CALUMET — A recent article appearing in the Daily Mining Gazette stated that Calumet Theatre Company member Rebecca Glotfelty was bodily removed from the annual membership meeting on Sept. 27 and cited for disturbing the peace. Glotfelty responded to that article in a telephone interview on Friday to clarify the events leading up to, and including, her expulsion from the meeting by order of then Board Chairwoman Shannon Richter. Glotrelty emphasized that she was not issued a citation of any kind.

Rebecca Glotfelty, a paying member of the Calumet Theatre Company, was expelled from the meeting by Richter and escorted from the Calumet Theatre building by an uniformed, but unidentified Michigan State Trooper of the Calumet Post, for responding to a question posed by Richter during the meeting. She was not expelled for asking a question on financial matters, however, as was stated in the DMG; rather, she was expelled for responding to a question asked by Richter.

“I was responding to a question of hers,” Glotfelty said, “it was on the agenda. The agenda was not presented to the membership to be added to.”

Glotfelty explained that at membership meetings the standard procedure is for the board to present the agenda to the members for a vote, on whether to accept the agenda as is or to add to it. That was not done, said Glotfelty, adding that there was no proper protocol for the meeting from the beginning.

The first order of business was an approval of the minutes to be deferred, because there were some question on the previous year’s annual meeting that some members had, she said.

There was also a referendum, said Glotfelty, to increase the number of the Board of Directors from eight to nine.

“My question to Shannon was: The bylaws state that there can be up to 20 Board of Directors,” Glotfelty said. “And so I said to her, why don’t we just have up to 20 Board of Directors?”

In response, Richter asked if Glotfelty had ever served on a non-profit board. Glotfelty answered:

“Yes, I have. I served on the board of the Calumet Theatre and I resigned, because financial information was withheld from me when asked for.”

An audio recording of that period of the meeting, provided to the DMG by another member of the Theatre Company, not only bears out Glotfelty’s statements, but also suggests that throughout the meeting, Glotfelty understated the events.

“Okay. So. Rebecca is suggesting we defer the Minutes, or is there somebody else out there who wants to accept them and move on? Or do we defer? I need a motion.” The majority voted to defer.

At that point, Richter said the meeting would move onto the first ballot, which asks the question of whether the number of board members should increased from eight to nine.

Theatre member Penny Shute Menze can be heard making a motion to increase the board from eight to 11, to which Richter replied that it is stated on the agenda to increase the number only from eight to nine.

“That’s what the board voted on,” Richter said.

It was at that point that Glotfelty asked about the bylaws permitting up to 20 people to be seated on the board. Richter replied that with that many people on a board, it becomes difficult to control, then went on to ask if Glotfelty had ever served on a board.

When Glotfelty replied that she had, but resigned over being denied access to the financial information, Richter is heard to become aggressive, yelling: “I’m going to close the meeting, Rebecca!”

Glotfelty, at that point, can be heard over Richter’s raised voice, entering a motion to increase the board from eight to 20 members. The motion was seconded by both Menze and member Jerry Mitchell, the audio recording reveals. In spite of the motion receiving two seconds, rather than open the motion to the floor for discussion, more yelling from several people, including Richter, ensued.

After the noise quieted, Glotfelty then entered a motion to dissolve the entire Board of Directors, which was followed by more indistinct yelling from several people. Toward the end of the 12-minute recording, one member can be heard saying, “What? She can’t do that!” and another asking why a police officer was removing Glotfelty.

Glotfelty on Friday told the DMG that while she was issued no citations by the State Trooper, she believes her expulsion was in violation of the Calumet Theatre bylaws (which are posted on the theatre website), because as a paying member in good standing, she had the right to make motions, which the board was obligated to open to discussion.

According the Bylaws of the Calumet Theatre Company, approved June 1, 2020, as posted on https://calumettheatre.com/theatre-bylaws/:

Article II — Membership, Sec. 2.1a states:

a. Regular members are persons, who complete an annual membership form and pay the dues established by the Board of Directors. Regular members will be entitled to participate in all activities of Calumet Theatre Company, including voting and holding office.

Section 2.2 VOTING/PARTICIPATION, states: Each member shall have one vote. Glotfelty maintains that Richter’s ordering her removed from the meeting prevented her from her right to vote in further motions.

Article III — Board of Directors, Section 3.2 states:

Glotfelty further stated that as a member in good standing, her making the motion to increase the board membership to 20 was well within her rights to do, which she referenced in Section 3.2 of the Bylaws:

3.2 NUMBER AND SELECTION OF DIRECTORS. The Board of Directors shall consist of not less than three (3) and not more than twenty (20) persons. Directors shall serve for three (3) year terms, except initially one-third (1/3) shall be elected to serve for three (3) years, one-third (1/3) shall be elected to serve for two (2) years, and one-third (1/3) elected to serve for one (1) year. In the event of an increase in the number of elected Directors serving, terms shall be established so that the terms of approximately one-third (1/3) of the Directors expire each year. Directors may be re-elected and shall serve until their successors are elected.