BYLAWS DENVER AREA WICCAN NETWORK
BYLAWS
DENVER AREA WICCAN NETWORK
I. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
A. The Board of Directors (hereinafter referred to as the Board)
shall be selected by the Steering Committee from among the
active members of DAWN such that:
1. Each coven shall have no more than one member on the
Board; if there are fewer than 5 member covens, then there
may be a second Director from any coven;
2. There shall be at least one member of the Board who is a
member of a coven; and
3. There shall be at least one member on the Board from among
the DAWN members who are not members of any coven.
B. The Board shall have no fewer than 4 members and no more than
13 members. It shall determine its own size within those
limits.
C. The Board may appoint members of DAWN to fill vacancies on the
Board. Persons so appointed shall serve only until the next
regular election.
D. Each elected Director (member of the Board) holds a two year
term, except that, when the size of the board is increased,
half of the new positions shall initially be for one year only.
Any person serving one elected term may not be reelected as a
Director until they have been retired from the Board for one
year.
E. Each seated Director may designate an Alternate to speak and
vote in their stead when they are absent from Board meetings.
The identity of this Alternate shall be recorded in the Minutes
of the Board, and no other person may serve this function until
the Director changes the designation and the change is on
record. Being named Alternate to a Director does not
automatically name them Alternate to any offices that director
may hold; however, they may so serve at the discretion of the
Chair.
F. The Board shall elect Officers from among the Directors for the
positions of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. This
shall be done after each new election, and no later than the
next regular meeting of the Board.
G. A quorum of the Board shall consist of 70 percent of the
Directors, either present or represented by their Alternate.
H. The Secretary may appoint, from the general membership of DAWN,
with the approval of the Board, persons to fill any or all of
the following offices:
a. Recording Secretary,
b. Membership Secretary, and
c. Corresponding Secretary.
These officers serve at the will of the Board and report
directly to the Secretary.
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I. The Board shall meet regularly, at least four times per year,
at a time and place to be fixed by the Board. Additionally, The
Chair or any two Directors may call a Board meeting upon giving
at least 7 days notice to all Directors by U.S. Mail, or upon
at least 2 days notice given by telegram. Said notice will be
deemed delivered when deposited in the U.S. Mail with the last
known address of the Director and proper postage thereon
prepaid, or when the given to the telegram company. Any
Director may waive notice of any meeting. The attendance of a
Director at any meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice,
except when the Director attends the meeting for the express
purpose of objecting to the transaction of business because the
meeting has not been lawfully called or convened. The notice
of meeting need only contain the date, time, and place of the
meeting.
J. The Board may make rules to govern the conduct of its own
meetings.
K. All Board Meetings are open to the membership of DAWN.
Accordingly, any Director is required to furnish information
regarding dates, times, and places of upcoming Board meetings
to any DAWN member upon request.
II. STEERING COMMITTEE
A. The Steering Committee shall be composed of the Directors, one
representative from each member coven and proportional
representation for such DAWN members as do not belong to any
member coven (hereinafter referred to as Solitaries). The
method of choosing a coven representative is left to the
discretion of the individual coven. A method for choosing
representation for Solitaries will be determined by said
Solitaries, subject to approval by the Board. There shall be
at least one (1) representative of the Solitaries, who is not a
Director, on the Steering Committee.
B. Steering Committee members must commit to serve for at least
six (6) months. They may serve as long as their constituents
wish them to serve.
C. The Steering Committee shall elect a Speaker, Deputy Speaker,
and Clerk of the Committee from among its members.
D. A quorum of the Steering Committee for the purpose of amending
the Bylaws or Constitution shall be two-thirds (2/3) of the
committee. A quorum for other business shall be a majority of
the Committee.
E. Steering Committee members will not have alternates.
F. The Steering Committee may make rules to govern the conduct of
its own meetings.
G. Decisions made by the Steering Committee shall be referred to
the Board for action, except as otherwise provided for in these
Bylaws.
