Fredericton Mayor O'Brien and City Council,
Subject: Branch 4 legion sale and move
We understand that you met with some representatives from the Fredericton Legion to discuss renting the property on the Exhibition grounds.
A few things that you are most likely unaware of, is the fact that the majority of the membership were never informed that there was going a sale of the legion at the June 21 general meeting.
The membership is close to 500 and less than 50 showed up.
Although the legion by-laws are very clear that the membership is required to be notified a minimum of 14 days prior to any meeting of a sale, and information about the possible sale must be included. This did not happen.
The notice of the meeting did not appear in the Daily Gleaner (only Pub) until June 20th, the day before the meeting, and June 21stthe day of the meeting, this has been verified by a search in the provincial archives. This does not appear to be the action of a group who are trying to inform their membership of a possible sale, in fact, we suggest it is quite the opposite; they are trying to slip this pass the majority. So far it appears to be working, as even the minutes of their meetings are so vague and loaded with misinformation. An example of this is at the June 21stmeeting the past President, stated ‘this is just proposal, nothing has been signed’. This is in the minutes, it was mentioned, as well, that consent would have to come from Provincial command for this to move forward.
There were no meetings in July and August.
When we returned for the general meeting on September 20th, the story had changed to where now it was, as one member put it, “ a done deal” and that the questions that one member was asking was redundant
. There is no mention of the proposal being signed, no mention of approval of Provincial command, no lawyer executing the transaction. There is nothing in the minutes of the Executive meeting, so when did this happen, if in fact it did?
What there is however, is three individuals with no notable history in negotiation attempting to put through a deal which may, or may not, be in the best interest of the membership without allowing the entire membership the right to look at this proposal and to make their own informed decision.
We are writing to you in hopes that this approval can be put aside until the Broad of Directors opens up and presents full disclosure to the entire membership, which, according to by-laws, it is required to be done by letter, mailed to the members last known address.
Why, are ‘we’ as members called ‘the silent majority’, are choosing this route to make our concerns heard?
This particular Sub Executive Board has a history of being very abusive to members who speak out against their actions. There have been several members who have actually left and taken memberships at other legions due to the lack of willingness to listen to concerns and the rude dismissing language they were subjected to for bringing their concerns forward. We, as a group are virtually unknown to the executive, they may suspect some of us, but we attempt to keep a low profile.
At the end of the day we may approve this transaction, we may not, however, right now we simply want what is ours….the right to be informed, provided with the documents as proposed by Mr. George, and have our questions answer in a respectful manner.
We would certainly appreciate your assistance while we continue to seek answers.
Respectfully,
Branch 4 Silent Majority
