Gulf Coast Division
Gulf Coast Division Division personnel contact information links clubs events info news home

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws

The annual meeting of the Gulf Coast Division will be held the morning of April 3, 2004. At that meeting, as is true at any meeting of the membership of the Division, the Bylaws of the Division may be amended, provided the notice for the meeting includes a "statement as to any proposed amendments to the By-Laws to be voted upon at such meeting".

As of March 19, 2004, the Officers of the Gulf Coast Division were aware of 15 motions to amend the Bylaws which were expected to be offered at the meeting.

Except where specifically indicated (see Proposition 10), the Executive Committee is not offering any recommendations concerning these proposals (although some Officers have expressed opinions in favor of some proposals).

(Note that the Bylaws, as they used to appear on this Web site, were not completely accurate. When this Web site (http://www.gulfcoastfencing.org) [Webmaster's note: When this page was originally writte, this URL was http://www.gulfcoastfencing.com.] was created in 2003, there were transcription errors. Within some articles, there were numbered parts (not Sections with titles like "Section 2", but simply enumerated items prefixed with cardinal numbers). These numbers were present in the Bylaws as displayed on the official Gulf Coast Division Web site which preceded this one, and these numbers (except for some which appear instead as letters) are present on a paper copy of the Bylaws dating from the AFLA era. However, when this Web site was created, those numbers became lost, resulting in what appeared to be ordinary consecutive text paragraphs instead of numbered parts. These errors were not corrected until Mar. 24, 2004. As an alternative, the the copy of the Bylaws on the Rogue Gulf Coast Web site, from which the copy herein was (slightly inaccurately) made, always has contained the part numbers.)

Proposition 1

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article VII Section 1, substitute "regular meetings" for "annual meetings" in both occurrences, in Article VII Section 1 part 1, substitute "Kick-off meeting -- on the same day" for "On the same day", in Article VII Section 1 part 2, substitute "Annual meeting -- on the same day" for "On the same day", and in Article VII Section 3 substitute "regular meetings" for "the annual meeting".

Proposition 2

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article VII, Section 4, substitute "provided" for "provides".

Proposition 3

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, substitute "bylaws" for "by-laws" everywhere it appears, preserving capitalization or lack of same of the first letter.

Proposition 4

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article III, replace the text of Section 2 with: "Classes of Membership: The membership of the Division, being composed of members of USFA, INC, shall be divided into classes as established from time to time by the Board of Directors of USFA, INC. The requirements for membership in each class shall be subject to such regulations as the Board of Directors of USFA, INC may determine."

Proposition 5

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in the four locations

  1. Article IV, Section 4, Sub-Section A, part 1, sub-part 3
  2. Article V, Section 3, part 3
  3. Article VII, Section 1, part 2
  4. Article IX, part 3

substitute "Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals" for "Divisional Championships", and in Article X, Section 2, substitute "a Closed Tournament which is not a Restricted Tournament" for "Divisional Championships".

Proposition 6

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article IV, append to the text of Section 1, Sub-Section A, part 5: "This shall not apply to such tournaments as may be permitted to be conducted within the Division where the organizing committee is not provided directly by THE DIVISION, and expenses are not paid by The DIVISION. Such tournaments could include, but not be limited to, tournaments for USFA members hosted by clubs within the geographic area of THE DIVISION."

Proposition 7

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article IV, append to the text of Section 1, Sub-Section A, part 7: "This shall not apply to such tournaments as may be permitted to be conducted within the Division where the organizing committee is not provided directly by THE DIVISION. Such tournaments could include, but not be limited to, tournaments for USFA members hosted by clubs within the geographic area of THE DIVISION. However, the Chairman should make available equipment owned by THE DIVISION and facilitate arrangements for other equipment as may be appropriate to further the objectives of THE DIVISION."

Proposition 8

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article IV, append to the text of Section 3, Sub-Section A, part 5: "As an alternative to mailing minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee, the Secretary may deliver the minutes to members by electronic means, or make the minutes generally available through electronic means in a fashion where the membership would reasonably be able to locate the minutes including but not limited to being made available on the World Wide Web in a manner where it can be easily found at an official Web site of THE DIVISION."

Proposition 9

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article IV, append to the text of Section 4, Sub-Section A, part 1, sub-part 2: "As an alternative to mailing the financial report, the Treasurer may deliver the report to members by electronic means, or make the report generally available through electronic means in a fashion where the membership would reasonably be able to locate the report including but not limited to being made available on the World Wide Web in a manner where it can be easily found at an official Web site of THE DIVISION."

Proposition 10

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article V, Section 3, substitute "such time and place as" for "such time and place as such time and place as", and insert after "written request of three (3) or more members of the Committee." the sentence "Any member of the Executive Committee may participate in a meeting by telephone or other electronic means unless another member of the Executive Committee participating in the meeting objects."

The Executive Committee endorses this proposed amendment to the Bylaws.

Proposition 11

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, in Article V, insert Section 4 reading: "Waiver of notice: any member of the Executive Committee may waive notice of any meeting of the Executive Committee. Neither the business to be transacted at, nor the purpose of, any meeting of the Executive Committee need be specified in the waiver of notice of such meeting. Notice may be waived in either of the following ways: (a) an acknowledgment of wavier reflected in the minutes of the meeting for which such notice is waived; attendance of a member of the Executive Committee at any meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice of such meeting except where the member attends a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened. (b) a written acknowledgment signed by the member of the Executive Committee so waiving and received by the Secretary on or before the date of the meeting for which such notice is waived."

