2017 Chapter Policies
Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro
CHAPTER POLICIES
(Revised April 2017)
A. General
1. There shall be two roll calls during the chapter meeting. Members arriving 15 minutes after meeting is called to order shall receive a chapter meeting miss. A silent roll call shall be taken at either the end of the meeting, or two hours after the start of the chapter meeting, and members absent shall also receive a chapter meeting miss. No roll call shall be taken after two hours from the start of the chapter meeting. A member unavoidably delayed in attending a chapter meeting or leaving a meeting before the second roll call may appeal to the President to nullify the absence.
2. Non-Board members may attend more than one (1) Board meeting during the fiscal year, but shall receive continuing education credit for one meeting only. One 1) hour continuing education credit shall be counted. Only two (2) non-Board Active members may attend each Board meeting.
3. At the May executive board meeting, the executive board will set the meeting schedule for the upcoming JA year to conform with the Jonesboro Public School calendar. If adverse weather conditions exist and/or Jonesboro Public Schools are closed, the chapter meeting shall be postponed until the next Thursday. A member who cannot attend the rescheduled meeting and who has three previous absences may petition the Executive Board to avoid losing one year of credit. The night meeting will be rescheduled accordingly. (Revised 9/96)
4. If the membership votes to drop a Welfare Service Project, that Project will continue to be worked the following year to prepare the recipients to take over the project. If it is not necessary to do that, the Project will be dropped at the end of the current year. (Adopted 03/07)
5. Access to the storage facility will be limited to members. Requests for the key, and use of inventory in the storage facility, other than for Junior Auxiliary functions, will be made the President. Inventory borrowed will be reported to the President who will maintain a log. Member will sign the log when items are returned. Any member using the key is responsible for items borrowed. Finance Project Chair will be responsible for designating items not available for loan. (Adopted 09/07)
6.General and make up meetings are attended by provisional or active members of JA of Jonesboro. Life and Associate members may also attend, but are not eligible to vote on Chapter business. Any non-member may attend with special invitation from the board or prior approval of the board. (Adopted 9/13)
7. Transfers. All active member Transfers from a sister chapter shall meet with the 1st Vice President or 2nd Vice President as deemed necessary by the President to receive necessary training on chapter policies, hour requirements, committees and projects. A Transfer not completing training assigned within 6 months will be subject to the chapter dismissal policy. (Adopted 4/17)
B. Elections
1. The three (3) voting delegates to the Annual Meeting of the Association shall be the immediate Past President, the President, and the First Vice-President. In the event that a voting delegate cannot attend the Annual Meeting, a substitute shall be appointed by the President.
2. Membership Voting Procedure. The Membership Committee shall meet in January of each year to determine the quota for the number of provisional candidates for the coming year. New Member Proposal Forms will be available online in February and will also be distributed at the February general and make-up meetings.
Each member in good standing will be permitted one (1) signature. A member may abstain from giving a signature. Each provisional candidate shall be required to have three (3) to five (5) signatures. The number of signatures required will be determined by the Membership Committee using the criteria from the Membership Formula.
New Member Proposal Forms are due and will be collected in April. The Membership Committee will meet to review and confirm eligibility of each of the provisional candidates. In the event that the quota for the number of provisional candidates is not filled, the membership committee may nominate potential candidates to fill the quota of provisional candidates. The nominations received from the membership committee must be approved unanimously by the committee before they are included with the names of the provisional candidates presented to the chapter for review. Once the membership committee has completed the list of proposed provisional candidates, the list will be emailed to the chapter for review. The names of the proposed provisional candidates are confidential and will not be shared or discussed outside the active membership.
