Bylaws

[goodburbon]

Everyone should read the National bylaws which we should use as a basis for our own chapter laws, and propose any amendments in this thread.


Link to bylaws:
http://www.naxja.org/html/bylaws.htm

[Kendrik]

I've read through the by-laws and boiled down the most relevant sections for us below:

Article VII - Section 1, 2, 3:

We need to submit a list of members, a list of our Board of Directors (minimum of 3, including President, VP, and Secretary / Treasurer), and documentation of that BOD's election along with a list of our ByLaws (if they differ from the NAXJA by-laws). We also have to provide the specific geographic area we cover (should be obvious, here.)

We will need to have a chapter treasury-which I'm assuming would be a bank account accessible by the 3 primary members of the BOD-that we use to track all expenses and reimbursements from National to Chapter and vice-versa.

We will need to designate a single individual on the BOD as the Chapter representative to the national BOD for issues affecting chapters. They have limited rights on the national BOD and are there as a sounding board, more than anything, it appears.

Article IX - Events

Any official event (one that dips into the treasury, I imagine) requires the presence of at least 1 Chapter BOD member. I won't go into much detail on the rest of the event by-laws, but suffice to say they should be read over to make sure we agree with the restrictions (number of guests, Trailmaster, etc.) They are mostly related to safety and trail condition issues.

Lastly, there is a list of required gear thats pretty sparse and pretty self-explanatory.

[goodburbon]

as an official club, I think the safety equipment list is for liability reasons. I know I am getting ahead of things, but Do we need to get waivers formed up for our rides

I read through the bylaws quickly yesterday and there are a few minor changes that we would need to make, and then ratify somehow.

[etjoyride]

Alright, well as far as i can tell you must be 18 to become a member...is this an enforced rule? because i am only 16..

[Kendrik]

Yeah, I suspect that's an enforced rule due to liability. A minor would be unable to legally sign a damage/injury waiver on official activities so you wouldn't be able to attend Chapter events. :(

@Goodburbon1: What needs to be modified? Post it here for discussion would be my suggestion. Ratification of the bylaws would follow the election of the BOD, which would then be followed by a submission of all to the National BOD, at least as far as I can read.

[IntrepidXJ]

Yeah, I suspect that's an enforced rule due to liability. A minor would be unable to legally sign a damage/injury waiver on official activities so you wouldn't be able to attend Chapter events. :(


yep....it's an insurance thing

[goodburbon]

does article 2 need to stay in there?

[goodburbon]

I'm wondering about the "corporation" wording as well, will this apply to all chapters or does that need to be carried by only national?

[goodburbon]

do we need to make provisions for this?

. If any portion of the proposed geographic region overlaps the region of a previously established Chapter, the proposed Chapter shall either revise its proposal to omit such area or shall obtain permission from the governing body of the previously established Chapter to overlap the territory of such previously established Chapter.


I see no need to change anything else.

[goodburbon]

I think that Louisiana was/is considered in the territory of the southeast chapter.

[Kendrik]

do we need to make provisions for this?

. If any portion of the proposed geographic region overlaps the region of a previously established Chapter, the proposed Chapter shall either revise its proposal to omit such area or shall obtain permission from the governing body of the previously established Chapter to overlap the territory of such previously established Chapter.


I see no need to change anything else.

Sounds like we need to contact the SouthEast chapter, confirm that LA is part of their territory, then acquire permission to overlap. Since it's acceptable for ANYONE to be part of ANY chapter, it shouldn't be a big deal for the SE guys to allow it.

[Kendrik]

I'm wondering about the "corporation" wording as well, will this apply to all chapters or does that need to be carried by only national?

My guess is that all of the "Corporation" stuff will only apply to the National BOD as we're simply creating a "branch" of an existing corporation. So I think we can ignore Article II and anything related to corporate operations.

[goodburbon]

I'll PM the SE Chapter president about this.

[goodburbon]

SEC sends their blessings and will amend their coverage once we form a chapter.

[BIgDaddyChia]

Works for me. Damn maybe burbon should be the prez. Your more ontop of things then I am today.

[goodburbon]

Anyone know what chapter Texas currently falls under? we need to pose the same question to them.

Oh and I can't be pres, my wife said so.

[IntrepidXJ]

Texas does not currently fall under any chapter

[Ramsey]

I'd like to be something. See how bad I can screw it up....

[Jeepxj94]

I'm up to help in any way that I can. In Fact, I would love to be President, VP, Secretary or Treasurer.

