(Members will note that this is the proposal that was discussed over in the members’ general discussion forum. Just making it an official proposal now.)
I propose the following changes to the guild by-laws that will create two additional officer positions: Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer, both to be filled via a vote from the membership.
(For reference, the full text of the current by-laws can be found here.)
Article II currently reads:
Donations received to the designated FWG account must be used in furtherance of the purposes outlined above. No part of any donations received may be used for personal benefit of the FWG president or any individual member, except as reasonable payment for professional services rendered (for example, art commissions, graphic design services, editing services, etc).
This proposal would change that second sentence to read “personal benefit of any FWG officer or any individual member”.
Article IV, paragraph 1 currently reads:
The FWG president shall be elected by ballot of the current members. Members who wish to run for the office of president must announce their candidacy during the period of March 31 through April 30. If, at the end of this period, only the incumbent has announced candidacy, the incumbent will retain office and no election will be held unless there are other items to be voted upon by the membership.
This proposal would replace that paragraph with the following text:
There shall be three officer positions: President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer. (The Secretary/Treasurer position may, should the size and workload of the guild require, be split into two positions of Secretary and Treasurer in any given year at the discretion of the president.) The FWG officers shall be elected by ballot of the current members. Members who wish to run for office must announce their candidacy during the period of March 31 through April 30. If, at the end of this period, only the incumbent officers have announced candidacy, the incumbents will retain office and no election will be held unless there are other items to be voted upon by the membership.
Duties of each position shall include:
President - Responsible for maintenance of the guild email and correspondence, approval of new members, maintenance of the guild contact list, maintenance of the guild website (including market listings and creating new member pages for the directory), as well as interpretation of the by-laws and guild policies/conduct codes as necessary. Any other duties not specifically delegated below are assumed to be under the authority of the president, to be delegated as the president and individual officers agree.
Vice President - Responsible for maintenance of all FWG-branded social media accounts, including the FWG forums, as well as assumption of all presidential duties should the president be unable to fulfill them.
Secretary/Treasurer - As secretary, responsible for editing the FWG blog (https://furrywritersguild.com/blog/), including compilation of the monthly Guild News posts, managing of guest post submissions, and coordination of Member Spotlights. As Treasurer, responsible for maintaining the guild’s PayPal account (or other electronic funding accounts as applicable), as well as providing quarterly treasury updates for public view in the FWG forums.
Should there be no candidates running for Vice President and/or Secretary/Treasurer, the president may choose to take on the duties of that position or may choose to appoint someone from the membership to fill the position.
Paragraph 6 of Article IV currently reads:
Should the president fail to meet the standards expected by the membership, any member may petition to impeach. After a two-week period of public discussion, a vote will be taken by email using the guidelines detailed above, with a voting period of no fewer than five days. Impeachment of the incumbent must be approved by a majority vote of the membership, with at least 30% of the current members voting.
This proposal would change the first sentence to read
“Should any officer, including the president, fail to meet the standards expected by the membership, any member may petition to remove the officer from their position.”
This proposal would change the last sentence to read
“Removal of any officer must be approved by a majority vote of the membership, with at least 30% of the current members voting. This process is the same whether the officer in question was elected by the membership or appointed by the president.”
This proposal, should it be agreed to by a majority of the voting members, would take effect no later than the 2017 election. The president whose term begins in 2016 may, at their discretion, choose to hold a special election to fill these positions.
I think that covers everything that would need to be changed, but if anybody spots something I’ve missed or some other issue that needs to be addressed with this, please speak up. 