SCA 2025 Election – Milestones on Record

August 1, 2025
• Nominating Committee Chair appointed
• Nominating Committee Secretary appointed
• Nominating Committee constituted and authorized to begin work

Late August 2025
• One additional member appointed to the Nominating Committee

October 13, 2025 (11:59 p.m.)
• Membership cutoff date
• Candidate eligibility cutoff date
• Record date for eligibility to vote
• List of members entitled to vote fixed as of this time
• Total eligible voting members: 106
• Inspector’s voter list generated as of 11:59 p.m. on October 13, 2025

October 13, 2025
• Close of nominations / Expressions of Interest
• No nominations accepted after this date, as required by the SCA Bylaws, which authorize the Board to establish nomination procedures and deadlines for Board elections
• No floor nominations permitted, as the election was conducted entirely by written and electronic ballot, as permitted by the SCA Bylaws and California nonprofit law

October 14, 2025
• Independent Inspector of Election appointed by unanimous written consent of the Board
• Inspector of Election: Ben Hyatt
• Nominating Committee began confirmation of eligibility for all timely submitted candidates following the eligibility cutoff

October 13 – November 27, 2025
• The Board approved a 45-day period for the Nominating Committee to review submissions and present its slate of qualified candidates
• This period was set by the Board, consistent with the Bylaws, which provide that the Board determines the applicable nomination timeline
• During this 45-day period, and after the eligibility cutoff date, the Board and the Nominating Committee agreed that all candidates determined to be eligible would appear on the ballot

November 27, 2025
• Nominating Committee completed eligibility review
• Nominating Committee presented the full list of eligible candidates to the Board
• Ballot finalized based solely on candidates confirmed as eligible

December 5 – December 12, 2025
• Ballot period
• Election conducted entirely by written and electronic ballot
• No in-person membership meeting
• Voting administered through the secure SCA portal, with paper ballots also accepted

Number of Seats on the Ballot: Five
• Three full two-year terms
• Two one-year remainder seats to restore the stagger required by the Bylaws

Seat Allocation Rule (Board-approved in advance)
• Top three vote-getters seated in terms ending in 2027
• Next two vote-getters seated in terms ending in 2026
• Allocation complies with Bylaws §4.03 (staggered terms) and §4.05 (candidates receiving the highest number of votes elected)

December 12, 2025
• Independent Inspector of Election issued and certified the official Inspector’s Report
• Total ballots issued: 106
• Total ballots received and counted: 73
• No invalid or disqualified ballots
• Results certified and entered into the Association’s permanent corporate records

January 4, 2026
• Transition meeting held
• Outgoing Board acknowledged certification of the election
• Newly elected Directors seated
• The newly seated Board elected officers from among its members as follows:
– President: Jack Azar
– Vice President: Peter Stockmann
– Secretary: Jed Hirsch
– Treasurer: Eric Panofsky
– Director at Large: Doretta Bonner

Electronic Voting Opened December 5th - Noon December 12th

Sign up for a voting membership using this website, which enables you to vote for a new board or join the new 2025 Board of Directors.

Notice – 2025 Board of Directors Election (Download PDF)

Election was completed on December 12, 2025.

Online voting for the 2025 SCA Board of Directors opened

on December 5, 2025, and closes at 12:00 noon on December 12,

2025.

At 12:35 a.m. on December 5, email notices were sent from SCA

(sca@summerlandcitizens.org) to all eligible voting members directing

them to visit www.summerlandcitizens.org, log into their membership

account, and vote.

On the evening of December 4, SCA also sent targeted emails to:

• 17 members with Household Bundles whose second household

member had not yet created a membership account, and

• 2 members who still needed to provide their street address to confirm

voting eligibility.

Paper ballots are available upon request from the SCA Independent

Election Inspector, Ben Hyatt, at Sca@hyattcreativegroup.com or

805-453-4545

Paper ballots must be requested by Monday, December 8, 2025, at

12:00 noon and received by Friday, December 12, 2025, at 12:00

noon to be counted.

Number of Directors

The SCA Board has five Directors. There are five open board seats, and no current Directors are running for reelection.

Section 5.01. (a) The officers of the Corporation shall include a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and such other officers with such titles and duties as shall be determined by the Board and as may be necessary to enable it to sign instruments. The Corporation may also have a Chairman of the Board, one or more Vice Chairmen,or such other offices as the Board shall appoint.

Candidate Qualifications

o Hold a voting membership in the SCA by October 13th to be considered by the Nominating Committee.

o Resident of the Community of Summerland.

Eligibility for SCA Membership

o Over the age of eighteen (18) years.

o Be a resident or owner of real estate in Summerland, a person purchasing real property under a contract or agreement of purchase, or a person who owns a business and maintains an office and regularly carries on a business or profession in the association area. The “association area” refers to the designated area in the Summerland Community Plan, as illustrated in the map below.

o No person shall hold more than one membership in the corporation.