- Scott

[bigazxj]

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=900725
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=901038

here is a couple links to the az bylaws. jim(azdesertrhino) did an awsome job with them
one thing i think will help out in a chapter as large as yours is having some "event cooridnators" type people in different areas,but what do i know.

justin

[azdesertrhino]

I appreciate Justin taking the lead on posting reference to these links. Thanks JJ, I need all the help I can get.

I've learned a lot in the past few months and will PM someone this weekend with some of the things to think about as you formulate your bylaws, game plan etc!!

Best of luck. One of my best suggestions, off the cuff, DON'T GET IN A HURRY TO GET THIS DONE!!

I'll explain in the PM etc. If someone wants to talk, phone wise, we can do that!! :patriot:

[BIgDaddyChia]

Thanks Jim. I'm gonna try and get with burbon and a couple others this weekend on yahoo messanger or something. See what we can work out.

[XJ Eric]

We may want to change that requirement for a BOD member to be at any chapter event. Maybe write in a BOD member or BOD designated representative (by unanimous vote) to attend, just in case at least one of them can't attend?

[goodburbon]

By event they mean "official event" we can have trail runs and weekend outings that aren't technically Events like "Winterfest" and NACfest.

[90Blue_XJ]

How are we going to do elections? I know I dont qualify to be on BOD but would like to be involved as much as I can. If most business is going to be conducted over the internet then distance will not deter anyone from being involved. We(speaking for myself mostly) all live on these forums anyhow. Just tell me what I can do.

[Ecomike]

How are we going to do elections? I know I dont qualify to be on BOD but would like to be involved as much as I can. If most business is going to be conducted over the internet then distance will not deter anyone from being involved. We(speaking for myself mostly) all live on these forums anyhow. Just tell me what I can do.

First off, welcome aboard, glad you could join us. I thought maybe you hadn't heard about this yet. Please pass the word on this to anyone else we are missing.

We just completed our first online vote here using a polling tool that one of the other guys set up on a thread here regarding membership tenure requirements to run for the BOD & officers positions. The voting is confidential, and the results are visible online in the polling thread.

Looks like you have been here longer than most of us, when did you become a paying member? Currently you need to be a paying member for 12 months to run for the BOD.

Well it looks like we have South, South Texas covered now.;)

[90Blue_XJ]

First off, welcome aboard, glad you could join us. I thought maybe you hadn't heard about this yet. Please pass the word on this to anyone else we are missing.

We just completed our first online vote here using a polling tool that one of the other guys set up on a thread here regarding membership tenure requirements to run for the BOD & officers positions. The voting is confidential, and the results are visible online in the polling thread.

Looks like you have been here longer than most of us, when did you become a paying member? Currently you need to be a paying member for 12 months to run for the BOD.

Well it looks like we have South, South Texas covered now.;)


Don't know exactly. Guess I could go to my PayPal history but for sure less than a year. I have been a user since I first found these boards. But not until I bought my first XJ in fall of 2002.
And yes I will be happy to serve as the represenative of Deep South Texas (DST) but hope that traveling is limited as we are a little short of capital at the present time. Paying for three homes at the same time will zap any financial resources.

[Ecomike]

Goodbourbon suggested a 2/3rds vote requirement to modify the bylaws in another thread recently. It sounds good in principle but there will be times when it is not practical. For instance if there are 5 BOD members 3 out of five is only 0.6 %, 2/3rds is .066%, so a 4 out of five vote would be required. Also if one or more BOD members resign, we should address the potential issue of requiring the missing BOD members to be replaced before any changes to the bylaws can be passed. That way one remaining BOD director after a mass exodus can not change the bylaws by himself even though he would represent a 2/3rds vote.

Signed,

Paranoid Ecomike :D

[90Blue_XJ]

I think I must be a little paranoid as well. I adhere to the KISS principal so I think just a simple majority rule would work for this, providing the members all agree to let the BOD decide that anyway. On some of the clubs that I have belonged to in the past it took a vote by the membership to alter or add to the bylaws, while on others it was a decision left to the board. In the case of the board making the change it was, IIRC, always a majority decision.

[Kendrik]

he's just basing that on the national by-laws, which I hope everyone has read, but here's the relevant section. We could change it, of course, but if it ain't broke....

