Draft Charter

[jessiesgrrl]

Ok, bear with me as I type all of this in... Can't post the Word file to the site, so will fat finger it all in!

The following is a draft of a charter for Salt Water Addicts of Maine, or SWAM. Until ratified, it is only a draft and is open to improvement and suggestions!


Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Charter and By Laws of Salt Water Addicts of Maine (SWAM)
First Draft

Article I: Name and Purpose

The name of this club shall be Saltwater Addicts of Maine, or SWAM.

The general purpose of SWAM shall be to educate the general public and its own members in effective and conscientious saltwater fish and reefkeeping by teaching and practicing coral propagation, proper animal husbandry, and so forth. SWAM shall also provide a forum for social networking opportunity for saltwater enthusiasts to use to further their private hobby.

Article II: Membership


Section 1:

There shall be three classes of individual membership: Active, Honorary, and Affliated. There shall be two classes of organizational membership: Affliated Organizations and Corporate Members.

Section 2:

Active Membership with full voting privilege may be granted to individuals who:

1. Own or plan to own a saltwater tank;

2. Pay annual dues;

3. Are a private entity only.

Honorary Membership may be granted to:

1. Any person that the club voted on and approved with an appropriate quorum that has made a significant contribution to the health of the club, or to the health of the saltwater hobby itself. There is no dues or other assesments to hold this membership, and does not vote.

Affiliated Membership may be granted to:

1. All members in good standing of affiliated organizations based on the continued good standing status of the member in the affliated club. Affliated members shall not have voting privileges, but shall be eligible to participate in benefits or programs as determined by SWAM officers.

Corporate Membership may be granted to:

1. Any corporation or business who wishes to advertise to the members of SWAM and its affilate organizations; and

2. Pays annual corporate membership dues; and

3. Agrees to violate no part of this Charter.


Section 3: Dues

Annual individual membership is set at $20.00 USD, subject to annual review.

Annual corporate membership is set at $?.00 USD, subject to annual review.

Section 4: Membership Policy

It is the policy of SWAM to not discrimate in its qualifications for membership against any person by reason of his or her sex, race, religion, creed, age, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. Have corals, will travel!

Section 5: Termination or Suspension of Membership

Any Member may terminate his or her membership by voluntary withdrawal in writing to the President of SWAM. All rights and club priveleges shall cease upon the surrender of their Club membership card.

Any Membership may also be suspended or revoked for due cause. Sufficent cause for revocation shall be violation of the provisions of this Charter, or any conduct prejudicial to the interests of SWAM and its members, including nonpayment of renewable dues, discrimination against another member of SWAM or its applicants, or nonpayment of other finanical situations such as auction winnings, etc. Any former member so suspended or terminated may be reinstated by the club Officers with appropriate resolution of the causal event.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Article III: Meetings

1. SWAM meetings are to be hosted at member houses as volunteered for by members.

2. In the event that a month presents where no member wishes to host, the President shall be responsible for hosting that month or arranging to have the meeting held at an area place of business for educational or fundraising purposes.

3. In the event that a special meeting must be called, emails shall be sent out along with physical letters to all active members at least two weeks prior to the intended meeting.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Article IV: Election Procedure

1. Elections shall be held in November of each year.

2. Any active member is good standing with the club may run for any office.

3. Majority vote is required.

4. At this time, there are no term limits for any office.

5. Voting shall occur by private emails only from November 15th to 30th, with the President and Vice President confirming reciept.

6. Election results should be announced no later than December 3rd on the public section of the SWAM website.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Article V: Officer Duties

1. President

A. The president, or in lieu of, the vice-president, shall attend all mandatory meetings called by SWAM.

B. The president is the principle executive officer and
The president shall propose a budget, and may propose ideas for projects and policies which have been brought to attention by other members of the organization.

C. The president shall sign, with the secretary or any other proper officer of the association authorized by the Board of Officers, any contracts authorized by the Board of Officers.

D. The president, or in lieu of the vice-president, shall preside at all general membership meetings, and shall be responsible for helping the Secretary with minutes as needed.

E. The president shall perform all duties incidental to the office of president and such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board.

2. Vice President

A. In the absence of the president or in the event the president is unable to perform the duties of the office, the vice-president shall perform the duties of the office of president, and when so acting shall have all the powers of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the president.

