2022 Capital Chapter Membership Zoom Meeting – Saturday, Feb. 26th, 2022

Prosit Neujahr! Online registration for the 2022 Capital Chapter Membership Meeting is now open! Please make reservations by February 21, 2022.  This year’s Membership Meeting will take place on Saturday, February 26, 2022, starting at 5:00 pm EST, and planned to last until about 7 pm.  As with our last Membership Meeting in February 2021, due to continuing health concerns, the Membership Meeting this year will be held online, using Zoom.   You will have to have access to Zoom to participate in the meeting, either downloaded on your computer or otherwise available through your browser (please note, however, that there is an option for members to vote in the election by mail even if you do not have Zoom access).  Everyone who provides notification of their intent to come (by registering on the website, by mail or email) will receive a Zoom link from Board member Karen Stokes by email prior to the event, which can be used to log in at the start time.  The meeting’s start time at 5:00 pm EST allows members who may be in Europe also to participate.   Our agenda will begin with reports from the officers of the Chapter, followed by the Board election, and then open discussion of other chapter business and questions.  The business portion of the meeting will be followed by the fun part – a multiple-choice quiz on knowledge of German wines on the theme of “What Wine Am I Drinking?” for a wine prize from our cellar (to be delivered as soon as we can have in-person events again, or by arrangement with the Cellarmaster for pickup). 

Of course, as this is an online event, members will supply their own choice of wines, cheeses and other foods, and there will be an opportunity to discuss your wine choices with other participants, as we did during the last Membership Meeting.  Members pay nothing for this event (but still need to register via our website or mail, or by email to the Secretary, so that we can have an accurate count of who is coming and can send the Zoom link to everyone); non-members pay $10 each, through website registration using PayPal or by check.  

There will be a discussion of our finances, membership and cellar status, followed by an open discussion of plans for the future. What would you like to have the Society do – what are your expectations? The Board needs to know!

The Chapter Board is also proposing several amendments to our Chapter By-Laws, which have not been updated since 2014.   These amendments are attached for your consideration.   We will vote on adoption of the amendments at the Membership Meeting, but those not able to attend can also vote by returning the completed form attached to the proposed amendments to the Secretary, by mail or email, by February 21.

It is at this annual meeting we elect new officers and directors to the Chapter Board.   Only members in good standing, with annual dues payments current, are entitled to vote in the election or to attend this event free of charge; $35 annual dues payments per individual or couple may be made online through the website using PayPal or by check to ensure that you are current, before the meeting.   Please contact the Secretary if you are not sure whether you are current.

Members can vote in person at the meeting, or by returning their written ballots by February 21, 2022. Candidate statements and the ballot form (for those who will not be voting in person at the election but would still like to submit a vote) are attached to this notice in a separate document.  Nominations of other candidates than those listed below and on the attached ballot have to be received by no later than Saturday, February 12, 2022, under our By-Laws, so as to allow revised ballots for the election to be prepared and distributed.  All of the candidates running have already been serving in their positions, but we have one open Director position without a candidate, due to the loss in 2020 of our longtime member and friend Stephen Kent.  The Chapter President is also running for Chapter Secretary, in the absence of a separate candidate to fill the Secretary position; he was elected to serve in both capacities for the past two years.  

The candidates running for positions on the Board this election are:

Carl Willner – for Chapter President and Secretary (positions listed separately on ballot)

Christian Schiller – for Chapter Vice President

Ken Belsley – for Chapter Treasurer

Maria So – for Director, also serving as Webmaster

Jim Palanchar – for Director

Karen Stokes – for Director, also serving as Cellarmaster

Our By-Laws do not permit nominations from the floor at the meeting for any position for which a candidate is already running, but only in advance so that ballots for a disputed election can be prepared, although floor nominations for uncontested positions are allowed.  For this election, all Board positions except one Director slot have one candidate running.  You can give back to the Chapter by volunteering to plan or help with a monthly tasting, in addition to serving on the board.  Your active participation in planning and managing events helps the organization grow – and to do so in the direction you choose. 

All correspondence in response to this email should be directed to our President and Secretary, Carl Willner, by email to carl.willner1@verizon.net or by mail at:

Carl Willner

1014 Reserve Champion Drive

Rockville, MD 20850

Carl Willner

President and Secretary, German Wine Society Capital Chapter

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Please clip and return this registration form if registering by mail, to the Secretary at the address listed above.  Do not return the entire event notice.   If you are voting by mail rather than by participating in the online meeting, please also clip the ballot form from the attached Candidate Statement and return that to the Secretary, as well as your vote on the By-Laws amendments. 

Reservation Form for GERMAN WINE SOCIETY CAPITAL CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP MEETING, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022

Name(s) _______________________________________________________________

Member or non-Member __________________________________________________

Payment submitted _______________________________________________________