Admission to Membership

Approval by the Board of Directors or the Membership Committee, duly authorized by resolution to admit members, or an application submitted by an applicant, and payment of the annual dues. Upon admission to membership, dues shall be payable yearly or at other times as may be fixed by the Board of Directors.

Submitting payment does not guarantee membership. All applications are subject to approval by the Board of Directors, as required by the Bylaws (§2.04). If your application is denied, your payment will be refunded. Membership rights begin only upon official acceptance by the Board of Directors.

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee includes Jay Sullivan, Clinton Kelly, and Chairperson Gary Paudler. The current Directors will send out an e-blast and update this website once the Nominating Committee determines when they will present their report on the list of qualified candidates to the membership.

A message from the Nominating Committee:

Help determine the direction of our community to make Summerland even better!

October 13th is the last day to join the SCA to nominate candidates and to be a voting member in the upcoming Board of Directors election.

Email scanominations@gmail.com if you are interested in serving on the Board. Prospective candidates will receive a candidate questionnaire from the nominating committee, and a member of the committee will contact each candidate for a brief interview.

The SCA tasked the Nominating Committee with selecting and recommending qualified candidates for the 2025 election to fill Board of Directors seats. The members unanimously agreed to look for individuals who, as a group, are the most qualified and capable of leading the SCA in achieving its mission, addressing current and future community challenges and opportunities, and gathering and considering members' input. The Committee started in August and finished four months later with the submission of this report.

The SCA held an open public nomination period from September 8 to October 13, during which all members could nominate themselves or others for the Board. The Nominating Committee thoroughly considered and evaluated all eligible candidates using questionnaires, résumés, CVs, bios, interviews, phone calls, and other methods, except for candidates who did not respond to the Committee’s requests for information.

Nominating Committee 2025 Report (Full Report with Bios Here)

Based on its work over the past four months, the Committee now unanimously and enthusiastically recommends to the SCA Board and the SCA membership the following slate of candidates for election to the Board:

Nominating Committee Recommended Slate/Candidates

Jack Azar
Doretta Bonner
Jed Hirsch
Eric Panofsky
Peter Stockmann

All eligible candidates are listed below, including the recommended slate. Members may vote for up to five candidates, even if they are not on the recommended slate.

· Jack Azar (Recommended by the Nominating Committee)
· Doretta Bonner (Recommended by the Nominating Committee)
· Suzy Cawthon
· Jed Hirsch (Recommended by the Nominating Committee)
· Eric Panofsky (Recommended by the Nominating Committee)
· Peter Stockmann (Recommended by the Nominating Committee)
· Jim Witmer

Election

The candidates receiving the highest number of votes up to the number of Directors to be elected will be selected. There are no incumbents seeking reelection. Five Directors are to be elected. In the event of a tie, a runoff election will be held immediately after the votes are tallied.

Term of Office

Due to the vacancy of all five Director seats, three elected Directors will serve a two-year term, and two elected Directors will serve a one-year term. The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will serve two-year terms. The two candidates receiving the fourth and fifth-highest votes will serve a one-year term.

Directors shall be eligible for reelection without limitation. Still, they may not be elected to more than four (4) consecutive full terms, or eight years, unless the Board of Directors approves an extended term.

Voting

Each voting member is entitled to one vote. Only one voting membership is allowed for each person, business, corporation, or other legal entity. Persons having a fiduciary, ownership, other relationship, interest with or in more than one entity, association, or relationship, or whatever type, may qualify for only one voting membership (i.e. Individual, partnership, corporation, joint tenancy, tenancy in common, husband and wife, or otherwise).

Voting will be conducted electronically using software specifically designed for the SCA by Ben Hyatt. Members who prefer a paper ballot can either download one from this section of the website or contact the Nominating Committee, which will supply a paper ballot upon request. Paper ballots will become available when the Nominating Committee presents its report.

For digital voting, members will log in to their membership portal. Once logged in, the custom-designed program automatically determines who is a voting member. There will be a “Yes” or “No” button on each account to designate if a member is a voting member. The system will only allow one vote for eligible members. Once eligible voters are logged in, the member will go to the page for Board of Directors Elections, vote, and submit.

Election Inspector

The inspector for the 2025 election will be determined once nominations are closed on October 13th. This precludes appointing a potential board candidate as an inspector.

Record Date of Membership

The record date for determining which members are entitled to notice of any members' meeting is thirty (30) days before the election date. (The standard membership period as defined in Section 3.10 in the bylaws is sixty (60) days; however, the Board has accepted and agrees with the October 13th date provided by the Nominating Committee and temporarily amended this bylaw for the 2025 election to thirty (30) days to give more residents a chance to join as voting members and to be nominated for a board position.)