B. The vice-president shall assist the Treasurer as needed in record keeping.

C. The vice-president shall perform such duties as assigned by the Board or president.


3. Secretary

A. The secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the general membership and of the executive committee and post those minutes in a notebook provided for such purpose.

B. The secretary shall in general perform all duties incidental to the office of secretary and such other duties as assigned by the president and/or board.

4. Treasurer/Membership

A. The treasurer shall have responsibility for all funds of the association, receive and give receipts for monies due and payable to the organization from any source whatsoever, and deposit all such monies in the name of SWAM in a designated account.

B. In general, the treasurer shall perform all duties incidental to the office of treasurer and any other duties assigned by the president or Board of Officers.

C. The treasurer shall report to the executive officers and the general membership the financial standing of the organization as requested. This report is to made at least once a month and a full report is to be made at the annual membership meeting.

D. The club's account shall be audited at least annually or upon a change of the individual holding the office of treasurer by two persons to be appointed by the Board of Officers.

E. The retiring treasurer shall, within two weeks after elections or change in office, deliver to the new treasurer all monies, vouchers, books, and/or papers of the club in his/her custody, along with a supplemental report covering all transactions since the last treasurer's report.

F. The Treasurer shall keep a list of members, address information, and their date of currently paid dues.


5. Public Affairs

A. The Public Affairs Officer shall assist the President with fundraising, general public communications, and corporate memberships.

B. The Public Affairs Officer will be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the club webite as needed.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Article VI: Club Expenditures

1. Must be signed by the President and Treasurer without fail; and

2. Must be within the financial means of the club at the time of the expenditure; and

3. Financially benefit no active member of the club; and

4. Must be related to traditional club expenditures, ie speakers, auction goods, etc. Any nontraditional usage of funds must be voted on and approved by the Board of Officers with a majority and noted in the minutes.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Articel VII: Amendments

1. This Charter may be amended, revised, or repealed by a vote of 70% of active membership at the time of the vote.

2. A Motion to Amend may be brought by any active member, and must be voted upon within two weeks of its second.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Ok, that's it! Let me know what you guys think of it. I tried to find as many other club charters as I could, and I basically stole the good parts from each.


Laurie

 

[ME2003]

Looks very good.

A couple of notes from clubs I have belong to

All/greater than expenditures should be aproved by a majority vote of the board.
This is faster than approval from all members and you can add
an over $20 ... for approval if needed.


Any Membership suspended or revoked for due cause by a majority
vote of the board.
Having the entire membership vote on this causes all sorts of issues. Just document why and vote.

Voting rights for each board member defined.

Only board meeting minutes need to be recorded.
I think this may be a legal requirement if nonprofit.
This can happen at regular meetings or If a special meeting
needs to happen for approval.

Did you decide against a past-chair? Do not care either way just wondering.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Hey!

I guess I was thinking that when Denise said she wanted to be an honorary member, that she would be available to us in the same way a past chair would have been? I could add it in, but if it is a voting slot, that would make the board even? What do you think?

Voting rights for board members- I think that each should have one vote, majority rule? I do not think any one person, even serving as President should have veto power, or a weighted vote...?

What do you think a corporate/business due(s) should be set at? With having gotten the website done, we can offer banners, etc to these folks so that they can advertise directly to a target market. Should be good revenue for the club, as well as possibly recruiting some new businesses to offer club discounts to our members...

Private members will always be able to buy/trade/sell to each other. But I think that we might want to define what constitutes a business entity eligible for corporate membership- ie, a person who owns a business is always welcome to seek active membership on a private level, but in order to offer inventory regularly on our website or using our mailing list than they need to be a corporate member? So perhaps a good working definition might be a business is one with inventory always ready for sale with a storefront of some sort- physical or electronic?

As for the others, sounds good to me- makes sense!


Laurie

 

[spotfin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8581116#post8581116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Charter and By Laws of Salt Water Addicts of Maine (SWAM)
First Draft



Section 2:

Active Membership with full voting privilege may be granted to individuals who:

1. Own or plan to own a saltwater tank;

2. Pay annual dues;

3. Are a private entity only.



Looks good Laurie! Thanks for all your hard work. A quick question about the above requirements: Does a person have to satisfy all 3? I know that in the future I probably won't have any saltwater tanks going.

Jason

 

[Driftwood]

Member businesses would have their own area of the forum to post whatever threads they would like to, they could have weekly threads with their current livestock for sale if they wanted to. They would also get a link off our site to theirs if they have one.

