Incumbents update

In a previous post, I mentioned we were wrestling with the issue of incumbents facing re-election. Our questions were:

"Do incumbents have to re-nominated by a congregation member or should their previous nomination still "count?"

If a current Board member is interested in seeking a second term, do they automatically get on the ballot? Or, do they go before the nominating committee like everyone else? (In other words, could the nominating committee choose NOT to put them on the ballot, even though they are eligible?)

If incumbents do get on the ballot, how many non-incumbent candidates should there be?"

I think we came up with a pretty good solution. Here's the new policy we developed for our nominating committee:

"All incumbents who are eligible and interested in serving another term shall be included on the final slate and do not need to be nominated again. The final slate, however, must include at least as many non-incumbent candidates as incumbent candidates."

Our feeling was that it was better for the voters to make the final decision on incumbents, rather than a small committee. This policy allows voters the most options. They can re-elect all the incumbents, none of the incumbents, or any combination of incumbents and non-incumbents.

How does your church address the issue of incumbents?