of the
Southern Wisconsin Apple Group
Adopted Unanimously 2007 August 15
Amended Unanimously 2012 October 10
Index
Article 1: Name
Article 2: Mission
Article 3: Membership
Article 4: Officers
Article 5: Duties of Officers
Article 6: Board of Directors
Article 7: Dues and Finance
Article 8: Meetings
Article 9: Amendments
Section 2.2: Specifics. It shall be the responsibility of SWAG to:
- Enhance its own membership.
- Hold regularly scheduled meetings and programs.
- Encourage interactions between users with varying expertise.
- Serve as a source of Apple-related information for its members.
- Promote Apple products and technologies to non-members.
Section 3.2: Rights. Every member has a right to:
- the normal rights of members in a democratic organization, such as debating, voting, running for office, etc.
- a copy of this Constitution.
- advance notice of each meeting of the general membership and of the Board.
- have her or his privacy protected under a policy established by the Board.
- 1 month’s advance notification that her or his membership is about to expire.
- a president
- a vice-president
- a secretary
- a treasurer
- 3 at-large directors
Section 4.3: Nominations. Candidates for election as officers shall be nominated from the floor at the nominating meeting in March. Nominations for at-large directors shall be in odd-numbered years; nominations for all other officers shall be in even-numbered years. Each nomination must be accepted by the nominee prior to, at, or within 7 days of that meeting.
Section 4.4: Election. Officers shall be elected at the election meeting in April. Election shall be by secret, written, preferential ballot, and each pre-printed ballot shall allow a space for a write-in candidate for each office.
Section 4.5: Term of Office. Officers shall serve from the end of the meeting at which they were elected until the end of the corresponding meeting 2 years later.
Section 4.6: Vacancies.
Paragraph 4.6.1: If the presidency becomes vacant, the vice-president shall assume the office.
Paragraph 4.6.2: If a vacancy occurs in any other office, the Board shall nominate a replacement to fill the unexpired term, subject to approval at the next general membership meeting.
Paragraph 4.6.3: If the president is unavailable or incapacitated, the highest available officer listed in Section 4.1 shall perform the president’s duties until the president is again available.
- preside at Board meetings and the business portion of membership meetings.
- enforce the observance of the Constitution.
- appoint committees and committee members not otherwise provided for.
- serve proactively as SWAG's primary media contact.
- serve as the primary liaison to speakers and presenters.
- preside over the program portion of membership meetings.
- take minutes of all meetings of the Board.
- maintain the documents and papers of SWAG.
- schedule spaces for meetings.
- distribute notices of Board meetings.
- prepare, distribute, and collect all paper ballots at election meetings.
- be responsible for all official non-financial correspondence.
- process all financial transactions.
- keep the financial records.
- file all financial reports required by law.
- submit an annual financial report to the Board every February.
Section 5.6: General. The enumeration in this article of specific duties shall not relieve officers of the responsibility to perform other such duties as their offices may require. Responsibilities may be discharged by recruiting or appointing qualified people to perform them.
Section 6.2: Duties. The Board shall:
- oversee the operations of SWAG between general membership meetings.
- plan programs for the members.
- recruit candidates for officers prior to each election.
- create functional positions (like webmaster, membership coordinator, newsletter editor, and Apple liaison) and committees as it deems appropriate to carry out SWAG’s mission.
- recruit and approve people to fill said functional positions and committees, and remove or replace them when it sees fit.
Paragraph 6.3.1: 4 or more members constitutes a quorum.
Paragraph 6.3.2: The Board shall operate by consensus when possible and by parliamentary procedure when necessary.
Paragraph 6.3.3: Decisions made by the Board may be reversed by a majority vote of the general membership.
Section 6.4: Removal from Office.
Paragraph 6.4.1: Any officer may be suspended by 2/3 vote of the Board. Such suspension shall remain in effect only until the next general membership meeting at least 14 days away.
Paragraph 6.4.2: Any member may, at any general membership meeting, move to remove any officer. The motion may be discussed but not voted upon at that meeting.
Paragraph 6.4.3: Following a suspension by the Board or a motion to remove at a general membership meeting, at least 10 days’ notice of the pending removal action shall be given to all members.
Paragraph 6.4.4: At the general membership meeting following the notice, the first order of business shall be an automatic motion to remove the officer. Removal requires a 2/3 vote. If the motion passes, the person is removed immediately; if not, he or she is completely restored to office.
Paragraph 6.4.5: All procedures under this paragraph shall become moot at the moment the officer resigns.
Paragraph 6.4.6: Removal under this section does not entail loss of membership in SWAG.
Paragraph 7.1.1: Membership dues shall be determined by the Board every November and shall remain in effect for the entire following calendar year.
Paragraph 7.1.2: The Board may choose to establish different dues rates based on uniformly applied rational criteria. Examples include youth memberships, household memberships, trial memberships, discounts for services rendered, and newsletter distribution costs.
Section 7.2: Other income. Funds may be solicited and accepted from sources other than membership dues.
Section 7.3: Budget. A budget for the calendar year shall be approved by the Board at its February meeting and by the membership at the following general membership meeting. The membership may amend the budget submitted by the Board upon presentation or at any later time.
Section 8.2: Special Meetings. Special meetings may be called by the president or any 2 other officers and shall be called upon written request of 10% of the membership. The meeting notice shall contain the purpose of the meeting. Section 8.3: Rules and Procedures.
Paragraph 8.3.1: 10 members or 10% of the membership, whichever is smaller, constitutes a quorum.
Paragraph 8.3.2: The business portion of meetings shall operate by consensus when possible and by parliamentary procedure when necessary.
Paragraph 8.3.3: The order of business shall be determined by the president. New business shall be in order at every general membership meeting.
Section 9.2: Notice. The notice of any meeting at which a Constitutional amendment will be considered shall describe the nature of proposed amendments and shall identify the provisions to be added and deleted. The identification may be accomplished by reference to a website.
Section 9.3: Adoption. Amendments shall be adopted by majority vote.
