• Shire of Glenn Linn By-Laws •

ARTICLE 1: NAME

The name of this organization shall be Shire of Glenn Linn.

ARTICLE 2: PURPOSE

The purpose of the Shire of Glenn Linn shall be dedicated primarily to the promotion of research and re-creation in the field of pre-17th century Western European culture.

ARTICLE 3: DEDICATION OF ASSETS

The properties and assets of the SCA are irrevocably dedicated to charitable purposes. No part of the net earnings, properties, or assets of this corporation, on dissolution or otherwise, shall inure to the benefit of any private person or individual, or any member, Director or officer of the SCA. On liquidation or dissolution, all properties and assets and obligations shall be distributed and paid over to an organization dedicated to charitable purposes which has established its tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Service Code Section 501(c)(3).

ARTICLE 4: MEMBERSHIP

4.1 General

4.1.1 Membership in the Shire of Glenn Linn shall be open to all persons who reside within the boundaries of the Shire of Glenn Linn without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, marital status, sexual orientation, or disability.

4.2 Paid Members

4.2.1 Paid members are entitled to vote during meetings. Paid membership is obtained through SCA.Org.

4.3 Non-Paid Members

4.3.1 Non-paid members are NOT entitled to vote during meetings.

ARTICLE 5: OFFICERS

5.1 Composition

5.1.1 There shall be three required officers consisting of Seneschal, Exchequer, and Knight Marshall or Herald or Minister of Arts and Sciences.

5.1.2 There shall be additional officers as the Shire of Glenn Linn deems necessary, as listed Chatelaine, Webminister, Chamberlain, Chronicler, Minister of the Lists and deputies.

5.2 Time of Election

5.2.1 The election of officers shall take place during the November business meeting of each calendar year.

5.2.2 On odd number years, the following elections are required:
       • Seneschal
       • Herald
       • Knight Marshal

5.2.3 Each year, elections for the Exchequer are required.

5.3 Term of Office

5.3.1 Each officer shall serve for two years unless otherwise stated in EK law or officer policy.

5.3.2 Newly elected officers shall take office on January 1st of the following calendar year.

5.3.3 Upon acceptance of an office, the new officer must write a letter of acceptance to the appropriate Kingdom/Regional officer, with approval of the Seneschal.

5.4 Method of Election

5.4.1 Each officer shall be elected by voice, proxy or secret ballot by the members represented on the day of the election.

5.4.2 A simple majority of the ballots cast shall determine the winner.

5.4.3 No voting is required un-contested officer positions.

5.5 Number of Offices Held

No person shall hold more than one required office at the same time, as defined by EK laws. These offices are:
       • Seneschal
       • Herald
       • Knight Marshal or Minister of Arts and Sciences
       • Exchequer

5.6 Nominations for Office

5.6.1 Nominations must be submitted no later than the September business meeting in order to be recorded in the September business meeting minutes and published on the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

5.6.2 Any person nominated must be present at the November business meeting, or acknowledge in writing that he/she is willing to be nominated for an office.

5.7 Eligibility to hold office

5.7.1 The following requirements must be met no later than October 1st of the election year:

       • Current paid SCA membership
       • Subscription to Pikestaff, Cascadian or membership to the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group
       • 18 years of age or older

• Candidate must currently reside within the borders of the Shire of Glenn Linn as defined in East Kingdom law and policy*

*The areas of the Shire of Glenn Linn are the entire counties of Warren and Washington, the northern portion of Saratoga county, the southern portion of Essex county, and the eastern portion of Hamilton County.

5.8 Resignation and Removal from Office

5.8.1 Resignation: Upon the resignation of an officer a letter of resignation must be written to the appropriate Kingdom/Regional officer, with the approval of the Seneschal.

5.8.2 Removal: It is the duty of the Seneschal to remove officers who are not fulfilling the duties of office. Officers may be removed or suspended for just cause by the Seneschal with the consensus of the other officers. The removal from office must be approved by a majority vote of paid-members of the Shire of Glenn Linn.