Section 6: Voting
The Recorder shall keep records of all voting activity and a log of all Motions as part of permanent NAXJA records. These records shall be maintained for a period of at least five (5) years.
A Member shall make a Motion in order to establish the requirement for a vote. Another Member must second the Motion in order for it to become a formal Motion. Members can make subsequent Motions to table or dismiss the Motion under consideration. A tabled Motion shall be tabled for one month unless otherwise specified. Successful Motions to dismiss are the equivalent of a failed vote. All Motions must pass, fail, or table.
The Board of Directors shall have sole discretion to determine which Motions shall be placed to general Membership vote. Generally, these shall be limited to the contents of Membership packages and the organization of Events. All other Motions shall be voted upon by the Board of Directors, and their ruling shall be final.
A quorum for a general membership motion shall be one-half of the current, paid membership in good standing. A formal 2-week notice shall be given by the Board of Directors prior to a vote on any general membership motion. This formal notice shall be presented on the NAXJA Non Technical and Members forums. Votes shall be tallied on the vote due date by a general member appointed by the Board of Directors. A vote will be considered complete and enforceable when the votes are counted.
Except where specifically stated otherwise, a quorum for votes by the Board of Directors shall be a simple majority of the Board members. The voting for any Motion submitted to the Board shall be considered closed 96 hours after the Motion is presented. If a majority of the Board has not voted within that time limit, a Quorum will not have been reached, and the Motion will be considered to have failed. This provision applies to all Motions other than a By-Laws change or a recall motion, which require a two-thirds vote of the Board. The Board of Directors shall follow the By-laws concerning Motions in the same manner as the general Membership.

[90Blue_XJ]

Kendrik,
The national has a lot more members to contend with that we do. So I think to ammend that to our own purposes is the logical step. We are probably going to have less that 50 members for awhile and they have over 2000 so the same rules are not going to apply to us IMHO. It ain't broke but is not appropriate in our situation IYKWIM.

[goodburbon]

I have PM'd the chapter presidents asking for links to or digital copies of their bylaws for our review and consideration while we construct our own. I wasn't able to find any in a search. Hopefully we will get a few responses

[Ecomike]

:thumbup:

I have PM'd the chapter presidents asking for links to or digital copies of their bylaws for our review and consideration while we construct our own. I wasn't able to find any in a search. Hopefully we will get a few responses

[goodburbon]

OK here is what I have so far
Most of the chapters have adopted the national by-laws

here is the only one I got a link to that didn't

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14660

and here are Sean R's reccomendations

)Appoint three level headed people for a "nominating committee"
2)Have those people select the BOD, no vote is needed right now, hold your first election in the fall.
3)Adopt the national by-laws as your own for now, work on the real set once things get going.

[goodburbon]

AZ sends their love.



Membership







The Chapter seeks and exists to serve responsible XJ/MJ owners and enthusiasts who want to participate in XJ/MJ related events, and/or XJ/MJ owners who are looking for technical help/support in the troubleshooting, care, daily maintenance, repair, restoration or modification of their vehicles.







Membership Qualifications







In order to be eligible for Membership an individual shall satisfy the following requirements:






Shall be not less than 18 years of age;






Shall own or shall have regular use of an XJ or MJ vehicle.






Membership in the Chapter shall be open to any Member of the Corporation in good standing that resides within the geographic region encompassed by the Arizona Chapter. For purposes of establishing this Chapter, the initial Chapter membership shall reside within the proposed Chapter’s proposed geographic region.



Chapter Board of Directors

A. There shall be three Officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer/ Recorder. The decision-making authority rank shall flow in the order listed above, with the President possessing the highest level. This authority rank is only applicable in decision-making circumstances where a Board of Directors vote is not feasible, such as during an Event.
B. Chairman of the Board: The elected President shall serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and shall preside over all Board of Directors activities.
C. The Vice President shall keep himself fully informed concerning the business of the Chapter with the active assistance of the other Officers and, in the event of the absence or temporary disability of the President or a vacancy in the office of President, shall assume and carry out the duties and responsibilities of the President. The Vice President shall also perform such other duties as may from time to time be assigned to him/her by the President or by the Board of Directors.
D. The Treasurer/Recorder shall be responsible for ascertaining that a complete record is kept of all activities of the Chapter. The Treasurer/Recorder shall have the care and custody of all funds of the Chapter. He/she shall receive all monies, pay all bills, and keep true and accurate accounting of all monies received and dispersed. He/she shall, at the conclusion of each fiscal year of the Chapter, render to the Board of Directors a full and complete written statement of the condition of the Chapter, as well as of all monies received and dispersed during the period covered by the report.
E. Event Coordinators and Regional Directors may be appointed at the discretion of the board of directors where and if necessary for the benefit and stability of the Chapter.
Changes to Chapter Bylaws

The By-Laws may be changed by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors. For the purpose of adopting a change to the By-Laws, a quorum shall be the full membership of the Board of Directors.

