Bylaw Discussion - Member Qualifications

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GLTHFJ60

GLTHFJ60

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Members of ONSC;

It has been discussed in the past, that it may be unfair that when a current and otherwise upstanding member of ONSC sells their only Toyota 4WD, that they can technically no longer be a member of the club. This was brought to light most recently in the following thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/72-rockcruiser-v2-0.824043

Referring to the bylaws, which can be found on our website, Article three states the following, focusing on sub-point two of section 1:

http://onsc4x4.com/bylaws/

ARTICLE III: Membership
Section 1: Voting Members
Persons seeking membership in this club as regular voting members must meet the following requirements:
1. Must be sponsored by a club member in good standing.
2. Own a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Toyota SUV 4 wheel drive.
.....


Therefore, according to the current bylaws, you cannot be a voting member if you do not meet all criteria articulated in Article III Section 1. However, we do have a provision for "Associate Membership" as shown below:

Section 2: Associate Members
By nomination of the Board of Directors and by majority vote of the membership, any suitable person or business may be elected to Associate Membership in the club, shall pay the same dues as regular members, shall not be entitled to vote, and shall not be entitled to hold any office of the club.

Therefore, we can bring non-toyota 4wd owners into the club as Associate members, who pay the same dues, but cannot vote nor can they hold office.


Now, in application, I hold the opinion that if you are a current and otherwise upstanding member of the club, and sell your only 4wd, that does not automatically kick you out or "demote" you to an associate member, although that should be what happens.


What are our thoughts on this? Does this membership model still apply to today's needs or do we need to modify it to allow non-Toyota 4WD owners to be regular voting members (through some process of qualification, likely sponsorship)?
 
My thoughts are this…
We can easily let people become member if they don’t currently own a Toyota 4wd because most likely they have a love for yotas and are working towards finding and acquiring the one they want. I don’t think though we should let a bronco/blazer/jeep owner join the club if they have no intention of every getting one just because he wants to hang out with us. They can own those vehicles and many of our members do but if they don’t really ever want a Toyota what would be the point of them being part of the group?
Also if someone sells their truck for hardship, baby on the way, etc…. they should not be excluded from the group. If I had to sell my truck for whatever reason I would still what to camp with you guys and talk yotas. Most people end up selling their current rigs and becoming yota-less due to life issues divorce/hardship/medical reasons/etc… so it wouldn’t really be fair to exclude them.

Just my 2 cents (really only worth 1 cent)
 
Pretty much what Al says, I agree. The one thing I would be open to is a small number of members that don't have a Toy and aren't really looking. I say that, because we have seen guys in the past move to a different platform that have become our friends while they owned a Cruiser. I'd hate to exclude them, but by the same token, that puts a limit on the number allowed that fit those criteria. I personally don't want to ever go on a trail ride where Toyotas don't GROSSLY outnumber other manufacturers. JMO, and frankly, since I've been mostly MIA for going on 2 years since Dozer's been under the knife, I'm not sure my opinion really matters all that much.
 
This is a big part of the reason I put this post up, because I think there is a misunderstanding as to how the membership bylaws are laid out.

If you are not a Toyota 4WD owner, either through selling the one you had or have never had one (but may own another make's 4wd), you can become or maintain an Associate membership by nomination, but not vote or hold office. You can participate in all other capacities as a voting member can.

There is already a mechanism in place and we do allow non-Toyota 4WD owners to become members currently. Do we have any? A handful. Should we? I don't see why not! Do we want even 15% of the club to be non-Toyota 4WDs? Probably not.

The only thing that's not covered by the current bylaws IMHO is that if you are a Toyota 4WD owner when you begin your membership, but sell while your membership is still active. We obviously won't be able to keep track of who sells trucks, especially if they aren't active on the forum, so I'm not sure that any bylaw change is needed. I see no issue with the current set of bylaws.



Does that make sense or am I interpreting this differently than most?
 
No you are interpreting them right... its just never actually been used that the BOD and members be used to vote in a non-toyota owner.
 
lt1fire said:
No you are interpreting them right... its just never actually been used that the BOD and members be used to vote in a non-toyota owner.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure there's ever been a request to use that particular bylaw. In any case, a process exists when the time comes! The only limiting factor for members participating is their will to participate :D
 
:hillbilly: pretty much... how about if you don't own a toyota you buy all the beer at the first event


but just between you, ramon and I that would become very expensive very fast.... doh!!!



No I think you have it down right IMHO... just need to make sure that people know that you can still be a member if you sell your yota
 
OK - so there are provisions and we are all good :beer: :beer:

:D Ramon
 
I'm cool with the bylaws "as is" as long as there are provisions in place for the non-toy folks. It sounds like there are so...
 
there is no need if he was already a member and is just in between toyotas
 
FJinTegaCay said:
I would like to officially nominate Adam Leidy for Associate Membership in the club.
Click to expand...

:lol: Funny you bring this up. Adam's membership does not expire until September of 2015. Of course he sold his 40 earlier this year and currently only has a Toyota 2wd (camry), although we're trying to fix that. This is the one scenario we don't have covered in the bylaws, whether or not to allow him to vote (not that we have much to vote on) or hold office.

How should we handle this? Mark him as an Associate Member until he obtains another Toyota 4WD or just leave the membership as it stands, since he paid for his membership when he did have a Toyota 4WD?

I'm leaning towards the latter option, but is something for us to discuss.
 
if he already was a member (and in his case- paid up through next year) he should stay as is.

Maybe not hold or run for a BOD position but be an active voting member


How i'm reading it is associate members are ones that have never been a member and don't currently own a toyota 4x4
 
lt1fire said:
if he already was a member (and in his case- paid up through next year) he should stay as is.

Maybe not hold or run for a BOD position but be an active voting member

How i'm reading it is associate members are ones that have never been a member and don't currently own a toyota 4x4
Click to expand...

If we want to place any restrictions on active members that had, as in specifically no longer have a Toyota 4WD but may purchase another in the future, then it needs to be in the bylaws. My point earlier was that it will be impossible to reliably track who sells which truck when, etc, so enforcement won't exist. We might as well not place any restrictions and leave everything as is.

Further thoughts?
 
I'd say that full members who no longer meet the proper vehicle requirements have until their paid member term expires to buy a proper vehicle to retain voting status but that time should be limited to a max of one year from their membership anniversary date. They regress to associate status after that for the remainder of their membership (since they might have a 10-yr, etc) until the vehicle requirements are met to become a voting member. Perhaps a special concession can be made if requested by committee and voted on by BOD.

They would also not be allowed to hold a BOD office past the one-year cutoff mentioned above until the vehicle requirements are met. This covers a member who gets elected then sells their only conforming vehicle and might lose interest in participating in BOD duties but gives a fair window in which to reverse their unfortunate situation.

Are these considered the same: 1. Sells or otherwise no longer owns vehicle without replacing, 2. Total insurance loss without replacing?

Just my thoughts.

--john


...via IH8MUD app
 
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