I think that $50 a year would be a good price. What does everyone else think? Is this a fair amount?

Dave

 

[jessiesgrrl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8583739#post8583739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spotfin

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8581116#post8581116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Charter and By Laws of Salt Water Addicts of Maine (SWAM)
First Draft



Section 2:

Active Membership with full voting privilege may be granted to individuals who:

1. Own or plan to own a saltwater tank;

2. Pay annual dues;

3. Are a private entity only.



Looks good Laurie! Thanks for all your hard work. A quick question about the above requirements: Does a person have to satisfy all 3? I know that in the future I probably won't have any saltwater tanks going.

Jason

Hey!

Maybe we could phrase it : " Currently own, owned, or plan to own in the future" ?

And $50 sounds good to me for a year of targeted advertising... I think that is dirt cheap- especially if the businesses use it to get sales and specials out to the membership- it would certainly make me drive down south to take advantage of it! I was also thinking we could make some $$ by offering to take pics of merchandise and posting it to their thrreads for them periodically as a seperate service?


Laurie

 

[Hedonist]

I finally got around to reading this... Great job Laurie! The bulk of it sounds like it will work for us and the suggestions Mike had were some notes I had made as well...

I think for sec 2:1, maybe word it to be open to anyone that has an interest in salt water aquaria, promoting knowledge, conservation and responsible care for the marine aquaria ...yada yada yada.. ? sounds kinda like discrimination... if ya do not or will not have a SW tank, you cannot join

Honorary members should only be voted on by the BOO IMO and in my mind be people such as Barry Neigut, Anthony Calfo, Frank Marini, Greg Hiller etc..

Sorry, but I am somewhat unclear regarding the affiliated individual member vs an organizational affiliated membership... can you provide an example... .
My suggestion was very close to what Dave suggested for the corperate dues.. might be a good starting point

As for the Membership policy, I also think we should not discriminate against those who have FOWLR tanks, Invert tanks or Reef systems

Any termination of membership, volunary of not, do not warrent a refund of membership fees... Revocation of membership maybe should have a process... members can suggest with a good cause to revoke another, but the BOO only votes on it or something.....

Hosting of SWAM meets should be open to any corperate sponsor or any associate of SWAM (be it guest or dedicated follower), not just members... I still think we should try to pick a day for the meet, like every 3rd Sun or something like that for the general meets and quartely for the BOO etc, and only notes are taken at the BOO meets... anyone that wants to re-cap a general meet or provide a summary of a lecture for poeting on the website archive should be encouraged to... this should possibly be submitted to the BOO to review before posting..?

Election Procedures....Possibly be a bit more specific on the election procedure... for example, openings are posted by such a date, anyone can nominate anyone, including oneself by Mid Oct, only paid members can vote.... Waht if an officer has to withdraw before the term is up... maybe we should address that too

In Officers Duties V:1 What is a mandatory meet , one of the BOO members only?

I think minutes of a tank tour or other general meet are not realy necessary and will take the fun out of that person attending the meet ... again, only minutes oft he BOO meets should be mandatory... or of the guest lecturers we host..


I do want to reamin active in the BOO of SWAM with voting rights.... I personally see no reason why SWAM cannot have other active associates on the BOO that have no titles or specific duties but have a voice regarding how SWAM operates... My husbands BOD for his theater group operate that way...you can work the number so the voters will be an odd number and it will also bring in more ideas and/or assistance when more help is needed.... I do not personally care if the Prez votes or not, often times they only vote in case of a tie...Many groups work under Roberts Rule of Order or something like that... maybe we should look into that?

Just my thoughts
Denise

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Hey! LOL, Ok, now I am confused!! Does this help?

A.

" As for the Membership policy, I also think we should not discriminate against those who have FOWLR tanks, Invert tanks or Reef systems "

Section 2.1 Just says saltwater tank- I believe a FOWLR, reef, invert, etc tanks all qualify as saltwater and would therefore be included? They are all marine in nature? And I think Jason's suggestion would include past, present, or future owners- all anyone would have to do is say someday yada yada yada- or even, I had one of those once...? It'd be sorta hard to not fall into one of those categories, imo... <grin>

B.

"Sorry, but I am somewhat unclear regarding the affiliated individual member vs an organizational affiliated membership... can you provide an example..."

