JSA councillor named CEO for ASFA

Photo by Eithne Lynch.

ASFA decides after an executive stepped in for by-elections

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) elected a CEO to oversee the upcoming by-elections during a general council meeting Thursday Nov. 9.

Fiona Harrison-Roberts, finance executive with the Journalism Student Association (JSA) was elected to be the interim CEO for the by-election.

“We’ve had issues finding an ASFA CEO. No one applied,” said Elliott Boulanger, internal affairs and administration coordinator. The job posting was made public on ASFA’s Facebook page in September.

The position had to be filled immediately because of the upcoming by election so Boulanger took over the responsibilities of the CEO.

The role of the CEO during the by-election consists of ensuring that anyone participating in the election is complying with the rules and regulations, issuing directives on how these regulations are carried out, looking into the legitimacy of the election expenses and proposing regulation reforms to the council.

The CEO is also tasked with providing “information regarding the specifications and the carrying out of these regulations” to any person who requests it, and providing public access to “all information, reports, returns or documents relating to these regulations,” according to the job posting on ASFA’s Facebook page.

The council had to resolve three issues, the first being that no one applied for the position of CEO. The other two issues stemmed from the fact that Boulanger, an executive, had stepped into the position.

The issue with Boulanger taking on the position was that as an executive, they were in charge of hiring the CEO. Rory Blaisdell, council chairperson, recognized that this was an emergency situation where the position needed to be filled but also said “Elliot cannot hire themselves for the position.”

Boulanger made it clear that they were still actively looking for someone to fill the CEO position. “It’s not that I want to do it—I don’t. I have two jobs, classes, my internal position, I have a lot and this position is not the ideal situation on any level but the election has to happen,” they said.

Blaisdell told council that an executive could be hired, but in those cases, it has to be done by the council and not another executive. “If you are hiring an executive then you must be notwithstanding your Annex A,”—the clause that states executives cannot fill this role.

Boulanger was asked to step out of the room while council explored its options. During that time, a straw poll was conducted to see if any councillors were willing to take on the position of an interim CEO.

“I decided to volunteer for the position because I felt like it was the right thing to do,” said Harrison-Roberts. Two other councillors also volunteered for the position and when the votes were counted, Harrison-Roberts was declared the interim CEO.

The council then had to vote on a motion to notwithstand sections B, C and D from Annex A. Those sections state that current or former councillors, the executive body of any ASFA member association or any ASFA member who holds an elected or appointed position within ASFA, or one of its member associations are not eligible to hold an electoral office.

Council approved Harrison-Roberts as the official interim CEO.

The council also voted to compensate Boulanger for the work they had done thus far to the amount of $100, which came from the $400 honorarium.

The ASFA by-elections will be held from Nov. 27 to 29 and voting will be conducted online.

Photo by Eithne Lynch.

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