Constitutional Amendment

This Association Notes:

That the first AFFS AGM, held immediately after AFFSAC 2003, was inquorate;
That clause 6d. of the constitution of the Association only allows a postal ballot to take place after a successful committee election at the first AGM;
That clause 6d. was uninvokeable at the first AGM, since no such committee could be elected at the first AGM due to quoracy;
That clause 6d. is permanently uninvokeable, since no such committee was elected at the first AGM;
That the Association is now unable to elect members to serve on the committee by any other manner other than personal election at an AGM;

This Association Further Notes:

That the Association is a membership-based organisation;
That a founding principle of the Association was that it would act in accordance with the majority wishes of it's membership;
That the Association is managed by an Executive Committee according to 6a. of the constitution of the Association;
That the expression of the Association's membership is the democratic election of officers to serve on the Executive Committee;

This Association Believes:

That the inability to hold postal ballots is a grave failing;
That the key to a successful organisation is an active, represented membership;
That a directly elected Executive Committee is essential;
That the ability to call elections to that Committee as and when practically required is fundamental to achieving a directly elected Executive Committee;

This Association Resolves:

To replace Clause 5 of the Constitution with the following:

	5. Principle Officers
	(a) The Principle Officers of the Association shall be the Chair, the Vice-chair,
	and the Treasurer. 
	(b) The Chair of the Association will be responsible for the public communication of
	the Association, and will have special responsibilities at meetings and otherwise, as
	set out herein.
	(c) The Vice-chair of the Association will be responsible for the internal
	communication of the Association and notices to members, both official and
	unofficial. The Vice-chair will deputise for the Chair, and assume the
	responsibilities of the Chair, when required. The Vice-chair will act as the
	Secretary of the Association, and will be responsible for minuting all official
	meetings of the Association.
	(d) The Treasurer of the Association will be responsible for all financial
	transactions of the Association, all book-keeping, and the upkeep of a database of
	records of the membership.
	(e) All Principle Officers may, from time to time, delegate the work associated with
	their post, but not the responsibility. Principle Officers will report the work they
	have undertaken to fulfil their responsibilities at General Meetings of the
	Association.
	(f) Principle Officers are elected from the Executive Committee by the membership,
	by the rules set out in Clause 7. Any full member of the Association
	is eligible to put themselves forward for election, but where such a member is not
	already a member of the Executive Committee, or have less than [three (3)] months 
	left to	serve, they must also be elected to the Executive Committee at a 
	simultaneous election, else they are disqualified from the results of the vote.
	Candidates for Principle Offices will not be automatically entered into elections for
	membership of the Executive Committee.
	(g) A Principle Officer may resign only by resigning from the Executive Committee.
	The date for a re-election of a Principle Officer must be set within [six (6)] months
	of the post opening.

Honorary Officers are those with specific roles within the Organisation; however, Clause 5 did not clearly define those roles, and those officers were treated differently to ordinary officers of the Executive Committee as they were separately elected.

This section lays out the Offices and responsibilities, and also outlines the method of election: there would no longer be a need for a specific election of Honorary Officers; they will be elected from the ranks of the potential Executive.

To amend Clause 6 of the Constitution to say:

	6. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
	(a) Subject as hereinafter mentioned the policy and general management
	of the affairs of the Association shall be directed by an Executive
	Committee (hereinafter called 'the Committee') which shall meet not
	less than [ four (4) ] times a year and when complete shall consist of
	not less than [ five (5) ] or more than [ eleven (11) ] members.
	(b) The members of the Committee shall be elected at the Annual
	General Meeting of the Association in accordance with Clause 9 hereof.
	(b) The members of the Committee shall be elected by the membership, 
	in accordance with the rules set out in Clause {7}.
	(c) Election to the Committee shall be for [ two (2) ] years. [ Half ]
	of the membership shall retire annually but shall be eligible for
	re-election, provided that no Committee member shall hold office for
	more than [ four (4) ] years. On the expiration of such period, [ one
	(1) ] further years must elapse before any former Committee member
	shall be eligible for re-election, the members so to retire being
	those who have been longest in office since the last election but not
	reckoning the chair and honoraryPrinciple officers.
	As between members who have been in office the same length of time, 
	those due to retire shall be chosen by lot.
	(d) Only full members of the Association whether individual or
	representative shall be eligible to serve as Honorary Officers or
	members of the Committee. Nominations for Honorary Officers or members
	of the Committee must be made by full members of the association in
	writing and must be in the hands of the Secretary at least [ ten (10) ] 
	days before the Annual General Meetingany election. 
	Should nominations exceed
	vacancies, election shall be by ballot OR election shall be by a
	system of postal voting (the arrangements for which shall be made by
	the Committee) PROVIDED THAT the first members of the Committee shall
	be elected by personal vote at the first General Meeting of the
	Association.}
	(e) In addition to the members so elected and to those serving by
	virtue of Clause 5(c) hereof the Committee may co-opt up to [ three
	(3) ] further members being full members of the Association whether
	individual or representative or a combination of both who shall serve
	until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting after
	individual co-option provided that the number of co- opted members
	shall not exceed one-third of the total membership of the Committee at
	the time of co-option.
	(f) Any casual vacancy in the Committee may be filled by the Committee
	and any person appointed to fill such a casual vacancy shall hold
	office until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the
	Association and shall be eligible for election at the Meeting.
	(g)(f) The proceedings of the Committee shall not be invalidated by any
	failure to elect or any defect in the election, appointment, co-option
	or qualification of any member.
	(h)(g) The Committee shall appoint and fix the remuneration of staff (not
	being members of the Committee) as may in their opinion be necessary.
	(i)(h) The Committee may appoint such special or standing committees as
	may be deemed necessary by the Committee and shall determine their
	terms of reference, powers, duration and composition. All acts and
	proceedings of such special or standing committees shall be reported
	back to the Committee as soon as possible.

