Bylaws

[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!! atriot:

 

[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

 

[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

1. The Recorder shall keep records of all voting activity and a log of all Motions as part of permanent records. These records shall be maintained for a period of at least five (5) years.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 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.
5. 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

1. Each Event shall have an assigned Trail Master. The Trail Master shall lead the Event always with safety in mind.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Attendees bringing pets shall control them at all times.

Event Participation

1. The Arizona Chapter of :: VERY HIGHLY recommends that all event participants have a functional CB Radio.
2. The Arizona Chapter of :: 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.
3. The Arizona Chapter of :: 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 :: is not responsible for assuring an participants vehicle is legal for the roads and trails traveled in the event.
4. 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

1. Visibly charged fire extinguisher (BC or ABC), visible, secured and easily accessible.
2. First aid kit
3. Adequate spare tire, jack and lug wrench
4. Safety belts for driver and any current passenger
5. Adequate attachment points in the front and rear of the vehicle:
   1. Acceptable forms of attachment points: (All Items must be mounted in a manner to provide adequate strength and integrity)
   2. Tow hooks of OEM or greater integrity
   3. D-Rings
   4. Shackle/Clevis
6. 20ft 10,000lb snatch strap without any metal hooks

g. 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.