Elections

Nomination for Officers shall take place on November 1 of even numbered years. Elections shall be held on November 15 of the same year. The newly elected Officers shall assume their responsibilities on January 1 following the elections. Each office shall be held for a term of 2 years. A minimum of 6 months as a Member shall be required before election to an office can be made.

Chapter Events

Each Event shall have an assigned Trail Master. The Trail Master shall lead the Event always with safety in mind.
An Event shall consist of only the off-road trail rides or other specifically designated activities. The Event begins at the time of the pre-run Driver’s Meeting or functional equivalent, and ends when the group returns to a designated point.. The Event itself is limited to the organized trail rides.
If no Chapter or National Director attends a scheduled Event, that event is automatically cancelled as a formal Event sanctioned by the Corporation. Any further activity by Members or others shall not be affiliated with the Corporation.
Each Attendee is ultimately responsible for his or her own safety. Members who choose to bring Guests on an Event are solely responsible for the safety and the behavior of those Guests.
Alcoholic beverages and other controlled substances are prohibited while driving on or off-road. This includes consumption prior to an Event. Failure to comply will result in dismissal from the Event and shall constitute grounds for termination of Membership.
Attendees bringing pets shall control them at all times. Event Participation

The Arizona Chapter of :NAXJA: VERY HIGHLY recommends that all event participants have a functional CB Radio.
The Arizona Chapter of :NAXJA: requires all below listed items to be present, and available for use, for a vehicle to be permitted to participate in a event. Participants are expected to stow equipment and all other items within their vehicle in a safe manner, conscious of the effects of OHV use and possible shifting of items.
The Arizona Chapter of :NAXJA: expects each event participant to carry insurance and registration sufficient to meet the legal requirements of their vehicle state of residence and for the roads and trails traveled for the event. The Arizona Chapter of :NAXJA: is not responsible for assuring an participants vehicle is legal for the roads and trails traveled in the event.
Event participants are solely responsible for acquiring and carrying required permits for access to trail areas, if applicable. (Example: State Land Permits Etc.)Required Equipment

Visibly charged fire extinguisher (BC or ABC), visible, secured and easily accessible.
First aid kit
Adequate spare tire, jack and lug wrench
Safety belts for driver and any current passenger
Adequate attachment points in the front and rear of the vehicle:
Acceptable forms of attachment points: (All Items must be mounted in a manner to provide adequate strength and integrity)
Tow hooks of OEM or greater integrity
D-Rings
Shackle/Clevis
20ft 10,000lb snatch strap without any metal hooksg. Secured battery (no bungee cords)

[Ramsey]

I wouldnt mind seeing this removed "Shall own or shall have regular use of an XJ or MJ vehicle."

[Ecomike]

Ok, for any one that is interested I have made HTML versions of the Utah (which I already like the looks of) and the National bylaws (which do not look like chapter bylaws at all). PM me if you want a copy of these two as they currently exist in the national and Utah chapter, copied into MS Word 97 HTML format. There is tool in MS Word that allows text changes to be tracked easily, both additions and deletions to be highlighted in color so it is easy to share proposed changes in an easy to read, and follow format.

I am use to huge amounts of reading and text creation of this kind of stuff on a daily basis so I am temporarily volunteering to help Brandon (Goodburbon) write, edit some bylaw versions for us to consider while I am still motivated to do so.

At some point the writers need additional eyes, to catch errors that get by those of us who have worked on the text too long (like simple grammer, and spelling errors. MikeForte tells me has a masters in English, so with his permision (?) I am going to ask him to hold back and be one of the grammer readers towards the end. I am also going to creat a simple short, yes or no question list of things to see what the general consensus is on some topics that pertain to the by laws, without dragging everyone into the long drawn out legaleas text that puts most people to sleep.

On seanR's suggestions, I apreaciate his help and input, but I think we can go way beyond what he has suggested and have a stronger, better organized chapter up and running just as fast, maybe faster, if we keep on the path we are already on. The process we have been going through on line here is getting us all better aquanted than delegating to a committee would ever do.

