Periodically, the CST Board may determine that certain changes to the existing by-laws should be recommended for approval by the membership. This year, the Board is proposing a series of changes to the current by-laws.
Listed below are explanations of the key updates to the CST bylaws, including the Board’s rationale for recommending the changes. The Board is also recommending some technical, but not substantive, edits to the bylaws that are also shown in the draft.
To view all of the proposed updates to the bylaws, please view this draft: 2022 UPDATES
Clarifies that members requesting to sell their membership must do so by the dues deadline to avoid a penalty of 25% of the current dues amount being deducted from their refunded certificate amount of $2000. This is the same fee that is charged to members for paying their dues late. Rationale: This update requires all members to follow the same timeline to continue or discontinue their memberships.
Removes one Board of Director positions and has Secretary assume duties of At-Large Director. Rationale: Bylaws currently require the Secretary to maintain Club records and the At-Large Director to chair the nominating committee and manage recruiting and onboarding of new Board Members. This record keeping aligns well. Also, as keeper of meeting minutes, the Secretary is in a unique position to be more aware of the various board positions and therefore good at ensuring nominees understand their responsibilities and commitment. These Board positions require relatively less work that other Board positions, and this better aligns the commitment to other positions. Finally, this moves the Board to an odd number of voting members, which is preferred.
Adds a second, non-voting Treasurer, similar to how the swim, dive teams and social have 2 representatives. Rationale: The Treasurer position has both a big time and effort commitment and a steep learning curve. Adding an “assistant” would lighten the bookkeeping load, while also allowing for training on the job. One Treasurer would be elected each year. However, only one would be a voting member of the Board at any given time. Each year, following the annual election, the Board member serving as the full voting representative to the Board will end their term on the Board, and the previously elected nonvoting representative will transition to serve as the full voting member of the Board.
Adds an Insurance Committee to the Permanent Committees. The Committee is to be composed of the President, VP-Operations and Maintenance, VP-Personnel, Treasurer, and any Board and Club members with background in and knowledge of insurance. Rationale: We recently reviewed our multiple insurance policies for the Club and found that we could get better coverage for a better price. A standing committee reviewing coverage every year would make this less burdensome than a irregular, but comprehensive review.
Changes the existing term “Waiting List Members” to “Summer Members.” It also clarifies in the membership process that Summer Members incur a 20% late fee by not paying dues by the deadline; they lose their Summer Membership and place in line to attain Full Membership by not paying 30 days after that deadline. Rationale: The bylaws allow for 550 members, plus an additional 20% or 110 families to use Club facilities while awaiting full membership. The Club does not have a typical running wait list, but rather gather a new list of prospective members each year. These prospective members are offered the “Summer Membership” in the order they registered each year as existing Summer Members vacate their Summer Membership either to purchase a vacant Full Membership or turn it down and leave the Club. This list does not carry over year to year. Codifying “Summer Members,” as they have been called colloquially for years eliminates unnecessary confusion over how the process works.