Your Right to Vote – Elections and Bylaw Amendments to be considered in Louisville

Every member has the right to vote at the Civitan International Convention! Voting delegates are no longer limited based on your club size, If you register to attend in-person or virtual, you can vote for the President-Elect, Directors in your Region (if applicable) and the bylaw amendments. Register for in-person or virtual convention by July 19th to be qualified as a voting delegate (member must be from a club-in-good-standing).

There are two bylaw amendments that will be considered during our Civitan International Convention in Louisville, August 19th to 22nd. Here is a preview of those two amendments:

• Executive Vice President is the title of our senior staff member who oversees the day-to-day operations, manages staff, finances and answers to the Board of Directors. This title is not a common title with nonprofits and especially other service club organizations. Almost half of the organizations use the title “Executive Director” and half use “Chief Executive Officer”. Only Civitan uses the title of Executive Vice President.

In November, the Civitan International Board of Directors unanimously approved a bylaw amendment to replace the “Executive Vice President” title with “Executive Director”. There are 18 references to this title in the bylaws that will change.

This bylaw amendment is required to be ratified by the registered members during the Civitan International Convention in Louisville. Official language will be presented in the May magazine.

• In addition to the Executive Vice President’s duties, the EVP also acts “as the Secretary and Treasurer of the corporation.” (Section 6.02 in the Bylaws.) Although these titles are more related to the corporation of the organization and State of Alabama regulations, separation of duties is a valuable opportunity for a non-profit organization. Many non-profits have a volunteer to be the Treasurer of the organization, rather than a staff member. Our organization has a very strong Finance and Audit Committee made up of experienced, accountants, bankers and nonprofit leaders. These committee members would be great candidates for this volunteer position. This helps the organization with a non-staff third party set of eyes and oversees the finances and audit of the organization.

In November, the Civitan International Board of Directors unanimously approved a bylaw amendment to remove the title of Treasurer from the Executive Vice President’s duties and add “a.) iii The Treasurer of the corporation shall be appointed by the international board upon recommendation of the president-elect at the summer meeting of the board.”  The qualifications of these appointments will require experience in financial management.

This bylaw amendment is required to be ratified by the registered members during the Civitan International Convention in Louisville. Official language will be presented in the May magazine.

Watch for the full language and detail next month in the May Civitan international Magazine.  In the meantime, register for convention so you will be able to exercise you right to vote!