[crw-talk] ByLaws and Officers nominations

Tue Sep 12 22:31:48 CDT 2023

Hello All,

John states in this month's newsletter,  under FOUND IN THE WOOD CHIPS UNDER
MY LATHE - "An essential topic for September will be nomination of officers
so there will be an important business meeting as well. All offices are up
for election".  

Indeed the actual election will be coming, however to be clear, that takes
place at the October 21 meeting. All members wishing to vote must be
present.

As bout 1/2 or less of the CRW membership are eligible to be officers as I
have been informed for several years, that officers must be AAW members.
However, this is not substantiated in these two attached files.   Therefore,
that leaves a rather small eligible pool. I'm quite certain, within the
larger membership (including non AAW member club folks), there are plenty of
people, who have the talent and possibly the desire to be on the board, but
are not now eligible to run, as their AAW membership is not active.

I have requested several times over the past year, most recently responding
to the Online Survey sent out on June 13 by James Bloomer, that the current
ByLaws be reviewed by the board and membership.  Nothing has resulted from
that suggestion, nor an acknowledgment of such. The club meeting following
the board mtg in June did not mention the ByLaws by any measure!

Keep in mind, there is NO mandate that AAW membership is required for
affiliate club officers as specified by the AAW.  However, IMHO, ideally a
board member would desire to be a member of the AAW.  

Within the AAW website, Under Chapter Officer Toolkit, Under Chapter Officer
Update, the text reads " If an officer is not a current member of AAW their
information will not display on the chapter searches".

Also, Under Best Practice #036, within the Officers' Took Kit section, it
reads "Keep in mind that the four key officers need to be members of the
American Association of Woodturners for the club to qualify for the
liability insurance sponsored by AAW." The 4 key officers I believe are:
Pres, V Pres, Secretary and Program Officer/Director. 

On giving thought to this for some time, I see several possibilities re:
Club Bylaws. 

1.	Review,  update and remove the CRW guidelines /ByLaws (if indeed
written in the current acting document) that officers be AAW members,
accepting the fact that the club is then ineligible to quality for liability
insurance sponsored by the AAW. 
2.	Keep the current ByLaws are they are, resulting in a fairly small
pool of members eligible to become club officers. Require chap officers to
be AAW members, as an informal request by someone as apparently is the
current case. A rather unhealthy affair.
3.	Require elected board members to be AAW members; to be written in
the ByLaws by following the guidelines as currently defined for amending the
ByLaws, AND offering a stipend from the CRW Treasury for the cost of each
officer's membership during the time they actually serve, currently about
$68/ year.  Additionally, the CRW club's Publicist could be offered this
same benefit as this position is very active.  

Regarding the CRW ByLaws, I have researched archival information as best as
able.  As I recall, the board  chooses not to publish current By-Laws, even
though requested.  An official copy would hopefully be available from the
Club Secretary or in the Club library. However, I don't know of accuracy of
this statement.

Too keep all club members informed, attached is what I have found, and have
attached pdf files of both versions. Both versions appear to be in synch in
textual meaning. At some time in the past, the club would have voted to
approve, although I don't have access to that specific information.

Do ByLaws matter?  Is there a need to review and update periodically the
ByLaws?

Each individual member will have to answer those questions for themselves.
I for one believe and understand the need to periodically review, update and
follow. However, I cannot locate any club timeline or information related
for review in either version.

Both versions are attached.  I was a board member in 2013, so know accuracy
of the ByLaws at that time.  And, once again in 2016 or early 2017 prior to
adopting the 501c3 status.

1.	CRW - 7 Corrected New ByLaws, Dec 17, 2011 Jim Frank   It is
labelled 2011, but believe this was also continued into 2016 or early 2017.

ARTICLE VII - OFFICERS

A.	Term of Office.  Each Officer shall hold office for 1 year.
Election of Officers will occur during the October meeting of each year and
will not take office until January 1, of the following year.

2.	Chapter_Proposed_BylawsV2, Possibly 2017   It is my belief, although
not certain is that this updated By-Laws was developed to be in compliance
with the 501c3 non profit status as submitted to government authorities to
satisfy non-profit status. 

ARTICLE IX

Board of Directors

Section B, Method of Election: The Officers shall be elected at the October
meeting of the Chapter, and shall serve for terms of One (1) year. A slate
of Officers shall be developed by the Board of Directors in September,
presented to the membership at the October meeting, and combined with any
nominations from the floor at that time. The election of Officers will take
place at the October, meeting with the newly elected Officers assuming full
duties on January 1. Elections will be by a simple majority of votes cast by
the membership present.

If someone knows of the current governing By-Laws, please respond with the
copy. To be noted, the By-Laws are the governing document of the club and
should be followed.   

I won't be able to attend this Sat meeting, so am posting my concerns via
CRW talk.  

Thank you.  

Member Bob Raasch

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