|
Constitution &
By-laws of the |
|
|
CONSTITUTION ARTICLE I.
ARTICLE III.
MEMBERSHIP. Any
person interested in the Setaukets and vicinity who has reached his
eighteenth birthday and who subscribes to the aims of the Association
and their fulfillment may apply for membership. ARTICLE IV.
Dues
for membership shall be as determined by vote of the general membership
and shall be payable on the first of May each year, the beginning of the
Association's fiscal year. ARTICLE V.
The
Officers of the Association shall consist of President, First
Vice-President, Second Vice-President, Recording Secretary,
Corresponding Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant
Treasurer, and
Sergeant-at-Arms. ARTICLE VI.
The
Board of Directors shall consist of the Officers, nine
Directors, the previous 5 past
presidents and Archivist. ARTICLE VII.
MEETINGS. Membership
meetings shall be held monthly except July and August which shall be
optional. The Association
shall hold an annual meeting during the month of April for the election
of its Officers and Directors and may hold such regular and special
meetings as may be necessary in the manner prescribed in the By-Laws. ARTICLE VIII.
AMENDMENTS. This
Constitution and By-Laws may be amended as follows: 1.
A
proposed Amendment shall be submitted in writing to the Board of
Directors and read to the members at any regular or special meeting. 2.
The
voting on the amendment shall be at the following membership or special
meeting. A two-thirds vote
of the voting members present at the meeting and in good standing, shall
be necessary for adoption. 3.
Meeting
notices to members should inform them that an amendment or amendments is
or are going to be proposed and voted upon. BY-LAWS ARTICLE I.
MEMBERSHIP 1.
There
is no family membership, only individual membership.
A person desiring to become a member of the Association may do so
by depositing the full annual dues with the Treasurer of the
Association. A membership
card indicating acceptance of the applicant as a ``member in good
standing'' shall be available from the Treasurer upon verification of
qualification according to Article III of the Constitution fifteen (15)
days after receipt of the dues. 2.
Upon
a rejection of any applicant by the Treasurer, the applicant has the
right to appeal to the Board of Directors for a review and subsequent
action in a membership meeting. 3.
A
member who shall fail to pay his/her dues by November 1st of a current
fiscal year shall be dropped from the rolls of the Association. 4.
A
new member (including a member dropped from the rolls of the
Association) shall become a ``member in good standing'' fifteen (15)
days after paying his/her dues, per provision of By-Laws
Article I Section 1. 5.
A
``member in good standing'' is a current member who has paid his/her
dues for the current fiscal year or a new member who has obtained a
membership card in his/her name. 6.
A
membership card for each "member in good standing" will be
available from the Treasurer at general meetings or may be mailed. ARTICLE II.
MEETINGS 1.
A
membership meeting may be called a)
at
the direction of the President, the Executive Committee or Directors; or b)
at
the written request of at least ten members in good standing, submitted
to the President; or c)
at
the date or dates previously decided by a regular membership meeting.
The Corresponding Secretary shall notify all members of every
meeting to be held no matter by whom their calling has been initiated,
stating the reason for special meeting. 2.
A
quorum shall consist of eleven members in good standing at a regular
membership meeting, and half of the Board of Directors at board
meetings. 3.
The
order of business of regular membership meetings shall be as follows: a.
Call
to order b.
c.
Reports
of Officers, President, Secretaries and Treasurer d.
Bills
and Communications e.
Report
of Committees, standing and special f.
Old
business g.
New
business h.
Informal
round table discussion i.
Adjournment 4.
Issues
requiring vote shall be decided by a simple majority of the vote of
members in good standing present at the meeting and voting.
Membership cards may be required in order to vote. The Chair will
vote only in the event of a tie. 5.
If
three (3) or more Board Members at a meeting feel that a just completed
vote has not had adequate notification or deliberation, they may call
for a Ratification vote. This
action tables the passage of a motion until the next general membership
meeting when a ratification or re-vote is conducted. The ratification
vote is final and is decided by a simple majority of those present and
voting. Prior to that
ratification vote the entire membership must be timely notified of the
upcoming ratification vote and the issues. 6.
