Q2. "Mr. Blundo claims he was “authorized by membership” to ignore the election and start his group, please explain."

Answer: Mr. Blundo, on numerous occasions via email, has claimed that he was “authorized by the membership” to change the organization because he had an “election” in October 2023 in which he received “overwhelming support” to reorganize the organization.

This must be clarified. Mr. Blundo did NOT have an election. On October 9, 2023, he sent an unauthorized, one question poll to membership that contained false information and stated that he “had the responsibility to see that MMHCA survives.” He sent a similar letter to former members on October 12, 2023 with the same false information asking them to join the organization so they could “vote” in his poll. Again, it should be reiterated that Mr. Blundo was a paid, part-time administrator who reported to the board and had no authority to reach out to the membership in such a way. Mr. Blundo’s email of October 9, 2023 was an attempt to undercut the election the Board had just approved in advance of the board announcement of the election.

In fact, Mr. Blundo’s position was not even accounted for in the Bylaws and his actions of reaching out to the membership to undermine the board he was accountable to constitutes a blatant act of insubordination and undermined the Board’s decisions (the Board had voted two days earlier to proceed with an already carefully planned election). Mr. Blundo had absolutely NO authority to take the action he did. Just because he claimed to be a founding member of the organization did not negate the fact that the organization was legally bound to abide by the 2012 Bylaws and the Board, not to the personal preferences of Mr. Blundo.
In response to Mr. Blundo’s acts, the Board held a public town hall zoom meeting on October 12, 2023, which was attended by over 200 people, to clarify emphatically that Mr. Blundo had no authority to take the action he did. Mr. Blundo was also told, at the meeting, to cease all of his responsibilities as ED until further notice. That meeting was recorded and like most of our meetings is available on YouTube @mmhcalibrary.
In summary, Mr. Blundo was never, at any point given authorization by MMHCA members to ignore the election.