(NaCCRA)
Bylaws Revision Committee
Meeting, March 12, 2016 at 9:00 AM Eastern
The Board will meet as a Committee of the Whole for the purpose of reviewing the Bylaws with a eye toward revision. In prepararation for that meeting the Board is asked to review the following documents.
Agenda for the Bylaws Committee
Draft of Administrative Procedures
Composition of the Committee
This Committee originated under President Ruth Walsh, was reconstituted by President Dan Seeger, and current President, Bob Nicholson, has asked that the NaCCRA Board serve as a Committee of the Whole for the purpose of revising the Bylaws.
Therefore, the Committee is now comprised of Bob Nicholson, Chair, Walt Boyer, Jack Cumming, Jean Hurley, Bob Negele, Charlie Paulk, Bill Ratcliff, Jack Snader, and Pete Straub, constituting when they meet for this purpose the Bylaws Revision Committee.
Bylaws Prior to February 14, 2013 and Foundational Documents
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Articles of Incorporation (Florida)
Current Bylaws as of February 14, 2013
Walt Boyer's Suggested Approach
History of Bylaws Revision Discussions
Although the situation in Washington State has required that NaCCRA address the needs of the Washington State residents’ organization as a matter of urgency and priority, Bylaws revisions will be needed to accomplished the emerging vision of what NaCCRA is capable of and can become.
The Bylaws have been under consideration for several years as it has become increasingly apparent that new governing principles are needed for NaCCRA. The initiative to review the Bylaws originated when Ruth Walsh began her service as President in 2011, five years ago.
Ruth Walsh appointed a Bylaws Committee consisting of Charlie Paulk, Marleen Varner, Mary Anna Colwell, and Jack Cumming. Ruth, herself, participated in all deliberations of the Committee, and the Committee developed a draft Bylaws which was then discussed, provision by provision, by the Board during a meeting in October 2012 in Boulder, at which only Ruth and Marleen Varner from the Committee were present, and continuing in three teleconferences in January and February 2013.
The Board made many revisions during these discussions reflecting personal opinions by Board members which were acquiesced in by others in a spirit of deference and congeniality. The result was that the current Bylaws were seen from the outset as problematic.
- The chief problem was the assumption of many on the Board that key elements could be relegated to a separate Policy and Procedures Manual. That Manual never took shape in the form anticipated by the Board.
- A secondary problem was the insistence of a small majority on the Board that full membership be confined to CCRC residents, that only CCRC residents be permitted to serve as Board members and Officers, and that the Board size be specified to support the tenure of existing Board members. This handicapped the organization in the quest for needed expertise and for people with the youth to bring continuity to the organization.
- A third problem, which now is more prominent, was the effort of the Ruth Walsh Bylaws Committee to retain the collective memberships of state and community organizations while emphasizing the trend toward individual memberships.
As a consequence, when Dan Seeger succeeded Ruth Walsh as President in 2014, he immediately appointed a new Bylaws Revision Committee led by President-Elect Judy Moss with Peter Straub and himself as members to revise the Bylaws that had been adopted on February 14, 2013, just a year earlier. That Committee began work in Nashville in October 2014 and continued with an all-day meeting in Springfield, VA in March 2015, at which the Committee members were joined by Bob Nicholson and Jack Cumming at the invitation of the Chair. The Springfield, VA meeting made considerable headway toward more sensible Bylaws.
The Bylaws Committee again met in Boston, MA for just two hours. In the absence of all three members, i.e. Judy Moss, Dan Seeger, and Pete Straub, none of whom made the trip to Boston, the meeting convened under the leadership of Bob Nicholson, with Bill Ratcliff, as Secretary; Ruth Walsh, as Interim President; Bennett Napier, as staff resource, and Jack Cumming in attendance. That meeting continued the progress achieved in Springfield and developed a draft set of revised Bylaws that has been under review since then.