This removes reliance on the previous clause 5), and also opens up the possibility of non-AGM elections. The committee are essentially the group of people who run the affairs of the Association, with no special individual responsibility.

To amend Clause 7 of the Constitution thusly:

	A member of the Committee shall cease to hold office if he or she:
	(TODO) Removal of members of the committee. Committee members will be removed
	from Executive and any Principle office they hold if:

To insert, into Clause 7 of the Constitution:

	(a) Members shall be elected to the Executive Committee by the following 
	methods: 
	    (i)  via ballot of a quorate General Meeting;
	    (ii) via ballot of the entire membership of the Association;
	(b) Deferral of ballot of General Meeting. Any ballot of a General Meeting will be 
	deferred to a later Postal ballot of the membership under the following
	circumstances:
	     (i)  a successful motion to defer is carried;
	     (ii) if the Meeting is inquorate;
	(c) All nominations put forward to elections deferred under section (c) will be
	automatically re-submitted to the following election unless explicitly withdrawn
	during the period of nomination for that election.
	(d) Nominations. All elections will have a [ten (10)] day period of nomination
	immediately prior to the election. This period of nomination will be communicated to
	the membership not less than [ten (10)] days before the opening of nominations. All
	nominations must be made by full members of the Association. All nominees must be
	full members of the Association. Nominations must be made to the Executive Committee
	of the Association, and will be acknowledged by the Chair of the Association.
	(e) Voting. The Returning Officer will be responsible for the production,
	delivery, collection and processing of ballots. Ballots may be slips of paper to be
	returned to the Vice-chair, or may be sent by electronic mail. The precise method
	used may vary according to Standing Order of the Executive Committee, but will have
	the following properties:
	     (i)   the ballot will treat all candidates for election equally;
	     (ii)  the ballot will be run under the rules of a Single Transferable Vote,
	           as defined by the Electoral Reform Society;
	     (iii) the ballot will include all members eligible to vote (the entire
	           membership for a postal ballot, or those present at a quorate
		   General Meeting);
	     (iv)  the results of the ballot will be published openly, and the votes of 
	           each individual will be available to be checked by that individual in
		   a manner which does not identify their vote to others but is generally
		   published to all to inspect;
	(f) The Returning Officer for all elections will be the Vice-chair of the
	Association. The returning officer may not be nominated in the election under any
	circumstance, nor chosen (either wholly or in part) by anyone so nominated. Where 
	the Vice-chair is unable to act as returning officer, the returning officer will be 
	chosen by (in order of preference):
	     (i)   the Chair of the Association
	     (ii)  the Treasurer of the Association
	     (iii) the Executive Committee of the Association
	     (iv)  a present, willing member, drawn by lots if required
	(g) The Chair of the Association will oversee the activity of the Returning Officer,
	but will play no part in the collation and publishing of results.
	(h) Dispute of Elections. Results of elections will be published - including
	individual votes - to all, and thus will be available to be checked by all. Where a
	fault in the calculation of the result of the election is found, or a member
	identifies their vote and finds it miscast, the results of the election will be
	immediately suspended, a new Returning Officer found according to section (f), and
	the results re-enumerated. If the new Returning Officer cannot obtain the accurate
	individual votes of members from the original Returning Officer, or is unable to
	resolve the dispute within [one (1)] month, the election will be declared null and
	void and will be re-run.
	(i) Trigger of Elections. Elections will be held at any General Meeting occuring when
	positions within the Executive Committee, or Principle Offices, are free and need to
	be filled. The Chair of the Association may also call elections as he sees fit;
	provided that no General Meeting is scheduled or may be expected within the next
	[three (3)] months.