I am thinking doing some minimal work ( this kind of stuff goes fast for me) on the bylaws now is another way of getting some things going (chapter wise) in and of itself.

Otherwise, we will end up like most of the other chapters with a default set of national bylaws that say or do nothing useful about us, and once the chapter is formed no one will care to bother with revising it, as evidenced by most of the other chapters.

Beleive it or not the process going on in these threads the last few weeks has been gathering strength, and attracting new members, some who have just decided to pay up this week as new paying members because of the activity in this forum!

Also I see no reason to hold up an election for BOD Directors/Officers over the bylaws. We can work on them and probably have something acceptable ready to go before the election is even over with. Then we can impress the hell out of the national guys with what we have done.

OK here is what I have so far
Most of the chapters have adopted the national by-laws

here is the only one I got a link to that didn't

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14660

and here are Sean R's reccomendations

)Appoint three level headed people for a "nominating committee"
2)Have those people select the BOD, no vote is needed right now, hold your first election in the fall.
3)Adopt the national by-laws as your own for now, work on the real set once things get going.

[90Blue_XJ]

I wouldnt mind seeing this removed "Shall own or shall have regular use of an XJ or MJ vehicle."

WHY?

[Ramsey]

Why should we exclude someone for having a tj or something else, since this is on a local level we should welcome any local people. Lost the same argument in my local jeep club. Just my opinion;)

[goodburbon]

I think that since the phrase in question is a national bylaw and requirement for membership it would supercede any rule we made to the contrary. This is something that we should change at the national level.

Ecomike I am in agreement that the national bylaws do not really fit a chapter, I was distracted by work before being able to finish editing the national bylaws to fit a chapter. Looking at it I think that the Utah bylaws are a much better starting point.

[Ramsey]

I just dont want to see anyone unable to attend a run be it official or unofficial because they dont wheel an xj.

[90Blue_XJ]

I don't think that we should exclude anyone from an event but you must consider we are a sub-chapter of the NAXJA which is devoted exclusively to MJs & XJs not Jeeps as a whole.
If we have an event we should charge anyone to participate even if only $1 but those outside the XJ/MJ group should not be members of a group exclusively meant to be for MJ/XJ owners. Those who want to attend that are not MJ/XJ NAXJA members should pay a higher fee to attend. Read fund raiser here goodburbon.
If we want to include anyone that wants to wheel in this club then we should look for sanctioning from somewhere other than NAXJA.

[Ecomike]

As far as sanctioned, official NAXJA events are concerned I think we are stuck with the national rules which are not likely to be changed even in the face of terrorist threats (LOL).

But all other local chapter events are pretty much left up to the local event coordinator.

I see no reason that we can't have a joint event co-sponsored with another type of jeep club, and various other local activities, like local great and meets, attended by other jeep, or other 4 wheeler owners. I doub't that NAXJA would care or fight us on that, but when it comes to the forum and the web site that would be another issue entirely.

[90Blue_XJ]

As far as sanctioned, official NAXJA events are concerned I think we are stuck with the national rules which are not likely to be changed even in the face of terrorist threats (LOL).

But all other local chapter events are pretty much left up to the local event coordinator.

I see no reason that we can't have a joint event co-sponsored with another type of jeep club, and various other local activities, like local great and meets, attended by other jeep, or other 4 wheeler owners. I doub't that NAXJA would care or fight us on that, but when it comes to the forum and the web site that would be another issue entirely.

Don't think they can be members of our chapter unless they are members of NAXJA and thus they would have to be MJ/XJ owners. My only point is that if we want to start letting others into the chapter events that is one thing, but we have no right telling them that they can be members of this chapter without the national membership. At any event be it a meet & greet a trail ride or any other event I don't think we should exclude anyone who wants to be a part of that event. Just not to have them become a part of the chapter without owning a membership in NAXJA. Just my understanding of what we are about to become a chapter of.
If you guys want all kinds of 4X4s in this group/chapter then we need to start some other kind of club.

[Kendrik]

If you guys want all kinds of 4X4s in this group/chapter then we need to start some other kind of club.

Yup. While I COMPLETELY agree with the sentiment that anyone with a rig should be allowed to attend our un-official events, the National By-laws will supercede us for sanctioned events, and I somehow doubt that an XJ association is going to alllow non-XJ owners in as members. :)

[90Blue_XJ]

Yup. While I COMPLETELY agree with the sentiment that anyone with a rig should be allowed to attend our un-official events, the National By-laws will supercede us for sanctioned events, and I somehow doubt that an XJ association is going to alllow non-XJ owners in as members. :)

Exactly my point but more compactly stated.

