Blog 8 The Oath of Membership Provision 2

Blog 8  The Oath of Membership                                                        Provision 2
 

All new members sign the FSTC Oath of Membership.  It has just five provisions. 

 [It must be noted that words can often have different meanings to different people and are therefore subject to interpretation.  The law in the United States is based on ‘case law’ because the various laws are subject to interpretation and the court cases refine and define the meaning.   This is my personal interpretation of the words of the Oath and of the Constitution.]

Provision Two

  “To abide by the Constitution of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation at all times and abide by the established rules of operation and membership of the Corporation.”

 

The Council members,  the governing body of the FSTC, a multi-million dollar land leasing  mutual benefit corporation that serves as fiduciary to a trust fund for the benefit of the lessees, does not get any training.  Maybe that is why it appears that they so often do not follow the FSTC Constitution, or even the laws of the State of Alabama, and the Supreme Court rulings that are the law on how it must operate today.

Let’s look at the FSTC Constitution.

“ARTICLE II PURPOSE:    Its purpose shall be to establish and conduct a model community or colony free from all forms of private monopoly, and to secure to its members therein, equality of opportunity, the full reward of individual efforts and the benefits of cooperation in matters of general concern.”

The FSTC Corporation mailed a letter to the membership dated April 17, 2014.  Among other things that letter said, “It is unfortunate that some members do not understand …. that the mission of FSTC is to help create a better community for everyone.”  FSTC has no ‘mission statement.”  The Purpose in the Constitution seems to be the best indicator of the mission, and it was not to create a better community for everyone, but to demonstrate through its Colony, how a more fair economic system  could be created through use of a ‘land tax’ (like a property tax, but not on the improvements—only the land).  That ‘land tax’ was going to be the only tax needed therefore they called it the ‘single tax.’   

How can the Colony be a demonstration of how beneficial this ‘single tax’ can be, when this tax is taken from the lessees of the Colony and not put back into the Colony?

Where is the 'equality of opportunity and full reward of individual efforts’ when one neighbor pays the ‘single tax’ and the other doesn’t, but it is used to benefit both?   Where is the 'cooperation in matters of general concern' when the lessees are not asked what is of concern to them?

How can the FSTC be a demonstration when they, unlike the founders of FSTC, declare all meetings private?  Nowhere in the constitution does it say that lessees and the public are not allowed at the meetings.  Nowhere in the constitution does it say meetings are not public.  No where does it say that lessees cannot attend.  Nowhere does it say press is not allowed.  In fact, the Supreme Court ruled that except in matters of governance, lessees have the same rights as members.  They can't vote, but why doesn't that mean they can't come to meetings and listen or get minutes?  Why doesn't that mean they are stake holders in the corporations, and not just "tenants with not stake" as was recently said of the lessees?

  “ARTICLE VIII.  Land    Section 1.  There shall be no individual ownership of land within the jurisdiction of the Corporation, but the Corporation shall hold as trustee for its entire membership, the title to all lands upon which its community shall be maintained.”

That seems pretty clear that the FSTC community or Colony is just that area that includes land that FSTC has title to.  In other words, it is the community of lessees.  That is probably why the lease says "all values accruing from the land are held in trust for the benefit of those leasing the land...and no part of rents paid by [the lessee] shall be appropriated as dividends to its members or any other persons, but all shall be administered as a trust fund for the equal benefit of those leasing its lands." 

Its 2014.  There is no such thing as a single tax.  There are many taxes property taxes, and sales taxes, and income taxes for both state and federal government, and many more.  The Colony cannot be a demonstration of the value of the ‘land tax” since it is not exclusively on the Colony.  The ‘single tax’ is taken from the lessees who make up the Colony yet are not allowed at FSTC meetings and do not get communications from the FSTC except for the rent bill, and the ‘single tax’ is then spent to benefit people outside the Colony who do not pay the tax. 

“ARTICLE III Membership  Section 3. Any member against whom complaint of violation of the spirit and purpose of the Corporation or invasion of the rights of its members, is preferred in writing by 10% of its members, may be expelled by the Executive Council, after full investigation of charges preferred.  Such investigation shall be public and the accused shall be entitled to be represented by Counsel.”

The FSTC appeared to “be in violation of the spirit and purpose of the Corporation and of invasion of the rights of its members” when it recently voted to expel two members. 

It is only fair to let you know that I was one of the members expelled.  

 The complaint did not site violation of the spirit or the purpose of the Corporation or invasion of the rights of others as is required by the Constitution.  Instead there were charges of ‘lying in emails, conversations, blog site, etc.”  The Council refused to give a list of the alleged ‘lies’ and refused to give a list of which “emails, conversations, blog site” contained such lies.  They appeared to be violating the spirit of the corporation’s constitution when they gave just 9 days notice—not much time hire a lawyer—when ‘the accused shall be entitled to be represented by Counsel.”   The constitution does not call for an expulsion hearing, but requires a ‘full and public investigation of the charges."  FSTC refused to itemize the accusations and would not let lessees or witnesses or even let the accused’s court reporter stay.  They had no proof of any lies and offered no examples from “conversations, emails, blog site, etc.   The trustees reported that I was expelled for  ‘repeating a story I heard without first verifying it.”   There was no lie, much less lies, involved.  The Council refused to recuse themselves though they had proven their bias by the March10 hearing and the April 17 letter.     It seems they were guilty of 'invasion of the rights of members' by not offering a fair hearing based on the facts and reasons for expulsion as stated in the Constitution.

“ARTICLE IV.  SUPREME AUTHORITY:     Sec. 1.  Supreme Authority shall be vested equally in the membership, to be exercised through the initiative and referendum as hereinafter provided.” 

The membership needs full, accurate, and timely information in order to make informed decisions. 

“ARTICLE VI.  INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM

Sec. 1.  Upon petition of ten percent of the qualified membership, any act of the Executive Council, legislative or administrative, or any measure proposed by the petitioners, shall be submitted to a vote of that membership at the time set in said petition….

Sec. 2.  No measure of general legislation passed by the Executive Council shall be in force until thirty days have elapsed after its passage without the filing of a petition for its submission to the membership….”

Sec. 1 talks about administrative acts and legislative actions or ‘any measure proposed’ and gives the membership the right to vote upon a petition by 10% of the membership.   Sec. 2 is totally separate and only talks about general legislation limits when new legislation can come into effect.

That 30 days does not limit when membership may petition an action, only restricts when a legislative action comes into effect.  However this year the Council decided that the 30 limit referred to the membership’s right to petition.  If the Council passes an act, and 10 years later the membership no longer wants it, Council says the membership doesn’t have a right to petition. 

This 30 day limitation was not used in the past as an examination of the old referendum files shows.  This 30 day limitation greatly restricts the membership’s right of referendum and therefore restricts its right to be the Supreme Authority.  It is made more onerous by the fact that the minutes do not go to the membership until after 30 days have passed.   Most members would not know about it until it is too late to act.  It is also made more onerous because the FSTC does not follow the Code of Alabama’s provisions that members have the right to inspect and copy all documents, and FSTC does not let the membership have a list of phone numbers or emails of the membership, limiting the membership’s ability to contact other members.     

“ARTICLE X.  NO TAXATION     No taxes or charges of any kind other than heretofore provided for shall be levied by the corporation upon the property….”  So why are lessees charged the $100.00 administrative fee?

“ARTICLE XIII.  INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM.   The natural rights of its members to absolute freedom in production, exchange, associations, beliefs and worship, shall never be abrogated or impaired by the Corporation…”

Members should have the freedom to express their views and to run for office without fear of being expelled.