Meetings
shall be conducted in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws of
the Association and Robert's Rules of Order, Revised. ARTICLE III.
QUALIFICATIONS OF OFFICERS AND DIR 1.
Only
a member who has reached his/her twenty-first birthday and has been a
member in good standing for the preceding 12 months and has paid his/her
dues for the year he/she is standing for election, can be a candidate
for an office or directorship.
A Candidate for
President must have been a sitting member of the board for at least 11
months within a two year period prior to the time of taking office.
The Board of Directors may waive any of the above qualifications. ARTICLE IV.
TERM OF OFFICE 1.
The
elected term of office for all officers shall be one year. 2.
The
term of director is three years; three
retiring the first year, three
the next, and three the third
year. 3.
No
regular director or officer shall succeed himself for the same office
more than twice except the
Recording Secretary, Treasurer, Archivist and Corresponding Secretary. ARTICLE V.
NOMINATIONS 1.
A
Nominating Committee consisting of five members, all in good standing,
shall be appointed by the President in January of each year.
This Committee shall nominate candidates for the various offices
and directorates of the Association for the coming year. This Committee
shall elect its own chair. 2.
The
Nominating Committee shall present the names of
nominees to the members of the Association either by a written
communication from the Corresponding Secretary or at the March
membership meeting. 3.
At
the annual meeting held in March,
the month before the election, additional nominations for the
various offices may be made by any member of the Association in good
standing. All such
nominations must be seconded by a member in good standing. The nominee
must agree to serve if elected. ARTICLE VI.
ELECTIONS 1.
The
Officers and Directors shall be elected by a majority vote of those
members who are in good standing and are present and voting.
In case there are three or more candidates for an office and no
one shall receive a majority, the two candidates receiving the highest
number of votes shall be voted upon again.
2.
During
the procedure of election the meeting shall be presided over by a member
who is not a candidate for any office in that election. 3.
Voting
shall be carried out by a secret ballot or by a show of hands as
determined by a majority vote of the members present and in good
standing at the annual April membership meeting. 4.
The
chair shall designate a committee to count votes and announce the
results officially. 5.
The
newly elected Officers and Directors shall take office on May 1 after
their election at the annual meeting held in April of the same year. ARTICLE VII.
VACANCIES 1.
Should
the office of the President be vacated, the First Vice-President shall
automatically take over the duties of President for the unexpired term. 2.
In
the event of vacancy in any other office, the Board of Directors shall
fill the office for the unexpired term, or until the next annual meeting
as the case may be with Directors. 3.
An
Officer or a Director not attending three consecutive Board of Directors
sessions or three membership meetings in a sequence, without a
legitimate reason shall be reported to the next Board of Directors
meeting for such action as said Board may deem necessary. 4.
Directors
serve in three classes with staggered terms of office. When the bylaws
are amended to increase the number of directors, the three new
appointments are made to add one new director to each class with a term
expiring with the other class members. (i.e., one would be less than
3-years, one less than 2-years and one less than 1-year)
These are initially filled by appointment of the board and
approved by a majority vote at an announced membership meeting. Once the
directorships are filled, subsequent elections follow normal election
procedures. ARTICLE VIII.
ARCHIVIST 1.
Documents,
records and property of the Association not currently used by Officers
or committees shall be in the possession and safekeeping of the
Association's Archivist. 2.
These
records and documents shall be accessible to the Officers and Directors
of the Association at any time, and to any member of the Association
upon the written recommendation of three members of the Board of
Directors. 3.
The
Archivist shall be elected for five years at an annual meeting and may
be re-elected. He is a
member of the Board of Directors and is required to attend Executive
Board meetings. ARTICLE IX.
DUTIES OF OFFICERS. The
duties of each officer shall be as follows: 1.
