Bylaws of CFSC

Following is a summary of the bylaw amendments proposed since 2004:

2004 - 2005

(Bylaw Markup for June 2005 annual meeting)
Less Restrictive Informal Action
Changes the informal actions taken by the Board between meetings from requiring unanimous assent to 2/3 approval.

Reasoning: The Board usually takes informal action to authorize the President to take an immediate, time-sensitive action. If one or two directors cannot be contacted, then the informal action cannot be taken. The Board may miss an opportunity to take advantage of a cost savings or timely authorize expenditures for small items such as supplies or express it’s sympathy with flowers, etc.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Certification of Bylaws
Removes the certification of the bylaws from the amendment process.

Reasoning: The certification needs to be updated and cannot be subject to the amendment provisions without entering an infinite loop of amendment. The pattern, according to the original wording is amendment, certification of the amended changes, amendment to accept the certification, certification of the amendment that certified the original amendments, etc.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Tenure of Treasurer and Historian
Makes the Treasurer and Historian honorary members for two months beyond their term to close the year.

Reasoning: The new officers for these extended positions do not have the material or knowledge to effectively complete the necessary actions for the year just ended. The post-conference workload for these two officers is more than minor transitional tasks.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Tighten the Dues Wording
Eliminates duplicate wording concerning the fiscal year and forces payments to be made to the corporation and not the Treasurer personally.

Reasoning: Fiscal Year already has its own Article VIII (which has another proposed by-law change to merge into Article VII.) The dues should not be paid to one of the officers, but rather the corporate entity.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Allow Treasurer to be Re-Elected
Removes restriction for Treasurer to resign after two years. Maintains audit requirements after each new Treasurer or election of an incumbant, second-year, Treasurer.

Reasoning: If someone enjoys being Treasurer and the Nominating Committee thinks they are the best for the position, why should the Board deny their expertise? Section 7.4 is vague whether ‘new’ could be considered an adjective for an incumbent, but newly re-elected, treasurer.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Expand Historian Duties
Expands Historian duties to also share the history gathered and to verify the accuracy of historical information. This implies the Historian should oversee the website and In-Basket information. However, the Board may still utilize committees to do the work.

Reasoning: Just keeping the history doesn’t provide the full benefit achieved from sharing that history with others within and outside of the organization.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Re-Organize the Bylaws
Re-organizes, re-numbers, and re-formats the bylaws to place similar topics together. Specific changes are:
Article II:
Keep 2.1 through 2.8 in Article II
Move 2.9 to Article VII on finances
Move 2.10 to Article VI on meetings, replacing the current section 6.1.
Move 2.11 to Article IX on notices
Renumber 2.12 to be 2.9
Move 2.13 through 2.15 to Article VI on meetings
Move 2.16 to Article VII on finances
Move 2.17 to Article V on committees
Move 2.18 to Article VI on meetings
Article VII
Re-title from “Contracts, Loans, Checks and Deposits “ to “Contracts and Finances”
Article VIII
Merge Fiscal Year into Article VII on finances
Article IX
Re-title from “Waiver of Notice” to “Notices”
Article XII
Merge ACSES Mail into Article IX on notices

Introduced July 9, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Reorganize Regions
Modifies the composition of counties into each of the six regions.

Reasoning: Some regions are too far-flung with counties naturally relating to a different set of counties than the ones in their region. Also to balance the population of child support workers among the regions to encourage wider participation at the Vice President level.

Introduced March 4, 2004. Adopted and effective June 7, 2005.

Bylaw Amendment Receipt by a Defined Entity
Changes the submittal of bylaw amendments to the Bylaws Committee chairperson to the Board in general.

Reasoning: The By-Laws Chairperson is not a recognized committee, office, or duty recognized within the by-laws. Actions in the by-laws should be assigned to someone or something already defined in the by-laws.

Introduced July 9, 2004. Amended, adopted as amended, and effective June 7, 2006.

2009

Board Member Registration Discounts
Modifies the compensation of board members to allow a 50% discount in registration costs.

