Online Editor note. Only those receiving this ballot through postal mail are elible to vote.
Ballot Question – Shall the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club bylaw 3.5 be revised to read as follows? “The ExCom shall elect from its members the following officers, who shall also be Chapter officers: a Chair, a Vice Chair, and at its option, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Chair and Vice Chair shall be at-large members of the Executive Committee. The ExCom may appoint from outside its membership any other Chapter officers it considers necessary, including the Secretary and Treasurer. All such officers shall be Chapter members.”
Statement in support of Ballot Question:
The current Ozark Chapter bylaw 3.5 reads, “The ExCom shall elect from its members the following officers, who shall also be Chapter officers: a Chair, a Vice-Chair, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Chair and Vice Chair shall be at-large members of the Executive Committee.” This requires the Ozark Chapter to find from among its ExCom members someone with the increasingly technical skills to perform the duties of Treasurer, and another able to perform the duties of Secretary. While we have not yet been unable to find a Secretary from among the ranks of the Chapter Excom, we have gone without a Treasurer for almost a year. We would like to be able to use the services of an independent Certified Public Accountant, but have been unable to assign the role of Treasurer to such a Sierra Club volunteer because of the requirements imposed by our current bylaws. The national Sierra Club recommends that Chapters adopt the following language for bylaw 3.5: “The ExCom shall elect from its members the following officers, who shall also be Chapter officers: a Chair, a Vice Chair, and at its option, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Chair and Vice Chair shall be at-large members of the Executive Committee. The ExCom may appoint from outside its membership any other Chapter officers it considers necessary, including the Secretary and Treasurer. All such officers shall be Chapter members.” At its September 23 meeting, the Chapter ExCom voted unanimously to support the recommended revision to the Chapter Bylaws. Our existing bylaws require that any such changes to be put to a vote of the membership, and further require a 2/3 vote of support of the voting membership before implementing the change. We hope you will support this revision. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Keet Kopecky atkkopecky@kc.rr.com or any other Chapter ExCom member of your choice. Our contact information can be found at the bottom left of page 2 of this copy of the Ozark Sierran.