The 2022 MASSFILC Annual Meeting will be held online using Zoom on
Saturday, September 17. Zoom connection information will go out on the
announcements list at least 24 hours before the meeting. The business
portion of the meeting will start at 7 PM, followed by open singing as
usual.

The offices of president, clerk, and treasurer are up for election for a
one-year term. Current officers are Paul Taylor (president), Gary McGath
(clerk), and Ellen Kranzer (treasurer).

Three by-law amendment motions will be up for voting. Online ballots
will be set up. The proposals are at the end of this message.

The by-laws state, "Any individual who has attended at least five of the
twelve most recent regular or annual meetings of MASSFILC, exclusive of
the current meeting, and who has at any time notified the Clerk of
intent to be considered as a Voting member, is a Voting member of MASSFILC."

In addition, people can be given voting privileges at the meeting:
"Other MASSFILC activities can be substituted for the meeting
requirement upon the recommendation of the Executive Board and the
ratification of those requirements by 3/4 of the voting membership or by
an affirmative vote of 3/4 of the voting members present at the annual
meeting."

The current list of voting members follows. If you think there's a
mistake, please let me know as soon as possible. If you can't make it,
it would be very helpful in achieving a quorum if you submit a proxy to
me. A voting member can hold only one proxy.

You can also ask not to be considered a voting member. While we hope
everyone takes an interest in the club's operations, if you've just been
attending for the filksings and don't want to count against the quorum
requirement, that's fine.

Joe Kesselman 8
Ellen Kranzer 8
Bob Leigh 6
Paula Lieberman 5
Mabel Liang 7
Paul Mangan 8
Gary McGath 12
Ben Newman 6
Hillary Sherwood 7
Paul Taylor 10
Virginia Taylor 10

A quorum is 2/3 of the voting members, present (online in this case) or
represented by a proxy. We have 11 voting members, so a quorum is 8
members.

The following are the by-law amendment proposals, submitted by Gary
McGath (me).

Proposal 1:

Article VI, Section 2

Current text:

Regular meetings of MASSFILC shall be held for the purpose of singing
and promoting music. Regular meetings shall be scheduled at least one
month in advance. There shall be at least nine regular meetings of
MASSFILC every calendar year. The members shall be notified of the time
and place of a regular meeting at least ten days in advance.

Proposed text:

Regular meetings of MASSFILC shall be held for the purpose of singing
and promoting music. Regular meetings shall be scheduled at least one
month in advance. There shall be at least five regular meetings of
MASSFILC every calendar year. The members shall be notified of the time
and place of a regular meeting at least ten days in advance.

Reasoning:

The interest in meetings has seriously dropped off. My request for
proposals for the August meeting and the Annual Meeting haven't gotten
any responses. Reducing the number of meetings may increase the
per-meeting attendance.

Proposal 2:

Article III, Section 3, paragraph (1)

Current text:

Any individual who has attended at least five of the twelve most recent
regular or annual meetings of MASSFILC, exclusive of the current
meeting, and who has at any time notified the Clerk of intent to be
considered as a Voting member, is a Voting member of MASSFILC. Voting
members have the right to vote at annual meetings, special meetings, and
business meetings of the organization.

New text:

Any individual who has attended at least two-fifths of the regular or
annual meetings of MASSFILC in the previous 365 days, exclusive of the
current meeting, and who has at any time notified the Clerk of intent to
be considered as a Voting member, is a Voting member of MASSFILC. Voting
members have the right to vote at annual meetings, special meetings, and
business meetings of the organization.

Reasoning:

This is contingent on Proposal 1 passing. If we reduce the number of
meetings per year, we should proportionally reduce the attendance
requirement to vote. Keeping it the same would effectively track a
two-year history, which isn't the intent of the attendance requirement.

Proposal 3:

Article VI, Section 9 (new)

Meetings may be held online, in person, or in a combination of both
forms. The Clerk will give members information on accessing the online
venue, if applicable. The link or password does not have to be included
with the meeting announcement, but shall be sent separately to members
at least 24 hours before the meeting. The venue of an in-person meeting
may be changed to online if necessary, in accordance with Section 8.

Reasoning:

This codifies current practice.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

On 9/6/22 8:59 AM, Gary McGath wrote:

Please ignore the above. I meant to send it to the MASSFILC announcement
list, not r.m.f. Argh.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com