AofA Amendments Comments

Hello

I have been working hard with the Amendments after Christmas. The Board is having a dialog about them, but it was to late to be able to reach an agreement. So these amendments are my personal dialog proposals.

I am myself unsure about some of these but I think they are however worth looking at. But proposal 1 is very important for KA, to be able to create a banc account. If you give the treasurer and the chairman the authority to sign individually, I thought that you then want to vote these officers. Look at proposal 11.

Remember that the AofA must be a dynamic document that is adapted to the circumstances being a useful working tool for the members.

Article 6 - Amendments says:  "These by-laws may be altered, repealed or added to by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the members in a Annual Meeting. The by-laws text proposal must be circulated for discussion for at least thirty days before the meeting. Appendices containing organizational information shall not require a vote of the membership for modification. They may be modified by a two third vote of the Board."

Here are my Amendment proposals:

1. Article 4 - Financial year and sign for the firm.The text should be changed so the Chairman and the Treasurer can sign individually. We can not open a bank account otherwise here in Sweden, without having the Treasurer to come to Göteborg, Sweden. And without a Kidlink Association (KA) Bank Account it is not possible to open a KA Paypal account. The text suggested is: "The chairman and the treasurer are those who sign for the Association. They are allowed to sign individually. "
   
2. Article 4 - Financial year and sign for the firm. I suggest to add a line for the case something happens with the Chairman. The text suggested is: "The vice-chairman takes over the Chairman's authority to sign for the Kidlink Association, if he/she is hindered from executing it."
3. Article 6 - Amendments. I have found that we have no need of an appendix. I suggest that this text is removed: "Appendices containing organizational information shall not require a vote of the membership for modification. They may be modified by a two third vote of the Board."
   
4. Article 9 - Member rights and obbligations. "must pay member dues not later than 31/1" This line can become a serious problem if a new member says that he/she wants to have more time to look at the agenda, aofa proposals or whatever, to be able to vote. It is normal practice that an Annual meeting starts at least 30 days after all important docs have been shared. The text suggested is therefore: "must pay member dues not later than thirty days before the start of the Annual Meeting".
   
5. Article 11 - Member Meetings. Article 10 - Rules for meeting notice says: "The Board's Annual Report and Financial Statement must be sent to the members together with the notice to the Annual Meeting." To avoid confusion with names, I suggest that the text in art 11 "approval of last year's annual report and balance statement" is changed into "The Board's Annual Report and Financial Statement"
   
6. Article 10 - Rules for meeting notice. We did not accomplish to end the Annual meeting 2009 before March. We suggest this text: "The Annual Meeting has to be ended before the month of April." to avoid unnecessary meeting stress.
   
7. Article 11 - Member Meetings- about the election of Chairman. The Annual Meeting may want to elect both the Chairman and the Treasurer, as these officers sign individually for the Association. In the agenda for the meeting the issue 5 the text suggested is: "election of Chairman and Treasurer for three year term.". I suggest that the Annual meeting formally confirm the election of André Rombauts for the rest of the term, until 2011.
   
8. Article 11 - Member Meetings - election of the other new Board members. If the Election Committee is removed (Art 16) from the Chapters then the text "presented by the election committee" must be removed
   
9. Article 11 - Member Meetings - about accountants. The name "accountant" should be changed into "auditor" as "auditor" is the name used in the rest of the Chapters.
   
10. Article 11 - Member Meetings- accountant report and adopt the report. We had difficulties last year to understand the Swedish Annual meeting procedure described in the Swedish AofA and find a good translation for it. I have a new translation that may better explain the meaning of this procedure. "accountants report about last year's annual report and balance statement" is changed into "auditors revision of the Boards work during the previous activity and accounting year.".
    "adopt the report" is changed into "approving of the previous Boards work"
    
11. Article 11 - Member Meetings- about accountants. The Annual meeting 2009 was not able to elect accountants (auditors). For issue 7 I suggest therefore this text: "election of one accountant for one year term. Accountants must not be public authorized accountants. If the election of an auditor is not possible during the Annual, it can be done with an email meeting election before the month of November." The name "Accountant" is changed into "Auditor" if so voted.
    
12. Article 11 - Member Meetings- about election committee. I would suggest we remove the existence of an election committee as it has been impossible to find volunteers able to do this work. We shall instead let the members suggest new members.
    
13. Article 13 - The Board. If art 18 is removed then we have to remove "with exception for the Association first Annual Meeting (art 12)." in art 13.
    
14. Article 13 - The Board. If the Appendix is removed, then the text "Their names and data are found in Appendix A of these by-laws." should be removed too.
    
15. Article 14 - The Board Responsibilities. If changes in article 4 and article 11 are approved, the text should become "The Board is responsible for: 1. electing deputy chairman and the secretary". We have never had an elected secretary during this year. We elected a new secretary for every meeting. So the text I suggest should be "The Board is responsible for: 1. electing deputy chairman" (NEW)
    
16. Article 15 - Committees- Youth Committee - We must put efforts in engaging youth. The Board voted for a Youth committee during 2009. By adding this committee in the Chapters we emphasize further the need of such a committee. I suggest this text: "Youth Committee - This committee is lead by the Board Youth representative and is responsible for the Kid Center activities. The Committee helps Kidlink to develop youth activities."
    
17. Article 16 - The Election Committee- We remove the existence of an election committee as it has been impossible to find volunteers able to do this work. I think we will have the same problem this Annual Meeting 2010. We shall instead let the members suggest new members. This article is therefore removed.
    
18. Article 17 - Audit. If art 16 is removed then art 17 becomes article 16.
    
19. Article 18 - Initial Acceptance is to be removed completely as initial acceptance rules are not interesting any more.
    
20. Appendix is removed from the AofA as it is not needed. The Information about who is elected Chairman is seen in the Annual Meeting minutes. If the Annual meeting also formally elects the treasurer then this will also be visibile in the Annual meeting minutes.
    

All suggested changes can be seen applied in the Swedish-English AofA version. Click here... 

Please write to kidlink-association@googlegroups.com your opinions about these amendments. You may also add comments below. With your opinion it will be much easier for me to run the Annual meeting.

Thank you for your advice and collaboration.