The St. George Civic Association
Constitution and By-Laws
Article I: Name
The name of this organization shall be the “St. George Civic Association” (hereinafter referred to as the “Association”).
Article II: Object
The purpose of the Association is to achieve objectives set forth herein and as may be added from time to time. Its objectives shall be aimed toward and predicated upon preserving and enhancing the stability, security, environmental quality, culture and esthetic appeal of the community.
Article III: Scope
Attainment of these objectives shall involve cooperation and participation with public officials, authorities, other civic organizations, institutions, services, health, safety, sanitation, neighborhood esthetics, crime prevention, city planning, budgeting, community planning, implementation and progress of plans and projects, encouragement, promotion and support of civic, cultural and social activities, dissemination of information to its members and others concerned in matters of mutual or common interest.
Article IV: Boundaries and Membership
Section 1. Membership in this Association shall be open to any person 18 years of age or older who resides or owns a business in the area bounded by the following: Beginning at the waterfront nearest Jersey Street and Richmond Terrace, along Jersey Street to Victory Boulevard; Victory Boulevard to the shoreline; along the shoreline to Jersey Street at Richmond Terrace. Any business or residence on either side of a boundary street shall be considered to be within the area. Non-area residents may only become non-voting members, entitled to attend meetings and receive announcements. Membership is also open to institutions and associations located within the Association’s boundaries.
Section 2. Members in good standing shall be those persons having their continuing legal residence or business within the boundaries described in Section 1 of this Article and having paid membership dues according to Article V.
Article V: Dues
Membership dues for households, individuals, and non-area residents shall be set by a majority vote of the membership present and voting at a meeting, provided that notice of such a proposal has been given to the membership before the meeting. Households shall be limited to two votes per household. Institutions, associations, and businesses (collectively hereinafter defined as “Entity” or “Entities”) shall be limited to one vote. An individual eligible to vote both as a resident and as an Entity shall be limited to one vote. Membership shall expire on December 31 of the year following payment of dues (e.g., a June 2022 dues payment shall entitle membership through December 31, 2023), and early renewals shall be for the following two calendar years. Membership fees are as follows: Individual $20; Household $30; Entities $35 or donation of at least $100 in value. The Executive Board may waive membership fees for any individual by majority vote, except their own membership fees.
Article VI: Disbursing Funds
Section 1. There shall be an annual budget. Any expenditures materially in excess of those approved for the annual budget shall be approved by a 2/3 vote of the general membership. Expenditures within the approved annual budget shall be approved by the Executive Committee.
Section 2. No motion shall be in order that shall purport to dedicate Association funds over an unfixed period of time for a particular purpose, the amount of which is not fixed nor capable of being fixed at the time of the motion. Any motion to so dedicate an unfixed amount of Association funds for a particular purpose shall be referred to a special committee made up of the Treasurer of the Association and two disinterested members of the Association appointed by the President. No vote shall be taken until this committee shall report back to the general membership its determination: 1) fixing a proposed amount, and 2) certifying such expenditure would be prudent in light of the short and long term fiscal profile of the association.
Article VII: Officers and At-Large Members
Section 1. The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, a Vice President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding and Media Secretary, and Treasurer.
Section 2. The Executive Board shall consist of all officers of the Association and two at-large members to be elected by the membership and who will serve a full term if elected in 2022 or one year if elected in 2023 and a full two years thereafter. The responsibilities of the Executive Board shall include, but not be limited to, the authorization of all expenditures as outlined in Article VI and the preparation and presentation of the annual budget for approval by the general membership thirty days prior to the May general meeting for a fiscal year to commence July 1st.
Section 3. A vacancy in an office shall be filled by the President by appointing an at-large member in good standing for the unexpired term. The President may appoint no more than two replacement at-large members during a President’s two-year election cycle. No member of the Executive Committee shall continue to serve in the same office for more than two consecutive terms of office.
Section 4. It shall be the duty of the President to:
a. Preside at all meetings;
b. Sign with the Treasurer all checks issued in payment of the indebtedness of the Association, when such payments have been authorized by the Association;
c. Submit an annual report at the January meeting;
d. Appoint and remove all chairs and be a member ex-officio of all standing committees except the Nominating Committee, unless the majority of the Executive Committee quorum vote to override the President's recommendation;
e. Appoint an Audit Committee in November consisting of two (2) members who will audit the books before the next January 1st or hire an accountant to audit the books and report its findings to the members of the Association at the general meeting in January; and
f. Appoint chairs of special committees and liaisons for special purposes.