BRS could join as an organizational member in its own right, as a whole. Thereafter, any member who wanted to do some shopping in Maine could then apply to carry a affliated membership SWAM card... It would be very interesting to see if we could also get a banner trade with them for their website to drive web traffic to our new one.

C.

"Any termination of membership, volunary of not, do not warrent a refund of membership fees... Revocation of membership maybe should have a process... members can suggest with a good cause to revoke another, but the BOO only votes on it or something....."

I gave this one alot of thought. BOO could vote on it for sure. What I do not want to see happen is a case ever when someone wants so and so kicked out, and can force a vote of the BOO without just cause just by suggesting it. It would embarass the member and make us all look bad. So, I would say I would agree as long as we include a list of those situations where "just cause" is met and a vote could be called. I also like the idea of refunding the membership fee if we kick someone out because it would be a good way to cut ties immediately and owe them nothing- be the bigger person. Plus, out membership fee is very small- $20... not something to quibble over much when we are about to publically embarass and kick a member out. I think refunding a prorated fee at the least if we forcibly kick a member out would show we are respectful of others. I would agree that if a mamber voluntarily withdraws, there is no refund of fees as it would be a voluntary personal decision. This would also keep us from ever being crippled by a voluntary withdrawing of a group of people. JMHO, though...

D.

"Honorary members should only be voted on by the BOO IMO and in my mind be people such as Barry Neigut, Anthony Calfo, Frank Marini, Greg Hiller etc.."

Would be fine with me- I had only suggested it because I thought that you had wanted that position? I'm confused What would you like to be in the future? I think everyone just wants to show you we appreiciate you on a level much more personal than the above listed guys... <grin>

E.

"Hosting of SWAM meets should be open to any corperate sponsor or any associate of SWAM (be it guest or dedicated follower), not just members..."

My general feel here was that one of the best things about SWAM was the face to face time with other members to just talk about tanks and ooohhh and ahhh over each other's cool creations, swap frags, whatever. I have no problem with holding some meetings at different corporate locations (Would be fun to see what was there after the meeting for sure!) but would want those particular meetings to have a educational focus of some sort either for the club or for the general public?

Why would a guest want to hold a meeting? I'm confused again...

I don't think we want formal minutes per se for each meeting... but it seems like alot of fairly important stuff seems to be discussed among us when we meet face to face. It would be nice to just have a rough outline so that we remember from month to month? Shouldn't be too much work, I'm thinking like 40 words at the most; and it could be just emailed to me if help is needed and I can pitch in and then get it posted. I would trust our Secretary, I don't think a officer would post anything detrimental to the club on purpose! <grin>

I expect that BOO meets will be few and far between- just to deal with current issues or problems and called as needed. Which would leave us with hardly any meeting minutes if we only took them then. My personal philosophy is that the officers are only really there to give the club a bit of guidance and direction, and take on the implementation of ideas...

F. Dates and Hosting

It would be fine with me to pick a revolving week and try to stick to it, but I wonder if perhaps that might add one more hurdle to getting folks to host? Also, with things like hunting season and such, those dates may fall on times when the membership can't or doesn;t want to meet because it is not convinent... would be nice to stay adaptable?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

QUOTE]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8625205#post8625205 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hedonist

I do want to reamin active in the BOO of SWAM with voting rights.... I personally see no reason why SWAM cannot have other active associates on the BOO that have no titles or specific duties but have a voice regarding how SWAM operates... can work the number so the voters will be an odd number and it will also bring in more ideas and/or assistance when more help is needed.... I do not personally care if the Prez votes or not, often times they only vote in case of a tie...Many groups work under Roberts Rule of Order or something like that... maybe we should look into that?

[/QUOTE]

You are more than welcome to vote, imo. I don't think anyone here, including me, would want that right taken away.

I would like to seat the majority of the power for decision making within the club itself. Which makes sense to me because the officers should be voting on nothing that goes against the general will of the club. The only real time that the officers should vote on something is when they know the will of the members and can vote to make the issue expedient without needing to go through the time of putting it to the entire membership. I think this makes sense especially in a club our size- the active members check this site rather frequently anyway, imo.

By definition, isn't a member with no title with voting rights an active member of SWAM? Unless what we are really saying here is that members of SWAM don't generally get to vote on most things because most things are decided by the BOO? That idea scares me somewhat... we are not that large of a club. I think voting keeps people interested in the club goals, and grows membership because people feel like they have a voice...

