Hi all,
As promised find the proposed changes to the vics constitution at the EGM
scheduled for this Saturday, 5th March commencing at 14:00 in the training
centre of the NCBI.
I have attached a text version of the current constitution for your
reference.
Regards,
Tim
The current section:
7 Committee
(A)Elections for the positions of Chairperson, Deputy chairperson,
Secretary, Treasurer, Public Relations Officer and 2 additional members to
serve on
the committee will take place at each Annual General Meeting.
(B)Nominations may be made for persons not present at the meeting, on
receipt of written approval from the nominee.
(C)An officer position may be held by any one member for a maximum of 3
years, after which the member must stand down for 1 year, but may continue
to serve
on the committee.
(D)At an Annual general Meeting, members may authorize the establishment of
branches in other parts of the country, to cater for the needs of members in
that area. Branches will not be autonomous and will be accountable to the
National committee.
(E)People with specific expertise or who will fulfil a particular function,
may be co-opted onto the committee. No more than three of these shall be
non-members.
will be replaced with the following section:
7 Board of Directors
(A)Elections for the positions of managing director, directors of finance,
strategy and membership will take place at each Annual General Meeting.
(B)Nominations may be made for persons not present at the meeting, on
receipt of written approval from the nominee.
(C)An officer position may be held by any one member for a maximum of 3
years, after which the member must stand down for 1 year, but may continue
to serve
on the board of directors in another capacity.
(D)At an Annual general Meeting, members may authorize the establishment of
branches in other parts of the country, to cater for the needs of members in
that area. Branches will not be autonomous and will be accountable to the
National board of directors.
(E)People with specific expertise or who will fulfil a particular function,
may be co-opted onto the board. No more than two of these shall be
non-members.
All references to the word 'committee' will be replaced with 'board of
directors'
All references to the word 'secretary' will be replaced with 'membership
director'
All references to the word 'treasurer' will be replaced with 'finance
director'
CONSTITUTION
1 Name & affiliation
(A) The name of the organization shall be: The Visually Impaired Computer
Society of Ireland, hereafter referred to as VICS.
(B) VICS shall be affiliated to the Irish Computer Society (ICS) and shall
be
entitled to send a representative to meetings of the ICS
2 Aims & Objectives
(A) To meet the needs of visually impaired people in the area of general
computer access
(B) To provide support to those who are new to computers
(C) To encourage employers to hire visually impaired employees enabled by
new
technology
(D) To promote and where possible, assist in the development of adaptive
technology, and to encourage developers of new software and hardware to ensure
accessibility
(E) To act in an advisory capacity to bodies seeking to provide access to
electronic data
(F) To advise on, and promote the development of fully accessible websites.
3 Membership
Membership will be open to:
(A) All visually impaired computer users and potential users in Ireland
(B) Honourary Membership, which may be bestowed by members at an Annual
General
Meeting, on people who have contributed to VICS in some significant way.
4 Membership Fees
The committee subject to members approval at the Annual General Meeting will
set annual membership fees for:
(A) Waged
(B) Non-Waged and students
5 Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting must take place between April 1st and June 30th each
year
6 Quorum
(A) A quorum requires one third plus one of membership for a committee
meeting
and twelve Members for General meetings
(B) A quorum is necessary before a meeting can continue and make decisions
7 Committee
(A) Elections for the positions of Chairperson, Deputy chairperson,
Secretary,
Treasurer, Public Relations Officer and 2 additional members to serve on the
committee will take place at each Annual General Meeting.
(B) Nominations may be made for persons not present at the meeting, on
receipt
of written approval from the nominee.
(C) An officer position may be held by any one member for a maximum of 3
years,
after which the member must stand down for 1 year, but may continue to serve on
the committee.
(D) At an Annual general Meeting, members may authorize the establishment
of
branches in other parts of the country, to cater for the needs of members in
that area. Branches will not be autonomous and will be accountable to the
National committee.
(E) People with specific expertise or who will fulfil a particular
function, may
be co-opted onto the committee. No more than three of these shall be
non-members.
8 Working Groups
The committee may set up working groups to undertake designated tasks as and
when required. Such groups may operate for up to three years, or until the
completion of their work, whichever is the shorter
9 Notification of Meetings
Members should be notified of the Annual General Meeting, or of any
Extraordinary General Meeting, at least 3 weeks in advance
10 Voting
(A) All paid up and Honourary members have the right to vote at the AGM or
on
any occasion when a vote is required.
(B) Voting method to be Show of hands
11 Motions
(A) All paid up and honorary members have a right to submit a motion
relating to
amendments to the Constitution to be considered at the Annual General Meeting
or
Extraordinary General Meeting
(B) The Secretary must receive motions in writing, not less than 4 weeks
prior
to the Annual General, or an Extraordinary Meeting
(C) To be passed, a motion must have the support of at least two thirds of
members present and voting at the meeting
12 Finance
(A) In addition to the treasurer, who is elected annually, two signatories
to
VICS Cheques will be appointed for a period of three years. The Treasurer plus
one signatory must sign any cheque
(B) The VICS financial year will be from April 1st to March 31st.
(C) The Treasurer will present a Statement of Accounts to each Annual
general
Meeting
13 Dissolution
(A) VICS may be dissolved by a resolution passed by a majority of at least
three-quarters of members present and voting at a General Meeting convened for
that purpose. Upon Dissolution the assets of VICS shall be held in trust by the
existing signatories.
(B) A period of not more than five years shall be allowed for the disposal
of
VICS assets by funding research and/or testing of adaptive technology which
will
benefit blind and vision impaired people.
(C) Thereafter the signatories shall be empowered to hand over any
remaining
assets to such properly constituted charitable organisation, as they would at
that time consider appropriate
This Constitution was approved by the Annual General Meeting on 17th May 2003
and amended at the AGM of May 13th, 2006.