Section 5. It shall be the duty of the Vice President to:
a. Perform the duties of the President during his/her/their absence or unavailability as determined by the Executive Committee;
b. Serve as a co-chair on at least two committees; and
c. Assume the office of the President for the unexpired term if it becomes vacant.
Section 6. It shall be the duty of the Recording Secretary to:
a. Keep and report minutes of all meetings;
b. Be custodian of all committee reports;
c. Be custodian of all copies of correspondence;
d. Perform the duties of the Corresponding Secretary in his/her/their absence; and
e. Maintain a list of members in good standing.
Section 7. It shall be the duty of the Corresponding and Media Secretary to:
a. Conduct the correspondence of the St. George Civic Association;
b. Perform the duties of the Recording Secretary in his/her/their absence;
c. Send out notices of meetings;
d. Send no correspondence or electronic notices in the name of the Association without the authorization of the President; and
e. Assume primary management and ownership of all electronic media accounts in the name of the Association or using “SGCA” as part of its name, including but not limited to the Association’s Facebook page(s), Google Groups, Twitter account(s), Instagram account(s), WhatsApp, YouTube channels, etc., either currently in existence or to be created. The Corresponding and Media Secretary may designate other members in good standing to co-manage and co-moderate these accounts, with the understanding that any postings must be approved by the President. The Corresponding and Media Secretary shall share all passwords with the President, and give the President the ability to directly post on these various media.
Section 8. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to:
a. Collect all dues from the members, either electronically or by retrieving checks from the Association’s post office box;
b. Keep accurate records of all receipts and disbursements in accordance with generally accepted accounting methods;
c. Present a written report of all receipts and expenditures at each regular meeting;
d. Keep all money in a savings or checking account in the name of the Association and to make authorized payments by check which shall be signed by the Treasurer and either the President or Vice President as provided for in subsection a of section 2 herein, except if a signatory on the bank account be the payee of a check, in which case the check must be signed by two other signatories on the account. This account shall be maintained in a Staten Island bank agreed upon by the Executive Board; and
e. Submit an annual report audited by the Audit Committee.
Section 9. It shall be the duty of the At-Large Members to:
a. Serve as chair on at least one committee or co-chair on at least two committees, as named by the President; and
b. Be available and willing to replace an officer for the duration of the term.
Section 10. Officers are deemed to be negligent if they fail to perform their duties or if they perform them in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. It is a duty of an officer to attend meetings on a regular basis. If a Nominating Committee is not properly formed by the date of a scheduled election as per the bylaws, any three voting members in good standing can make a joint demand on the Board that the process to commence elections commence forthwith. If the Board fails to commence the process to hold elections within thirty days after such demand, the three members can initiate the process through the Association’s Google group and solicit membership of a Nominating Committee, and subsequently move forward with an election.
Article VIII: Meetings
Section 1. Regular meetings of the Executive Board shall be held monthly, except in August. Two-thirds of the members of the Executive Board shall constitute a quorum and shall be required for an Executive Board meeting.
Section 2. There shall be a regular meeting of the general membership of the Association on a predictable and recurring day (e.g., second Wednesday, or third Tuesday) non-holiday weekday of January, March, May, July, September, and November. The Executive Board may call other meetings of the general membership as it deems necessary.
Section 3. The Nominating Committee cannot meet unless all members are present.
Section 4. General meetings shall be called by the Executive Board with notice to the membership in a form to be agreed upon by the Executive Board.
Section 5. Special meetings shall be called by the President.
Section 6. A quorum of twenty members in good standing shall be necessary at all regular and special meetings.
Section 7. All physical meetings of the Association shall be held in fully accessible locations as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Section 8. Meetings of the Association may be held electronically (i.e., Zoom) while COVID-19, or any other threat to public health and well-being exists.