The membership will then have the opportunity to submit a valid letter of concern. The membership will vote on the approved candidates at the April meeting. Those candidates receiving a majority vote will thereby be accepted. The Membership Committee shall be responsible for developing and holding the New Member Informational Meeting. This meeting will be held within two (2) weeks of the Membership Committee Meeting (April general meeting). (Adopted 11/12)(Revised 4/16)
3. Nominating Committee Procedure. The Nominating Committee Chairman shall prepare an Officer Candidate Survey to be presented and completed at the January chapter meeting. The committee shall prepare a slate of candidates for each office to be voted on at the March chapter meeting. Additional nominations may be made from the floor and unelected candidates may be nominated for another office. Voting shall be by secret ballot and announced following tabulation by the Tellers Committee. (Revised 4/15)
4. Members will be allowed to cast an early ballot for the election of chapter officers and new members. Early voting will be held at a location determined by the chapter president, no more than one week prior to the chapter meeting at which the election is scheduled. The president and the ex-officio shall act as administrators for the election and be present during the early voting period. The procedures for the early election shall be established by the board and announced to the chapter one month in advance of the election. (Adopted 2/10)
C. Financial
1. The Chapter as a group shall not act for others as a fund raising agent. Individual members may participate in fund raising projects at the member’s own discretion.
2. Any candidate for National and/or Regional Office, Chapter President, voting delegates, and any member participating in the Annual Meeting and/or Area Meeting program agenda shall have expenses paid to the Annual and/or Area Meetings. A Participating member is defined as a member attending a minimum of two National Focus events and both awards banquets. (Revised 5/98)
3. Project chairman needing additional funds for their project should submit a written request to the finance committee. If approved by the finance committee, the request will be brought to the full executive board for vote and acceptance or rejection. (Revised 1/94)
4. A social assessment fee will be established by the Board at the August board meeting with recommendations from the hospitality committee each year. The activities funded by the social assessment fee shall include, but not be limited to, providing food and drinks for the general chapter meeting, Charity Ball decorating, the Passing of the Crown Luncheon and Provisional Retreat; Provisional gifts as provided by the Hospitality committee; a board hosted Provisional luncheon/dinner; and presidents gift. It shall be paid by all Active and Provisional members and due no later than the September chapter meeting. (Revised 2/2015)
5. The Chapter treasurer shall send a $20.00 remembrance when death occurs in an Active, Associate, or Life member's immediate family (spouse, child, sibling, or parent of Active and spouse or child of Associate or Life). The Chapter Treasurer shall send a $25.00 remembrance in case of death of an Active, Associate or Life member. (Revised 04/2009)
6. Any active or provisional member who cancels after the deadline for a seminar, regional meeting, annual meeting or any event for which the chapter has expended funds, shall reimburse the chapter for the expense, unless a substitute is located by the member. (Adopted 10/93)
7. The chapter's operating budget for the upcoming year can include a minimum of 90% and no more than 99% of the income of the finance project plus the local portion of the active, provisional and associates membership dues. The remaining 1-10% can be allocated to a reserve account, which should not exceed one year's operating budget. The budget for the upcoming year can also include projected social assessments plus any amounts not spent from prior year’s operating budgets. (Revised 4/99)
8. Project chairman should include information on the status of the project budget as part of their report to the chapter during chapter meeting. The treasurer will provide a report to the chapter of the year-to-date income and expenses of the total budget on a quarterly basis. (Adopted 1/94)
9. No reimbursement will be given to any member for expenses incurred if that member has an outstanding balance due to the chapter. (Adopted 5/97)
10. Any member requesting reimbursement for any expense (including but not limited to welfare-service projects, administrative expenses, and finance project expenditures) must turn in a properly completed voucher with 2 required signatures attached before a check is issued to the member incurring the expense. Vouchers and receipts must be submitted within 60 days of incurred expense. (Revised 2010)
11. Charity Ball auctioned parties or events, which have a JA member as the hostess, or coordinator may request payment (not to exceed the amount allocated by the respective Charity Ball committee) from the treasurer at any reasonable time before the event takes place to cover expenses. Within one month of the date of the party/event, the hostess/coordinator will submit receipts of expenses incurred to the treasurer. Any portion not spent or verified by receipts must be repaid to the chapter within one month of the party/event. Adopted 8/98)
