|
Membership
Sierra Services for the Blind is
unique in that it is ultimately controlled by the membership, rather than the
Board of Directors. Made up mostly of clients, this membership is structured
similar to stockholders.
The by-laws require the Board to have
an Annual Meeting of the Membership on the first Wednesday in May. The Board
of Directors must subject any changes they desire to the by-laws to a vote of
the Membership. The Membership in turn can make changes it desires. As an
example, an individual membership must be in place 30 days before the May
meeting. A member rose in a year that the meeting was held on Wednesday, May
1st. Since most clients are elderly, and their pensions arrive on the 3rd of
each month, this meant they had to pay more than 30 days in advance. It was
moved and seconded that the formal date be April 5th of each year that a
Membership must be active for the member to vote at the Annual Meeting of the
Membership.
This example shows how closely the
membership, especially the clients who are members, look at the agency, and
the care they show toward management.
Another aspect is the Memberships
ability to control the makeup of the Board of Directors. At the Annual
Meeting members can vote out members of the Board they feel are not acting in
the best interest of the agency. Several years ago several board members felt
they should close the agency. Client members of the board were able to
convince them that the votes were available to have them removed from the
board at the Annual Meeting. Finding the case to be true, they resigned
before the meeting. The members also have the ability to vote individuals on
to the Board of Directors.
Voting Memberships are in two basic
categories. Annual Memberships are set in the by-laws at $10 per year. The
low cost is specifically designed to allow any of our fixed or low-income
clients be become members. A Life Membership is available at $100.
The purpose of the Memberships is to
allow the community, and specifically the clients to maintain control of the
agency. In this manner they are assured the agency will continue to meet the
needs of the client, and retain their stated purpose to provide the education
and training, counseling and transportation necessary to retain the
independence of the blind and visually impaired of our community.
|
