The 2011 BIA Annual Membership Meeting will be Monday, July 11, 2011 at 7 P.M.. The agenda will include a proposal to amend Article I Section 2 of the BIA Bylaws to read as follows:
The Board of Directors shall con-sist of not less than nine nor more than fifteen members, appointed by the incumbent Board of Directors to serve three-year terms beginning on July 1, with terms of individual board members staggered so that approx-imately one-third of the Board is ap-pointed each year. No person shall serve more than three consecutive three-year terms.
This new provision will replace an elaborate existing procedure for BIA members to elect members of the Board of Directors at the annual membership meeting. That procedure has been essentially a formality for many years, and a large majority of members who responded to our mem-ber survey last fall said they would prefer this simpler alternative and also would be satisfied with opportunity to attend a summer Board meeting in-stead of having a formal annual mem-bership meeting, as called for in Ar-ticle IV of the Bylaws.
The Board proposes no change in the requirement for an annual mem-bership meeting, but does propose to amend Article VI. It requires mem-bership approval for contributions of Association assets to any other organ-ization, group or individual and any change in the Articles of Incorpora-tion or Bylaws, and says all members shall receive copies of the Articles and the Bylaws. As amended, it will read as follows:
a) The corporation shall contribute organization funds or goods pur-chased with organization funds to another organization, group or in-dividual only with Board approval.
b) The Board may amend the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws as it sees fit from time to time.
c) Any member of the Association will receive a copy of the Articles or Bylaws upon request.
d) No individual member or group of members other than the President shall state views as being those of the Association without official au-thorization by the President. [No change in this provision.]
These proposed amendments will be voted on at this summer's annual meeting, which as usual also will fea-ture open discussion on any issues of concern to BIA members.
