New Acquisition Militia Bylaws
ARTICLE I
Name
Section 1. The name of this organization shall he "New Acquisition Militia." This is a service mark registered with the State of South Carolina.
ARTICLE II
Purpose
Section 1. New Acquisition Militia is a volunteer organization whose purpose is to promote the knowledge of the history of the New Acquisition Area of South Carolina in the 18th century, particularly the time of the American Revolution, to the general public.
ARTICLE III
Members
Section 1. The organization shall he open to all individuals who support the purposes of New Acquisition Militia as stated in Article II. Members shall be assessed a yearly fee, as determined by the board of directors to cover the cost of spectator liability insurance for the group. Any funds generated and not used for this purpose shall be used as set forth in Article VIII.
Section 2. Members are encouraged to be active volunteers or staff at Brattonsville.
Section 3. Prospective members shall be voted on by those in attendance at the July and January events and must have a favorable majority of votes to be approved for membership.
ARTICLE IV
Executive Board
Section 1. The conduct of the affairs of New Acquisition Militia shall be vested in the Executive Board.
Section 2. The number of the Executive Board shall be four (4), but no more than seven (7), consisting of the four (4) officers of New Acquisition Militia and up to three (3) directors.
Section 3. The Executive Board shall have the authority to appoint committees consistent with the purpose of New Acquisition Militia.
Section 4. Meetings of the Executive Board shall he held in January, April, July and October at such times and places to be designated by the President of New Acquisition Militia. In addition, the President may call a special meeting of the Executive Board.
Section 5. The majority of the Executive Board shall constitute a quorum.
ARTICLE V
Officers
Section 1. The officers of New Acquisition Militia shall be the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary.
Section 2. The duties of the officers shall be as follows:
President: To preside over and conduct meetings of New Acquisition Militia and of the Executive Board and to appoint committees.
Vice-President: To perform the duties of the President in the absence of the President.
Treasurer: To oversee and report on the financial records of New Acquisition Militia. The Treasurer will have the financial records audited once a year by two members of New Acquisition Militia who are not on the executive board.
Secretary: Shall record attendance at meetings and take the minutes of the meetings. The Secretary shall be responsible for mailings and take care of correspondence for New Acquisition Militia as needed.
Militia command structure: If a member in good standing desires to hold a military rank, such as corporal, sergeant or captain of the militia, that person must attend half of this organizations scheduled events for each year they are in the command structure. The executive board appoints the field command structure. The Captain is an ex officio member of the executive board for communications purposes.
ARTICLE VI
Election of Officers and Board Members
Section 1. The Executive Board at the last meeting of the calendar year shall appoint a nominating committee. The nominations shall be submitted to the Executive Board at least two weeks before the annual meeting. Additional nominations shall follow guidelines as prescribed by the Executive Board and may be made from the floor at the annual meeting with the consent of the nominee.
Section 2. Officers shall be elected by majority vote of those present at the annual meeting for the term of one (1) year. Officers and other Executive Board members shall he nominated and elected annually. The President and Vice-President may succeed themselves but for no more than two successive years. Secretary and Treasurer shall he nominated and elected annually but may succeed themselves indefinitely. Directors shall be nominated and elected by majority vote of those present at the annual meeting for a term of three (3) years, excepting the terms set in the first year shall be staggered. A Director who has been appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve for the remainder of the term of the previous member. The terms of office of outgoing officers shall end upon the election of the incoming officers at the annual meeting.
Section 3. During the year the Executive Board shall have the authority to fill vacancies that occur
Section 4. Executive Board members must attend 50 percent of all board meetings. An absence of three (3) consecutive meetings without extenuating circumstances for those absences will result in removal from the board.
ARTICLE VII
Meeting
Section 1. An annual meeting shall be held each year during the month of January to elect the Executive Board and Officers and to set the event calendar.
Section 2. Those members present at the annual meeting shall constitute a quorum.
Section 3. The rules contained in Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the conduct of all meetings.
ARTICLE VIII
Distribution of earnings
Section 1. No part of the net earnings of New Acquisition Militia shall inure to the benefit of or be distributed to its members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that New Acquisition Militia shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article II hereof.
Section 2. NAM members are encouraged to do demonstrations with their own materials. Members can apply for a grant from the NAM for: 1) seminars for which a charge will be made to participants and an attempt will be made to return funds to the treasury and 2) for demonstrations for which the materials would be purchased outright with no concern to return the funds to the treasury. The board will create a grant application form for each request to be submitted upon.
ARTICLE IX
Fiscal Year
Section 1. The Executive Board shall set the fiscal year of New Acquisition Militia. The fiscal year shall be from July to July, with elections held at July event.
ARTICLE X
Dissolution
Section 1. In the event of the dissolution of the New Acquisition Militia, the residuary assets of New Acquisition Militia shall revert to an organization whose purpose is to preserve 18th Century York County history.
ARTICLE XI
Amendments
Section 1. The Executive Board has the authority to amend the by-laws of New Acquisition Militia as needed. Amendments must be approved by a majority vote of the Executive Board.
Approved on 7-30-02:
1) Replaced Article III Section 3 "at the annual meeting" with "at the July and January events".
2) Replaces Article IV Section 4 "at least quarterly" with "in January, April, July and October".
3) Added Militia Command Structure to Article V.
4) Replace Article IX Section 1 "Initially, the fiscal year of New
Acquisition Militia shall be January 1 through December 31." With "The fiscal year shall be from July to July, with elections held at July event."
Approved on 10-22-02:
1) Added Section 2 to Article VIII. New Acquisition Militia by-laws
Approved at Annual Meeting July 2007
- 1) Article III – Section 2 changed from “ Members shall be active volunteers or staff at
Brattonsville” to “Members are encouraged to be active volunteers or staff at Brattonsville.”