5.8.3 Forced Removal: Should be used only as a last resort.

5.9 Filling vacancies between elections

5.9.1 When an office becomes vacant before the end of the current term,
the vacancy shall be filled by the officer's deputy. If no deputy is available, the Seneschal shall appoint an interim officer with the consensus of the other officers within the Shire of Glenn Linn.

5.9.2 Only the required offices need be filled at all times, as they are responsible to maintain the status of Shire within the East Kingdom.

5.9.3 Appointments to all other offices may be made; however, they are not required.

5.9.4 The newly elected officer's term shall take effect upon election and will serve out the remaining term of the prior officer.

ARTICLE 6: OFFICER'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

6.1 General Duties of Glenn Linn Officers

6.1.1 The officers shall perform the duties prescribed by this document, as directed by the Shire of Glenn Linn or all other such duties as are customarily attributed to the office.

6.1.2 Mandatory attendance at all business meetings. In the event of a necessary absence, the Seneschal must be notified 24 hours in advance.

6.1.3 Officers must submit all reports required by their office upon deadline as defined by EK law. Officers must submit an electronic copy of said reports to the Seneschal.

6.1.4 Officers shall maintain copies of all records critical to the function of their office, including hard copies of all electronic records.

6.1.5 Officers shall appoint their own deputies.

6.1.6 All files and materials belonging to the office must be transferred to the new officer within one month after the date of formal transfer of the office.

6.2 Specific Duties of Glenn Linn Officers: Please follow the link for your office to find your office specific handbook.

6.2.1 Seneschal: http://841877671.r.cdn77.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/KingSenHbk-07012013.pdf

6.2.2 Herald: http://www.eastkingdom.org/heraldry/handbook.html

6.2.3 Knight Marshal: http://www.sca.org/officers/marshal/docs/marshal_handbook.pdf

6.2.4 Minister of Arts and Sciences: http://moas.eastkingdom.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/EK-MoAS-handbook.pdf

6.2.5 Exchequer: http://www.sca.org/docs/finpolicies/LocalExchequerHandbook.pdf

6.2.6 Other Offices not listed above: http://eastkingdom.org/FullOfficerListing.html

ARTICLE 7: BUSINESS MEETINGS

7.1 Frequency

7.1.1 Regularly scheduled business meetings of the Shire of Glenn Linn shall take place on the second Sunday of each month during each calendar year, excepting:

          May: Due to Mother's Day, the meeting will be held on the third Sunday of May.

          August: There will be no business meeting held in August due to Pennsic.

7.2 Location

7.2.1 The Shire of Glenn Linn business meetings are held at the American Red Cross building located at 74 Warren Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801, unless otherwise posted on the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

7.3 Time

7.3.1 The Shire of Glenn Linn business meetings begin at 6:30pm unless otherwise posted on the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

7.4 Record of business meetings

7.4.1 Attendance at meetings must be recorded by one of the following officers, the Chronicler, the Seneschal, or an appointed Amanuensis.

7.4.2 Meeting minutes must be recorded by one of the following officers, the Chronicler, the Seneschal, or an appointed Amanuensis during each business meeting and be presented for approval before or during the next business meeting. One of the three afore mentioned persons must also be responsible for retaining and publishing said business meeting minutes.

7.5 Procedures for business meetings

7.5.1 An agenda must be created for each business meeting by the Seneschal.

7.5.2 The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedures by Alice Sturgis (Latest Revised Edition) shall govern procedure at all Shire of Glenn Linn business meetings, except those cases where the said Rules of Order conflict with the duly established by-laws of the Shire of Glenn Linn. In such instances, the latter shall take precedence. For more information see:
          http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~ddahlstr/misc/roberts/parlia_sturgis.pdf

ARTICLE 8: VOTING

8.1 Voter Eligibility

The following requirements must be met no later than October 1st of the election year:

8.2 Definition

Each paid SCA member shall be entitled to one vote per issue.

