Bylaw changes - One members opinion.

 

 

Members,

 

I do not think that many members have looked at the proposed bylaws. It is not an easy read and most members just do not have any concern She’ll be right mate! That is all very well until something goes wrong and then the fight starts. We now have considerable funds within our club and I believe that all members are equal and have equal rights in determining the application of the club funds, within reason.

 

One of the important changes is that we can now alter our bylaws quite simply as long as it is within the spirit of District and RI.  We can fix a problem, probably, after the event.

 

I have some proposals for alteration that I would like to put to you for consideration before we take a vote on the proposed bylaws on the 10th of June.

 

1.Article 1 (6) .

Year:The 12-month period that begins on 1 July.

As our fiscal period is 1 June to 31 May of each year I would propose the article to read: .

“Year: The club year is 12-month period that begins on 1 July. The club financial year is 12-month period that begins on 1 June.”

 

2.Article 3 (3).  

Section 3 —  A vacancy on the Board (short or long term) shall be filled by the remaining members of the Board.

The wording may be made a little easier to understand by a modification. I propose that it should read:

“A vacancy on the Board (short or long term) shall be filled from the membership by the remaining members of the Board.

 

Section 4 — A vacancy of any officer-elect position or director-elect position shall be filled by the remaining members of the Board-elect.

As above

Section 4 — A vacancy of any officer-elect position or director-elect position shall be filled from the membership by the remaining members of the Board-elect.

 

Section 5 — Terms of office for each role shall be 12 months except the president elect and the past president who will serve for six months in that role.

This is proposed in Article 4 “Duties of the Board” however i believe it should be in this Article as it specifies “Term of Office”. I propose the section should read:

Section 5 — Terms of office for each role shall be 12 months except the president elect, whom will serve an additional six months on the board immediately before taking office and the immediate past president whom will serve on the board an additional six months after holding office.

 

5 Article 4 (2) Duties of the Board could read “Duties of Board Members”

 

Section 1 — Annual Meeting. An annual meeting of this club shall be held no later than 30th November to elect the officers and directors who will serve for the next Rotary year.

In order to comply with our standard Club Constitution and the law of the Consumerr Affairs of SA we need to change the Annual Meeting date to conform with the law. We need to have our Annual Meeting before October 31st

The Constitution states: Section 2 — Annual Meeting. An annual meeting for the election of officers of the Club shall be held within five months after the end of its financial year as provided in the bylaws.

I propose that Section 1 read: Annual Meeting. An annual meeting of this club shall be held no later than 31th October to elect the officers and directors who will serve for the next Rotary year.

 

Section 4. Club assembly meetings are to be held at least twice in any club year.

We have traditionally held a “Club Assembly” meeting twice a year, once following the “Annual Meeting” in December and then one at the end of the club year where Reports of each committee and others such as treasurers report are received.  I believe that all meetings are a “Club Assembly” and we should dispense with this term in favour of an “Annual Reports meeting” or some other name.

The other purpose of the “Club Assembly was to air grievances and special business (whatever that means). I believe that every club meeting be it a regular meeting or a fireside meeting (Monthly committee meeting) could be an opportunity to raise any business, although we should reserve Committee meeting nights as the night to raise general business in order to save discussion when visitors are present.

I propose Section 4 should read Annual Reports. Directors and the Treasurer are to table their annual reports no later than the 2^nd Tuesday of June each year.

I propose an additional Section 5 to read: Committee meetings. Each club committee meet once a month.

 

Section 7 — The fiscal year is from 1 July to 30 June.

This is not correct.

I propose that Article 7 read: fiscal year is from 1 June to 31 May.

 

Section 6 — The club may elect honorary members proposed by the Board.

It has been resolved by the club that  members who choose to leave active membership after 30 years of service or who are Paul Harris fellows  automatically become honorary members of the club. I would propose that this be reflected in the bylaws here and Section 6 to read:

The club may elect honorary members proposed by the Board.  Members who have served 30 years or more as a Rotarian or has received the honour of Paul Harris fellow automatically become honorary members of the club.

 

Any resolutions or motions to commit the club to any position or action shall first be reviewed and approved by the Board.  If resolutions or motions are first offered at a club meeting, they shall be sent to the Board without discussion.  Recommendations first offered at a club meeting shall be discussed by the club prior to submission to the Board for its consideration (should the proponent so wish).

 

This Article specifies “Resolutions” but does not specify “Recommendations”. We could change the article to reflect it by naming it “Resolutions and Reommendations” or we could rename it “Club Business” or have two articles.

 

Anyway,business of the club should possibly come from Committee meetings, initially, rather than from the floor at regular meetings or from assembly meetings. This would eliminates the element of surprise and also give the opportunity of full and free discussion in the privacy of the committee rather than in a somewhat public environment before a recommendation or motion is sent to the board for further consideration.

In any case there should be every opportunity of full and free discussion at a meeting other than the meeting at which it was raised if it is a general meeting. This affords time to think through a motion or recommendation rather than rushing it through.

 

All proposed donations and charitable gifts to any person or organisation in excess of $5,000.00 shall be presented to the club for formal approval prior to payment by the Board.

 

I think if members are happy with the dollar value then there should be a limit to the under the limit total spend per annum. Say $20K.

 

Chris Stone