Bylaws
New bylaws April 2008
New bylaws were approved at the GVTA Annual General Meeting on April 20, 2008, and are now in effect. They are available for viewing or download below.
Features
- Complete rewrite and reorganization.
- Separate bylaws for the GVTA and for Grand Valley Trail Clubs.
- Each Club to have a Club Representative on the GVTA Board.
- Club’s governing body named Council of Stewards, to avoid confusion with GVTA’s Board of Directors.
- A financial framework to allow Clubs to operate freely and effectively, while maintaining ultimate control by the GVTA. This is because the Clubs will be divisions of the GVTA, not legally separate, so that the GVTA is responsible for the Clubs’ financial commitments.
- Careful balance between the bylaws, which cannot be changed at the whim of the Board, and the Standing Rules, which are set by resolutions of the Board.
- Safeguards for the GVTA’s status as a charity.
- Provision for possible future employees, Executive Committee, and non-Director Officers.
- Greater ease of use, from plain language, shorter clauses, table of contents, and larger print with use of bold and underlining. The electronic version has hyperlinks to all Articles from the table of contents.
View or Download
These files are in PDF format, which requires Adobe Reader for viewing. If you do not have this installed, you can get it here.
Reasons for the new bylaws
- The GVTA Strategic Plan includes the creation of local Grand Valley Trail Clubs (GVTC). This required a new organizational structure and rules.
- The last bylaw revision was in 1989 and minor. Since then, the world has changed. New GVTA practices, laws, and legal climate need to be reflected in our bylaws.
- Previous bylaws were deficient in some procedural details, which needed correction.
- Previous bylaws were dense and hard to read. For that reason, they were hard to use.
Consultations
The new bylaws have been developed over roughly 15 months, including consultations with the following people. We extend sincere thanks to all of them.
- Bruce Trail Director Lynn Allen
- Procedural expert Bill Bienia, Parliamentarian for Toastmasters International District 60.
- Lawyers Catherine Brohman and Denise Kocher of Sorbara Law, referred by GVTA member and lawyer Steve Kenney of Sorbara Law
- Professional accountants Georgia Mulholland and Gwyn Rafuse-Smith, GVTA Treasurers 2004-2007 and 2007-2009 respectively.
- The GVTA Board at all stages.
How to compare with previous bylaws
If you wish to see what changes have been made, please download the previous bylaws (PDF, 80 kB, 8 pages) and cross-references (PDF, 56 kB, 4 pages) between the old and new bylaws.
Questions?
If you have questions about details of the new bylaws, you are welcome to contact Bill McDonald, at 519-489-0485 or
.
Bill McDonald
Past President 2004-2006
Updated 2008 APRIL 30
