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Unitarian Society of Germantown Special Membership Meeting for Proposed Bylaw Change Sunday, April 29, 11:30am Following the Bylaws discussion and vote, the Capital Project Committee will give an update regarding the elevator addition and driveway projects. |
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Dear USG Members:
A brief congregational meeting will be held at the conclusion of the worship service (11:30am) in the sanctuary on Sunday, April 29, 2018. The purpose of the meeting is to vote on a proposed amendment to USG’s Bylaws concerning the appointment of delegates to the denomination’s General Assembly.
The rationale for this change is as follows:
The USG Board of Trustees and the Governance and Ministries Task Force are recommending that Article VII, Section 2 of USG’s Bylaws be amended so that delegates to General Assembly shall be appointed by the Board of trustees. The accompanying policy regarding members attending as delegates will be modified to reflect this change.
Rationale:
USG’s Bylaws currently state that GA delegates are to be elected by a vote of church members at a meeting held in the year prior to the scheduled General Assembly. Because of work, family and financial considerations, most GA attendees are not able to firm up their plans until dates much closer to the conference when it is extremely difficult to schedule a congregational meeting. In addition, many GA attendees have been reluctant or unwilling to serve as official delegates because the plenary and business meetings prevent them from participating in other sessions that are of interest. The impracticality of this congregational meeting and voting requirement has resulted in USG abandoning the process in recent years, and in fact, USG has not been able to recruit its full allotment of official delegates.
Effect of the change:
This Bylaws amendment will permit the Board of Trustees to appoint delegates who are willing to commit to sharing the responsibility to attend and participate in business meetings, to cast votes and to report back to the congregation. It is expected that this shared approach will make it possible for USG to achieve better representation in business sessions and that it will enable us to send our full complement of delegates.
The complete language for the proposed bylaws change is below.
Voting
Church members who will not be present at the meeting may download an absentee ballot here. Completed ballots should be returned to the church office prior to the April 29thmeeting. (you may scan and email completed ballots to usgadmin@usguu.org)
Please feel free to contact me at 215-842-1143 or susanbsmith11@gmail.com if you have any questions or need additional information.
Sincerely yours,
Susan B Smith
President, USG Board of Trustees
Amendment to the Bylaws – Delegates to General Assembly
Proposed by the Governance & Ministry Task Force to the Board 7/20/2017
This amendment is necessitated by a proposed amendment to the Delegates to General Assembly Policy, which is in a separate document.
The procedure required by the Bylaws for an amendment to the Bylaws is as follows:
ARTICLE VIII
Amendments
These Bylaws may be amended only by the vote (in person or by absentee ballot) of a majority of the members eligible to vote who actually vote on the matter at a regular or special meeting of members. Any proposed amendment to these Bylaws may be presented to such meeting of members only if it either: (i) has been approved by a majority of the Trustees in office; or (ii) is sponsored in writing by at least twenty-five members. Any such proposed amendment shall be set forth in the notice of the meeting.
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