Policy for the Revocation of the Top 50 Over 50 Award

Policy for the Revocation of the Top 50 Over 50 AwardPositive Maturity Board of Directors reserves the right to revoke any Top 50 Over 50 awards at its sole discretion.

The board may choose to revoke an award should it become known that the Top 50 Over 50 “recipient(s)” has a criminal history or confirmation they have engaged in unethical behavior or conduct. Whereby the ongoing association with Top 50 Over 50 and the recipient will negatively reflect on the Award or Positive Maturity, Inc.

Top 50 Over 50 recipients have the right the review any inquiries or complaints that will place them at risk for removal from the Top 50 Over 50.

Procedure for Revocation of the Top 50 Over 50 Award

Any community, staff, or board member who has reason to believe that a recipient of the Top 50 Over 50 award meets the criteria of Positive Maturity’s Policy for Revocation of the Top 50 Over 50 Award may send a written inquiry to the Executive Director of Positive Maturity explaining the basis of their concern. These concerns should be sent via mail or email unless such disclosure would violate any federal, local, or state laws. Phone calls will not be accepted by Positive Maturity as a method to report a concern. Back up documentation should accompany the report.

Upon receiving a request to revoke an award, the Executive Director will review the request with the board chair, and the two will decide as to whether to formally consider revoking the award. If so, the Executive Director will place the request on the agenda of an upcoming board meeting. Normally, the request will be added to the next regularly scheduled bi-monthly meeting of the board of directors; the Executive Director may also call a special board meeting to consider the request if s/he deems it necessary. If, in the Executive Director’s sole judgment, the next regularly scheduled board meeting is too soon after receipt of the request to sufficiently prepare for board consideration, consideration of the request may be delayed to the following board meeting.

The Executive Director will provide the board with appropriate materials to consider the request. As Positive Maturity, the sponsoring agency, is not an investigative body, the Executive Director will not investigate the conduct, only collect reasonably available information (e.g., public records, press reports, personal accounts from the targets of the criminal or unethical conduct) related to the revocation request. The recipient of the prize will be informed of the revocation request and will be given the opportunity to submit a written response for consideration by the board. If the revocation request comes from someone other than the target of the conduct and the identity of the target is known to the Executive Director, the target will be informed of the revocation request and given the opportunity to submit a written response for consideration by the board. All requests for revocation of prizes will be discussed in executive session. Revoking a prize requires a two-thirds majority vote.

Communication of a decision to revoke a prize will be handled on a case-by-case basis. At a minimum, the prize winner’s name will be removed from Positive Maturity’s and the Top 50 Over 50 websites, the decision will be recorded in the minutes of the relevant board meeting(s), and documentation of the decision to revoke will be placed on file at Positive Maturity’s headquarters.

A statement that the Top 50 over 50 Award can be revoked at the sole discretion of Positive Maturity on behalf of the Top 50 Over 50 will appear on both Positive Maturity’s and the Top 50 Over 50’s website.

Note about criminal or unethical conduct by prize nominees: Nominations for prizes and deliberations by prize selection committees are normally confidential, so it may be rare that a person with knowledge of conduct by a prize nominee that would be grounds for revocation of an award is aware that the nominee is being considered for The Top 50 Over. However, in cases where this does occur, the person with knowledge of conduct that could be grounds for revocation should report this to the Executive Director as soon as possible, ideally before prize deliberations are completed. The Executive Director will then consult with the chair of the Top 50 Committee and the President of the Board of Directors to determine an appropriate course of action.