BY-LAWS AND BOARD MEMBER DUTIES

ARTICLE I – Organizational Name

1.1 The name of the organization shall be “Conestoga Valley Summer Swim Team.”

ARTICLE II - Objective

2.1 To provide youths the opportunity to participate in competitive swimming and teach swimming, sportsmanship, comradeship, and fair play.  We will encourage swimmers to develop swimming skills and the desire to participate in competitive swimming.

ARTICLE III - Membership

3.1 Membership in the organization shall be available to any member of the Leola Community Pool up to age of 18 or a graduating high school senior as of June 1st the for that swim season.

ARTICLE IV – Required Meetings and Board Meetings

4.1 REQUIRED MEETINGS:  There shall be two membership meetings hosted by the Board Officers each summer swim season.

4.1.1 Organization & Registration Parent Meeting – to be held before the start of the swim season, typically in April.

4.1.2 Year-end Awards & Recognition/Parent Meeting to be held in conjunction with the team’s year-end picnic or at conclusion of the swim season in July. 

4.1.3 Representation from parent or guardian is expected.

4.2 BOARD MEETINGS: There shall be regular board meetings established in the off-season for the purpose of organizing and preparing for the upcoming summer swim season.

4.2.1 All board meetings held by the officers will be open to any member of the organization. 

4.2.1.1 Notice of meeting before the start of the season will be announced by electronic distribution (e-mail or equivalent) to all members of the previous year’s membership roster. 

4.2.1.2 If a board meeting is held during the regular season, meeting time and location will be announced in the swim team newsletter or similar electronic communication or team website.

4.2.2 Minutes of each meeting shall be made available one week after the date of the meeting and any member of the organization may request minutes from the Secretary of the organization.

ARTICLE V:  Officer Organization & Election Process

5.1 The officers of the organization shall consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Member-At-Large.

5.2 Each year, an Election Committee shall be appointed by the President.

5.2.1 The Election Committee shall consist of two members NOT current or nominated Board Members.

5.2.2 Nominations of officers shall be made at or before the year-end meeting by the members of the organization by using a nomination form or other similar process as defined by the Board officers.

5.2.3 Nominations known to the Secretary 24 hours prior to the year-end meeting shall be included on the written confidential ballot.  Late nominations may be considered as “write-in” candidates during the year-end meeting.

5.2.4 The Election Committee will conduct the election during the year-end membership meeting where each member family shall have ONE confidential vote, regardless of number of swimmers in each family.   

5.2.5 A quorum is required to hold the annual election vote.

5.2.5.1 A quorum is defined as 51% or more of the membership families must be included in the voting process. 

5.2.5.2 Accommodations can be made for families not able to attend, provided those accommodations are available to ALL families unable to attend.  If fair and equal accommodations cannot be made for all absentee families, then only those families present at the year-end meeting may be included in the quorum and allowed to vote.

5.2.6 The Election Committee shall tally votes and announce the election winners before the end of the year-end meeting.

5.2.7 The Election Committee shall conduct a run-off election, if no candidate has a majority of the votes.  Only the top two candidates will stand for a run-off election.

5.2.8 The Election Committee shall conduct a secondary election, if the primary election [and subsequent run-off elections] result in a vacant off-cycle Board position.

5.3 Each term of office shall be for two consecutive years.  Each term shall start from the conclusion of the year-end meeting to the conclusion of the next year-end meeting of the second year.

5.3.1 Officers shall be elected in a 2-year rotational format.

5.3.1.1 The President/Secretary/Member-At-Large election will be held in ODD years

5.3.1.2 The Vice President/Treasurer election will be held in EVEN years. 

5.3.2 Individuals may hold only ONE office at a time.

5.3.3 Incumbents may stand for re-election, but are limited to serve not more than 5 consecutive years in the same office.

5.3.3.1 If a candidate has already served more than 3 years in office, they may not stand for election to that same office.

5.3.3.2 Past officers may be re-elected to their previous role so long as an interceding incumbent has served at least 2 years.

