AAVSO President's Letter
September 2020
Proposed Bylaw Changes
The Board is proposing two bylaw changes for membership approval at this year's Annual Meeting.
After a period of the draft version being open for member comments, the final version is now available here. Voting by membership to determine approval of these changes begins October 16th, 2020, at 9 a.m. EDT.
There are two proposed changes:
- Revised Process for Membership Approval of Bylaw Updates
- Change of Board terms from two to three years, with a corresponding change in term limits from three to two terms.
What follows is an explanation and rationale for each of the proposed changes. The specific bylaw wording changes are shown here.
Proposal #1 – Process for approval of future bylaw updates
This change results from comments received during last year's bylaw update. A draft of proposed bylaw changes will be sent to members at least eight weeks before the annual meeting, allowing time for comment and discussion. Then, at least four weeks before the annual meeting, a final version of the proposed bylaws update will be sent to members for their vote. Online voting will be open from that day until the time of the annual meeting. (This year, since there will not be an in-person meeting, voting will close one day before the members' online meeting allowing time to process the vote. )
Proposal #2 – Change in Board Terms
This proposed bylaw changes "at-large" Board member terms from two to three years, with an offsetting reduction in term limits from three to two terms. The maximum time a person can be on the Board remains six consecutive years. Why the change? Because after discussion with our strategic plan consultant (Community Action Partners of Boston) and comparison with other nonprofit organizations, we found three-year terms are more common. The reason is it provides additional time for members to develop a deeper understanding of the organization, and then use that knowledge guiding the organization as a Board member.
This change would reduce the number of individuals elected annually from four to three. The three-year terms create three Board classes identified by term ending dates. Therefore, the Board would have nine at-large members instead of the current eight.
Conclusion
The specific bylaw wording changes can he viewed here.
Please post questions and comments regarding the proposed bylaw changes on the general discussion or governance forums.
Clear skies!
Gordon
I finally got back to looking at these proposed changes. I have no problem with the changes, but do see one additional change that needs to be made to Article IV, Section 3. The last line in the paragraph reads:
In the event multiple candidates for the fourth spot have equal numbers of votes, the President shall decide which candidate shall be elected to the Board.
I think this should be changed to:
In the event multiple candidates for the third spot have equal numbers of votes, the President shall decide which candidate shall be elected to the Board.
Arne
Arne,
Thanks for catching the error.
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
Just got the email saying we should vote, but the link to the Bylaws changes does not include a change for the error that I found. I would like that change to be shown in the proposed changes document before voting. Thanks!
Arne
The posted version has been corrected. The ballot has the correct wording.
Thanks.
Gordon