Reasoning: The execution of a board member's duties during the conference prevents fully participating in the learning activities. In addition, a discount may encourage county administrators to support participation on the Council board and frees limited funds to send additional people from the county to the conference.

Introduced February 6, 2009. Adopted and effective June 9, 2009.

Reorganize Regions
Modifies the composition of counties in each of the six regions.

Reasoning: Smaller counties have realligned and are now being operated by a different set of counties than before. The reorganization also attempts to balance the population of cases more equitably.

Introduced February 6, 2009. Adopted and effective June 9, 2009.

Board Vacancies
Modifies the procedure in filling officer vacancies from within the current board then filling the at-large vacancy from the pool of nominees.

Reasoning: Officer positions should be filled with experienced board members rather than those that may have had no board experience when pulled from the nominee pool.

Introduced February 6, 2009. Adopted and effective June 9, 2009.

Scholarships
Adds a new section authorizing each board the option to establish scholarships and the ability to set the requirements of eligibility by specified dates in the year.

Reasoning: Consistent with our mission of education, the Council's treasury is of sufficient balance to award the giving of scholarships. However, if fortunes reverse, the Board is not obligated to provide scholarships.

Introduced March 31, 2009. Adopted and effective June 9, 2009.

2010

Amend Section 2.5, Election of Officers and Directors, Subsections 1 and 2
Amended Provisions (changes in italic):

1. At least two months prior to the annual meeting of the members of the Corporation, the President-Elect shall appoint and chair a Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee shall have no more than three (3) members, including the President-Elect. Nominating Committee Members cannot be nominated for an Officer's position on the new Board of Directors.

a. The Nominating Committee will ask the membership for nominations by ACSES mail or by regular mail for both Officer and Member at Large positions. The Nominating Committee shall send a second nomination request ten (10) calendar days after the first request and at least thirty (30) days before the annual general membership meeting.

b. The Nominating Committee shall review all nominations for Officer positions and prepare a list of all nominees

c. The list of nominations shall also list all nominees for member at large positions.

d. The list of nominees shall be included in all registration packets. A slate shall be prepared from the list of nominees and shall be posted at the registration area no later than twelve (12) hours prior to the annual General Membership Business Meeting.

e. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the General Membership Business Meeting.

f. Within 24 hours of the close of the annual General Membership Business Meeting, the Nominating Committee shall transmit a ballot, electronically, to all members. Members may elect to vote in person at the annual General Membership Business Meeting or electronically, but may only vote once. Members who elect to submit their vote through electronic submission must submit their vote within ten days of the close of the annual General Membership Business Meeting.

2. The Officers shall be elected by the General Membership at the annual General Membership Business Meeting of the corporation, by validated ballot vote. A validated ballot vote includes a vote submitted electronically through either e-mail or ACSES e-mail to the designated e-mail or ACSES e-mail address within ten days of the close of the annual General Membership Business Meeting. Ballots shall be collected, validated and counted by three non-board members.

a. All candidates for office of President and President-Elect must have served in some capacity on the Board of Directors for a minimum of one year prior to the election.

Adopted and effective June 8, 2010.

Add section to Article VI – Meetings
6.9 In Event Annual Conference is Cancelled

1. In the event that the Board has voted and determined to cancel the Annual Conference in a given year, the monthly Board Meetings mandated by Section 6.4 of this Article shall not be required. Instead, the President shall schedule periodic meetings during the year (July through June) in which there is no Annual Conference, and shall specify the time and place of meetings in the notice of such meetings provided to Board Members.

2. There shall still be an opportunity for a meeting of the general membership even in a “non-conference” year as required in section 6.1. This shall be held at the discretion of a quorum of the Board of Directors and at a place and time designated by the Board of Directors.

3. The Board will be maintained through a “non-conference” year but, notwithstanding section 2.2., the number of Directors shall be fifteen (15), consisting of thirteen (13) officers of the Corporation and two (2) Members at Large elected at the prior meeting of the general membership.

Adopted and effective June 8, 2010.