BYLAWS OF THE HUNTSVILLE AL SECTION
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

REGION 3, AREA 6
REVISED February 2003

In all instances, the IEEE Bylaws, Constitution, Regional Activities Board (RAB) Operations Manual and IEEE Policy Manual will prevail when there is a conflict between these documents and Section Bylaws.

ARTICLE I – Name and Territory

Sec. 1 . This organization shall be known as the Huntsville Section of the IEEE (or the IEEE Huntsville Section) hereinafter as the Section.

Sec. 2 . The territory of the Section, as approved by RAB, includes the ZIP Codes in Appendix I. These ZIP Codes include counties in Northern Alabama, Southern Tennessee, and Northeast Mississippi. This territory includes the cities of Huntsville, Madison, Athens, Decatur, Scottsboro, Florence, Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals, Guntersville, Albertville, and Boaz Alabama; Corinth and Iuka Mississippi; and Fayetteville, TN. Should the US Postal Service assign additional ZIP codes within this sa me geographical area these will be automatically incorporated.

ARTICLE II – Officers

Sec. 1. The six elected officers of the Section shall be

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Member at Large (2)

Sec. 2. The terms of office for the elected officers shall be for 1 year. A given individual shall be eligible to serve a maximum of only two successive terms in any given elective office.

Sec. 3. Terms of office will begin on 1 January. Outgoing officers will continue to serve until their successors are duly elected and take office.

Sec. 4. Any vacancy occurring during the year shall be filled by a majority vote of the Section Executive Committee.

Sec. 5. The duties of the elected officers are available in the RAB Operations Manual and IEEE Bylaws. These duties specifically include the Secretary’s responsibility to submit a report of meetings held within the Section and a report of Section officers to the IEEE Operations Center, and the Treasurer’s responsibility to submit an annual Section financial report to the IEEE Operations Center.

Sec. 6. IEEE Members, Fellows, and Senior Members (including all of those sa me member grades with the “life” designation) may serve as officers of the Section.

ARTICLE III – Standing Committees

Sec. 1 . The Standing Committees of the Section will be

• General Program
• Educational Activities
• Professional Activities
• Communications
• Membership Development
• Student Activities
• Awards & Recognition
• History
• Other Committees as Required

Sec. 2. The Section Chair with the approval of the Section Executive Committee shall appoint the chairs of the Standing Committees, and their terms will expire on December 31.

Sec. 3 . In addition, the Section Chair shall appoint, with the approval of the Executive Committee, the authorized number of delegates to Joint Engineering Council of Alabama (JECA) and Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS), and their terms will expire on December 31.

Sec. 4. Each Standing Committee Chair will appoint committee members with the approval of the Section Executive Committee, and their terms will expire on December 31.

Sec. 5. Duties of most Standing Committees can be found in the RAB Operations Manual, and IEEE Bylaws.

ARTICLE IV – Management

Sec. 1. The management of the Section shall be by the Section Executive Committee that shall consist of the six elected officers, a variable number of ex-officio members, standing committee chairs, and the Section representatives to JECA and HATS.

Sec. 2. Ex-Officio members include society chapter chairs, affinity group chairs, student branch chairs, and the last two section past chairs. “Section past chairs” are herein defined as the two most recent past chairs still members of the Section and willing and able to serve. Ex-officio members have a vote on the Section Executive Committee. They count toward a quorum if present, but do not count against a quorum if absent.

Sec. 3. A majority of the Section Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum, provided that those persons elected by the Section membership are at least one greater in number than those holding committee membership by appoint ment. Proxies by those Executive Committee members unable to attend are permitted, provided they are in writing, signed, and available for those present at the meeting to examine.

Sec. 4 . All elected and ex-officio members of the Executive Committee shall always be eligible to participate fully in conducting the business of the Committee. Only the first N-1 of appointed persons present, where N is the number of elected and ex-officio section officers present, will be allowed to vote. These will be selected in accordance with the number of years they have served on the Executive Committee, and, in the case of ties, alphabetically. The Secretary shall maintain the appropriate lists necessary to ensure this. Regardless of the number of positions simultaneously held by a single individual, each person shall only be authorized to cast a single vote.

Sec. 5. A majority of the Section Executive Committee present shall be necessary in the conduct of its business. If a quorum is not present, actions may be taken subject to confirmation by letter ballot, as detailed in Section 7. See Robert’s Rules of Order (Revised). If a quorum is not present at a meeting, the Chair may choose to conduct certain business of the meeting via email, fax or letter vote, as appropriate.

Sec. 6. Any member of the Section Executive Committee, except the Chair of a student branch, who misses three or more Executive Committee meetings during a 9 month period may, by a majority vote of the Executive Committee, be removed from office.

Sec. 7. Meetings of the Section Executive Committee ordinarily will be held at least monthly and will be called by the Section Chair or by a request of any three (3) elected or ex-officio members of the Section Executive Committee. A good faith effort shall be made to notify all members of the Executive Committee at least three (3) days in advance of any called meeting other than regularly scheduled meetings.

