[arrl-odv:27891] 30 day notice to amend articles

Dear Officers, Directors, and Vice Directors, Regarding motion EC-1 to amend the Articles of Association: Article 10 of ARRL's Articles of Association specifies "These articles may be amended by a three-fourths vote of all Directors, or, provided due notice of the proposed amendment shall have been placed in the mail to each Director at least thirty days in advance, by a two-thirds vote of all Directors." The 2/3 vs 3/4 is equivalent to 10 vs 12, a two vote difference, required to pass the motion. (Further in that section, "Notices shall be sent by First-Class mail or electronic mail to the last known address to each Director.") To satisfy the 30-day notification requirement, Dan Henderson sent notice to ODV on November 12, 2018. I was concerned that new Directors had not received the notice 30 days in advance. I asked Connecticut counsel for an opinion. His opinion is that by notifying the Board that existed 30 days prior to the vote, we had satisfied the requirement, and a 2/3 vote is required to pass the motion. "Absent explicit language in the Articles of Association or Bylaws, or a consistent and uniform course of conduct (which would arguably "fill the gap" of a silence in the Bylaws and/or Articles), addressing the scenario of a new director joining the Board during a notice period I think the reasonable approach is that the 30 days advance notice apply only to directors serving on the Board when the notice is initially provided. In other words, a new director who joins after notice is provided does not re-set the 30 day clock." I would suggest that the Board accept, or reject this opinion well prior to voting on the EC-1 motion and establish whether 2/3 or 3/4 vote is required to pass the any such motions. The action taken here, unrelated to EC-1, could be argued as establishing a "course of conduct" for future situations. 73, Howard, WB2ITX -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio™ 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
participants (1)
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Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)