I'm going to start up a series of posts on here about the Bylaws so
that we can come up with something that everyone agrees with. We have
to officially adopt some bylaws and submit them to the Ohio Attorney
General. We can always amend the bylaws later of course.
All of this information is coming from the wiki at
http://wiki.hive13.org/index.php?title=Bylaws so you can view the most
up-to-date info there.
The majority of the bylaws have been copied pretty much word for word
from the bylaws of other hackerspaces that I've been able to find
online. For reference, check out these links:
* http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Documentation#Bylaws_and_Regulations
* https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Bylaws
* http://pumpingstationone.org/wiki//index.php?title=Bylaws
* http://wiki.hacdc.org/index.php?title=Bylaws
* http://hacklab.to/bylaws/
The first section I'm going to put up for everyone to pick apart is
the section that I consider to be the least finished: Officers.
http://wiki.hive13.org/index.php?title=Bylaws#Elected_Officers
By law, we have to have a President, Secretary and Treasurer (who do
not necessarily have to be separate individuals). We can also have
any other offices that we want to create. Most people seemed to like
having an officer that's sort of in charge of the various aspects of
the physical space and another officer who is in charge of the groups
technology infrastructure. I brainstormed a list of other possible
ideas for Officers: "President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer,
CFO, CTO, Coordinator in Chief, Minister of Information, Keeper of the
MIBS, Minister of Finance, Operations Manager, Quartermaster,
Librarian, Scribe, Chef, Minister of Propaganda, Director of
Education, Statutory Agent, Auditor, Junk Master ... "
Anyway, the way the section currently reads is as follows:
"
Offices
The officers of the Corporation shall consist of a President, a
Secretary, a Treasurer, and such other officers, as the Board may from
time to time deem advisable. Any officer may be, but is not required
to be, a director of the Corporation.
President
1. The President shall preside over all meetings of the membership
and of the board of directors.
2. He or she also serves as a representative of the Corporation to
the public, and in all functions where a President may be called for
by law or any other outside requirements.
3. The President is responsible for making sure that the
corporation files its annual report, Illinois charitable organization
statements, and any other papers required to maintain legal nonprofit
status by the law of Illinois or Federal law.
4. chairs board meetings (if they are a director), responsible for
public-facing communication (ex. info@, irc channel), appoints people
to non-officer roles, and prepare reports on everything aside from
finances to the board at least monthly
Vice-President
1. The Vice President shall assist the President in organizing
meetings of the membership. He or she is responsible for enforcing the
rules of meeting procedure as detailed in this documents. The Vice
President is also responsible for providing notice of all meetings of
the members and of the board of directors, pursuant to these bylaws
and the law of Illinois. In the event that the President cannot
fulfill his responsibilities at any meeting or function, it is the
responsibility of the Vice President to fulfill the obligations of the
President.
Secretary
1. The Secretary shall supervise the keeping of a full and complete
record of the proceedings of the Board of Directors and its
committees, shall supervise the giving of such notices as may be
proper or necessary, shall supervise the keeping of the minute books
of this corporation, and shall have such other powers and duties as
may be prescribed by the Board or these Bylaws.
2. The Secretary shall be responsible for recording all minutes of
all official meetings of the membership and the board of directors in
the corporation's permanent records.
Treasurer
1. The Treasurer is responsible for monitoring all financial assets
of the Corporation. This includes but is not restricted to keeping
record of the organization’s budget, the collection of membership dues
from members, the payment of rent and utilities for any space leased
by the Corporation, filing taxes, the disbursement and reimbursement
of funds authorized to be spent under the procedures detailed in these
bylaws, and and preparing financial reports to the board.
Chief Technical Officer
1. The Chief Technical Officer is responsible for ensuring the
maintenance and consistency of the technological infrastructure as
needed by the organization. This includes, but is not limited to, the
website and internal network of the physical space.
Operations Manager
1. responsible for managing the physical space, safety and
security, and the membership database
Eligibility
1. In order to be eligible to be nominated, a person must be Full
Member as defined earlier in these bylaws for six consecutive months.
For the initial election of officers, or in any replacement election
during the six months after the initial election of officers, a person
must be a founding member in order to run for office.
Nomination
1. Any Full Member has the right to nominate an eligible person for
office.
2. A Full Member has the right to nominate himself.
3. Only the nominated candidate can un-nominate himself.
4. All nominations for officer positions are due one week before
the annual meeting.
5. If only one person is timely nominated to run for an office and
accepts such nomination, he shall run unopposed.
6. If no person is timely nominated to run for an office and
accepts such nomination, nominations for that position may be made at
the annual meeting, in person, before the vote. If nobody is nominated
in this way, the person holding the office may choose to continue in
his position, or choose to appoint his successor.
Elections
1. Elections for officers shall take place at the annual meeting.
2. All officers shall be elected at the same time, by the process
determined in these bylaws for Votes of the Membership, except that
every full member will have two votes with which to apply to the
nominees.
3. Each member present shall be given an opportunity to be a
candidate for each officer position.
4. If there is more than one candidate for an officer position, the
candidate which obtains the highest number votes from voting members
present shall be elected.
5. If there are no candidates for an officer position, the outgoing
officeholder may, if eligible, elect to serve another term or select
any willing member to serve in that position.
Resignations and Terminations
1. Any officer may resign at any time by written notice delivered
to the Board of Directors of the corporation.
2. A resignation is effective when the notice is delivered unless
the notice specifies a future date.
3. Any officer may be terminated in their role by resolution passed
by majority vote of the Board of Directors.
4. The pending vacancy may be filled before the effective date, but
the successor shall not take office until the effective date.
5. Nominations for people to run to replace the officer who has
resigned shall open when the officer tenders his resignation, and
remain open for one week.
6. Members shall elect the replacement officer among the candidates
who have been nominated and accepted their nomination, using the Votes
of the Membership procedures in these bylaws.
7. The replacement officer's term shall last until new officers are
elected at the next Annual Meeting.
Term
1. An officer’s term shall expire at the Annual Meeting following
his election.
"
Let me hear your thoughts, or feel free to just start making edits to
the wiki.
The idea was to post all the sections of the bylaws to the mailing
list section by section, and if no objections are heard, we will
consider them finalized.
Once there has been time to review and discuss, the Board will
officially adopt the bylaws, at which point they can only be changed
by the amendment process specified within the bylaws themselves.
Thanks!
~Dave
