BREAKING: USHBA Board Election Winners Stripped of Victory for Unpaid Dues

sustainable constructionBuilding regulationsInnovationEco tourismTrade ShowsConferencesRenovationResearchEventPodcastTrade Association
Written By Jean Lotus

The current board of the United States Hemp Building Association. Courtesy of USHBA.org

By Jean Lotus

Whistle-blowing board members at a trade association for the US hemp building industry complained this week about irregularities in a board election, claiming that reported election results were unreliable. Winning candidates who had unpaid dues were stripped from the ballot after the election was over, whistleblowers said.

Alex Escher and Tom Rossmassler, board members at-large who served on the election committee of the US Hemp Building Association (USHBA) sent an email to some members Saturday.

 “The election process was compromised,” Escher and Rossmassler wrote. “Votes cast by members were retroactively voided. Oversight was intentionally disabled. The results can no longer be trusted.” 

Sign up for our free newsletter

The USHBA announced the results of the board races on Feb. 4 including Laura Franklin as the newly elected secretary and Heather Sage as one of the new board members at-large. 

But two other candidates were, in fact, the top vote-getters in those races, HempBuild Magazine has learned. Both of those candidates and a third were removed from the ballot after the election for unpaid membership fees.

In a low-turnout election of 37 total votes, Ingrid Fay won 25 votes for secretary role, beating candidate Laura Franklin, who garnered 10 votes. Two votes abstained, outgoing USHBA Secretary Ria Maddock confirmed.

In the board member at-large contest, Suneeta Eisenberg was third-top vote-getter in a field of eight candidates, winning 15 votes. Samantha Marino was the top at-large vote getter, followed by Shawn Ledig in second place. 

Also Running for CA Governor

Heather Sage and another candidate were tied for fourth place. Luis Vega, III won 5 votes, not making it into the top three, outgoing board secretary Maddock confirmed. Incumbent Vice President Amanda Martin Behrendtsen won the vote for VP in a race against former USHBA President Henry Gage Jr., Maddock confirmed.

Martin Behrendtsen, a contractor from Ojai, CA, has also announced that she is running for California governor, although her candidacy is not yet listed on any state election websites.

Three candidates – Fay, Eisenberg and Vega – were retroactively stripped from the ballot after the polls had closed because their membership dues were unpaid, multiple board members reported. 

Dues were Unpaid

In a Statement of Transparency emailed on Sunday, Board Vice President Martin Behrendtsen said USHBA bylaws say that USHBA members must be “active members in good standing” to run for the board or to serve on the board. However, Martin Behrendtsen acknowledged, the USHBA  failed to correctly maintain membership data due, in part, to moving to a new membership-tracking system. 

“The Election Committee was tasked with vetting candidates to ensure dues were paid and eligibility requirements were met before candidates ran,” the email said. “That vetting did not occur as it should have. The Board takes responsibility for that failure.” 

Active membership status was not being accurately tracked, multiple board members told HempBuild Mag. 

In fact, when the election began in mid January, five of the nine board members themselves had not paid dues, including two members of the executive committee. Several of the delinquent board members had paid their dues by the time the election closed Feb. 1. Rossmassler and Fay paid membership dues Feb. 9 and acknowledged that their memberships were in arrears during the election. 

A ‘Fixable’ Problem

In a multi-hour board meeting Feb. 3, the board voted 4 to 3 with one abstention to accept the results of the election, even though the three candidates had not paid $99 individual membership fees, whistleblower Escher said. 

The payment problem was “very fixable,” Escher told HempBuild Magazine and the members who voted did not deserve to have their votes spoiled. “Disqualifying candidates was a horrendous idea at this time of the process,” Escher said. The association even had a membership sale going on, which cut the individual membership to $54. 

But after the board close-vote to accept the election results, three members of the executive committee “sought independent legal counsel,” Martin Behrendtsen said in her email. She described the board as “divided and procedurally compromised.”  

The executive committee of President Ashley Stallworth, Vice President Amanda Behrendtsen and Secretary Ria Maddock (minus treasurer Dylan Trimarchi who, multiple board members confirmed, had not paid his membership dues), voted to remove all votes cast for Fay, Eisenberg and Vega. They then certified the results and announced them in an overnight email.

Nine candidates ran for office in the USHBA’s most recent board election. Photo courtesy of USHBA

Low-turnout Election and Shrinking Membership

A total of 37 paid members voted in the election, and 11 non-paid members voted in the election and had their ballots voided, multiple board members told HempBuild Mag.

