Schenectady Wintersports Club

2024 Constitution and Bylaws:

SWC Constitution 2024 Final.pdf

SWC ByLaws 2024 Final.pdf

By a unanimous vote of members present at the February 21, 2024 meeting, these are the revised SWC Constitution and Bylaws.

2024 Constitution and Bylaws Highlights:

(Highlights where changes were made in 2024)

SWC Constitution 2024 Final_highlighted.pdf

SWC ByLaws 2024 Final_highlighted.pdf

Letter from the Board of Directors 12/28/2023

Schenectady Wintersports Club

Special Meeting

February 21, 2024

Approval of Revised Constitution and Bylaws

The  Schenectady Wintersports Club (SWC) constitution and by-laws date back to the founding of the club in 1934. Since then, they have been amended several times, and the Board is making recommendations for new updates.  Below is a synopsis of the proposed updates to the bylaws to address the following issues and topics:

•  Compliance with NYS law affecting not-for-profit corporations - NYS has updated the applicable laws in several areas, including notice periods for meetings, how such meetings and elections must be held when in electronic format and conflict of interest policy for members and officers. The above points represent the single largest source of the updates in the by-laws.

•  Modernization of communication - All meetings and notice of meetings can now be executed via electronic means. The need for this should be self-explanatory.

•  Protecting the club and club assets- Past experiences at SWC and similar not-for-profit clubs indicate a need to protect the club and club assets from members or officers whose actions may damage the club, the club’s reputation or club assets. We have included clauses governing the removal of such bad actors and protection from any potential misuse of club assets.

• Vice President, Clubhouse will now be an elected position rather than an appointed director -The clubhouse is a sizable asset that requires considerable effort and expertise to manage. Thus, we have made this position an elected officer rather than an appointed director.
• Creation of an elected position of Vice President, Activities - Given the mission of the club is to promote outdoor activities amongst the members, it became evident that an elected officer should be responsible for planning all types of outdoor activities. This officer would utilize appointed directors and members to plan and execute a wide variety of winter and other outdoor activities.

• Administrative changes - Several updates bring the by-laws into compliance with the reality of club management. These include but are not limited to

- Dollar thresholds for expenditure approvals

- Membership renewal date (e.g. based on Join Date rather than specifically on June 1 of each year)

- Dues and clubhouse rate flexibility and others.