[goodburbon]

I do, however, think that we should not exclude valuable members who just happen to have sold their xj/mj.

[90Blue_XJ]

I do, however, think that we should not exclude valuable members who just happen to have sold their xj/mj.


As long as they maintain their NAXJA membership I fail to see a problem with that. But national should be noted to say they should own or have access to an MJ/XJ. So what about that clause in the national membership rule? We may be in trouble if we allow it. Not too sure about it though.

[Ecomike]

All valid, good points and I don't think there is any disagreement between us on those details.

To be a member, they must claim to be an XJ owner to join the national first.(*) Once they are a national member they can join the local chapter. National users can also participate to a limited extent in the local chapter like they do the national, but cannot vote in the local chapter unless they are or become current national payed members. Actual event rules should cover the spefic variable non-member rights, if any, policed by the event co-ordinator in the absense of BOD member or officer.

* To my knowledge there is no proof of XJ ownership required by national to join.

[goodburbon]

How are you coming with those bylaw revisions?

[90Blue_XJ]

If in fact this is the right place to discuss the bylaws then BigDaddyChia brought up "regional coordinators" which is a different name for the area representatives that I mentioned earlier(maybe on a different thread) but with an area as large as we will have to cover I can't see any other way to accomplish such a feat without doing something similar, no matter what they are called.

[Jay VT]

It is going to be very difficult to manage a group over this large of an area. I agree that regional coordinators would help the BOD. That being said we now have to determine how to distribute the regions. Using the KISS method mentioned earlier the minimum for the BOD would be 3.

President or Director
Secretary
Treasurer

I believe that there should also be a Vice or Assistant to assist the Prez.

That would leave us at four people on the BOD. The regionals could be used to populate the rest of the board.

As far as the officers are concerned I agree that we should start with 3 level headed to select the initial BOD. They would begin the process of officially forming the chapter. Once that is completed a meeting would be held to nominate the permanent BOD.

Anyone want me to continue?

[90Blue_XJ]

Please do. You are on the right trail but the BOD should always be an odd number so no ties exist in a vote. Just my non-elgible 2 cents worth.

[Jay VT]

Please do. You are on the right trail but the BOD should always be an odd number so no ties exist in a vote. Just my non-eligible 2 cents worth.

I agree 100%! Since we have permanent members the rest would be from the regionals. Three permanent BOD (vice, sec, tres) would be elected by the chapter as a whole and the regionals would obviously come from each region, and the prez would be selected by the regionals internally. This would keep any large population groups (Houston, DFW...) from dominating the leadership.

Of course we would then have to decide on voting privileges for the permanent (administrative?) BOD.

Clear as the Red River huh?

[90Blue_XJ]

I agree 100%! Since we have permanent members the rest would be from the regionals. Three permanent BOD (vice, sec, tres) would be elected by the chapter as a whole and the regionals would obviously come from each region, and the prez would be selected by the regionals internally. This would keep any large population groups (Houston, DFW...) from dominating the leadership.

Of course we would then have to decide on voting privileges for the permanent (administrative?) BOD.

Clear as the Red River huh?
Sounds OK but I do think we should elect the President as well. At least this time since we are not too well organized yet. We have good leaders already but they are not yet elected. The newer people who are being notified of the chapters formation are not all on board yet.
We still have new people joining our ranks everyday. Most may take awhile to get up to speed on what we have done and what we have yet to accomplish.
Some may want to hold an office and others may be ideal for "area reps" but that is yet to be determined because of the influx of members.

[Jay VT]

I agreed with the 3 person initial BOD setup from an earlier post. Give them some time and assistance to get it going before we open the BOD up for elections. It would also give some of us time to meet each other.

[roxj]

what will be needed to qualify for a rep position?

[XJ Eric]

As long as they maintain their NAXJA membership I fail to see a problem with that. But national should be noted to say they should own or have access to an MJ/XJ. So what about that clause in the national membership rule? We may be in trouble if we allow it. Not too sure about it though.

Are we going to require a copy of titles now? This club gets a little uptight about petty things. Who would want to be a club member if they didn't have one? I get the feeling that we as a chapter won't be nearly as anal as another unnamed chapter. I hope I'm right.