JMHO
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8581180#post8581180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Article III: Meetings

1. SWAM meetings are to be hosted at member houses as volunteered for by members.

2. In the event that a month presents where no member wishes to host, the President shall be responsible for hosting that month or arranging to have the meeting held at an area place of business for educational or fundraising purposes.

My husband reminded me this morning that I had written this into the Charter...?

Laurie

 

[Hedonist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8631418#post8631418 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Hey! LOL, Ok, now I am confused!! Does this help?

A.

" As for the Membership policy, I also think we should not discriminate against those who have FOWLR tanks, Invert tanks or Reef systems "

Section 2.1 Just says saltwater tank- I believe a FOWLR, reef, invert, etc tanks all qualify as saltwater and would therefore be included? They are all marine in nature? And I think Jason's suggestion would include past, present, or future owners- all anyone would have to do is say someday yada yada yada- or even, I had one of those once...? It'd be sorta hard to not fall into one of those categories, imo... <grin>

This comment was actually a joke referring to Sec 4 Membership policy... we will not discriminate against sex, race, religion, those who own freshwater tanks, those who have FOWLRS etc..
B.

"Sorry, but I am somewhat unclear regarding the affiliated individual member vs an organizational affiliated membership... can you provide an example..."

BRS could join as an organizational member in its own right, as a whole. Thereafter, any member who wanted to do some shopping in Maine could then apply to carry a affliated membership SWAM card... It would be very interesting to see if we could also get a banner trade with them for their website to drive web traffic to our new one.

C.

"Any termination of membership, volunary of not, do not warrent a refund of membership fees... Revocation of membership maybe should have a process... members can suggest with a good cause to revoke another, but the BOO only votes on it or something....."

I gave this one alot of thought. BOO could vote on it for sure. What I do not want to see happen is a case ever when someone wants so and so kicked out, and can force a vote of the BOO without just cause just by suggesting it. It would embarass the member and make us all look bad. So, I would say I would agree as long as we include a list of those situations where "just cause" is met and a vote could be called. I also like the idea of refunding the membership fee if we kick someone out because it would be a good way to cut ties immediately and owe them nothing- be the bigger person. Plus, out membership fee is very small- $20... not something to quibble over much when we are about to publically embarass and kick a member out. I think refunding a prorated fee at the least if we forcibly kick a member out would show we are respectful of others. I would agree that if a mamber voluntarily withdraws, there is no refund of fees as it would be a voluntary personal decision. This would also keep us from ever being crippled by a voluntary withdrawing of a group of people. JMHO, though...

D.

"Honorary members should only be voted on by the BOO IMO and in my mind be people such as Barry Neigut, Anthony Calfo, Frank Marini, Greg Hiller etc.."

Would be fine with me- I had only suggested it because I thought that you had wanted that position? I'm confused What would you like to be in the future? I think everyone just wants to show you we appreiciate you on a level much more personal than the above listed guys... <grin>

E.

"Hosting of SWAM meets should be open to any corperate sponsor or any associate of SWAM (be it guest or dedicated follower), not just members..."

My general feel here was that one of the best things about SWAM was the face to face time with other members to just talk about tanks and ooohhh and ahhh over each other's cool creations, swap frags, whatever. I have no problem with holding some meetings at different corporate locations (Would be fun to see what was there after the meeting for sure!) but would want those particular meetings to have a educational focus of some sort either for the club or for the general public?

Why would a guest want to hold a meeting? I'm confused again...

I don't think we want formal minutes per se for each meeting... but it seems like alot of fairly important stuff seems to be discussed among us when we meet face to face. It would be nice to just have a rough outline so that we remember from month to month? Shouldn't be too much work, I'm thinking like 40 words at the most; and it could be just emailed to me if help is needed and I can pitch in and then get it posted. I would trust our Secretary, I don't think a officer would post anything detrimental to the club on purpose! <grin>

I expect that BOO meets will be few and far between- just to deal with current issues or problems and called as needed. Which would leave us with hardly any meeting minutes if we only took them then. My personal philosophy is that the officers are only really there to give the club a bit of guidance and direction, and take on the implementation of ideas...

F. Dates and Hosting

It would be fine with me to pick a revolving week and try to stick to it, but I wonder if perhaps that might add one more hurdle to getting folks to host? Also, with things like hunting season and such, those dates may fall on times when the membership can't or doesn;t want to meet because it is not convinent... would be nice to stay adaptable?

