According to our By Laws you must be a paid member 30 days prior to the election. So to be able to vote you must have your 2009 dues paid by 4th September 2008. I was hoping to have our new web site up and running before then and you could paypal, but just use the p.o. box 1765, Indian Trail, NC 28079. I personally think the next group of people to run the club will make it so much smoother and that is my goal before I leave office. Thanks for your past support and get those dues in and lets make this a bigger and best MINI Club in the US. Hence m2c2.us thats our new web site and we are working on it hot and heavy to get it up. Luke Lame Duck Prez

 

I paid my dues today - anyway to let me vote????

 

Yes, you can. We are going to re-structure our by-laws and possibly move the dates for the dues. This is something we will discuss in the meeting. Sort of like our web site everything was done by people who no longer are in the club. Hopefully we will make alot of changes with the new Officers and VP's coming in.

 

Do the people who are running have a platform or plans for people to look at when voting?

 

Luke, Are the bylaws posted online, or just provided hardcopy with the new member package? I want to review them and don't have the paperwork on me.

I'm not sure your second statement (above) necessarily follows as a requirement from the first statement.

That is, when I joined I paid through September 30, 2008. So on September 4, thirty days prior to the next election, I was a paid member. And now on September 8 I have used PayPal to renew for the period October 1, 2008, to September 30, 2009. It seems disenfranchising to say that come October 4, though a continuously paid member in good standing, I cannot vote.

So I'm asking for a second opinion which either confirms or clarifies the second statement from the original post.

Thank you,

 

Jason Thats the way it was set up and I only have a working copy of the by laws. We are going to try and solve this at the annual meeting. I have always been a little lient towards the process. I finally have some people willing to work together to step in and solve this. Everyone will vote but it will be by a show of hands. We will either move the dues back or the annual meeting up, as it stands it is very confussing to everyone. Just hang in ther with us and your comments and suggestions are welcomed. MINI as far as the by laws if you are a paid up member in good standing and have a love of the MINI and people thats all it takes to run for office. It does take a little time and we have had alot of people run but months later decided they want to resign. We need people that are in for the long haul. I have been VP Charlotte for 1+ years and 2 years as President. I spend more time at the computer which when I started know absolutely nothing about. It has been a learning experience for me and I have really enjoyed it. I decided to change the website and make it more friendly and we are discussing changes in the by laws. The main thing is for someone who wants to be a officer or VP that they know its going to be a little time consuming and you can't please everyone. Hope to see you at the ANNUAL Meeting Oct 4th. Luke

 

Jason,
The bylaws aren't posted as yet until we find out if the copies some of the officers have are final and official. The copy I have is a mark up and we just found a copy that's not marked up with the club seal and some other "official" paperwork . We need to reconcile the two and then they'll be posted for all to see. It's not a secret but they were hard to come by. I hope to rectify that.
As Luke noted the bylaws do state "Annual dues must be paid 30 days before the date of any vote.", at least in the two copies I have. My supposition is that the reason for that was to allow time for dues to reach the secretary and treasurer in time to account for them prior to the annual meeting. Keep in mind the members were initially in Fayetteville and Greenville and Hickory (no Hendricks then) and getting together may have been more problematic then. It sounds like 2002 was a long time ago doesn't it? I don't know as I wasn't around when the bylaws were developed, but there it is. The annual meeting is required to be held in the last quarter of the year and the original members may have wanted to hold it later in the year than early October. There doesn't seem to be anyone around from that time to ask these questions. I have tried to get a few questions answered recently by a couple of earlier officers and was unsuccessful in getting a response.
This sounds like an issue we can address at the annual meeting. I'm guessing that as past practice has been to allow members to pay dues at the meeting we'll do the same this year. Once the bylaws are publicly posted they'll be the law of the land for the following year as the saying goes.
I hope this answers your question.

Chris

 

I'm a little confused....:-(

I paid my dues on the 26th of August to ensure I met the 30 day requirement for dues paid. Does the membership run 1 year from when you paid the dues or is there a set date for renewal for everyone regardless of when you joined?

 

Bob,
The "normal" dues period is October through the following September. Joining sometime other than September is prorated at $2/month through the end of September when renewal would take place at $24 for the next 12 month period of October through September.
The kink, if you will, this year is the proximity of the annual meeting to the renewal period and its attendant "30 day prior to election payment of dues" requirement. If the meeting was later in the year this wouldn't be an issue.
Hope this helps.

Chris