The
President shall (a)
see
to it that the Constitution and By-Laws of the Association are enforced; (b)
supervise
the activities of the Association; (c)
serve
as official representative of the Association; (d)
release
for publication announcements of policies approved by the Association; (e)
preside
at all Board of Directors sessions and membership meetings; (f)
appoint
chair of all committees, with the exception of the Nominating Committee;
and (g)
issue
an annual report of the Association's activities. 2.
(a)
the
First Vice-President shall assume full responsibility of the duties of
the President in his absence or
incapacity and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned or
requested by the president; (b)
The
Second Vice-President shall assume full responsibilities of the duties
of the First Vice-President in his absence or incapacity, and shall
perform such other duties as shall be assigned or requested by the
President. 3.
Recording Secretary shall: (a)
record
and keep an accurate account in writing of
the proceedings of all membership meetings and the Board of
Directors sessions; (b)
in
the absence of the President, First Vice-President and Second
Vice-President, conduct meetings. 4.
The Corresponding Secretary shall: (a)
attend
to the correspondence of the Association as directed by the President; (b)
issue
a call for all meetings; (c)
conduct
meetings in the absence of the President, First Vice-President, Second
Vice-President and Recording
Secretary. 5.
The Treasurer shall: (a)
keep
a detailed and correct record of the finances of the Association and a
roll of membership; (b)
present
a written report to each membership
meeting of all monetary transactions since the preceding meeting,
and a yearly report at the first membership meeting following the
expiration of the fiscal
year; (c)
make
out and sign all checks as ordered by the
Board of Directors or membership meeting; (d)
the
Treasurer's books shall be audited at the close of each fiscal year
either by an auditing
committee appointed by the board of directors during the month of
April of each year or by a
Public Accountant with such reasonable expense of
said audit to become an obligation payable on April 30th. 6.
The
Assistant Treasurer shall assist the Treasurer in his work and shall
assume full responsibility for the duties of the Treasurer in the event
of his absence or incapacity. 7.
The
Sergeant-at-Arms shall be responsible for reestablishing order in the
event of a disturbance. In
those instances where events of special interest are scheduled, arousing
large public attendance at either the regular or special meetings, the
Sergeant-at-Arms, with the concurrence of the President, shall take such
action as deemed necessary for the purpose of maintaining both orderly
meetings and adequate traffic control. ARTICLE X.
DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
It
shall: (a)
formulate
the policy of this Association; (b)
exercise
general executive powers; (c)
carry
out the decisions of the membership meetings; (d)
authorize
payment of incidental, nominal bills not to exceed $100.00; and (e)
approve
the payments of bills for expenditures authorized by the membership
meetings, exceeding $100.00. ARTICLE XI.
COMMITTEES. The
President shall appoint the Chair of all committees deemed necessary
with the exception of the Nominating Committee.
Each established committee shall, after due deliberation by the
Officers and Directors, be specifically charged with its responsibility
and limitations. Committee Chairs shall serve at the pleasure of the
President, or until a new President is elected. ARTICLE XII. EXPULSION OF MEMBERS. 1.
A
member whose action or behavior is detrimental to the ideals and
purposes of the Association or to the members thereof, may be requested
to resign by the President of the Association upon
written recommendation of the majority of the Board of Directors
of the Association.
In the event that such a member shall fail to
comply with the request of the President, such a member may be
expelled at any membership meeting by a majority vote of the members in
good standing present and voting, provided that two weeks written
notice be sent to all "members in good standing" of the
Association stating that such a vote will be taken at the meeting.
The vote shall be by secret ballot. 2.
Prior
to the Board of Directors making any recommendation regarding expulsion
of a member, the Board of Directors shall first notify such member of
the charges against him and permit him to appear before the Board of
Directors to answer such charges. The
accused member shall be presented with such charges in writing. ARTICLE XIII.
ASSOCIATION SUPPORT.
It
shall be the policy of this Association to provide support to groups or
associations, consistent with the general policies of this Association
and subject to the approval of the general membership at a regular or
special meeting. ARTICLE XIV.
ENACTMENT. The
contents of the above, having been adopted by the membership meeting of
|
|
|
|
|