Dear Neighbors:
Attached are three documents that relate to our quarterly meeting next week. Please review all and feel free to submit any comments you might have by replying to this e-mail. I have outlined the primary changes and reasons to the proposed bylaw changes below. My apologies to not being able to submit these proposed changes to you yesterday or over this past weekend. I was out-of-town and returned to Frankfort and my computer very late last night.
We look forward to seeing you at our meeting next week (Thursday, 7/24). The doors to the Third Street entrance of South Frankfort Presbyterian Church will open at 6 p.m. for dinner and the meeting will begin at 7. I believe we will be able to adjourn by 8:30. Because of our presenters’ schedules, we had to place the core neighborhood association business at the end of the agenda, but we will be able to move some things around on agenda items IV-VII.
Also as of this time, we will be unable to provide a full slate of candidates for our officer elections. All positions are available to receive nominations and we have some people that might be able to serve, but we would like to see if any other nominations are received at the meeting. According to our current bylaws, three of the current officers are unable to serve another term in their current position (chair, treasurer, and secretary).
Thank you for your consideration of these proposed changes.
Katie Carney, Chair and your SFNA Board
Bylaw Changes
Article III – Membership Dues
Change the per household dues from $12 to $10 for regular membership and the household associate membership dues will change from $6 to $5. The primary reason for this change is that many people do not have single bills when they pay their membership dues. The Board does not believe this will affect our low operating expenses.
Article IV – Fiscal Year and Membership Meetings
The Board recommends changing the bylaws to meet twice a year as opposed to quarterly. Over the past few years the Board has had difficulty arranging speakers that would provide topics of interest to the members. We have also experienced a decline in attendance at the meetings and feel that if there were fewer meetings, individuals might be able to be more involved in the association by not having to commit to four meetings per year. We would recommend to the future board to begin the meetings at 6 or 6:30 and still provide dinner, but lesson the time for a social period.
Article V – Officers
Change the name of the section to “Election and Terms of Office” which better reflects the subject of the article.
Removal of the duties of the Membership Development and Officer Nominations Committee (explanation for that is later in the e-mail).
Delete a phrase in Section 2 that relates to the length of time an elected officer shall serve until – “or until their successors are elected and qualify”. A possible scenario would be if there is no one elected to serve in a specific position and the currently elected officer would have to continue to serve until someone is elected. Which could possibly be in conflict with Section 3 of Article V about serving no more than 3 consecutive terms of office. There is a contingency plan at the end of the proposed bylaws.
Article VII – Board of Directors
Delete the member at-large position. It is suggested to delete this position because there are no clearly defined duties.
Delete Section 3 which requires monthly Board meetings. Section 4 becomes the new Section 3 and recommends that there be regular meetings of the Board.
Article VIII – Committees and Programs
Deletion of the Membership Development and Officer Nominations, Government Affairs, and Community Events committees. The Board has had a difficult time maintaining volunteers and chairs for these three committees and feel that the duties of each can be incorporated into the duties of the Board as a collective group. Within this article there is authorization for the chairperson to establish additional committees and programs of this organization. The Board believes that when there is a need to establish a committee it is a temporary need and would not need formal acknowledgement in the bylaws.
Also within the description of officer duties and the Board of Directors, there is authorization to incorporate most of the responsibilities of these three committees. The Beautification’s Committee currently addresses governmental topics of planning and zoning, architectural review, code enforcement, historic preservation, and community improvement. The community improvement aspect of Beautification’s Committee could be expanded/interpreted as being able to pick up aspects of the Community Events Committee.
Article XI – Dissolution of SFNA
This is a new article that might still need some tweaking made to it. The Board wanted to provide an avenue as to what might happen in the event of no officer being elected to a position.