"Cleaning up" bylaws

[Guest Louise]

Our office administrator took it upon herself to "cleanup" our bylaws as to uniform fonts, numbering, etc.  What she ended up doing was "clarifying" some articles by breaking some single subpoints into two, or combining two to make one, for example.  While the changes aren't necessarily large, several of us are concerned that our bylaws have been reinterpreted somewhat by an individual.  All bylaw changes are supposed to be voted on at out annual meeting, and this year, the bylaws we're simply distributed in the "new and improved" form.  Should this "clean up"have been made through a committee or by some means other than the administrative assistant?

[J. J.]

While I know of no rule relating to fonts, the assembly must authorize changes in text.  It is possible that doing a "compiler's resolution," the assembly did authorize that, though it is unlikely that it did authorize splitting or combining sections. 

[Richard Brown]

I agree with my friend JJ that no changes whatsoever (except perhaps for the type font) can be made to the bylaws unless done by following the provisions contained in the bylaws for their amendment. It is quite unlikely that any individual or group of individuals have been authorized to do this, but you might check the minutes of prior meetings to see if such authorization has been granted.

[Gary Novosielski]

5 hours ago, Guest Louise said:

Our office administrator took it upon herself to "cleanup" our bylaws as to uniform fonts, numbering, etc.  What she ended up doing was "clarifying" some articles by breaking some single subpoints into two, or combining two to make one, for example.  While the changes aren't necessarily large, several of us are concerned that our bylaws have been reinterpreted somewhat by an individual.  All bylaw changes are supposed to be voted on at out annual meeting, and this year, the bylaws we're simply distributed in the "new and improved" form.  Should this "clean up"have been made through a committee or by some means other than the administrative assistant?

The bylaws may not be amended by an office administrator.  Fonts are one thing, numbers, words and punctuation marks are another.  Any change requires following the procedures (presumably) included in the bylaws, for their own amendment.

Whatever the administrator did should be treated as if it never happened, unless you think disciplinary actions are needed.