’s meeting, and send any edits to the Recorder promptly.  Minutes from the prior month’s meeting are approved by a majority vote by a quorum of directors. Additionally, directors are asked to volunteer time at association organized events and help write letters to various organizations.

This is a working board, not just an advisory board and we are working together to make Eliot a great place to live and work. Volunteering on this board is a great opportunity to get to know more of your neighbors, learn about businesses in the neighborhood, work on issues facing the neighborhood, improve livability and also help to educate the residents about the history of Eliot.

In addition to board directors, we also have committees to join. These require no board meeting attendance  and their meetings are held at times determined by the specific committee. Currently, we have a Livability Committee which includes our Adopt-A-Block team, E-Act a committee working to get diesel trucks filtered to improve our air quality, the Land Use and Transportation Committee, and the Newsletter team. All of these committees need more members and other committees can be created as the need arises.

Our board is becoming more diverse each year and we hope to continue to include renters, homeowners, business representatives, students, and retirees. The beauty of Eliot is the tapestry of unique people that make up our neighborhood and we want you to be a part of the neighborhood association’s future.