Bylaws-writing new Bylaws when old Bylaws are lost

[Guest Eleanor Quigley]

The Bylaws, which were passed when this Club was formed, have been lost in time. The only records are the Secretary's Books, and the Bylaws cannot be found in them.

How do we proceed with writing new Bylaws? I know the general procedure for writing Bylaws: committee, reviewing similiar clubs Bylaws, etc---but how does the Club handle the fact of the old Bylaws?

Do we have to vote to repeal the old Bylaws, before considering new Bylaws? Can this occur at the same meeting---we only meet once a year and were planning to email a copy of the new Bylaws for consideration before the meeting this year...

Thank you for any help. I have a copy of the new "Robert" but did not see anything about lost Bylaws in it.

[Guest Edgar]

How do we proceed with writing new Bylaws?

Have you contacted every member? Not one of them has a copy of the bylaws? They all joined the club without knowing the rules of the club they were joining?

You could establish a committee to, as best it could, re-construct the bylaws, then adopt them as a revision of the existing bylaws. As long as there's not too much money in the treasury this shouldn't be much of a problem (?). The closer you can get to a unanimous vote of the entire membership, the better off you'll be.

But stay tuned for more creative (?) solutions.

And, when you finally have the bylaws in hand, give every member a copy. And give a copy to every new member when they join.

[David A Foulkes]

I think another point worth mentioning here, since Guest_Eleanor made mention of it, is that the 'real' bylaws should be found in the minutes, since they are adopted as main motions which should be included in the minutes. If the past secretaries have not been recording them in this fashion, that should be done from here forward. The copies of the bylaws that every member should have are just that - copies. And, over time, as bylaw amendments get adopted, these copies will no longer be accurate unless they are replaced with current copies. Having them would make this reconstruction go a little bit easier, yes, but theoretically a review of the minutes should allow the most complete and accurate set of bylaws to be reconstructed, time-intensive though that might be.

[Guest Edgar]

I think another point worth mentioning here, since Guest_Eleanor made mention of it, is that the 'real' bylaws should be found in the minutes, since they are adopted as main motions which should be included in the minutes.

That's certainly a good point though I was somewhat put off by Eleanor's comment that "the only records are the Secretary's Books, and the Bylaws cannot be found in them". But perhaps they were only looking for a self-contained document, "The Bylaws", not the text (hidden?) in the minutes.

[David A Foulkes]

That's certainly a good point though I was somewhat put off by Eleanor's comment that "the only records are the Secretary's Books, and the Bylaws cannot be found in them". But perhaps they were only looking for a self-contained document, "The Bylaws", not the text (hidden?) in the minutes.

A possibility.

Eleanor???

[Guest Eleanor Quigley]

I do not have the Secretary's books to examine. Since this is a state-wide organization, we live widely apart. My best guess---and only that, a guess--- would be that the minutes state that the Bylaws were approved---and only that. As previously stated, this is primarily a Social Club, with a foreshortened business meeting. However, we do have some small funds and a stated purpose of supporting the State President's projects with collected dues, so I think need formal Bylaws.