Page 6 - CKA February 2018

2018 Proposed Bylaws Change
From Larry H, President
The Bylaws are the framework for how our organization is to be run. Revising the Bylaws is an on- going process. The last changes were made in 2011. I was involved in the process several years before that. After the 2017 AGM, Robin asked me to lead a committee to clean up and update some provisions. I was joined by Kevin S, Joel R and Steve H. We were not charged with a major overhaul but we did discuss a number of broader issues (some of which were raised by Congregants who reached out and some were initiated on our own) that would otherwise be considered major changes in how we operate. We met 4 times over the last 6+ months and had some very interesting discussions (in terms of Bylaw revisions).
I would like to give you all some time to review the proposed changes before they are finalized for presentation and a vote (yes or no) at the AGM on May 17 at 6:30 pm. Feel free to ask questions about them, or the process, at my Coffee Talk on February 4 from 10:30-12. Once we get some feedback, we will get them out in final proposed form not less than 21 and not more than 50 days prior to the AGM. Details were provided in a recent Happenings email. If you need a hard copy printed out for you, please contact Sam.
Here are some of the revisions we are proposing; some of which we consider simple housekeeping changes:
In Article II Membership, we removed section D about quorum voting requirements because that is covered in section C on voting. Quorums are also defined in other places in the Bylaws.
Article III Meetings was changed to include notice by email and to better describe what constitutes written notice. The timelines are the same, and the notices are still pretty much going out in the same format, but we felt this was clearer.
In Article IV, we changed “Executive Board” to “Board of Trustees”. We also changed A 2 regarding the Immediate Past President to account for the situation we had when Robin left the Congregation. We also set a date for when Board members begin their term because there was some confusion as to who would vote on what at the next Board meeting. We changed the Nominating Committee to the Leadership Committee and gave the Board the ability to accept or reject the Nominating Committee’s conclusions.
In Article V, with respect to an annual review of financial records, we changed the word “audit” to “review”. We also added the option of insuring against the Treasurer’s malfeasance rather than only through bonding. Bonding is a specific product (and term of art). Incidentally, we have historically had insurance coverage for this but no bond has been in effect. The amount of insurance coverage will be related to the amount accessible to the Treasurer. Also, since a qualified Treasurer may be harder to find, or replace, than most of the other positions, we also proposed changing the Treasurer’s term from 2 years to 3 years and giving them the ability to serve 3 consecutive terms instead of 2.
In Article VI, we renamed and deleted Standing Committees and made changes to how the Nominating/Leadership Committee operates.
The last change was to Article IX and deals with parliamentary procedures. Even though rules have rarely, if ever, been invoked, we felt it was time to at least choose which set of rules to use. We were directed to the Democratic Rules of Order from British Columbia and propose it simply because it was the shortest one we could find (about 27 pages instead of several hundred with Robert’s Rules of Order). We are certainly open to considering any other booklet.
Thank you for your consideration and feedback.
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Sh’vat / Adar 5778  February 2018