THE
CONSTITUTION
OF
THE BULLDOG CLUB OF AMERICA
Revised
June, 2004
ARTICLE
I
FOREWORD
In recognition of the changes
which have occurred since this Club was organized in 1890, and incorporated
under the laws of the State of New York on February 29, 1904, and desiring to
form a more effective organization through which people in the United States
of America (including Territories and Possessions), actively interested in
the bulldog breed, may unite in the accomplishment or pursuit of the purposes
for which this Club was formed, we the Members of The Bulldog Club of
America, establish and adopt this revised Constitution.
The objects of the Club were well stated
by the founders. Without essential change, we restate our purposes as
follows:
- To maintain a standard of excellence for the
guidance of breeders, owners and judges.
- To improve the breed through encouragement of
effort directed toward approach to, or attainment of, the degree of
excellence set forth in the standard of the bulldog breed.
- To stimulate interest in competitive public
showings of bulldogs.
- To further the interests of the Breed.
- To work for the general good of breeders,
owners and exhibitors of bulldogs.
ARTICLE
II
POLICY
Believing that the best
interests of the breed, in a country as large as ours are best served by sectional
groups united in a strong national organization we declare our policy to be
to support and promote the general welfare of local bulldog specialty clubs,
the objects and conduct of which are in harmony with the purposes of this
Club.
ARTICLE
III
FORM
OF ORGANIZATION
The basic unit of the Club
shall be the member, who may be an individual, or a bulldog specialty club.
Each member shall have one vote.
Because of the size of our country
and the great distances separating some members from others, and to provide
for effective and equitable administration, Divisions shall be established by
suitable groupings of states Each Division shall be governed by a Board of
Governors and officers elected by members of the Club residing in such
Division.
Each Division shall conduct the
affairs of the Club in its territory and shall advise The Council in matters
which, although pertaining to the Division, are required to be acted upon by
the national government. The Council shall give great weight to the advice of
a Division upon a matter peculiar to that Division.
The Club shall be governed
nationally by a representative Council and by officers elected by the
members.
ARTICLE
IV
SECTION 1. The Divisions
of the Club shall be as follows:
- Division No.1. Connecticut, Delaware, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island and Vermont.
- Division No.2. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
- Division No. 3. Arizona, California, Hawaii
and Nevada.
- Division No. 4. Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
- Division No. 5. Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon
and Washington.
- Division No. 6. Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
- Division No. 7. District of Columbia,
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
- Division No. 8. Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Mississippi and Tennessee.
Members residing in any foreign
country or in any Territory or Possession of the United States may choose the
Division most accessible to them.
SECTION 2. Each Division shall be
governed by a Board of Governors (which includes the President, Vice
President, Treasurer, Secretary and Governors) elected by the members
residing in such Division in accordance with the Divisional By-Laws.
For the purpose of clarity, the
Constitution and By-Laws will use the prefix "Club" before the
National Officers and "Div." before the Division Officers, i.e.,
Club Secretary, Div. Secretary.
ARTICLE
V
SECTION l. The legislative
power to propose By-Laws and amendments thereto shall be vested in The
Council of The Bulldog Club of America, which shall consist of elected
Councilors. By-Laws and amendments thereto, proposed by The Council, shall be
submitted to the membership for vote and when approved by a majority vote of
the membership, shall be submitted to the American Kennel Club for approval
and shall become effective when said approval is received from the American
Kennel Club.
The phrase "by a majority vote of the
membership" means one-half plus one or more votes, actually cast,
regardless of the total number of eligible votes in the Club.
The President shall vote only when The
Council is evenly divided on any question. The other officers of the Club
shall be informed concerning all matters submitted to the vote of The
Council, so that they may inform The Council of matters in their particular
care, but such officers shall have no vote in The Council.
SECTION 2. The elected Councilors shall be
chosen biennially by the members of each Division.
A Councilor shall be at least twenty-five
years of age, and shall when elected be residing in the Division in which he
is chosen.
Elected Councilors shall be apportioned
among the several Divisions according to the respective numbers of votes on
the thirty-first day of December last preceding each election The number of
members and votes in each Division shall be certified to The Council annually
at the first meeting, by the Secretary of the Club. The number of elected
Councilors shall not exceed one for every fifty votes, but each Division
shall have at least one elected Councilor.
In the event a Councilor cannot attend a
National Council meeting, an alternate Councilor may attend with full voting
privileges for that meeting only. He or she to be selected from the following
Divisional Officers in preferred sequence: The President, Vice President,
Secretary, Treasurer and if not these, the Division President would select
some other BCA member who resides in and is a member of that Division.
When vacancies happen in the Councilors
from any Division they shall be filled by special elections of the Division
Membership.
