Board Regulations

Regulations of the Esperanto League for North America, Inc.

I. GENERAL
  1. The President is responsible for conducting communication among members of the Board.
  2. On matters before the Board for decision, Board Members furnishing information to the President or other Board Members should convey the same information at approximately the same time to all Board Members.
  3. Each Board Member has the responsibility of replying to each request or Proposal from the President in a timely fashion.



II. REGULATIONS GOVERNING BOARD MEETINGS

  1. The order of precedence in presiding over Board Meetings shall follow the ELNA By-Laws, i.e., the President shall preside, if present; if not, the Vice-President shall preside if present. If neither the President or Vice-President is present, the sitting Board Members shall elect from among themselves a Board Member to preside over the meeting.
  2. The quorum to enable decisions at a Board Meeting shall be seven or more personally attending Board Members who will be present at that Board Meeting.
  3. Decisions shall be taken by simple majority vote of the Board Members including proxies. On any proposal, if the number of aye votes is less than seven, and the number of aye votes plus the number of absent Board Members is equal to seven or more, a proposal shall be tabled for a mail vote by the absent Board Members. In this event if seven or more aye votes result overall, the proposal shall be approved.
  4. If there is no quorum, those Board Members present may convene and discuss proposals. A vote may be taken by those present and the proposal then submitted to the absent Board Members for mail vote.

III. REGULATIONS FOR VOTING BY MAIL

  1. All proposals to be voted on by mail shall be distributed by the President to the Board Members by first-class mail. The President may choose to distribute any proposal by e-mail to those Board Members who can send and receive e-mail. If a proposal is submitted by a Board Member to the President for mail vote, the President shall initiate the mail vote no later than thirty days after it is received by the President. Each proposal shall be numbered and dated.
  2. The President shall fix a time limit for return of the votes. The time limit shall be at least ten days, but no more than thirty days, after dissemination. If in the opinion of the President a proposal under vote is so urgent as to require action prior to receipt of all votes, the president may consider a proposal approved upon receipt of the seventh aye vote and take action thereon.
  3. Immediately following the expiration of the time limit set for vote on a proposal, the President shall communicate to the Board the result of the balloting, with the names of Board Members favoring, opposing, and abstaining. The names of Board Members not responding shall also be listed. The President shall retain an electronic or paper copy of all e-mail votes until the results have been communicated.
  4. The President may table or withdraw any proposal before the expiration of the time limit set for balloting, by informing the Board Members with explanation for the action. The President should take such action only if changed information or new facts substantially change the effect of the proposal. After the time limit set for balloting, the vote shall be considered official and the proposal may not be changed except through approval of a separate proposal.
  5. Any board member may initiate a proposal. The initiating Board Member shall send the proposal to the President together with a report of all known facts. Where a substantial amount of data or factual material is involved, the initiating Board Member should send such material directly to each Board Member at the time it is sent to the President, or alternatively send twelve copies of the material to the President for dissemination with the proposal.
  6. If the Board Member has sent a proposal to the President for dissemination, and after thirty days the proposal has still not been conveyed to the Board nor has the President advised the Board of a necessary delay in presenting the proposal to the Board with the reasons for such delay, the initiating Board Member may send the proposal to each Board Member directly, requesting a vote under a time limit as set forth in paragraph 2 of this section. The Board Members shall in such case be requested to furnish their votes to the President and to all members of the Board. If seven or more aye votes result, the proposal shall stand approved.
  7. All mail votes shall be sent by first-class mail or e-mail. Telephone votes shall be accepted only when the President deems it an emergency; these must be confirmed by mail or e-mail. The Director of the Central Office shall be advised of any approved proposal. The result of all voting shall be published to the membership in accordance with the By-Laws.
  8. Should it become evident, prior to the expiration of the time limit set for vote on a proposal, that any Board Member has not received a proposal or that a proposal has been so delayed in the mails that adequate time for voting within the time limit has not been allowed, on receiving notification of the situation the President shall resubmit the proposal to the Board with a new time limit fixed as set forth in paragraph 2 of this section.

IV. ADOPTION OF AND CHANGES TO THE REGULATIONS

  1. In accordance with paragraph 408 of the By-Laws of ELNA, the Board may adopt these regulations by majority vote, i.e., seven or more aye votes. The regulations shall take effect upon approval.
  2. Changes to these regulations may be made by the Board through a proposal approved by the majority vote of the Board, i.e., seven or more votes.

V. MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES AND OFFICES

  1. Every Board Member shall submit a quarterly report of activities. Every Board Member shall participate in contacting new members. The President may exempt a Board Member from either or both of these responsibilities for sufficient reason.

  2. If the Board does not select a person to supervise the CO and its Director under section 807 of the By-Laws, the Vice-President shall have that responsibility.


The foregoing regulations were adopted by vote of 7 for, 1 against, of 8 Board Members present at the meeting held July 25, 1983 at San Francisco, California.

The Board, in adopting these regulations, agreed that when the By-Laws are rewritten for submission to the members, that stated duties of the Secretary (now referred to as the "General Secretary") shall include retention of Board Minutes as conveyed by the President as the result of votes taken.

The Board, in 1994, in Sacramento, California changed the original word "By-Laws" to "regulations" and the word "Constitution" to "By-Laws". This was to clarify the difference in these Board Regulations and the official By-Laws of ELNA.

In 1996, the Board voted to include e-mail as a method of voting.