As a membership organization, the Bylaws serves as our governance document, defining who we are, our purpose, and how we are to go about fulfilling that purpose. The membership controls this document, and any changes that the Board proposes must be voted on and approved by the general membership.
Several years have passed since the last revision, and it was a consensus of the Board that a review was due. At its November meeting, the Board established a special Bylaws Review Committee to review the Club Bylaws, naming Jan Boatman, Bob Fulton, Stan Osborne, Debra Sloan, Deb Stalder, Rod Unruh, Jean Van Winkle and Joe Van Winkle to serve on the Committee.
The Bylaws Review Committee has begun its work and thus far has identified the following areas to explore:
Clarify Key Terms & Definitions
- Develop a more comprehensive definition of relationships between the Club and individuals, including graduates, alumni and guests, in addition to active members. Clarify “active member in good standing” definition.
- Define and/or expand definitions of meetings, activities, events, social gatherings, and sub-groups of the Club.
Governance & Policy Structure
- Explore pros and cons of expanding the authority granted to the Board over operational policies, while grooming the Bylaws to focus on governance matters. In doing so, existing statements of policy in the current Bylaws would be migrated to Board-managed policies.
- Consider redefining Board structure to reflect elected officers, plus primary committee chairs - in effect reducing the Board to 15-18 positions.
- Assign voting rights to Board positions (rather than people) and create a provision for proxy voting. Define a voting quorum.
- Establish a formal record retention mandate for the Board, to better preserve knowledge of operational practice and policy.
Fiscal Management & Responsibility
- Explore pros and cons of modifying the existing convention of a fiscal year (June - May) being different than the membership year (September - August). Consider a common year of July - June, while maintaining existing general meeting schedule.
- Consider defining the Budget Committee as a standing committee of the Board. Formally require the use of an adopted fiscal budget as the requirement to authorize expenditures.
- Explore concepts to establish guidelines for use of Club funds: operating, contingency, and surplus.
If you have any questions, input or other interest in the work of the Bylaws Review Committee, please contact any Committee member or email BylawsReview@EstesParkNewcomers.org.