Vice Treasurer

The first amendments we are proposing for your consideration pertain to the
structure of the Executive Committee. Up to now, there has been no
constitutional requirement to have even a Vice Treasurer, which previous
Executive Committees nevertheless felt it prudent to do. Under the current
system however, a future Exec Committee would be perfectly within its rights
not to appoint anyone in a support and oversight role for the treasurer. We
would like to make this a constitutional obligation for all future Executive
Committees and would like to introduce a further safety mechanism outlined
below.

G Executive Committee.

1. Committee Structure

May 17, 2015The existing constitution says:
1.2. The Executive Committee must at all times include the four core
positions being Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Webmaster. Additionally the
position of Vice Chair must be filled either by a separate member or by
nominating any one of the other Executive Committee members excepting the
Chair to additionally cover this role.

Proposed Amendment:

1.2.1. The Executive Committee must at all times include the four core
positions being Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Webmaster.
1.2.2. additionally the posts of Vice Treasurer and Financial Overseer
must be filled, either by appointing separate members to the posts or
nominating appropriate Executive Committee members to fulfill these
functions
as prescribed in the following clauses.
1.2.3. The Chair may not be nominated to fill the position of Vice
Chair.
1.2.4. If the Chair is not nominated to fill the position of Vice Treasurer,
he or she will assume the position of Financial Overseer by default.
1.2.5. No member of the Executive Committee may fill more than one of the
three financial roles simultaneously, i.e. Treasurer, Vice Treasurer or
Financial Overseer.
In this way, we would ensure that three separate people are administering
TAFN’s finances and that one of them is always the Chair. Given that he or
she is head of the charity, we consider it appropriate that he or she be
fully aware of TAFN’s financial state at all times.
We intend that this should afford TAFN’s funds far greater and more robust
security.
The amendments outlined above will be packaged into one voting question as
the clauses are co-dependent. Anyone who would like to see a particular
clause revised in any way should contact the Executive Committee before the
start of the voting period on insert date with the nature of the revisions
and the reason for them and we will consider the changes.

The next changes we wish to make concern the notice period for special
Executive Committee meetings. The amended clause would read as follows

J Meetings and proceedings of the Executive Committee

A special meeting may be called at any time by the Chair or by any two
members of the Executive Committee upon not less than 36 hours notice being
given to the other members of the Executive Committee of the matters to be
discussed.
The original clause requires a minimum of seven days notice. This makes the
notion of special meetings virtually meaningless since Executive Committee
meetings take place weekly anyway.
Since all Executive Committee members check their email regularly, we feel
that 36 hours notice of a meeting is sufficient when pressing matters, such
as those which recently came to light, need to be discussed.
This change will be proposed in its own voting question, since it does not
impinge on any other clauses we wish to change.

The final amendment we wish to propose concerns the notice period for
extra-ordinary members meeting, such as that convened in March to apprise
members of TAFN’s current financial crisis.

The clause as it stands is as
follows:

P Special General Meetings
The Executive Committee may call a special general meeting of the Charity at
any time. If at least ten members request such a meeting in writing stating
the business to be considered the secretary shall call such a meeting.
At least 21 days’ notice must be given. The notice must state the business
to be discussed.
Given that the charity conducts most of its business by email and since this
clause means that, in theory, members would have to wait 21 days before
being given information of grave importance, we propose adding the following
paragraph to this clause.
If the business to be discussed is gravely urgent, the Executive Committee
may agree by consensus to reduce the notice period to no less than 48 hours.
This amendment would give the Executive Committee the latitude to reduce the
notice period to a length proportionate with the urgency of the business to
be discussed. We feel that it is far better to act within the bounds of the
constitution than to have to waive its provisions if the Executive Committee
deems it necessary or possibly to be hampered by it in the future.
We appreciate that this is quite a lot to take in and that there may be
things that are unclear. Therefore, between now and the vote, members are
encouraged to come forward by whatever means is most convenient to them and
ask questions or comment upon the amendments we propose. We are, as ever,
available by Exec One To One, Lounge Chat, as well as by email.

The three amendments we propose will only be passed if two thirds of those
who vote agree with them.

the voting period will begin on Friday May 29TH and end at midnight on
Friday June 12TH. . Members
will have the opportunity to vote by email and at a special meeting, which
will take place on Sunday May 31ST.
We look forward to discussing these proposals with you,
Regards,
Amanda Burt