Article I.
Name and Purpose
Section 1. The name of the club shall be Cloudbase Country Club, hereafter referred to as the club. The club shall be a non-profit club dedicated to the development of hang gliding as a safe and enjoyable sport, for its members.
Section 2. The primary purpose of the club shall to be to promote hang gliding fun, safety, and education. The club shall provide information to and facilitate requests by landowners and public agencies to obtain and preserve flying sites. The club shall promote a positive public image for the sport of hang gliding.
Article II.
Membership
Section 1. Membership in this club shall be open to those persons who express an interest in the sport of hang gliding.
Section 2. All members shall pay a membership fee annually, in advance. That fee schedule, terms and conditions shall be determined by the members at the annual election, and may be set no lower than an amount which will yield enough income to pay for newsletter publication costs and other recurring club expenses. Persons related by blood, marriage or legal covenant and living at the same residence may have family membership status and the annual fee is the fee for an individual member. Family memberships receive one newsletter. Voting rights for family memberships include and are limited to family members who are current USHPA Hang 1 or higher rated pilots.
Section 3. Membership Meeting.
a. An annual meeting of the members of this club shall be held in November of each year, at such place as the board may designate and on the last Monday of the month at 7:30 PM or at an alternate day and time published at least seven days in advance and set by the board.
b. Special meetings of the members of this club may be called at any time by means of a written request made by the Club Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or 15% of the members.
c. Written notice of all members’ meetings shall be mailed or emailed to each member in the newsletter not less than 3 days and not more than 20 days before the meeting. This notice shall state the time and place of the meeting, and if it is a special meeting, the purpose. As an alternative, a meeting may be called by means of a general mailing to the entire membership, and this mailing may be done by any member of the club, at their expense.
d. Members of this club may enter their vote on any issue by voice, ballot, mail, e-mail, or by phone to any Board of Directors member. Phone and mailed/emailed votes must be tallied but not announced before voting occurs.
e. Any member who is found to have violated any of these by-laws or any of the club’s rules may be censured, suspended or expelled from the club. Any member or members accused of a violation shall be notified in writing of the alleged violation, and shall have the opportunity to defend him/herself before the members at a general or special meeting. The membership, by a majority vote, shall have the power to censure, suspend or expel a member; that member may appeal the censure, suspension or expulsion at an annual or special meeting of the members. Voting by mail/email or phone shall be permitted in the above situations. A member who has been suspended shall not vote on any matter during the suspension.
Article III
Officers
Section 1. The officers of this club shall be elected from the general membership by majority vote of the members voting at the annual meeting. Each officer shall hold office for twelve months or until his or her successor is elected, and shall receive no compensation. The officers of this club shall be called the Board of Directors and shall consist of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and two Directors-at-Large. The Board of Directors by majority vote shall establish policies, rules and regulations of the club and shall, at written request of 10% of the members, submit those rules to a vote of the membership.
Section 2. The Club Chairman shall preside at all meetings, appoint and supervise all Committee Chairpersons with approval of the membership; sign and execute all contracts in the name of the club when authorized to do so by the membership, and shall have general supervision over the management of all affairs of the club. The club Chairman shall perform such other duties as may be incident to the office of Chairman or are deemed necessary by the general membership.
Section 3. The Vice-chairman shall be vested with all powers and shall perform the duties of the Chairman in case of the absence or disability of the Chairman, and shall perform such other duties as may be delegated by the Chairman by mutual consent.
Section 4. The Secretary shall record the minutes of meetings and send a copy of the minutes to the Newsletter Editor in a timely manner. In addition, the Secretary handles all club correspondence and sends Christmas cards and thank yous to land owners and public agencies and others who have assisted the club during the year.
Section 5. Treasurer shall receive and deposit all funds; execute all authorized expenditures; account for all receipts, disbursements, and balance on hand each month; submit a quarterly Treasurer’s report to the Newsletter Editor in a timely manner; pay insurance on club-sponsored sites; and shall perform such other duties as may be incident to the office or delegated by the general membership.
Section 6. Directors-at-Large perform duties as may be delegated by the Chairman or general membership by mutual consent.
Section 7. A member of the Board of Directors who misses three consecutive Board of Directors meetings may be dismissed and replaced from the membership by majority vote of the other Board of Directors members.
Section 8.
a. Should an officer of the club resign or otherwise leave the board of directors, the Chairman or acting Chairman shall appoint a member to fill the office, and shall call a special meeting at the earliest convenient time, according to Article II, Section 3b. At this special meeting, a special election shall be held to fill the vacated office for the remainder of the term. Any officer appointed by the Chairman, but not elected by special election, shall have the full powers of the office, but shall have no vote on the Board of Directors, unless that officer was already a voting Board member prior to being appointed to his or her new office.
b. Should the Club Chairman leave office permanently, or temporarily be unable to serve, in the interim the powers of the Chairman shall fall to the Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, and Directors-at -Large (in order of seniority of USHPA membership) in that order.
