The Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc. 2015 AMENDMENTS AND
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(60) 2015 AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS. Determination of a Quorum: Number of CFA member clubs represented: 602 Number of votes for a simple majority: 302 Number of votes for a two-thirds majority: 402 The Cat Fanciers’ Association, Inc. 2015 AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS Hannon: Next we have the proposed amendments to the constitution and resolutions. The way we’re going to work it is, a representative of the sponsoring club is going to present the amendment for resolution and make some opening comments. Others will be allowed to comment and then the originator will then do a closing comment. I’m hoping people will limit themselves to coming up just one time per subject, rather than coming back and back. We’ve got a lot of these things to get through. First we start with the constitutional amendments. The amendments must pass by 2/3 of the votes entitled to be cast by the delegates present at this meeting. My understanding is, that means that if they are out in the lobby, they don’t count. Raymond: Correct. Hannon: It’s 2/3 of the people that are in this room voting, not 2/3 of the registered delegates. Constitutional amendments are effective immediately unless stated otherwise in the amendment. They must be voted on as pre-noticed. They cannot be amended or brought from the floor, and they cannot be changed by the board. Deleted text is shown with a strikethrough and new text is underscored. – 1 – Lewis & Clark LH Specialty Cat Club; Country Faire Cat Fanciers; Greater NW Cat Fanciers; Wenatchee Valley CC; Korats Unlimited; McKenzie River CC; Seattle CC; Rip City Cats; Underground Gourmet CC; Fancy That CC; Grandview CF; Manx Ltd.; Puget Sound CC; Cats Royale; Cymric CC; Idaho CF; International Scottish Fold; Longhair Japanese Bobtail CC; North Pacific Siamese Fanciers; Responsible Cat Fanciers; Spacifically Orientals; Steinbeck Country CC; Valley CF; Vintage Shorthairs; Willamette Valley CC; Illini CC; Emerald CC; New England Meow Outfit; Muskogee Cat Club; Vieux Carre Feline Fanciers RESOLVED: Amend the CFA Constitution, ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP, Section 4 – Regional Assignment, as follows: Section 4 – Regional Assignment New members of the Association will be assigned to the Region in which is found the mailing address of the Secretary of the new member at the time of application for membership. Any club, for which the secretary(s) has resided outside of the current assigned region for a period of five (5) years one (1) year and/or the activities of the club have been conducted outside of the current assigned region for a period of five (5) years, one (1) year shall be reassigned to the region of the current secretary’s residence. 227 RATIONALE: Example 1: At this time, if clubs are given, sold, or otherwise transferred to another region, do not replace the Secretary, and conduct their business in the new region, they remain a listed member club in their previous region for 5 years. Disputes related to show production are referred to the regional director of the original region for resolution. Example 2: Secretary of a club retires and moves to a sunny climate in another region, but retains the office of secretary of the club. For 5 years, under the current constitution, this club can vote in the original region’s elections, despite having no presence in that region. There is no valid reason to allow a club to maintain its assignment as a member club in a region in which it does not operate. Hannon: The first amendment is from the Lewis & Clark club and a bunch of others. I’m assuming there is somebody here representing Lewis & Clark. I see Pam back there. Go Pam. Pam Moser [Lewis & Clark Longhair Specialty Cat Club]: The intent of this amendment is to reduce the number of years a club stays when the secretary moves, from 5 to 1 year. Our rationale, [reads]. I have one other example. I am the Regional Director of Region 2. I did get a call from Central Office asking if a club in region, which is a club that is held in Shanghai China, if they could have a show in Shanghai China. I said, “I don’t know, I guess they can.” I think they need to move with the secretary. Hannon: This one was relatively short. I want to comment that some of these are really long. It’s not necessary to read pages after pages of your proposals. George, do you have a comment on this? Eigenhauser [Bonita Cat Fanciers; West Shore Shorthair Club]: While I sympathize for not wanting to have carpet baggers in your region, I can’t support the resolution. I’ll try to be as brief as possible. I have two problems with it. The first is the assumption that when the club secretary moves, the club moves. That’s true for paper clubs. That’s not true for real clubs. There are many clubs that operate in their region, put on shows and otherwise contribute to that region that may choose to have a secretary that lives out of region for any of a number of regions. That doesn’t mean the club moved. So, this casts too broad a net to accomplish what they are trying to accomplish. The second thing is, this encourages paper clubs. Right now there are very few restrictions on paper clubs. If I want to step up the regional elections and I want to put real clubs in that region, there’s a lot of work involved to put a real club in that region. You have to go before the board, you have to have a membership list, you have to have a constitution. Clubs get to comment on whether any clubs can be formed in their own region. A paper club is a handshake deal and it goes across the board. The only impediment, the only speed bump in the road to moving paper clubs from region to region is the 5 year rule. By cutting it down from 5 years to 1 year, it makes paper clubs faster, easier and better to transfer between regions. That is a bad idea and I cannot support it. Hannon: Are there any other comments on this one? OK, I’ll call the vote. Motion Failed. – 2 – CFA Executive Board RESOLVED: Amend the third paragraph of Article IV – ANNUAL AND SPECIAL MEETINGS, Section 1 – Annual Meetings, as follows: 228 There shall be no change in the order of rotation, and each time an Annual Meeting shall have been held in each of the seven Regions, the order of rotation shall thereafter be repeated. A city within the eligible Region shall be chosen for the Annual Meeting to be held five years hence and announced to by the delegates to the Annual Meeting of the Association. If no city is selected at the Annual Meeting, then the Executive Board shall be empowered to select a city from within the eligible Region for such meeting. Written notice of the time and place of the Annual Meeting shall be made to member clubs by the Central Office by first class mail not less than forty (40) nor more than fifty (50) days prior to the opening day of the meeting. (Caveat; sites for the 1985, 1986, and 1987 Annual Meetings shall be chosen at the 1982 Annual Meeting.) RATIONALE: Prudent meeting planning practice requires that a city be selected and hotel contract signed before the location of the Annual Meeting is announced. This proposal harmonizes the constitutional language with that practice. It also allows for the use of modern and more economical communication methods to provide the required notice to member clubs. The deletion of the last sentence, referring to an event which occurred in the past, is a housekeeping change. Hannon: The next one is from the CFA Board. I believe George is going to present it. Eigenhauser [Bonita Cat Fanciers; West Shore Shorthair Club]: I’m not going to read this to you. I’m actually going to address this in reverse order. There are three changes proposed to the CFA constitution in the same general area. The third change is to move the reference to annuals to be held in 1985, 1986 and 1987. That’s obsolete material so we’re going to strike that as housekeeping. The second change is the change by which Central Office notifies us of meetings by striking out the requirement that it be done by first class mail. For the younger people here who don’t know what first class mail is, that’s the method your grandmother uses to send you a birthday card. The big change, however, is it changes the way we select future sites for our annual to correspond with what we actually do. I don’t know if you guys realize it, but we just did it this morning. We picked the location of the 2020 annual by looking at a video presentation, smiling and clapping. The truth is, it takes a lot of work to put on an annual, it takes a lot of work to find a facility that’s big enough to accommodate us and small enough that we want to stay. We have our annual meetings in June and July, which is a big part of the Summer vacation season. There aren’t a lot of facilities that want to work with us. When we do find a facility that wants to work with us, we have to do a lot of negotiating behind the scenes, so the reality of it is, even though it says in the constitution that the delegation picks the location, the reality is that we announce it at the annual meeting.