CALL Bylaws Committee 2018-2019 Annual Report

The CALL Bylaws Committee had a successful year in 2018/2019, shepherding changes to the CALL bylaws to align them more closely with the bylaws of the parent AALL. The Committee was chaired by Eric Parker, and had Margaret Schilt, Therese Clark Arado, and Matt Timko as members.

Article IV Update

Margaret Schilt, previous Chair of the Bylaws Committee, worked with the 2017/2018 CALL Board to approve changes to the Bylaws language. In summary, the language changes were in Article IV: eliminating the category of associate member, and eliminating the requirement for 10 consecutive years of active membership in order to qualify for retired membership status.

The language changes were approved by vote of those present at the November 8, 2018 CALL business meeting. They were also approved by membership via vote held in conjunction with the officers’ election in March, 2019.

Additional Suggestions

Looking forward, additional changes to the CALL bylaws were suggested by the AALL Bylaws and Resolutions Committee in 2018:

  • In Section 4.5 the grammar around the fax option seems odd. This section might be ready for an overhaul.
  • Section 7.5 raises questions about requirements for publishing the bylaws. Is the Membership Directory published on a particular schedule? Also, is this a bit of specificity that is unnecessary?
  • Section 9.2 uses a somewhat confusing construction to stagger the Secretary and Treasurer and might be better described as being on odd or even years or something else.
  • The method of voting laid out in Section 9.5 is referenced as the model for voting in special elections (Section 10.3) but because there are specified dates a special election could easily run afoul of the letter of the bylaws. Perhaps a rewrite is required here as well.
  • The bylaws make numerous references to ballots but they are only described for the election of officers and directors. Are these ballots to be created in the same way and should the election follow the same procedure as that for electing officers? Do you run into the same question of dates for a non-regularly scheduled vote?

Finally, a large thank you is in order to Margaret, Therese, and Matt for the service on this committee this past year. They made the work easy and enjoyable.

Respectfully submitted by Eric Parker, 5/29/19.