Hmm, I wonder if I have to return my MWC stickers now:confused1

[90Blue_XJ]

Are we going to require a copy of titles now? This club gets a little uptight about petty things. Who would want to be a club member if they didn't have one? I get the feeling that we as a chapter won't be nearly as anal as another unnamed chapter. I hope I'm right.

Hmm, I wonder if I have to return my MWC stickers now:confused1

Photocopies will be fine, unless it is financed and someone else holds the title.
JUST KIDDING If you fooled NAXJA then thats good enough for me.

Why would you want to keep stickers from MWC anyway? We will get some made up to cover those ugly stickers. Or you could rattle can over them.

Roxy do you want to be an area rep? Is that why you are inquiring. I think it is going to be the choice of the BOD at this point.

[goodburbon]

I was thinking of cutting the requirement for rep down to 6 month membership, this would give fresh blood a good stepping stone, and keep fresh ideas and members on top.

Regions to be considered.

western Oklahoma
Eastern Oklahoma
South Louisiana
North Louisiana
SE Texas
NE Texas
Panhandle
Deep south Texas
Central Texas
West texas.

We would need to narrow that down a bit, for instance right now La. and OK have no need for 2 reps. There also is a distinct lack of participation from west texas. It may serve us to have an even number of reps(4 or maybe 6) with the President providing a tie breaker vote when needed. It would be a true representitive government and the President could double as the Chapter rep to National.


These are just thoughts mind you, and right now that kind of system would leave us top heavy. Our membership is, however growing rapidly and I think that once we reach around 60-80 members a rep gov't may work nicely.

[90Blue_XJ]

Our membership is, however growing rapidly and I think that once we reach around 60-80 members a rep gov't may work nicely.

I been workin on that hard as I can. Sent so many PMs to other site members just today that I have the PM memorized now. Mostly to LSJC but some to Texas Jeep Corps members too. Hope to see our member roles in that neighborhood by the weekend. Any idea how many (red) members we have yet?

[goodburbon]

Kendrik has been keeping a good count for us.

[Jay VT]

Good job guys, I've done this before and it is a pain.

[roxj]

Photocopies will be fine, unless it is financed and someone else holds the title.
JUST KIDDING If you fooled NAXJA then thats good enough for me.

Why would you want to keep stickers from MWC anyway? We will get some made up to cover those ugly stickers. Or you could rattle can over them.

Roxy do you want to be an area rep? Is that why you are inquiring. I think it is going to be the choice of the BOD at this point.

i would be interested, but have only been a paying member for a few months. i have however been on here and active since 2003. once the discusion of forming a chapter began i joined and decided i would do what i could to help. i am in the woodlands, just north of houston, and would be happy to rep that area. im guessing it would be considered the south east?

[XJ Eric]

Why would you want to keep stickers from MWC anyway? We will get some made up to cover those ugly stickers. Or you could rattle can over them.

Roxy do you want to be an area rep? Is that why you are inquiring. I think it is going to be the choice of the BOD at this point.

Well I had to work so hard to get them! It was like pulling teeth.
Speaking of a Chapter Logo we really need to start putting one of those together.

I'll talk to my Brother in Law, he's crazy good with a pencil.

[Ecomike]

If we are going to do that we need to do it right! Nothing less than triplicate certified, notorized copies will do! :jester:

Photocopies will be fine, unless it is financed and someone else holds the title.
JUST KIDDING If you fooled NAXJA then thats good enough for me.


Goodburbon,

Regarding your list:

Regions to be considered.

western Oklahoma
Eastern Oklahoma
South Louisiana
North Louisiana
SE Texas
NE Texas
Panhandle
Deep south Texas
Central Texas
West texas.
I think we should go with Houston (for west Texas or Houston/Beaumont), then Dallas-Ft.Worth (for North Texas), and San Antonio (for east or SE Texas) as areas based on the huge population in those cities alone, and possibly a deep south Texas. Might want to make the pan handle overlap with south Oklahoma or Dallas? Lots of ways we can slice it up, but I think we should start out with those three major cities as areas since they are in something like like the top five or at least top ten largest population cities in the entire nation. Greater Houston...(east Texas?)....area maybe?

Does anyone else like this idea?

Been tied up and off line last few days....catching up on the posts since sunday right now.

