Table of contents
I. Affiliation. 2
II. Ethics
and Rules. 2
III. Membership. 2
IV. Programs. 2
V. Operations. 3
VI. Board
Meetings. 6
VII. Rules
of Order for Meetings: 7
VIII. Election
of Directors. 15
IX. Election
of Officers and Agents. 16
X. Duties
of Officers and Agents. 16
XI. Election
Templates. 16
XII. Other
Programs without their own documents yet. 21
XIII. Revision
History. 21
Figures
Figure 1: Quick Reference Procedure Diagram........................................................................................................... 13
1. The
MetroWest Chess Club is an affiliate of the United States Chess Federation
(USCF) and the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA).
2. The
Club shall encourage membership in these organizations.
A.
Unless otherwise stated, the MCC abides by the USCF Code of
Ethics
B.
Unless otherwise stated, MCC abides by
1. USCF’s
Official Rules of Chess, 4th Ed
2. The
1998 "Everything You Ever Wanted To
Know About the USCF's New Clock Rules, But Were Afraid To Ask" pamphlet.
A.
Regular
1. Adult - membership is $30 per
year per individual.
2. Junior - membership is $15 per
year and is available to those 18 years of age or younger.
3. Senior - Dues for seniors, age 65 or older, are waived while the Club is located
at a Senior Center. (Note: Per current
agreement with the Natick Senior Center)
4. Family membership is $5 per year above the highest
applicable single-member rate. All
members must reside at the same address.
B.
Life – membership
is granted by a two-thirds (2/3rds) vote of the Directors then in office.
A.
Definition
1. A
program is defined as a series of one or more events, sponsored by the
MetroWest Chess Club.
2. A
program is established per guidelines below.
3. A
program is maintained on an annual basis, per the guidelines below.
4. A
program is dissolved per the guidelines below.
5. All
program documentation shall use the following templates to assure consistency:
a) Program
Documents
(1) Initial
Program Proposal for establishment of the program. (Only created once)
(a) The
template document titled “MCC_Document_Template_Program_Proposal” shall be used
for this document. (Note: this template
is not currently available.)
(2) Specific
Policies and Procedures Document for the Program.
(a) The
template document titled
“MCC_Document_Template_Program_Policies_and_Procedures” shall be used for this
document. (Note: this template is not
currently available.)
(3) Yearly
Plan and Budget Document for the Program.
(a) The
template document titled “
MCC_Document_Template_Program_Yearly_Plan_and_Budget” shall be used for this
document. (Note: this template is not
currently available.)
B.
Establishment
1. The
Board shall establish all Programs. Any
MCC member can propose a program.
a) If
the initiating MCC member is not a member of the Board of Directors, it is
their responsibility to secure a sponsor on the Board to put the program
proposal on the Board’s agenda.
b) The
initiating MCC member will work with their sponsor to create an Initial Program
Proposal for the program.
c) The
initiating MCC member will present the Initial Program Proposal at the Board
meeting where this agenda item is considered.
d) If
approved by the Board, the Program is established.
2. All
Programs shall have one MCC member appointed by the Board to serve as an agent
of the Board in the role of Program Director for each program.
3. Since
Program Directors are agents of the Board, they serve at the pleasure of the
Board and may be removed at any time by the Board.
4. Each
Program Director is responsible for producing Program Documents as required by
the Board.
C.
Maintenance
1. The
Program Director is responsible to track all budget and expenses, and all other
fiscal matters as deemed necessary by the Treasurer.
2. All
Programs shall be reviewed by the Board at least on an annual basis, no later
than September 30th each year.
3. The
Program Director for the Program shall Report to the Board on a periodic basis
required at the time of establishment, or at the last Board review, whichever
is most recent.
D.
Dissolution
1. The
Board may dissolve any program at any time.
A.
Venues
1. Smoking
Policy
a) There
is no smoking allowed at any time, at any club event, at any venue.
2. Natick
Senior Center
a) Unless
otherwise announced, all Board meetings are held at the Natick Senior Center.
b) Unless
otherwise stated in a Program Policy & Procedure, all events are held at
the Natick Senior Center.
c) Everyone
participating in an MCC event shall abide by the rules of the Natick Senior
Center regarding the use of their facilities and equipment.
B.
Contact Information
1. The
club shall maintain an answering machine to facilitate its operation.
2. The
club shall maintain a Post Office Box so that it can receive mail.
C.
Website
a) The
MCC web site may contain links to web sites of other organizations (e.g. nearby
Clubs, State Associations, private business, etc) that may be of interest to
the Chess community. These information
links are provided as a reference service, and shall not be considered advertising.
b) Simple
listings of events of interest to MCC may be included on the web site, and
shall not be considered advertising.
c)
Substantial event, product, service or organizational
content from third parties shall be considered advertising. Such advertisements will be accepted at the discretion of the web
master.
d) The
Board shall set fees charged for advertising.
e) Advertising
for the web may not be accepted if it not in a "web ready" format.
a) The
web team is not responsible for the creation or collection of content. Program Directors and other information
providers are responsible for ensuring that appropriate information is made
available to the web team for them to publish on the web site.
b) The
web team will make a reasonable effort to see that any content provided is
presented on the site in a clear, concise and useful manner to the users of the
site.
c) The
web team shall ensure that all links to both internal and external pages are
regularly checked and repaired.
d) The
web team shall assist the Board of Directors and it's agents in establishing
web-related policies and procedures and in providing guidance in the effective
use of the web for the good of the organization.
e) The
web team shall be responsible for the maintenance and moderation of the
automated email lists.
f)
The web team shall attempt to protect the organization by use
of their judgment regarding the appropriateness of content and defer posting of
the content until such time as the Board or at least the President shall be
consulted.