FOR EXAMPLE:  A President having served for 5 years, must step down from the President’s role.  He or she may run for President again after two years and serve an additional 5 years.  This pattern can be repeated.  This rule applies to all officers, not just the President.

INTENT:  This rule is established to ensure some regular turn-over in the Board officers while recognizing that finding volunteer officers can also be difficult.  A past-President may serve again, if this is necessary for the continuity of the summer swim team and may be desirable and convenient, if they have children of substantial age variance. 

5.3.4 If an elected officer results in the vacancy of another board position, that vacated position will be filled by a secondary election during the same year-end meeting.  The resulting elected officer will serve only the balance of the vacated officer’s term.

FOR EXAMPLE:  If the incumbent Secretary successfully stands for Presidential election, they will assume the President’s role and vacate the Secretary role - the Secretary role being vacated ONE year before its natural election cycle.  A secondary election will be held during the same year-end meeting to fill the newly vacated Secretary position for the balance [one-year] of the regular term.

5.3.5 If a Board position [Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer or Member-At-Large] is vacated by resignation NOT concurrent with the year-end meeting, The President shall have the authority to fill the vacated Board position by appointment.  This provisional officer shall serve until the next election cycle for that officer’s term.

5.3.6 If the President is vacated by resignation NOT concurrent with the year-end meeting, the remaining three Board members MUST appoint a new President with 2/3 majority vote.

5.3.6.1 While the Presidential position is vacant, the Vice-President shall assume the duties of both President and Vice-President until an appointment or an election cycle is completed, whichever comes first.

5.3.6.2 Interim Presidents must stand for election at the next year-end meeting regardless of the natural election cycle, but only serve to the end of the regular term, if affirmed by election.

FOR EXAMPLE:  The incumbent President resigns 6 months into their term.  The Board must appoint a new President to serve until the next year-end meeting.  At that time, a Presidential election is held, but only for a one-year term to complete the regular term cycle of the original resignation.

5.4 Any board member may be relieved of his/her duties by agreement of two-thirds of the membership families.  A removal petition may be brought to the board by any member, but must have signature support from two-thirds of the membership families.  Each family shall have one vote and therefore only one signature on any petition for officer removal.  Removal should only be considered for gross negligence, criminal behavior or substantial failure to perform the duties of the office.

5.5 In 2022, ALL officers must stand for election.

5.5.1 Current incumbents must meet the tenure requirements outlined above in Article 5.3.3 in order to stand for re-election.

5.5.2 Newly elected President, Secretary, and Member-At-Large will serve two-year terms.

5.5.3 Newly elected Vice President and Treasurer will serve one year terms.

5.5.4 Article 5.5 applies only to the 2022 election.  Subsequent elections will follow the newly adopted By Laws.

ARTICLE VI:  Duties of Officers

6.1 President

6.1.1 Attend all League meetings and follow through on issues assigned

6.1.2 Prepare schedule of events for swim season

6.1.3 Assist in preparing registration packets to mail or e-mail

6.1.4 Conduct Board meetings

6.1.5 Conduct Parent’s meetings

6.1.6 Recruit volunteers & committees, not limited to the following:

6.1.6.1 Sponsorship Committee

6.1.6.2 Snacks & Concessions Committee

6.1.6.3 Equipment Committee

6.1.6.4 Safety Committee

6.1.6.5 Officials Committee

6.1.6.6 Election Committee

6.1.6.7 Coaches Selection Committee

6.1.6.8 New family orientation Committee

6.1.7 Serve as liaison between swim team and township supervisors regarding use of pool

6.1.8 Prepare coaches packets for CVI

6.1.9 Arrange and maintain trophy case and record board

6.1.10 Arrange for national anthem to be sung (or recording played) at home meets

6.1.11 Oversee the weekly operation of the swim team

6.1.12 President shall have the tie-breaking vote in any board decision or vote.

6.2 Vice President

6.2.1 Arrange for officials for the CVI, each home meet and any special events hosted by Conestoga Valley Swim Team.

6.2.2 Give names of officials to Treasurer prior to each meet for payment, if necessary.

6.2.3 Maintain posting of volunteer schedule for each meet via team website or similar scheduling medium.

6.2.4 Prepare, or oversee appointed volunteer, and publish periodic team newsletter or similar electronic distributed communication or website post during active swim season.

