[H-GEN] Constitutional amendments

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, David Starkoff wrote:

> My current thought is to allow two forms of proxies.  One is dependent on
> getting agendas for meetings, and candidates for elections, out a week or
> so before a meeting.  This would allow a person to vote for a specific
> person in absentia.
> 
> A proxy of this form would be presented to the Chairman (or Madam Chair) 
> of the meeting, and be counted just like an ordinary vote.  It would
> involve a suitably authenticated message being presented to the Secretary
> before the meeting in a form not unlike this:
> 
>     I [name of member], an eligible voting member of HUMBUG hereby wish
>     to vote [`in favour of'/`against'] the resolution [identification]
>     at the general meeting on [date].

Perhaps I am only engaging in semantics but this is basically what i had
in mind for absentee votes (except that mine were to be sealed).
 
> I'd also like to provide an option for a form of attorney, ie. delegating
> your voting power to another person, either member or non-member.

Ok fair enough, that is the current proxy system we use.  I must ask
though, of what use is it, when the previously mentioned system is in
place.

I won't jump up and down too much if the rest of the membershop decide
proxies are a good thing, but for the life of me I cabn't recall why we
put them in, in the 1st place and I do regard them as  type of vote
weighting (Mr Popular can have 6 votes has 5 ppl wanted to proxy to him as
they couldn't be bothered coming - and remember proxying could be
solicited)[0]

[0]  Yeah I know it is an extreme case but these things do happen. [1]
[1]  I get sick of paging to the bottom of my screen to look at footnotes
so here after will be putting them below the paragraph they link too. :)

>    Incorporation
>   ---------------
> 
> In principle, I support HUMBUG incorporating.  In principle.  At the
> moment.  Before we start getting all excited about this though, there are
> some things which need to be discussed.
> 
> Sure, incorporation would be great.  Executive members would have limited
> liability.  The club would have limited liability.  The club would have
> its own legal identity.  The club could contract and hold property in its
> own name.  We get a cool name: `HUMBUG Inc'.
> 
> However, incorporation actually means we become a real, legal, bona fide,
> corporation.  With a real constitution.  Which, in more circumstances than
> currently, will be held legally binding.  No more free-wheeling meeting
> procedure.  No more `let's follow the spirit of the constitution, if not
> the letter'.  No more Executive fun.
> 
> Being an unincorporated association is not all that bad.  We've got
> flexibility.  We can pull constitutional stunts like we did this year with
> relative impunity.  And we can do most of the things that a corporate
> entity can, albeit not as cleanly.
> 
> The new, improved, all-singing, all-dancing Constitution --- should it be
> accepted by HUMBUG at general meeting --- will be based on the Model Rules
> for an incorporated association as contained in Schedule 3 of the
> Associations Incorporation Regulation 1982 (Qld).  If HUMBUG ever decides
> to go down that path, the transition should be relatively smooth.

That sounds good.  BTW when we adopted the current Constitution in 1996/ 
1997 [2] we started version numbering them. The Constitution is currently
version 2.1.  A complete revision would give us 3.0

[2]  Younger humbuggers may not remember this, but we have done all this
before - you should have seen the 1st Con, it was shocking :)

> I should be at HUMBUG this Saturday, and I'll be available for your
> flaming pleasure.  If you don't know what I look like, I'll be the really
> morose and stressed person.  (I would have just finished an exam.) 

I thought it was:

"If you don't know what I look like, I'm the undernourished overweight
180cm dwarf with the jet black blond hair and the unshaven clean cut
look." [3]

[3]  This is not meant to represent David in any way shape or form.  Any
resemblance to any person living or dead is purely hysterical.
Cheers,
	-Robert

--Robert Brockway B.Sc.  Email: robert at blake.humbug.org.au,
				robert at humbug.org.au, r.brockway at uq.net.au
                         WWW:   http://www.humbug.org.au/~robert
Immediate Past President of HUMBUG (http://www.humbug.org.au)