Article IV
Appointments
Section 1. All positions listed in Article IV are made by the Chairman of the club from the membership except as noted in section 2.
Section 2. Persons or committees may be appointed by the general membership by majority vote at meetings or by the Chairman as they deem necessary for landowner liaison, special events, site maintenance or other club business. These persons\committee members shall be responsible for the site plan, event plan, or other plan including fees, schedule, protocol, etc. The final plan shall be presented to the Board of Directors for approval. The plan, if rejected by a majority of the Board of Directors, shall be returned to the committee listing specifics which, taken as a whole, were bearing on the decision to reject. Failure to pass on second submittal will result in an impasse and be brought to the membership for a vote. Failure of the committee plan to receive majority support of members voting at the meeting will cause the process to be repeated, or the membership may vote to abandon the process or activity. The club Chairman shall be a voting member of each special committee and may assign membership to any member when mutually acceptable.
a. Any activity or rule proposed by a committee and approved by the Board of Directors can be overruled by a vote of the general membership. The proposal to overrule must be in the form of a petition approved by 10 per cent of the voting membership. The proposal will be published in the newsletter and distributed to the membership at least 3 days prior to the meeting at which the vote on the proposal to overrule is to be taken. Voting shall be done in the manner prescribed in Article II Section 3d of the bylaws. A 51 per cent majority of the membership is required to pass the proposal to overrule.
b. Committees will meet at a time and place convenient to and agreed upon by a consensus of the committee membership. Any action or rule proposed by a committee shall be approved by a majority vote of the committee. Dissenting members of the committee are entitled to present the specifics of their objections in person or in writing to the Board of Directors at the board meeting at which the proposal is presented.
c. Committees shall have the right to close their membership at or after the third meeting of the committee. The committee will present a report to the membership detailing all action being considered by the committee at the general membership meeting before the committee votes on closure. After closure the committee will present a report at each club meeting. The membership has the right to over rule closure by a two-thirds vote of at least 25 percent of the membership.
Section 3. Events chairman coordinates intermediate seminars, parachute clinics, rating days, fly-ins, national and international seminars and other events suggested by the membership, preplans events for the year, and reports in the newsletter.
Section 4. Program Chairman provides entertainment (videos, slides, speakers) for each meeting.
Section 5. Publicity Chairman provides news releases to media prior to events, and follows up with a news report of the event.
Section 6. Safety Chairman works with the events chairman to organize safety related seminars, investigates accidents, reports to membership in the newsletter and assures that an accident report has been filed with USHPA. provides safety tips and reminders to the membership at each meeting.
Section 7. Site Chairman works with the individual site committees and site coordinators to keep in contact with land owners of the sites in the club area of jurisdiction; serves as a clearinghouse for site information and committees; provides a site report at each meeting and reports in newsletters; provides names and addresses of land owners and public agencies to the secretary and others, so they may be sent Christmas cards and thank yous.
Section 8. The Competition Chairman works with the individual competition committees to administer the various competitions which the club sponsors.
Section 9. Site Coordinators will reside near the assigned site and work directly with landowners and public agencies on the local level and provide the site chairman with site information.
Section 10. The Membership Chairman shall keep the membership records; maintain a record of the current members’ names, addresses, phone numbers, USHPA numbers, hang ratings and expiration dates and provide this list to the Chairman, Editor and others who request it; submit a membership list annually to USHPA upon request; provide the Newsletter Editor with a list of new members each month; provide mailing labels to the newsletter editor and others on request (a reasonable fee for labels to be charged for non-club use labels); provide club application forms to local hang-gliding shops, meet personnel and others; collect dues and urge non-members to join and shall perform such other membership services duties as may be incident to the office or delegated by the general membership.
Section 11. The Newsletter Editor is responsible for the newsletter including content and timeliness. The newsletter will be published before each meeting and mailed/emailed in accord with Article II Section 3c. The Editor may appoint assistants as needed by mutual consent. Cloudbase Country Club is the publisher of the newsletter, and as such the Board of Directors may make rules controlling its editorial policy in accordance with Article III, Section 1. In the absence of policy from the Board, editorial authority shall fall to the Newsletter Editor.
Section 12: The Webmaster shall be responsible for maintaining the club website (cloudbase.org) including updating at least quarterly the calendar of events, meeting location and time, newsletter, and other material submitted by members of the BOD. Any links to outside material, e.g. photos, videos or text, shall be in good taste and in accordance with CBCC’s purpose as stated in Article I Section 2.
