Statement of the REAL (Interim) Chair of ICOIL

I read the following statement at the Indiana Council on Independent
Living meeting yesterday.  For those of you who didn't read my previous
post, several council members got together illegally last month and
voted to remove myself and our secretary, Ramona Harvey from office.
Since this meeting had been cancelled by the Executive Committee, we are
considering all motions made and approved at that meeting to be null and
void.  You can watch the exciting meeting that happened yesterday for
yourself at http://everybodycounts.org/icoil/oct2006icoil.htm.  My
statement was as follows:

I, Jodi James, am still the interim chair of the Indiana Council on
Independent Living.  The reasons for this being the following:

The meeting on September 13th that had been advertised as an official
monthly meeting of ICOIL was cancelled.  I notified all ICOIL council
members of this cancellation on August 22nd, 2006 via email.  I had the
authority to make this decision per the by-laws which were passed by the
council on June 14, 2006.  These by-laws allow the chair to set
regularly scheduled meetings (Article V, Section 2) and In general,
have all the powers and perform all the duties normally incident to the
office of Chair or President. (Article VI, Section 8, 11)   There is
nothing in the by-laws which says that the Chair cannot make this type
of decision.  The reason for this decision was based on the fact that 4
out of 5 Executive Committee members stated that they would not be able
to attend the meeting on the 13th.  Since the business of that day would
include the nomination of council members for officers for election, I
felt it was vital that the leadership of the council be present.  There
is no policy, nor nothing in the by-laws that states that if we have a
quorum, we must hold a meeting.  I waited several days after notifying
council members and Nancy Young, and, not seeing any action taken on the
website, I emailed the FSSA webmaster and asked that they mark this
meeting as cancelled.  However, since there were objections raised by
many council members to my decision, I called an Executive Committee
meeting for September 1, 2006.  At this meeting, it was moved and
approved to reschedule the September monthly meeting of ICOIL to Friday,
September 22, 2006.  This was done after asking for input from members
of the public who attended this meeting, including two other council
members.  Once again, notice was sent out to council members via email
and notice was placed on the FSSA website.

The meeting on the 13th was futher invalid because there was no notice
that it was occuring, therefore violating Open Door Law.  There were no
certified interpreters present at the meeting, violating the Americans
with Disabilities Act.
Since the gathering of ICOIL members on the 13th was not an official
meeting for the reasons stated above, any motions made and/or approved
at it are not and should not be considered valid.

We have had a council member make repeated requests for an audio loop
and still it is not available.  Apparently the DSU is not able to
purchase it?  Teresa, are you going to be able to participate in this
meeting with what has been provided for you?

As to the motion to have the chair and secretary removed from office, I
would like to address it even though it is not valid because I think it
speaks to the problems that this council has had for years, and perhaps
its lifetime.

Those of you who are new to ICOIL, please listen to my words from
experience.  Unfortunately, in my 4 years with the council, this is how
business has been done.  The eerie part is that the people who once
rallied against this behavior are now the ones participating in it.  I
have seen a changing of the guard, but, strangely, not a change in how
they run things.  I have seen that if certain people dont like the way
you do things, that being to run the SILC the way it should be run, they
try to run you out by demeaning you and making your life
hell.  Look at
the example of Ramona Harvey who was elected to be your secretary.  I
notice that all the complaints about her minutes have to do with length,
I have heard no mention of their accuracy.  And when she asked
repeatedly for assistance and comments from council members as to what
to remove from the minutes, she received nothing but disparaging,
disrespectful comments.  Some of you would not have known that because
they were sent to her via email.  I can think of four other people off
the top of my head to whom this has happened just in my 4 years here.
What is the mechanism whereby this is happening and how do we get these
gears to stop?  The only way I know how is through the truth.  I plan on
continuing to work on the council to complete my agenda, that of
fighting to keep the Indiana SILC the way I want it to be, one that will
fight for and empower people with disabilities, not run them off because
they are not biased and choose to be led by the truth.

I ask those of you who are new to please think about why you chose to
vote yes to this motion.  Was it because you saw that I did something
bad?  Or was it because someone told you I did something bad?  I demand
to see evidence that shows what I did to deserve my name to be
associated with the words 'breach of ethics', 'misconduct', and
'dereliction of duty of office.'  Think about whether you voted yes to
this motion because you saw evidence of this, or because you were told
that evidence existed.  I hope that, like me, you will demand to see
that evidence so that you can make an informed decision.  After all,
that is what the Independent Living movement is all about, having the
choice and the information available to make the right decision.  If,
after having that evidence, you still wish to approve this motion, then
I must accept that.  However, I will not let this council run business
as usual by bullying people into making a vote or a decision based on
untruths, disrespect and demeaning people who want nothing more than to
see this council run like it is supposed to.  It must and it will stop
here!

Therefore, having said all of that, I hereby declare that the gathering
on the 13th is null and void and that I am still the interim chair of
ICOIL.  We will take nominations from the floor next month and have a
proper and valid election in December.  This will allow for a stable set
of officers to be in place after the changing of the State Plan in
October.