The President of the Club shall be
President of The Council; the Vice President of the Club shall act in the
absence or disability of the President. The Secretary of the Club shall be
the Secretary of The Council. The Treasurer of the Club shall be the
Treasurer of The Council.
SECTION 3. The times, places and manner of
holding elections for Councilors shall be prescribed in the Divisional
By-Laws.
The Council may assemble at such times and
places as may be agreeable to a majority of the Councilors. If there be no
assembly agreed upon for any quarter-year, the Council shall act by mail
ballot upon any matter submitted to it by the Executive Committee.
SECTION 4. Council shall be the judge of
the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority
of the Councilors, acting in person or by mail ballot, shall constitute a
quorum to do business; any action of The Council shall require the
affirmative vote of a majority of The Council.
The Council may determine the rules of its
proceedings, and expel a Councilor by unanimous consent of the other
Councilors.
The Council shall keep a journal of its
proceedings, and annually or more frequently publish the same to the members
of the Club. The Council vote shall be made a matter of public record to the
BCA membership.
SECTION 5. The Council shall have power to
make appropriations from the revenues of the Club, for the general and
specific purposes set forth in the Forward.
SECTION 6. The Council shall have no power
to create or incur debt, for the payment of which funds are not immediately
available.
SECTION 7. No Division of the Club shall
have power to fix dues for membership nor make any assessment against its
Division membership except at the direction of the Council.
ARTICLE
VI
SECTION 1. The executive power
shall be vested in an Executive Committee consisting of the officers of the
Club, and such Councilors as may reside in the Division in which a majority
of the officers reside. The President of the Club shall be chairman of the
Executive Committee. The quorum for meetings of the Executive Committee shall
be a majority.
SECTION 2. The officers of the Club shall
be a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, a Secretary and a Delegate to
the American Kennel Club. No member shall be eligible for more than one
office during each term. The Delegate to serve until his successor is
appointed and accepted by AKC. The officers shall hold office during the term
of two years and shall be elected by the members of the Club as
follows.
The designated Division from which a
majority of the Officers of the Club shall be chosen biennially, shall be in
succeeding numerical sequence with no exceptions; the next higher division
from the one presently having these officers. When the cycle is complete it
shall be repeated in sequence starting with Division 1 to Division 2, etc.
The Board of Governors of such designated Division shall constitute the
Nominating Committee. They shall assemble in the second calendar quarter of
each odd numbered year and nominate by majority vote one member of the Club
for each office.
The By-Laws shall define the eligibility
requirements for a member of a Bulldog specialty club for the purpose of
computation of dues. The nominees for the offices of President, Vice
President, Treasurer and Secretary shall be residents of the Designated
Division.
The nominee for the office of Delegate to
the American Kennel Club shall be a resident of the United States of
America.
The nominations shall be submitted to the
Council, which may not amend the nominations by the deletion of any name; but
the Council may in its discretion make one additional nomination for each or
any office.
Ballot containing the names of all
nominees for each office shall then be sent to each member in good standing
by the Club Secretary in the month of August with a return envelope addressed
to the Club Secretary. Election day shall be the third Friday of October in
each odd numbered year. Between closing day and the 15th day of November, the
Secretary shall present the unopened returned ballots to the Executive
Committee, which shall make a list of all persons voted for and the number of
votes for each.
If there is only one candidate for each
office, the Secretary will be empowered to suspend the designated election
procedure and to cast a single ballot without polling the entire
membership.
The persons having the greater number of
votes for each office shall be the officers of the Club. Persons so elected to
national office shall not during their terms as National officers, hold
divisional office concurrently. The members shall be informed promptly as to
the election results. If more than one nominee have the greater and an equal
number of votes for any office, then The Council shall as promptly as
possible choose by ballot one of them for such office.
In the case of the removal of any officer
from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of his office, the Council shall elect his successor to
serve for the remainder of the term except in the case of the President whose
office shall be filled by the Vice President and a new Vice President elected
by The Council, or in the case of the President-Elect, whose office shall be
filled by the Vice President-Elect and a new Vice President-Elect elected by
the Council.
The Secretaries of the several Divisions
shall upon election to office in the Divisions become Assistant Secretaries
to the National Secretary. The Treasurers of the several Divisions shall upon
election to office in the Divisions become Assistant Treasurers to the
National Treasurer.
ARTICLE
VII
The Council, whenever two
thirds agree to the necessity, shall propose amendments to this Constitution.
Amendments may also be proposed by the petition of members having 20% of the
total number of certified votes in the last annual certification by the
Secretary of the Club to the Council. Such proposed amendments shall be
submitted to the membership for vote and, when approved by a majority vote of
the membership, shall be submitted to the American Kennel Club for approval
and shall become effective when said approval is received from the American
Kennel Club.
The phrase "by a majority vote of the
membership", means one-half plus one or more votes actually cast,
regardless of the total number of eligible votes in the Club.
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