2011/5/10 James Hare jamesmhare@gmail.com
A motion to establish a membership structure, to adopt a form for
membership certificates, and to adopt rules for ballot access
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
A. Membership Terms and Dues Schedule for Fiscal Year 2011/2012 1. The first term of membership in the organization shall last between the date this motion is adopted and September 30, 2012. 2. Those who register between the date this motion is adopted and February 29, 2012 shall pay $10 in membership dues. 3. Those who register between March 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012 shall pay $5 in membership dues.
If we're going to have phased membership dues, I would prefer to either have the part-time membership end September 30, or to offset the membership year from the fiscal year and have membership years rotate on September 1. Having a three-phased dues system is just going to cause headaches for everyone involved without substantially increasing dues collection.
B. Membership Terms and Dues Schedule for Subsequent Fiscal Years
1. The second term of membership and all subsequent terms ofmembership shall coincide with the fiscal year. 2. Those who register between September 1 and September 30 of a given fiscal year shall pay $10 in membership dues, with membership effective for the fiscal year beginning October 1, and they may vote in, and contest, elections for directors whose terms will begin on October 1, but they may not vote on any other question.
Major problem here: including this provision would require a full vote to modify the Bylaws, rather than a simple vote of the Board, since:
(a) the Board currently lacks the authority to deprive a member of the right to vote on any matter before the assembly; and (b) Directors take their seats immediately upon election, not on October 1.
Further, to be quite honest, I don't really see the point in this approach. Why would someone be able to vote for directors but not on, say, the budget for the subsequent year?
3. Full-Time Membership: Those who register between October 1 andFebruary 28, or February 29 during leap years, shall pay $10 in membership dues, with membership for that fiscal year effective immediately. 4. Part-Time Membership: Those who register between March 1 and August 31 shall pay $5 in membership dues, with membership for the remainder of that fiscal year effective immediately.
As above, I would prefer to either have the full-time membership begin September 1, or have the part-time end September 30.
C. Registration Process 1. Registration may either take place in person, where the Secretary and Treasurer are both available, or through an online registration system to be created by a person or committee designated by the Board of Directors for that purpose.
Why not allow registration by mail? An online system is a nice idea, but it will likely be some time before we have one in place; in the meantime, having to wait to meet both of us in person is going to needlessly delay things.
I'd also suggest allowing split applications/dues payments; in other words, a person would submit an application to the Secretary, separately submit dues to the Treasurer, and be issued a membership certificate after the two officers had confirmed that both parts were complete. This will allow us to use an online payment method (e.g. PayPal) to collect money without requiring that the entire registration process be fully integrated with it.
On a more general point of order, the in-person provision should limit such registration to regular meetings of the Board or the membership. Otherwise, we're potentially liable to be approached at *any* time the two of us are in the same room.
2. Registrants are required to submit their full name, mailingaddress, and email address to the Secretary. 3. In-person registration: Upon the receipt of adequate personal details by the Secretary and the collection of the appropriate amount of dues by the Treasurer, the Secretary shall sign and issue a membership certificate. 4. Online registration: Upon the adequate completion of an online registration form and the transmission of the appropriate amount of dues through the online payment mechanism to be adopted, the Secretary shall sign and mail a membership certificate to the mailing address specified by the registrant. 5. Membership certificates may not be emailed.
As above, I suggest having additional options for collecting the applications and dues.
D. Form of Membership Certificate
1. The membership certificate for the 2011/2012 fiscal year shall beprinted on postcard-sized cardstock in the form specified by the attached image.
Why would we use "postcard-sized cardstock", unless you're implying that we should have these professionally printed? Using a regular printed certificate would reduce costs substantially.
E. Election of Directors 1. A director must maintain membership in the organization for the time of their term. Those whose memberships have lapsed during their term will be required to re-register promptly or resign. 2. A candidate must declare their candidacy to the Secretary in order to be printed on the ballot. The Secretary is responsible for ensuring that candidates are eligible for office. 3. The deadline for filing for ballot access is 48 hours before the start of the annual membership meeting.
Best practices would suggest that nominations be received by a committee, not a single individual; while the Secretary can be responsible for processing the paperwork, there should be some level of oversight and transparency here.
Kirill