Article IX: Order of Business
Section 1. The order of business at general meetings shall be:
a. Call to order
b. Recording Secretary's report (minutes of previous meeting)
c. The President may introduce invited guests to speak at any time after the Recording Secretary’s report, with attention to the guests’ length of presentation, the availability of the guests, and the other business needing to be conducted.
d. Treasurer's report
e. Corresponding and Media Secretary's report
f. Committee reports
g. Old business
h. New business
i. Adjournment
Section 2. The order of business may be suspended or changed at any meeting by a majority vote, a quorum being present.
Article X: Nominations
Section 1. No later than December of the year proceeding an election, the President shall appoint a nominating committee. The committee shall consist of three members, no more than one of whom shall be a member of the Executive Board and one of whom shall be designated Chair. The Chair shall not be a member of the Executive Board.
Section 2. The committee may not meet unless all members are present.
Section 3. A candidate for President must be a member in good standing who has attended a minimum of one-half of the general meetings in the previous calendar year. All other candidates must have attended at least two meetings during the previous year.
Section 4. The Nominating Committee shall solicit names of persons who wish to run for office and announce its recommendation for each office in the Announcement of the January Meeting. At the January meeting names of members in good standing may be placed in nomination from the floor by members in good standing with the prior consent of the nominees. Nominations and elections shall be held at the March general meeting and office shall be assumed forthwith.
Section 5. To be qualified, a nominee must be a member in good standing for a period of one year.
Section 6. The announcement of the Election Meeting to be held in March or April shall be mailed at the post office and/or by electronic media at least fourteen days in advance and contain a list of those running for office and the cutoff date to pay dues to be eligible to vote. Alternatively, the announcement may be emailed to an address supplied by the members eligible to vote.
Section 7. A ballot shall be presented at the election meeting with the Nominating Committee’s recommendation for each office and other persons who were nominated pursuant to Section 4. Any member in good standing according to the records of the Treasurer and Membership Committee at least five working days prior to the election shall be entitled to vote. The election shall be held forthwith. The Nominating Committee shall set up a procedure for conducting the election and handling disputed ballots. The nominee receiving a majority of the vote of the members present shall be declared elected to the office. In the event that only one person is named for each office on the official ballot, the Chair of the Nominating Committee shall cast one vote for the slate and the slate shall be declared elected.
Section 8. Where two or more candidates are nominated for a given office, the election shall proceed as follows: Where no candidate receives more than half of the votes cast, the candidate receiving the least number of votes shall be dropped from the list of nominees. A second vote shall be taken, and the procedure described herein shall be repeated until such time as a candidate receives more than half.
Article XI: Term of office
Section 1. The term of office for all elected positions shall be two years.
Section 2. Elected officers shall be installed at the March meeting.
Section 3. Any officer appointed to fill an unexpired term after March shall serve until the next regular election.
Article XII: Standing Committee
Section 1. Standing committee chairpersons shall be appointed by the President. Interested parties are urged to sign up for any committee. The committees shall include, but not be limited to:
a. Community Affairs;
b. Public Transportation;
c. Public Safety;
d. Social Services;
e. Membership;
f. Business Development;
g. Nominating Committee (three members selected by the President);
h. Schools Liaison;
i. Beautification;
j. Fundraising and Special Activities; and
k. Media
Section 2. No chair or member of a standing or special committee may issue any document or establish any communication in the name of the St. George Civic Association without formally, in writing, electronically, including email, without obtaining the permission of 4/7ths of the Executive Board. Chairs are expected to provide summary reports to be published in the newsletter or website.
Section 3. Special committees may be appointed by the President to assist in the investigation of, or solution of particular problems. A special committee automatically ceases to function after submitting its final report. The duties of special committees shall be as specified by the President after consultation with the general membership at a regular or special meeting.
Article XIII: Rules of Order
The rules contained in "Robert's Rules of Order Revised" shall govern the conduct of the Association's meetings in all cases in which they are not inconsistent with these by-laws.
Article XIV: Amendments to the By-Laws
Any and all amendments to these by-laws must be presented and proposed only after prior notice at a regular general meeting of the Association or at a meeting of the general membership called for that purpose. The amendments must be read and voted on at the next general meeting or at a meeting of the general membership called for that purpose. For adoption such amendments must receive two-thirds vote of the members in good standing present at the regular or special meeting.
Approved by the Association September 21, 2022