12. The earnings received (whether in the form of interest, dividends, or other type earnings) on funds in reserve, operating accounts, and any certificates of deposits shall be directed as the Board approves at the end of each fiscal year.(Revised 10/2014)(Revised 12/2016)
13. An internal review of the chapter books shall be conducted annually by either an active member, who is not currently sitting on the executive board, a life member or an associate member, at a time opposite the annual review by an accounting firm.(Adopted 12/02) (Revised 9/08)
14. Each member is required to purchase a Charity Ball ticket. Married members are required to purchase a couples ticket; unmarried members are required to purchase a single ticket. Members may not use complimentary corporate tickets in lieu of purchasing a personal ticket. Members may not re-sell Charity Ball tickets. If a member is unable to attend Charity Ball, the member must obtain prior approval for her absence from the President and Finance Project Chair. (Adopted 9/06)(Revised 2/11)
15. The President will hold all funding requests from established charitable agencies until the April board meeting. (Adopted 04/07)
D. Hour Requirements
1. The required number of individual welfare hours shall be set each year by the Executive Board. Active and Non-Resident members shall be required to work the same number of welfare hours as set by the Board. Active members may accrue hours only from approved Chapter projects, which shall be counted toward the individual welfare hour requirement. Special consideration may be given by the Board.
2. Finance Project. The minimum number of Finance Project hours to be worked by each member shall be set each year by the Executive Board and shall be counted under Finance Project. Active or provisional members who fail to work the specified number of finance project hours shall be considered a member in poor standing. The member will not be credited for that year of service; in addition, the member will be unable to vote on membership candidates, propose new members, or hold office.Special circumstances and subsequent consequences may be considered by the Executive Board and the Finance Project Chair. (Revised 10/93) (Revised 5/97) (Revised 4/17)
3. The member unable to work an assigned schedule is responsible for locating a substitute to fill the schedule. The chairman should be notified of the change by the original member who signed the schedule. The substitute is now responsible for filling the schedule, and would receive the miss, not the original member, if the schedule is not filled. (Revised 11/11)
4. The names of those members failing to meet the requirements of project work schedules shall be recorded and reported by the chairman of each project to the First Vice-President. A member shall lose one year of credit after three absences within one year when a substitute was not provided.
5. Members working scheduled Chapter projects that occur during chapter meeting shall be counted present.
6. If a Chapter function is canceled after a member has arrived to work; or, if a member has not been notified before arrival that services are not needed, hours may be counted.
7. The President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, Treasurer, and Finance Project Chair shall not be required to work a specific number of welfare hours. The Recording Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, Assistant Provisional Trainer, Membership Chair and Public Relation Chair shall be required to work one-half of the required welfare-service hours. (Revised 1/2016)
8. Any local Active member holding a National Presidential Appointive Office or Committee Member position is released from welfare hour requirements of the local Chapter during the term of office. However, members who hold these positions must complete the required hours in Education and the Chapter’s Finance Project. (11/2011)
9. A member who fails to turn in her hour sheet by the makeup meeting at which time it is due will not receive credit for the hours worked during that quarter. (Adopted 4/97).
10. By April 1st of each year, any member being considered for and voted on for “associate member status” shall have the following: 1.) all service hours reported; and 2.) all outstanding balances paid in full (dues, fees, etc.). Unless otherwise approved by the Board, failure to comply with these requirements will result in a loss of credit of the previous membership year. (Adopted 5/13).
11. Each active member is required to attend either AEC or an Area Meeting a minimum of one time during her provisional year or first three years of active service. A member failing to do so by end of her second active year will be considered a member not in good standing and forfeits the rights to vote, nominate members or hold office until the requirement is met. Special consideration to extend this time period may be considered by the board at the request of an individual member in writing prior to the end of this time period. This requirement shall be recorded on each member’s Permanent Record by the Recording Secretary. (Adopted 2/2015)