“It was a very low-participation election,” retiring secretary Ria Maddock told HempBuild Mag. 

Maddock and other board members noted that in 2025, the USHBA had not adequately focused on membership.

In the past year, membership in USHBA dropped more than 45% to 77 current paid members from 140 paid members in November, 2024. That didn’t count about a dozen evergreen memberships for original founders of USHBA doled out in 2019. [Full disclosure: the author served on the USHBA board as secretary from September, 2022 - Dec. 2024]. 

Multiple USHBA board members told HempBuild Mag they were disappointed when fewer than 30 people showed up for an online all-membership meeting over the summer. 

Inaccurate tracking of membership status and a transfer to a new website meant that some members never got a renewal notice when their membership expired, Martin Behrendtsen and other board members acknowledged.

Chicago-based USHBA board member Ingrid Fay.

Emotional Resignation Taken Back

Secretary candidate Ingrid Fay, whose candidacy was voided, told HempBuild Mag she didn’t know her membership was invalid until her vote was reported “spoiled” Feb. 1 by the Election Buddy software. 

As a regional leader, she said she thought she qualified for a free membership during 2025, which was doled out via a code to about two-dozen regional leaders. Candidates threw their hats into the ring by the deadline of 18 December, 2025, so Fay said she thought she was a registered member. Secretary Maddock said Fay had never activated her code. 

Fay was one of the longest-serving members on the current board, finishing her second year as an at-large board member and as midwestern regional leader.

On Feb. 1, Fay announced she was quitting the board more than 2 hours into what was described as an "emotional” multi-hour meeting. On Feb. 3 she wrote a letter to the board revoking her resignation and said she wanted to stay on the board and in the race.

“It’s been so tumultuous,” Fay told HempBuild Magazine. “If 25 people voted for me, and their votes got discounted then we really don't have our membership at heart here?” she asked. “It comes down to we exist for our members, and because of our members. So when we make them feel like their voice doesn't matter, then why would they continue to support us?”

Candidate Suneeta Eisenberg, based in Bellingham, WA.

Thought Husband’s Membership would Count

Disqualified third-top vote getter at-large Bellingham, WA-based candidate Suneeta Eisenberg told HempBuild Mag she was never informed that she needed her own membership. She said her husband had an active membership and she thought that counted for her as well. She said no one reached out to tell her to get into compliance.

“That's so sad,” she said when told she would have been a winner if she had been an active member. Eisenberg teaches non-profit governance at a community college and thought her experience could benefit the board. She also said her non-profit organization had just won a significant grant and she was hoping USHBA could partner. “I thought I could collaborate regionally and share all this funding that we brought,” she said. She said the board had “poor communication” with the candidates. 

“They could have just reached out to the winners and told them, ‘Hey, you need to be good standing. You have 24 to 48 hours to renew.’”

Removed candidate Luis Vega did not return messages from HempBuild Mag before press time. 


Tumultuous Board Meetings

Board members interviewed described hours-long board meetings filled with arguments and “head butting.” Escher said the discussion on election eligibility consumed almost 20 hours of discussion, with himself and Rossmassler frozen out of the final election committee decision and were never shown the official tallies. Martin Behrendtsen disputed that characterization and told HempBuild Mag that the two were invited to view election results and refused. 

“I don’t know how we got here,” Secretary Maddock told HempBuild Mag. She served a one-year term and chose not to run for re-election. 

“I wanted to walk away knowing I did my best and held integrity for the election process. The whole year I’ve been put in the middle and I’m over it.”

“We didn’t disqualify those candidates,” Maddock added. “They disqualified themselves by not following the rules.”

“I probably dodged a bullet here,” disqualified candidate Fay told HempBuild Mag. “[The election] turned out to be a popularity contest, and then it turned to shit.”

This is an ongoing story and may be updated. 

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Board Member Heather Sage.

Please Support Our Classified Advertisers 

(To find out more about advertising CLICK HERE).

Publications

Architects/Design Pros/Engineers

Green Builders

Hemp Building Research and Training

Hemp Hurd (shivs)/Hemp Fiber/ Hemp Microfiber

Hempcrete installers/Insulation subcontractors

Hemp Batt Insulation/Supplies

Lime Binders, Plasters and Mineral Paints

Machine Manufacturing Companies

  • Quadra Concrete robotics and specialty machines in France and Phoenix, AZ USA

Hemp Wall Panel Products

Hemp Hardwood and Flooring:

Hemp Blocks

Jean Lotus
Next

Renewabuild Revives Interlocking Hemp Block with Canada, US Factories