Sec. 8. Voting by Letter Ballot. The Committee shall be allowed to conduct business between meetings at the discretion of the chair by a 5-day letter ballot, using email (preferred), fax, or mail. For e-mail ballots, the Section Executive Committee Majordomo list will be used by all respondents, because it automatically provides a copy to every member of the Section Executive Committee. Real-ti me on-line meetings may also be utilized for Section business, at discretion of the Chair.

Sec. 9. The Fiscal year of the Section is January 1 to December 31.

ARTICLE V – Nomination and Election of Officers

Sec. 1. The Section Chair with the approval of the Section Executive Committee shall appoint a Nominating Committee consisting of at least three (3) members of the Section not then officers of the Section . The Nominating Committee shall make every reasonable effort to recom mend a minimum of two (but no more than three) section members for each office, who are presently in good standing and have indicated their willingness to serve. No member of the nominating committee shall be nominated for any office.

Sec. 2. The recom mendations of the Nominating Committee will be submitted to the Section Executive Committee for approval. Additional nominations for any office may be made by the Section Executive Committee or by means of a petition received during the petition period. To be valid a petition must be signed by five (5) or more voting members of the section in good standing, or one (1) percent of the membership, whichever number is smaller.

Sec. 3. If only one nomination is recom mended for each office, the election will be made at the Annual (December Section) Meeting. If additional nominations are made, an election will be by ballot e-mailed to the membership with the vote counted by a Tellers Committee appointed by the Section Chair. No member of the Tellers Committee shall be an active candidate for office. The Nominating Committee will normally serve the Tellers Committee function.

Sec. 4. A ballot, if required, shall be e-mailed by November 15. A reasonable ti me, but not less than 3 weeks, shall be allowed for return of these e-mailed ballots. A plurality of the votes cast shall be necessary for election.

Sec. 5. The ti metable for this procedure shall be:

• Chair Establishes election date, which shall be between 13 – 31 December, with approval of the Executive Committee. Normally this will be an action item at the regularly scheduled June Executive Committee meeting.
• 26 weeks (6 months) prior to date of election (WPE), the Nominating Committee shall be appointed.
• 22 WPE the Section Nominating Committee shall e-mail a “Call for Nominations” for all elected offices to the general Section membership.
• 18 WPE nominations due from members. The Nominating Committee will select from among the nominations as received, and add to them as necessary.
• 14 WPE the slate of nominees shall be presented to the Executive Committee for approval (usually at the regularly scheduled September Executive Committee meeting).
• 11 WPE the approved slate of nominees shall be e-mailed to the general membership and provision made in the communication for receipt of petition candidates for these offices (see Sec 2, above).
• 7 WPE is the deadline for receipt of candidates by petition.
• 5 WPE the entire slate of candidates for office (including petition candidates, if any) shall be e-mailed to the general membership. Appropriate biographical information and position state ments shall be included.
• If there is more than one candidate for each office, voting shall be by e-mailed ballot. Ballots will be e-mailed no later than November 15, and received back three weeks later. Votes will be tallied by the Tellers Committee and the results announced first to the candidates, and then e-mailed to the general membership as soon as practical thereafter.
• If there is only a single candidate for each position, the election will take place at the December Section meeting.
• The Secretary shall submit a report of the new Section officers to the IEEE Operations Center as soon as practicable following completion of the election.

ARTICLE VI – Business Meeting

Sec. 1. To transact business at a Section meeting, at least ten (10) section members, including a majority of the elected officers, must be present to constitute a quorum.

Sec. 2. IEEE Members, Fellows, Senior Members and Associates (including all those sa me member grades with the “Life” designation) are entitled to vote. Student Members and Society Affiliates are welco me and encouraged to attend Section meetings.

ARTICLE VII – Finances

Sec. 1. The Section Executive Committee must approve all expenditures of Section funds. Approval of an annual budget shall be considered to constitute such approval for the line items listed.

Sec. 2. Without prior authorization of the Section Executive Committee, Section funds can be used only for normal operations of the Section (see IEEE Policy Manual 11.4).

Sec. 3. The Treasurer and Chair shall be authorized to draw funds approved by the Section Executive Committee. The IEEE Staff Director of Financial Services shall be a signer on all Section and subunit accounts.

Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall be authorized to disburse funds up to the approved budget line item value without further Executive Committee action.

ARTICLE VIII – Society Chapters and Affinity Groups

Sec. 1. Chapters and Affinity Groups shall elect officers annually, for the sa me terms as Section Officers. These officers will consist of at least a chair and a secretary. In general, the nominating and election process shall mirror that for the section, except that the Chapter or Affinity Group Chair appoints the nominating committee.

Sec. 2. Responsibility for chapter and affinity group manage ment shall rest with the Section, which shall have control of all financial and other assets of the chapter or group in carrying out its activities.

ARTICLE IX – Amendments