6.2.5 Inform anyone interested in stroke & turn judging when the training “clinic” will be held.

6.2.6 Maintain electronic starting equipment, including accommodations for fully-charged and functional equipment at each swim meet. 

6.2.7 Bring timing equipment or stopwatches to all meets and make sure they are in working order.

6.2.8 Arrange for senior recognition at last home meet

6.2.9 Arrange for senior gifts to be given at picnic

6.3 Secretary

6.3.1 Prepare and distribute communication announcing swim team registration meeting

6.3.2 Assist at registration meeting, typically held in April

6.3.3 Take notes at all board meetings, distribute meeting minutes to board members and make available to membership upon request.

6.3.4 Prepare team roster.

6.3.5 Maintain or delegate team website management to a qualified volunteer.

6.3.6 Order Ribbons and medals for dual meets and CVI

6.3.7 Arrange for photographer to do individual and/or team pictures.

6.3.8 Copy line-up sheets for dual meets.  Prepare Meet Manager or similar system to manage each home swim meet.

6.3.8.1 Score all dual meets and check the pool record book for records broken

6.3.8.2 Update record book and record board as needed.

6.3.8.3 Recognize swimmer accomplishment(s) in the team newsletter or similar electronic distributed communication or website post.

6.3.8.4 Log all times on team website

6.3.8.5 Be familiar with rules for meets regarding line-up changes and scoring

6.3.9 Prepare Year-end ballot

6.3.9.1 Collect nominations for year-end officer’s election ballot.

6.3.9.2 Self-nominations shall be accepted.

6.3.9.3 Third party nominations shall require acceptance from nominated member.

6.3.9.4 Year-end ballot shall include all nominations received and accepted 24 hours before the year-end meeting.

6.3.9.5 Additional nominations may be accepted during the year-end meeting and handled as “write-in” candidates on the year-end ballot.

6.3.9.6 Year end ballot shall include an informal coach’s performance survey designed to assess the membership’s desire to retain current season’s coaching staff for the next season. [As required by Article 7.2]

6.3.9.7 Ballot may include any provisional or proposed amendments to the By-Laws. [As required by Article 8.1.2]

6.3.10 Order trophies for each swimmer for picnic

6.3.11 Prepare participation certificates for picnic

6.4 Treasurer

6.4.1 Prepare annual budget

6.4.2 Prepare, mail, and process team registrations

6.4.3 Collect registration fees, sponsorship fees, CVI fees, concession stand funds and any funds from special events hosted by Conestoga Valley Summer Swim Team.

6.4.4 Deposit all funds.

6.4.5 Pay all bills.

6.4.6 Pay any entrance fees for swim team events or invitational meets.

6.4.7 Prepare annual tax returns, if necessary.

6.4.8 Prepare financial statements for each board meeting and year-end reports.

 6.5 Member-At-Large

6.5.1 Shall act as the liaison between the participants and the organization and is a voting member of the Board. Their focus will provide advice and counsel to the Board and assist the Board with various tasks throughout the year ensuring the continuation and growth of the Conestoga Valley Summer Swim Team.

ARTICLE VII:  Coaching Staff

7.1 Coach selection process shall be managed by the President.  President may appoint Coaching Selection Committee as necessary.

7.2 An informal, confidential, non-binding membership vote shall be taken at each year-end meeting, regarding membership satisfaction with the coaching staff. 

7.3 The board shall affirm all coaching selection(s) prior to any employment offer being made.

ARTICLE VIII:  Amendment Process

8.1 Proposed amendments to the By-Laws shall be presented to the officers of the organization.

8.1.1 Provisional acceptance shall occur with board approval, but shall not be fully ratified until majority vote of the team membership.

8.1.2 Any modification to the By-Laws must receive majority support from the membership vote held at the year-end meeting. 

8.1.3 Provisional modifications NOT ratified by majority of the membership shall be reversed or revert to previous by-laws as if no modification took place.

Revised: July 2022