Constitutional Amendment Proposal: Limited-term memberships
Lewis Yip
Public
Seen by 11
Currently there are exactly five ways in which a person ceases to be a member.
9 When Membership Ceases
9.1. A person ceases to be a member when any of the following takes place —
9.1.a. for a member who is an individual, the individual dies;
9.1.b. for a member that is a body corporate, the body corporate is wound up;
9.1.c. the person resigns from the Association under rule 10;
9.1.d. the person is expelled from the Association under rule 16;
9.1.e. the person ceases to be a member under rule 12.5.
Note rule 16 is "expulsion for bad behaviour", and rule 12.5 is "failure to pay membership fees".
These five reasons do not cover the case of Sponsored Student Memberships, a class of membership where our donors fund three-month memberships for tertiary students.
These memberships are intended to be a fixed term of three months.
I propose to add a sixth clause to rule 9.1;
9.1.f. for a member whose class of membership limits the maximum term a person can belong to that class of membership - when that term expires.
This thread is to discuss -
If this amendment is necessary or required,
If there are any loopholes in this amendment that need to be fixed.
The outcomes of this thread will inform the final text of the amendment we will vote on at the next general meeting.
To adopt this constitutional amendment, it must be put to a vote at a general meeting (annual general meeting or special general meeting), where at least 75% of members present must vote in favour.
Poll Created Sun 9 Jul 2023 9:05AM
Is the proposed text of 9.1.f. OK? Closed Mon 31 Jul 2023 9:00AM
Results
| Results | Option | % of voters | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Looks good | 100% | 4 |
|
| Not sure yet | 0% | 0 | ||
| Concerned | 0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 0 |
4 of 4 people have voted (100%)
Fletcher Boyd
Sun 9 Jul 2023 9:48AM
While this hasn't presented an issue in the past I think it makes sense to cover it. The wording appears to be as concise as is practical.
Lewis Yip Sun 13 Aug 2023 4:31PM
I think this actually needs a bit more work.
My original proposed clause was this:
9.1.f. for a member whose class of membership limits the maximum term a person can belong to that class of membership - when that term expires.
There's a loophole here in that e.g. resident artist memberships can be "usually three, but up to six months", e.g. the maximum term is not actually well defined.
The actual thing we want is for sponsored memberships to expire when the term of the sponsorship expires.
So I would propose:
9.1.f. for a member who has been granted free or sponsored membership of the Association for a specific period - as soon as that period expires, unless the member has applied to continue their membership, and the committee has accepted that application, and the member has paid any membership fees payable to the Association under rule 12.
This does what we want:
It allows e.g. sponsored student memberships to last for any duration the committee sees fit. (Note the limitation of 3 months, one time only, is set in bylaws, not in the constitution itself.)
It provides for the membership to end immediately once the given time is up. This resolves that rule 12.5 (termination for non-payment of invoices) could never have applied to a sponsored member who never got any invoices, so technically sponsored memberships never ended.
It provides a pathway to transition to a paying class of membership (e.g. concession membership) once the free/sponsored membership ends.
I have intentionally not restricted the application of this clause to associate members, or required that they transition to a class of ordinary membership, because that might have unintended consequences.
Poll Created Sun 13 Aug 2023 4:33PM
Include a special resolution to amend subrule 9.1 on the agenda for the 2023 AGM Closed Thu 17 Aug 2023 4:00PM
Passed: Unanimously (9 in favour).
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 100.0% | 9 |
VD
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 0 |
9 of 9 people have voted (100%)
Renae Currie
Sun 13 Aug 2023 4:34PM
We might not need to include committee accepting application, since if we haven't kicked them out we probably can't refuse anyway. But it looks good. Well done Lewis
Lewis Yip Mon 14 Aug 2023 1:31AM
The scenario I was thinking of was people applying for the wrong class of membership, e.g. applying for concession membership while not eligible. "The committee accepts the application..." is enough to prevent that kind of shenanigan.
Renae Currie Mon 14 Aug 2023 2:02AM
@Lewis Yip Perfect
Beau Scott
Sun 13 Aug 2023 4:34PM
Makes sense to have it in, good stuff
Lewis Yip Mon 18 Sep 2023 5:36AM
This rules amendment was passed as a special resolution at the AGM held 2023-09-16 and has been submitted to the Consumer Affairs for approval.
Renae Currie · Sun 9 Jul 2023 1:35PM
Seems to cover it