East Side Water members vote to amend Articles of Incorp.; reelect two board members

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The legal cloud that has been over East Side Water System, Inc., for the better part of three years has evaporated with the passage of four amendments to the organization’s Articles of Incorporation.
The four amendments in question were overwhelmingly passed by the membership at the latest election.
Amendment 1 deals with a voting quorum for each election. It states a quorum at a membership election shall constitute the majority of the voters who vote in said election. It passed overall with 345 votes in favor and 30 votes against. There were 289 mail in votes and 56 votes at the poll in favor and were 19 mail in votes and 11 votes at the poll against.
Amendment 2 states any pay increase for members of the Board of Directors after December 1, 2017, shall require approval of the membership of the company through majority vote at the annual membership meeting. That amendment passed 352-27. Two hundred ninety-five people mailed in ballots in favor of the amendment compared to 14 against, and there were 56 people at the poll who voted in favor compared to 11 against.
The third amendment to the Articles of Incorporation mandates that all elections for members of the Board of Directors shall be conducted and supervised by election commissioners designated by the parish registrar of voter’s office. It passed 358-23. There were 298 affirmative votes and 11 votes in opposition through the mail compared to 60 votes in the affirmative and 12 votes in opposition at the poll.
The final amendment is one that makes any reimbursement of expenses made to a member of the Board of Directors to be pre-approved by the Board of Directors, and receipts and documenting costs must be submitted prior to reimbursement payment. Voters overall passed the proposition 365-18. In the affirmative, there were 301 mail in votes and 64 at the poll, and in opposition, there were 8 mail in votes and 10 at the poll.
Also on the ballot were two seats on the Board of Directors from District 3. The incumbents Warren Vidrine and Warren LaFleur were both overwhelmingly reelected. With 311 votes, Vidrine received 251 through the mail and 60 at the poll, and, with 258 votes, LaFleur received 211 through the mail and 47 at the poll.
Also on the ballot were Purvis Vidrine with 35 votes overall, Pat Soileau with 86 votes overall, and Charles “Seldon” Fontenot with 131 votes overall.