8.3 Voting Procedure

Voting shall be by voice, ballot or proxy. Binding votes may only be held if a quorum is in attendance. See Article 9 of this document.

8.3.1 Ballots must be prepared by the Seneschal or Deputy Seneschal.

8.3.2 Ballots must contain:

8.3.3 Ballots will be tallied by three gentles chosen by the Seneschal.

8.4 Secret Ballot

Any member may request a secret ballot on any issue.

8.5 Proxy

8.5.1 Proxies must be given to the Seneschal prior to the start of the election.

8.5.2 Proxy must:

8.5.3 Proxy votes shall be allowed for voting purposes at any regularly scheduled meeting except as noted in this document.

8.5.4 No member may cast more than one proxy vote per issue.

8.5.5 Members holding proxy votes shall inform the Seneschal before voting begins on the issue in question.

ARTICLE 9: QUORUM

A quorum for a business meeting shall consist of at least 3 officers and 1 paid SCA member.

ARTICLE 10: EVENTS

10.1 Event Proposals

10.1.1 All event proposals must be submitted in writing to the Seneschal and Exchequer six months prior to an event, excluding Northern Region War Camp which requires its proposal to be submitted 7 days prior to the November business meeting.

10.2 Event Budgets

10.2.1 All event budgets must be submitted in writing to the Seneschal and Exchequer six months prior to an event, excluding Northern Region War Camp which requires its proposal to be submitted 7 days prior to the November business meeting.

10.2.2 All event budgets must be approved by both the Seneschal and Exchequer prior to any event related purchases, unless prior authorization is granted, as stated in Glenn Linn’s financial policies.

10.3 Event Announcements

10.3.1 All event announcements and cancellations must receive prior approval by the Seneschal before submission to the Pikestaff or any other type of publication.

ARTICLE 11: NEWSLETTER

11.1 Name
The Shire of Glenn Linn Newsletter shall be named The Cascadian.

11.2 Maintenance
The Shire newsletter, The Cascadian, is to be maintained quarterly when Chronicler position is active.

11.3 Content
The Cascadian shall contain all decisions of the previous quarter. When The Cascadian is not published due to lack of Chronicler all previous quarter decisions must be published on the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

11.4 Cost
The Shire of Glenn Linn shall accrue all costs of maintaining The Cascadian, including postage.

ARTICLE 12: APPROPRATION OF FUNDS

See Last Revised Edition of Glenn Linn Financial Policy which can be found in the files section of the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

ARTICLE 13: PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY

Parliamentary authority for all regularly scheduled business meetings shall follow The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedures by Alice Sturgis see Article 7.5.2 of this document.

ARTICLE 14: AMENDMENTS AND RATIFICATION

14.1 Amendments

14.1.1 Scheduled Amendment(s) to this document are required every two years by the by-law committee. Said committee shall consist of at least one officer and two paid SCA members, the committee should form in September to allow revision of by-laws to be complete by October. The by-laws should be approved by the November Business meeting, so they can be posted within the required 30 days and take effect January 1st of the following calendar year.

14.1.2 Unscheduled Amendment(s) to this document shall be proposed in writing at any regularly scheduled business meeting. Voting on such amendment(s) shall take place at the next regularly scheduled business meeting which cannot take place within one month of the meeting at which the presentation was made of the proposed amendment(s).

14.2 Publishing of Amendment(s) to Shire of Glenn Linn by-laws shall be published either in The Cascadian or in the Glenn Linn Yahoo Group.

14.3 Ratification
Ratification of the amendment(s) shall take effect upon a simple majority vote of the membership present at the next regularly scheduled business meeting held approximately one month after publication.

ARTICLE 15: SAVINGS CLAUSE

In the case of conflict(s), these by-laws shall be subordinate to the by-laws, rules, regulations or procedures, or other governing documents, of the SCA and East Kingdom.