H. Any recommendation that dues be levied or changed must receive
at least two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast by the Steering
Committee, ten (10) days notice having been given that dues
will be discussed.
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I. The Steering Committee shall meet regularly at a time and place
to be fixed by the Committee. Additionally, the Board may call
Steering Committee meetings with 15 days notice should such
meetings be necessary.
III. OFFICERS
A. Chair - duties shall include:
1. Presiding over meetings of the Board.
2. Presiding over meetings of the general membership of DAWN.
3. Preparing an agenda for Board meetings.
4. Preparing an agenda for meetings of the general membership
of DAWN.
B. Vice-Chair - shall perform the duties of the Chair when the
Chair is absent or incapacitated.
C. Secretary - is responsible to the Board for the duties of the
following Secretaries. These individuals are directly
responsible to the Secretary. If any of these positions is not
filled, those duties revert to the Secretary.
1. Recording Secretary - is responsible for maintaining
accurate and current minutes of all meetings of the Board.
The Recording Secretary is also responsible for
maintaining accurate and current minutes of all business
related meetings of the general membership of DAWN. All
such minutes are to be made available, upon reasonable
notice, to all members of the body so recorded, and are to
be presented at the next meeting of the Board for
approval.
2. Corresponding Secretary - is responsible for handling all
correspondence. In addition, the Corresponding Secretary
also performs the duties of the Membership Secretary if
there is no one serving in that capacity.
3. Membership Secretary - is responsible for maintaining an
accurate and current list of members of DAWN and providing
an appropriate set of address labels to the Corresponding
Secretary for each planned mailing to the Steering
Committee or members of DAWN. The Membership Secretary
may NOT release the addresses, phone numbers, or full
names of any member, except as noted in this paragraph, to
any person, without specific permission from said member.
When leaving this job, the Membership Secretary will turn
over all copies, in whatever form, of the membership list
to their successor in these duties.
D. Treasurer - is responsible for maintaining all the financial
records of DAWN. The Treasurer is also responsible for the
safekeeping and expenditure of the monies held by DAWN as
directed by the Board.
E. Speaker - shall preside over meetings of the Steering Committee
and prepare an agenda for said meetings.
F. Deputy Speaker - shall perform the duties of the Speaker when
the Speaker is absent or incapacitated.
G. Clerk of the Committee - is responsible for maintaining
accurate and current minutes of all meetings of the Steering
Committee. All such minutes are to be available to members of
the Steering Committee, and are to be presented at the next
meeting of that body for approval.
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IV. AMENDMENTS
In order to amend this document, the proposed change must receive
the votes of at least two-thirds of the Directors and must receive at
least two-thirds of the votes cast at a proper meeting of the Steering
Committee, both bodies having received at least 20 days notice of the
proposed amendment.
V. ELECTIONS
On the second Sunday in October, The Steering Committee shall meet
to hold an election. At this time, the Steering Committee will elect
replacements for Directors whose term is expiring. Names will be taken
in nomination, consent obtained from those nominated, and one ballot
cast. Each Committee member, including retiring and interim Directors,
shall have as many votes as there are vacancies. The qualified candidate
with the most votes will fill the first vacancy - two year terms being
filled first. As each vacancy is filled, members of the successful
candidate's coven are stricken from the list. If only one vacancy
remains and either part I.A.2 or part I.A.3 of the Bylaws has not been
fulfilled, then only those candidates who meet the criterion can be
selected; otherwise, the position will remain vacant to be filled by the
Board, as soon as possible, by appointment. If a tie exists between
equally qualified candidates, where all may not serve, a runoff election
shall be held between those candidates. Misspellings shall not
invalidate ballots where the appropriate person can be discerned; nor
shall voting for fewer than the number of vacancies. Voting for too many
candidates shall invalidate that ballot. No individual shall vote more
than one time for the same person; therefore duplicate names on a single
ballot shall count as only one vote. All elected persons take office at
the first meeting in November.
VI. Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised (copyright 1970) will govern in
any circumstances not covered by the Rules, Bylaws, or Constitution of
DAWN.
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