Article V
Miscellaneous
Section 1. Effective December 1, 1995, the fiscal year of this club shall be from December 1 through November 30, and shall be designated by the year as of January. The 1995 fiscal year shall be 11 months in length, from January 1, 1995 through November 30, 1995.
a. Use of CBCC letterhead or club name shall be restricted to the club Chairperson, Committee Chairpersons, and members of the CBCC Board of Directors. Rank and File club members may also use letterhead and/or club name when acting on delegated special projects with permission of the Club Chairperson, or Board of Directors.
Section 2. Amendments to these by-laws may be made by a two-thirds vote of the members present at an annual or special meeting. If the meeting is a special meeting all proposed amendments must be stated in the notice of the meeting.
Section 3. It is the responsibility of each member to adhere to current USHPA Safety Regulations as outlined in Part 100 and Federal Aviation Agency regulations. (FAR 103 and other hang gliding related FARS.)
Section 4. Expenditures and loans are authorized only as follows.
a. More than $500 for any single purpose—after being published as a spending proposal in a previous newsletter—by a two-thirds vote at meetings with a minimum of 20% of the full membership voting in favor of the expenditure.
b. Less than $500 only as follows:
By club Treasurer for normal operating expenses.
By a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
If a proposal receives 51% vote at a meeting, it will then be submitted to the Board of Directors; with a majority vote of the Board of Directors, the expenditure will be authorized.
Section 5. Sites are expected to be self-sufficient, i.e., they are to generate necessary operating expenses through site fees, meets etc. sufficient to pay all expenses including, but not limited to, site insurance, maintenance, keys, locks, gates, security, fire protection and other requirements of landowners and public agencies. If a site is unable to support itself, it will be considered an expense more than $500 and treated according to Article V Section 4a. Club supported site’s expenses will be billed as recurring costs as described in Article II, Section 2.
Section 6. Online newsletter: As of January 2003, the newsletter may be made available to club members online as an alternative to the paper version. Members who opt to receive the newsletter online will save the club the expense of printing and mailing the newsletter.
a. The online newsletter must be delivered to the club members in the form of an e-mail. Therefore, any club member opting to receive the newsletter online must provide their e-mail address. This e-mail may contain the contents of the newsletter, and / or it may contain a link to a webpage which contains the contents of the newsletter.
b. Club members may choose to get an online copy of the newsletter in lieu of a paper copy, however… any club member in good standing may request a paper copy of the current issue to be mailed to them at any time without incurring any additional expenses or club membership fees.
c. The cost of club membership will remain the same for all members whether they choose to receive their newsletter in an electronic or a paper form.
d. The online version of the newsletter must adhere to all other CBCC by-laws including the timing of its release, and the content therein.
e. Both the online and the paper version of the newsletter must contain the exact same information with regards to any official club business. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Time and Place of the next club meeting.
• Issues that will require a club vote.
• Club financial report.
• Meeting minutes.
BY-LAWS REVISION LOG:
I. Enacted at the November, 1988 membership meeting.
II. Amended at the February, 1989 annual meeting:
Article IV, Sections 2a, 2b, and 2c were added.
Note: Barr Mtn. was declared to be a club supported site per Article V, Section 5 at the February, 1989 annual meeting.
III. Amended at the February, 1990 annual meeting:
Article II, Section 3a revised to move the annual meeting from February to November.
IV. Amended at the September 1990 Special Meeting:
Article V, Section 1a. was added. Use of club letterhead.
V. Amended at the November 1990 annual meeting:
Article III, Section 1. Changed Treasurer/Membership Chairman to Treasurer.
Article III, Section 5. Revised duties of Treasurer.
Article IV, Section 10 added. Add Membership Chairman and duties.
VI. Amended at the February, 1991 special meeting:
Article V, Section 4a. Changed 25% to 20%.
VII. Amended at the November, 1995 annual meeting:
Article II, Section 3 part a amended. Meeting place to be set by the board.
Article III, Section 9 added. Procedure for replacing officers.
Article V, Section 1 amended. Fiscal year now starts in December.
Article III, Section 5 amended. Treasurer’s reports quarterly.
VIII. Amended at the February, 1996 special meeting:
Article III, Sections 1 and 9b changed, and Section 7 deleted, Article IV, Section 11 added:
newsletter editor now appointed.
IX. Amended at the annual meeting, November 2002:
Article II, Section 3. Members can vote by e-mail
Article V, Section 6. Online newsletter.
X. Amended at the 2007 annual meeting, January 2008 (postponed from 11/07)
Article V, Section 4a. Change $200 to $500
Article V, Section 4b: Change $200 to $500
Article V, Section 5: Change $200 to $500
XI. Amended at the November 19th, 2008 meeting
Article II Section 3c. Change mailed to mailed/emailed
Article II Section 3d. Changed phoned and mailed to phone and mailed/emailed
Article II Section 3e. Changed mailed to mailed/emailed
Article IV Section 11 Changed monthly to before each meeting
XII. Amended at the November 19, 2010 meeting
Added Article IV Section 12