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NorthCoast
10/20/2003, 01:47 PM
Constitution of the Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA)

Article I

Name

Section 1 The name of the Club shall be the Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA).

Section 2 The name of this Club shall not be used by any individual, or group for self representation, or self gain.

Article II

Purpose

Section 1 Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) is a non-profit organization of marine hobbyists brought together by the desire to promote a better understanding of the life we keep in our home aquariums. Our focus is increasing the longevity of marine life in a controlled environment and to encourage that life to propagate freely. Only through education and the sharing of ideas can we expect a future for our hobby.

Section 2 Under no circumstances may any part of the income of this Club be used to the benefit of any Officer, Trustee or Member.

Section 3 Under dissolution of this Club, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the Club, equally distribute the assets of the Club to the members in good standing.

Article III

Term

Section 1 The term of this Club is to be perpetual.

Section 2 The physical year of the Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) shall be January 1st, through December 31st. The Trustees shall audit all accounts and a complete financial report must be presented to the Board of Directors no later than 90 days following the close of the fiscal year.

Article IV

Membership

Section 1 Membership in this organization shall be open to anyone who, by proper application, meets with the approval of the Board of Directors.

Section 2 Proper application for membership and amount of these shall be established by the Board of Directors of this Club and shall be set forth in the By-laws of this organization.

Section 3 The Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) shall consist of five (5) classifications of membership.
charter
Regular
Student
Commercial
Honorary

Section 4 The Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) reserves the right to revoke the membership of any member due to conduct considered detrimental to this Club. This action shall be carried out by the Board of Directors.

Article V

Meetings

Section 1 General membership and Board of Directors meetings shall be held as determined by the Board of Directors.

Article VI

Officers and elections

Section 1 Elected Officers of the Central Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) shall consist of the following and shall be elected every one (1) year: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be combined at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

Section 2 The President shall be empowered to appoint three (3) Trustees, subject to the approval of the elected officers.

Section 3 Elections shall take place in the month of November of the election year. The newly elected officers shall assume office on January 1st of the next year. Nominations for officers shall take place in the month of October of the election year. At this meeting the President or Chairperson will ascertain from the Secretary and Treasurer that all those nominated are qualified to run for office in accordance with the bylaws of this organization.

Section 4 Only members in good standing who have attended at least 4 (four) meetings in the current calendar year are legible for office.

Section 5 Only members in good standing are entitled to vote at the annual elections as stated under the bylaws of this organization.

Article VII

Board of Directors

Section 1 The duly elected Officers and three (3) Trustees as set forth in article VI, Sections one (1) and two (2) shall comprise the Columbus Ohio Reef Aquarist (CORA) Board of Directors. Each member of the Board of Directors shall have equal vote in the business of the society. However, in the case of a tie, the President shall have the power of one and one-half (1 ½) votes.

Section 2 It shall be the function of the Board of Directors to transact all business of the Club and make reports to the General Membership.

Section 3 Any Board Member who misses three (3) consecutive Board Meetings may be replaced by a majority vote of the Board of Directors. If it is an elected office, the President shall appoint an interim replacement until the next scheduled elections.

NorthCoast
10/20/2003, 01:48 PM
Please provide comments and feedback. Refer to section and specific text if suggesting modifications. If we are going to discuss officers then we should also ratify the club.

Thanks,
Mark

Mantis
10/20/2003, 01:52 PM
Sounds good to me.

Nice work Mark.

tye_c
10/20/2003, 08:31 PM
Are you sure you are a computer guy....you sound more like a lawyer. I think you covered everything.

pyranha
10/21/2003, 10:05 AM
Again...Excellent work!!!
I like where all this seems to be going.

TacoKing
10/21/2003, 10:30 AM
Do we want to include anything in here about outtings or tank shows? maybe something to the fact that we would like to do a quarterly club outing which could include members to show off tanks, visits to local aquariums or something along those lines. Other than that, Mark, top notch job.

-TK

NorthCoast
10/21/2003, 12:31 PM
I just want to let everyone know that I didn't make all this up on my own. Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA @ http://masna.org/) had a package of sorts for loacl clubs to start out. It included templates for Consitution, Bylaws and instructions/suggestions on "How to start a local club." A few years ago I inquired about it. The idea was to allign ourselves with a national organization. This would give us more potential opportunities in the future, and, hopefully require little changes to our organization.

You can look at any number of MASNA clubs that exist and they all have similar (if not identicle) Consitutions and Bylaws. Until we start charging dues, sponsoring larger events, planning trips, paying for speakers or even a conference this general structure should cover us.

I also looked into Tax Exempt status, but, we can leave that for a future discussion.

TacoKing
10/21/2003, 12:39 PM
Excellent Mark, that clears up a lot for me. I do think we as a group need to get together and hash these out one night formally. Let's see what others have to say and we'll go from there.

-TK

prime8man
10/21/2003, 01:04 PM
are we going to have some sort of structure to our meetings i.e. discussing topics brought about on this site? I think we should have a thread specifically designed for topics for the meetings. I believe it would help whoever the sec. will be reserve meeting time for topics... Just an idea.....i could be wrong, and off topic lol

TacoKing
10/21/2003, 01:06 PM
prime8man, Not wrong, but a bit off topic :) It's a great idea, and something we should look into, but right now i think getting the formality of the group going is the first thng that needs to be accomplished.

-TK

prime8man
10/21/2003, 01:14 PM
i do have a serious problem with brainstorming and getting off topic.... but i totally agree i just cant wait to get fish in the tank....
set up time is killing me lol:rollface:

NorthCoast
10/21/2003, 01:18 PM
Originally posted by prime8man
are we going to have some sort of structure to our meetings i.e. discussing topics brought about on this site? I think we should have a thread specifically designed for topics for the meetings. I believe it would help whoever the sec. will be reserve meeting time for topics... Just an idea.....i could be wrong, and off topic lol

Here you go: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=258455

Later,
Mark

pyranha
10/21/2003, 01:22 PM
The monthyl meetings we have been having for the last several months have been extremely well structured. Our agenda was dependent on the place we met generally. For example, at Hooters the agenda was as follows:

I. Order beer, discuss waitresses
II. Talk about what to eat, discuss waitresses
III. Order more beer, order food, discuss waitresses
IV. Discuss how the wings suck, order more beer, discuss waitresses
V. motion to adjourn

Faye Valentine
10/22/2003, 11:25 PM
Hrm, I'd rather discuss waiters....

Girls like fish too.

Faye

NorthCoast
10/22/2003, 11:48 PM
Pyranha and Faye Valentine please stay on topic.

Thank You! :)