a) The
organization retains all rights and ownership of the URL, the site and its
contents.
b) One
Board member shall be designated as the administrative contact for the URL and
the site and shall have full access to the web site (the password).
c) One
person shall be designated as the Web Master and shall be responsible for the
functional operation of the web site and co-ordination among all the web team
members.
d) As
long as the organization has a web site, the Board shall establish a standing
committee called the Web Team with a chairman of the committee called "The
Web Team Committee Chairman". If
the Chairman is also the Web Master then Web Master may be used in place of the
Chairman title.
e) If
the Web Master is not a member of the Board of Directors, the Web Master shall
be an Agent of the Board, and shall take direction from, the Web Team Committee
Chairman or action taken by the Board.
a) Board
members and Agents are permitted to provide content for posting to the web
site.
b) All
requests for web related actions such as corrections or additions to pages or
any other matters concerning either the web site or the lists shall be sent by
email to the web team by way of the web masters address, mailto:WebMaster@MetroWestChess.org
c) All
members of the web team shall receive any email sent to the web master
address. This is done to relieve the
sender from having any knowledge of who is responsible for the various aspects
of the web site or who is available to do the work. Note that when this policy is not followed, the other members of
the web team are unaware of the requests and unable to ensure that the request
is dealt with in a timely fashion.
d) Requests
for changes or corrections must include the specific URL of the page so that no
confusion will arise regarding the proper page to edit.
a) Content
providers shall, to the best of their ability or resources available to them
(e.g. other people on the committee) format the content in such a way as to
require little or no work by the web team to make its suitable for posting to
the site.
b) The
preferred formats for submitting data are, in descending order of preference:
(1) Pre-formatted
HTML ready for posting. (Note: MS Word
97 or later generates this quite easily.)
(2) MS
Word document.
(3) Plain
text.
c) When
providing content in MS Word format the following techniques should be applied
(1) The
entire document should consist of tables with columns used to provide
horizontal spacing and alignment.
Tables when translated to HTML hold their formatting almost perfectly.
d) When
the number of columns needed to organize the data needs to be different than
previously, a new table with the appropriate number of columns should be used
as opposed to using the same table with the rows split into additional columns.
e) The
use of spaces and tabs for formatting should be avoided. The use of columns should generally
eliminate the need for spaces and tabs.
1. The
Board shall appoint an Agent to be the Marketing Director.
2. The
Marketing Director is responsible for:
a) Creating
and maintaining promotional campaigns
b) If
budgets are required, then present a proposal with at least the following
topics addressed:
(1) Purpose
(2) Start
date and duration
(3) Budget
(4) Time
and Materials needed
c) Working
with Program Directors to assure their on-going marketing requirements are
being met
3. The
Marketing Director will work with the Web Team to assure that the web site is
used in the best way possible to conduct promotional campaigns, and meet
on-going marketing requirements of Programs.
E.
Finance
a) Only
one bank account for the organization shall be maintained. This account will be referred to as the
“MCC” account.
b) The
President and Treasurer will be signatories to the account.
c) All
income and disbursements associated with any activity of MCC shall be made to
and from the MCC account.
d) The
Treasurer is responsible for tracking all income and disbursements to and from
the MCC account.
e) All
reimbursements to individuals must be submitted to the Treasurer on the approved “MCC Check Request Form”
and be accompanied by the appropriate receipts.
f)
For any MCC event, all parties who may issue checks or any
other form of payment in relation to the activity shall be directed to make all
payments to “MCC”, not to individuals or other accounts.
g) Representatives
of the organization are not allowed to have checks or other payments made to
them personally, except from the Treasurer of MCC.
h) The
Board by way of an approved Program budget, an amended Program budget or a
specific vote of the Board, shall approve all distributions of funds.
i)
Program Directors are responsible for tracking and managing
their budget. The treasurer will work
with the Program Directors to assure that proper accounting rules and reporting
procedures are used.
j)
Any financial issue where authority or procedures are unclear
shall be placed on the agenda for resolution at the next Board meeting.
a) The
Treasurer will maintain a Master MCC Budget
b) A
Program budget must be submitted during the establishment or maintenance of a
Program to spend or receive MCC funds, per the Program establishment and
maintenance guidelines.
c) Program
Budgets should be based on projected income for the Program.
d) Budgets
should be accompanied with supporting documentation. Items that do not fit into the pre-designated categories must be
clearly called out.
e) Any
expense must be explained in supporting documentation.
f)
Any items purchased that are not inherently disposable will
become part of the 'holdings' of MCC and must be clearly identified.
g) The
President will include budget items for the Master MCC budget, such as
allocation for miscellaneous expenses in the administrative budget that will
support operations.
a) Programs
will be allowed a 5% variance above the approved budget without necessitating
Board approval. Expenditures that will
bring the yearly total to above 5% of the approved amount must be presented to
the Board for approval prior to reimbursement.
No guarantees of reimbursement above the 5% variance of the approved
budget will be offered - even if the money has already been spent.
b) A
Program is empowered to reallocate the expenditure of funds within their
Program budget. .
c) Re-allocation
of excess funds raised is a Board driven activity. A committee is NOT free to reallocate income even within its own
Program budget.
d) If
a Program cost overrun is anticipated, the Board may be petitioned to review
the budget for the Program. Supporting
documentation and a new budget must be submitted as part of the review process.
a) When
approval is required to spend extra money immediately and a Board meeting/phone
vote cannot be taken an attempt must be made to contact the four (4) MCC Officers
for approval.
b) Emergency
approval requires an approval of two (2) of the four (4) MCC Officers.
c)