 

[Hedonist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8631418#post8631418 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Hey! LOL, Ok, now I am confused!! Does this help?

A.

" As for the Membership policy, I also think we should not discriminate against those who have FOWLR tanks, Invert tanks or Reef systems "

Section 2.1 Just says saltwater tank- I believe a FOWLR, reef, invert, etc tanks all qualify as saltwater and would therefore be included? They are all marine in nature? And I think Jason's suggestion would include past, present, or future owners- all anyone would have to do is say someday yada yada yada- or even, I had one of those once...? It'd be sorta hard to not fall into one of those categories, imo... <grin>

This comment was actually a joke referring to Sec 4 Membership policy... we will not discriminate against sex, race, religion, those who own freshwater tanks, those who have FOWLRS etc..
B.

"Sorry, but I am somewhat unclear regarding the affiliated individual member vs an organizational affiliated membership... can you provide an example..."

BRS could join as an organizational member in its own right, as a whole. Thereafter, any member who wanted to do some shopping in Maine could then apply to carry a affliated membership SWAM card... It would be very interesting to see if we could also get a banner trade with them for their website to drive web traffic to our new one.

C.

"Any termination of membership, volunary of not, do not warrent a refund of membership fees... Revocation of membership maybe should have a process... members can suggest with a good cause to revoke another, but the BOO only votes on it or something....."

I gave this one alot of thought. BOO could vote on it for sure. What I do not want to see happen is a case ever when someone wants so and so kicked out, and can force a vote of the BOO without just cause just by suggesting it. It would embarass the member and make us all look bad. So, I would say I would agree as long as we include a list of those situations where "just cause" is met and a vote could be called. I also like the idea of refunding the membership fee if we kick someone out because it would be a good way to cut ties immediately and owe them nothing- be the bigger person. Plus, out membership fee is very small- $20... not something to quibble over much when we are about to publically embarass and kick a member out. I think refunding a prorated fee at the least if we forcibly kick a member out would show we are respectful of others. I would agree that if a mamber voluntarily withdraws, there is no refund of fees as it would be a voluntary personal decision. This would also keep us from ever being crippled by a voluntary withdrawing of a group of people. JMHO, though...

D.

"Honorary members should only be voted on by the BOO IMO and in my mind be people such as Barry Neigut, Anthony Calfo, Frank Marini, Greg Hiller etc.."

Would be fine with me- I had only suggested it because I thought that you had wanted that position? I'm confused What would you like to be in the future? I think everyone just wants to show you we appreiciate you on a level much more personal than the above listed guys... <grin>

E.

"Hosting of SWAM meets should be open to any corperate sponsor or any associate of SWAM (be it guest or dedicated follower), not just members..."

My general feel here was that one of the best things about SWAM was the face to face time with other members to just talk about tanks and ooohhh and ahhh over each other's cool creations, swap frags, whatever. I have no problem with holding some meetings at different corporate locations (Would be fun to see what was there after the meeting for sure!) but would want those particular meetings to have a educational focus of some sort either for the club or for the general public?

Why would a guest want to hold a meeting? I'm confused again...

I don't think we want formal minutes per se for each meeting... but it seems like alot of fairly important stuff seems to be discussed among us when we meet face to face. It would be nice to just have a rough outline so that we remember from month to month? Shouldn't be too much work, I'm thinking like 40 words at the most; and it could be just emailed to me if help is needed and I can pitch in and then get it posted. I would trust our Secretary, I don't think a officer would post anything detrimental to the club on purpose! <grin>

I expect that BOO meets will be few and far between- just to deal with current issues or problems and called as needed. Which would leave us with hardly any meeting minutes if we only took them then. My personal philosophy is that the officers are only really there to give the club a bit of guidance and direction, and take on the implementation of ideas...

F. Dates and Hosting

It would be fine with me to pick a revolving week and try to stick to it, but I wonder if perhaps that might add one more hurdle to getting folks to host? Also, with things like hunting season and such, those dates may fall on times when the membership can't or doesn;t want to meet because it is not convinent... would be nice to stay adaptable?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

"This comment was actually a joke referring to Sec 4 Membership policy... we will not discriminate against sex, race, religion, those who own freshwater tanks, those who have FOWLRS etc.."

LOL, sorry! I took the whole post seriously, missed the joke. <grin> It's hard to tell when someone is joking on Forums/emails...

Laurie