Proposed By-Laws changes - Dues

[donald-selle]

A quorum of the HAS BOD has voted unanimously to recommend that the Membership of HAS vote to adopt the following the proposed amendment to the bylaws concerning setting of dues.

The proposed amendment which follows would delegate to the BOD the authority to set the dues provided that the membership is given at least 60 days prior notice of a possible change, and at least 30 days prior notice of the date time and place of the BOD meeting at which vote to change the dues will take place.

Article IV, Section II paragraphs 3 and 4 of the By-Laws shall be amended to read as follows:

3. Dues for each class of Member shall be established by the Board of Directors.

4. Dues may be changed only by a vote of the Board of Directors, only when:
a) The Membership is notified of the Board of Directors intention to change the dues at least sixty (60) days prior to the vote to change them;
b) The vote to change the dues is taken at a regular meeting of the Board of Directors which is open to the membership to attend, the time, date and place of which is publicized to the Membership at least thirty (30) days in advance.


The current Bylaws can be found here: https://www.astronomyhouston.org/content/bylaws

All members are encouraged to post questions or comments about the proposed amendment to this thread and each will be addressed.

Best Regards;

Don Selle
HAS VP

[sirby]

I have long felt that the current dues of HAS are the best bargain in town and that I receive a lot of Bang for my bucks. I am also aware that in this rapidly changing world, prices for many things do increase. Keeping that in mind, I am not averse to this change as I recognize that the current by-laws are restrictive by enumerating the numerical amount of dues to be paid. I trust that the Board of Directors are faithful stewards and will not propose any change without good cause and much consideration.

Sherry Irby

[donald-selle]

Sherry

Firstly, there are no plans to change the dues, because I am happy to report that HAS is in good financial shape. The bylaws committee did feel that requiring a bylaws amendment in order to change the dues was a rather cumbersome process, so the amendment was proposed which if adopted would delegate the authority to change the dues to the Board of Directors.

The amendment does require that the membership be notified that a change in dues is being considered, at least 60 days before the BOD would vote to change the dues. This was included in the amendment to make the process transparent and to provide time for the membership to express their opinion to the Directors and officers prior to any vote is taken to change the dues.

Don Selle
Chairman- bylaws committee