[90Blue_XJ]

I also agree with Ecomike the list should be as he described. The large population areas are where we can find the most concentration of members/potential members. The areas outside those population centers should be a great deal larger so that spread out members are covered. Like 4x4life05 and Ralph and others, myself included will have larger geographical areas but smaller member numbers.
These things should be included within the scope of the bylaws and easily amended as the membership population shifts over the years. For instance I belong to the TJC but have yet to attend a get together because they are over 250 miles away (one way) which precludes me attending a Wednesday night meeting. Yet I am a dues paying member and would love to be more involved. With the areas being covered within this chapter we can have regional get togethers and still be doing chapter business because we are under the chapter umbrella, thus under the national umbrella as well.

[goodburbon]

That works for now, but El paso and New Orleans are pretty far from the nearest center. As we have no members there currently I don't see a problem with it.

[90Blue_XJ]

That works for now, but El paso and New Orleans are pretty far from the nearest center. As we have no members there currently I don't see a problem with it.

When you live in a state the size of Texas then the trip from Baton Rouge to New Orleans seems a short distance. Hope that is not offensive to you cajuns but thats the way it looks. Were I to take a trip to DFW area it would be a 12 hour trip one way. How long from BR to NO? Straight shot on I10 right? From here to San Antonio (which is called South Texas) is a mere 5 hours one way and to Houston 7-8 hours depending which side of town. So we have a larger logistical problem here in Texas IMHO.
BTW We now have a member who checked in from El Paso yesterday or the day before. So we have a red member there now.

[goodburbon]

Baton Rouge to N.O. is a quick trip, thats not offensive to me. Just don't call those N.O. and Baton Rouge people cajuns, they don't really qualify.:D

Lets not get to off topic though, this is the Bylaws discussion.

[90Blue_XJ]

Baton Rouge to N.O. is a quick trip, thats not offensive to me. Just don't call those N.O. and Baton Rouge people cajuns, they don't really qualify.:D

Lets not get to off topic though, this is the Bylaws discussion.

I'm sorry thought that being called a CAJUN was a badge of distinction. My bad. here I am still off the bylaws topic. BTW do you see my point about the distances and thus the need for the reps to be in the locations indicated? I think that should be part of the proposed bylaws.
BTW Ecomike how are the rough drafts of these proposed bylaws coming along? Spent part of the morning re-reading the ones that I have and the LSJC bylaws too. Kinda bylawed out right about now (may need an old man type of nap). Get back to me guys. And Cajuns. LMAO

[Ecomike]

I have posted my version of the proposed bylaws on a new thread at:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=243563060#post243563060

I can email a MS Word file version, in HTML format to anyone that wants a copy, or you can copy and paste it from the link above. If you want a nice easy to read, clean copy just PM me with your email address. My copy is much easier to read as it is formatted much better. The font sizes, and spacing I used did not copy over correctly to the post. Must be a web site posting issue.

It follows the UTAH chapter bylaws for the most part, 99%. I took the liberty of using TXXJA as a filler for the chapter name for now, until we have offically selected our chapter name.

The red text is proposed deletions or additions, the blue text is my comments, the rest is in black text.

[Kendrik]

I'm sorry thought that being called a CAJUN was a badge of distinction.

It is a badge of distinction, which is why we don't like you wasting it on folks from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. They're a whole different breed out there. :) (In case it's not clear, I'm originally from South LA...)

On-Topic. Everyone needs to take a look at the proposed by-laws thread that Ecomike posted. I think it looks pretty good, including the proposed edits that Eco has in there. Also, you candidates for BOD need to get off your asses and post in the candidates thread. Us peon's are starting to feel a bit ignored on the topic of who is going to be part of the BOD. Okay, this peon is, at least.

[90Blue_XJ]

Another peon on the same bandwagon. BOD candidates post up!!! We know some who voiced a desire to be on the BOD but the newcomers that are eligible may not. So lets get a current BOD list started.

[Ecomike]

It is a badge of distinction, which is why we don't like you wasting it on folks from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. They're a whole different breed out there. :) (In case it's not clear, I'm originally from South LA...)

What does South Los Angeles (LA) have to do with Louisianna?:D

On-Topic. Everyone needs to take a look at the proposed by-laws thread that Ecomike posted. I think it looks pretty good, including the proposed edits that Eco has in there. Also, you candidates for BOD need to get off your asses and post in the candidates thread. Us peon's are starting to feel a bit ignored on the topic of who is going to be part of the BOD. Okay, this peon is, at least.

I suspect they want to stay on their ass*s and let us peons do all the work. Isn't that what peons are for? :D:rattle: