<CORSA Chapters> Membership question -- 100% vs Not. Chapterlevel

[Bill Hubbell]

It is interesting that Bill Chellis cites the current CORSA Bylaws and
Chapter Plan as the reason his chapter would not support a requirement for
100% CORSA membership.  A review of these two documents reveals a major
discrepancy.
-------------------------------

>From the CORSA Bylaws

Article VI Section 2: Chapters
Groups of Society members who meet the geographic and membership
requirements of the Society Chapter Plan will be chartered as a chapter of
the Society. Organizational requirements of a group forming a local chapter,
the responsibilities of the Society in this relationship, and benefits to
the chapter will be defined in an operating policy of the Society called the
Chapter Plan. There will be no charge to the local chapter, beyond dues of
members, for the privilege of chapter status.


>From the Chapter Plan (Relevant portions of Section 4, followed by portions
of Section 2 referenced by Section 4):

Section IV. Maintenance of Chapter Status
To indicate that Charter requirements continue to be met, a Chartered
Chapter shall file with the Executive Secretary, as periodically directed, a
Chapter membership roster, a list of Chapter officers, and time and location
of meetings. A Chartered Chapter shall endeavor to maintain 100% of its
membership as CORSA members. All Chapters must maintain the CORSA membership
requirements of Section II, items 1 and 2.
A filing fee shall be imposed annually upon all CORSA Chapters. The amount
of the filing fee will be set by a majority vote of the CORSA Board of
Directors. The filing fee will be waived for those Chapters that maintained
100% of their members as CORSA members as reported on their annual Chapter
Report.
Section II. Qualifications for Granting New Chapter Status
To become a Chartered Chapter of CORSA, a local group of CORSA members must
make application for Chapter status to the CORSA Executive Secretary. This
application must include:
1.	The names and addresses of all the members of the proposed Chapter.
The membership list must include at least ten CORSA members and the CORSA
members must account for at least half of the total members of the proposed
chapter. In Alaska, Hawaii, and foreign countries other than Canada, this
minimum requirement is three.
2.	The names of club officers for the proposed Chapter. A majority of
the proposed Chapter's executive officers (president, vice-president, et
al.) must be CORSA members.

-------------------------------------

Does anybody besides me see the problem?  The Bylaws (which always take
precedence over any policy), state that "there will be no charge to the
local chapter, other than dues", but the Chapter Plan requires a filing fee.

Many have touted the filing fee as the justification for allowing chapters
to have less than 100% membership, but the fee is in fact a violation of the
Bylaws.  It seems clear to me that the Bylaws were written with the
intention that Chapters would pay their CORSA bill by way of dues charged to
their members, and that certainly implies that those members would be CORSA
members or, at the very least, that a portion of their chapter dues would be
payable to CORSA.

Simply put, the Chapter Plan is in violation of the CORSA Bylaws.

I strongly encourage our Board of Directors to modify the Chapter Plan to
bring it into compliance with our Bylaws; otherwise to amend the Bylaws.

The Chapter Plan can be changed at any time with a simple majority vote of
the Directors.  The Bylaws can only be changed by amendment, a more involved
process which requires not only a majority vote of the Board, but also the
consent of the membership (preceded by a period of publication and
discussion).

Bill Hubbell




-----Original Message-----
From: chapters-bounces at corvair.org [mailto:chapters-bounces at corvair.org] On
Behalf Of Bill Chellis
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:30 AM
To: tim mahler
Cc: Chapters CORSA
Subject: Re: <CORSA Chapters> Membership question -- 100% vs Not.
Chapterlevel

> Answers to the simple poll.

> Does your chapter require CORSA membership?  No.

>
> Have you discussed 100% CORSA membership in you chapter meetings? Yes.

>
> Would your chapter support 100% CORSA membership?  Given the current  
> CORSA Bylaws and Chapter Plan - No.

Bill Chellis
North Cascades Corvairs
>





On Dec 14, 2009, at 12:58 PM, tim mahler wrote:

> Simple pol.
>
> Does your chapter require CORSA membership?
> Have you discussed 100% CORSA membership in you chapter meetings?
> Would your chapter support 100% CORSA membership?
>
>
> Background -- After the most recent discussion on requiring 100% CORSA
> membership in CORSA chapters, the board is again looking at this  
> issue.  It
> has almost become an annual rite.  the survey (almost 2 years ago)  
> indicated
> a slight majority of individuals would favor such.  That comment may  
> bias
> some polls, but I doubt it would this group.
>
> What may change the discussion, introduce a bias,  is --
> What if CORSA offered a nonCommunique membership?  Voting rights,  
> attend
> conventions, other CORSA sanctioned events ,  be eligible for several
> special interest groups (who require CORSA membership today)  such  
> as Stock
> Corvair Group,  Performance Corvair group, and others  I think but  
> do not
> recall precisely that Corvanatics also requires CORSA membership.   
> These
> special interest group meet face to face at the CORSA convention.
>
> Would that make a difference to your chapter in the approve Questions?
>
> (100% membership also means chapter insurance and benefit filing fee  
> is
> waived for all chapters so "goes away")
>
> The board has not made any decisions,  but have (re)started talking  
> about
> the above.  The goal is to make CORSA better.
>
> thanks
> tim mahler
> president, CORSA
>
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