[YSC] Informational Meeting on Proposed Bylaws

Citizens gather in Old Scandinavia

Ancient stone circle in Scandinavia

On Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 a meeting will be held at the Swedish American Hall at 7pm to review a proposed set of new bylaws.

Earlier this year, the Board of Trustees asked a group of people from the Board, EC and general membership to form a sub-committee to review the current bylaws and make recommendations about how the Club could improve its nearly 60 year old bylaws.

That committee has spent more than 6 months meeting with a local attorney and drafting a new set of bylaws to 1) improve the management structure of the club and 2) reduce the liability exposure faced by the club and its volunteers. In November the sub-committee was encouraged by a majority of the Board of Trustees and other respected members to deliver a new set of bylaws for a vote at the annual meeting.

With our existing bylaws, the club currently has a governance structure composed of an Executive Committee of 11 people and a Board of Trustees of 6 people. The proposed bylaws feature a Board of Directors of 9 to 12 people, a common corporate structure for organizations like the YSC. Working with the board would be a number of smaller, focused working groups. Many of them would probably be standing committees: Tahoe, Clear Lake, Activities, Events.

There are numerous legal reasons that necessitate this kind of a structure. From a management perspective, the advantage of having smaller committees is that members can help run the club in those areas where they have an interest. These people would not necessarily have to drive into the city 12 times a year for an EC meeting, but could meet as they deem appropriate to meet their responsibilities and the direction laid out by a managing board of directors.

While the working sub-committee has done the bulk of the drafting, there is still room for comments and suggestions because we want to pass the best set of bylaws possible. You can review the proposed bylaws under the “About” section of the YSC website by clicking on “Proposed New Bylaws” link.

Reservations: Reservations are recommended for this event. Please RSVP for this meeting by sending an email to: yscbylaws@gmail.com.