Proposition 12

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, renumber Article XI to Article XII, and insert "Article XI -- Parliamentary Authority", reading: "The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern THE DIVISION in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with rules and policies of USFA, INC, these Bylaws, and any special rules of order THE DIVISION may adopt. This shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, meetings of the Executive Committee, meetings of other committees, and meetings of the members."

Proposition 13

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, Article IV, Section 1, Sub-Section A. replace part 4 with "If the position of Chairman of the Bout Committee, a standing committee of THE DIVISION, shall be vacant for any reason, then the Chairman shall perform the duties of the Chairman of the Bout Committee.", and, in Article VI, Section 1, cognizant of the possibility that existing wording in the second half of the section may conflict with USFA rules and procedures and be null and void but not wanting at this time to address such issues, replace Section 1 with: "Bout Committee: The Chairman of the Bout Committee or his appointee shall be the de facto Chairman of the bout committee at each tournament in THE DIVISION. The chairman of each individual bout committee shall have charge of and conduct that tournament. The Chairman of the Bout Committee shall also appoint (2) or more other members of THE DIVISION and possibly other members of USFA, INC. for each competition who, with the chairman of the bout committee of the competition, shall constitute the bout committee for such competition. The chairman of an individual bout committee shall decide all disputes arising during the course of that competition. An appeal may be taken from any decision of the chairman to the bout committee as a whole, in which event the decision of a majority of the members of the bout committee shall control."

Proposition 14

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, Article VII, add Section 5 reading: "Eligibility: A member of THE DIVISION is entitled to vote, and is counted toward a quorum, if he satisfies such requirements as USFA, INC. may establish.
1. If USFA, INC. establishes requirements for eligibility to vote in division affairs, these requirements shall apply.
2. In the absence of such requirements, such requirements as USFA, INC. has established for eligibility to vote in national affairs shall apply instead.
3. If USFA, INC. requirements specify that a member must act to cause a condition to be satisfied before a specific calendar date during the membership year, and the vote occurs prior to that date, then it shall be sufficient if the member is known to have caused the condition to be satisfied by the time of the vote.
4. If USFA, INC. requirements specify that a member must inherently satisfy a condition before a specific calendar date during the membership year, and the vote occurs prior to that date, then it shall be sufficient if the member is known to have satisfied the condition by the time of the vote.
5. Unless specifically required by the USFA, INC., no member shall be eligible to vote or be counted toward a quorum if less than 18 years old."

Proposition 15

In the Gulf Coast Division Bylaws, increment by one the number of all articles from Article VI onward, and insert "Article VI -- Division Board", reading: "Section 1. Powers: There shall exist a Division Board with the power to set policies for THE DIVISION. Except where in conflict with provisions of these Bylaws, or with USFA, Inc., policies established by the Division Board must be followed by the Executive Committee, the Officers and other members of the Executive Committee, standing committees of THE DIVISION and their members, any other positions or bodies described in these Bylaws, and any positions or bodies established under authority granted by these Bylaws. The Division Board shall not be responsible for the management of THE DIVISION beyond setting policies.
Section 2. Composition: the Division Board shall consist of one member of THE DIVISION serving as a representative of each club which belongs to USFA, INC in the geographic area of THE DIVISION. Such representatives will be selected by the clubs. Whenever a club selects a representative, or an alternate for a representative, it must notify the Officers of THE DIVISION of the selection and means for contacting the person. The Secretary shall then notify the other representatives and alternates of the newly selected representative or alternate and his contact information, and notify the newly selected person of the existing other representatives and alternates and their contact information.
Section 3: Continuity through membership lapses: if membership of a club in USFA, INC. lapses at the beginning of the membership year due to lapse in dues payment or other failure to take action, but not for a reason prohibiting the club from rejoining, a representative of that club shall continue to be considered to belong to the Division Board for one month if the club declares that it is remedying the lapse. If the membership in THE DIVISION of a representative lapses at the beginning of the membership year due to lapse in dues payment or other failure to take action, but not for a reason prohibiting the person from rejoining, that representative shall continue to be considered to belong to the Division Board for one month if he declares that he is remedying the lapse.
Section 4. Quorum: a quorum shall consist of representatives of over one-half (1/2) of the clubs, or four clubs, whichever is greater.
Section 5. Proxies: club representatives may not vote by proxy at meetings of the Division Board. However, a club may select a new representative at any time. Also, if the selected representative is not present, then an alternate for the representative shall automatically be entitled to serve as the representative in the absence of the representative. An alternate representative does not automatically assume any special significance which might have been granted by the Division Board to the usual representative.
Section 6. Minutes: The Secretary shall record the minutes of meetings of the Division Board, but shall not ex offico be a member of the Division Board. The Secretary shall provide on request and shall have on hand in printed form the minutes of all the Division Board meetings. These shall be available to the members at the divisional meetings and shall be communicated to the membership in an analogous fashion to minutes of Executive Committee meetings.
Section 7. Meetings: the Division Board is not required to meet. Meetings of the Division Board shall be called by agreement of four representatives, and held at such time and place as the four representatives designate. All representatives and the Secretary shall be given not less seven (7) days notice of all meetings. The Division Board may select a chairman and may select a vice chairman from among the representatives, who shall hold those positions until the Division Board specifies otherwise. If the representative from a club is replaced temporarily or permanently by the club, the new representative does not automatically assume any special significance which might have been granted by the Division Board to the previous representative.
Section 8. Representativeness: the clubs shall be free to select as representatives any members of THE DIVISION who they consider to be able to serve satisfactorily to represent the interests of their clubs, without regard to any other role the member may serve in the club or in THE DIVISION. However, to such extent that the interests of owners and paid employees of clubs and the interests of the members of THE DIVISION within that club may differ, clubs are to avoid selecting owners and paid employees as representatives."