BY-LAWS
of the
WESTERN
SONOMA COUNTY INTERNET COOPERATIVE
CORPORATION
ARTICLE
I - OFFICES
The
principal office of the Cooperative in the State of
ARTICLE II - PURPOSE
The primary
purpose of the Cooperative shall be to provide full-time connections to the
Internet for residents of
ARTICLE III - MEMBERSHIP
The
Directors, upon majority approval, may suspend a member after 30 days notice
for failure to pay required fees or comply with the membership agreement. In
the event that the non-payment or failure to comply with the membership
agreement is corrected within 30 days of notice of the same to the member, the
member may be reinstated upon majority approval of the Directors.
ARTICLE
IV - BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SECTION 2. NUMBER, TENURE AND
QUALIFICATIONS. The number of directorsDirectors
of the Cooperative shall be no fewer than three nor
more than seven. The initial boardBoard
shall comprise six directorsDirectors.
Thereafter, within the bounds above, the number of directorsDirectors
shall be set by resolution of the Directors. Each director Director
shall serve for a four year term. (In the first Directors’ election, 4 directorsDirectors
shall be elected to 4 year terms and 2 directorsDirectors
shall be elected to 2 year terms). Board of Directors elections shall be held
every 2 years in January and the Directors shall take office immediately upon
election.
An
act of all of the directorsDirectors
voting by teleconference or electronic mail shall be the act of the Directors.
Such vote shall be recorded in the minutes of the next regular or special
meeting. Any dissent in such vote shall defer the matter to the next regular or
special meeting.
SECTION 7. RESIGNATION. A director Director may
resign at any time by giving written or electronic mail notice to all members
of the boardBoard. Acceptance
of the resignation shall not be necessary to make it effective.
SECTION 9. COMMITTEES. The
Directors shall appoint a Technical CommitteeGroup
of no fewer than three members. All initial network service connections and
connection changes shall be subject to approval by the Technical CommitteeGroup.
The Technical CommitteeGroup
shall have authority to suspend service to any member whose service connection
or use of service adversely interferes with the service of other members of the
Cooperative, the Cooperative or connected networks such as the Internet. A
member's service may be reinstated on approval of the Technical CommitteeGroup.
ARTICLE V - OFFICERS
SECTION 1. NUMBER. The officers of the Cooperative shall be a President,
a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, each of whom shall be a member
and elected by the Directors. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be
held by the same person.
SECTION 2. ELECTION AND TERM OF OFFICE. The officers of the Cooperative to be elected by the
Directors shall be elected annually at the first meeting of the Directors held
after each annual meeting of the members.
SECTION 3. REMOVAL. Any officer, elected or appointed by the Directors,
may be removed by the Directors whenever, in
their judgment, the best interests of the
Cooperative would be served thereby.
SECTION 4. VACANCIES. A vacancy in any office may be filled by the Directors for the
unexpired portion of the term.
SECTION 5. PRESIDENT. The President shall be the chief executive officer of the Cooperative
and, subject to the control of the Directors, shall in general supervise and
control all of the business and affairs of the Cooperative. The President
shall, when present, preside at all meetings of the members and of the
Directors. The President may sign, with the Secretary or any other proper
officer of the Cooperative thereunto authorized by the Directors, certificates of membership
of the Cooperative, any deeds, mortgages, bonds, contracts, or other
instruments which the Directors have authorized to be executed, except in cases
where the signing and execution thereof shall be expressly delegated by the
Directors or by these bylaws to some other officer or agent of the Cooperative,
or shall be required by law to be otherwise signed or executed; and in general
shall perform all duties incident to the office of President and such other
duties as may be prescribed by the Directors from time to time.
SECTION 6. VICE-PRESIDENT. In the absence of the President or in the event of
his or her death, inability or refusal to act, the Vice-President shall perform
the duties of the President, and when so acting, shall have all the powers of
and be subject to all the restrictions upon the President. The Vice-President
shall perform such other duties as from time to time may be assigned by the
President or the Directors.
SECTION 7. SECRETARY. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of the members' and of the
Directors' meetings, see that all notices of the Cooperative are duly given or
as required, have general charge of the
records of the Cooperative including membership records, and in general perform
all duties incident to the office of Secretary.
SECTION 8. TREASURER. If required by the Directors, the Treasurer shall give a bond for the
faithful discharge of required duties in such sum and with such surety or
sureties as the Directors shall determine and at the expense of the Cooperative.
The Treasurer shall have charge and custody of and be responsible for all funds
and securities of the Cooperative; keep full and accurate accounts of receipts
and disbursements in books belonging to the Cooperative; receive and give
receipts for moneys due and payable to the Cooperative from any source whatsoever,
and deposit all such moneys in the name of the Cooperative in such banks, trust
companies or other depositories as shall be selected in accordance with these
bylaws; enter or cause to be entered regularly in the books of the Cooperative
kept for that purpose full and accurate accounts of all moneys received or paid
or otherwise disposed of by the Treasurer; maintain an accounting, by member,
of all monies paid or owed by members; render to the Directors, whenever the
Directors may require, an account of the financial condition of the Cooperative
and in general perform all of the duties incident to the office of Treasurer
and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned by the President or
by the Directors.
ARTICLE VI - CONTRACTS, LOANS, CHECKS AND DEPOSITS
SECTION 1. CONTRACTS. The Directors may authorize any officer or officers, agent or agents,
to enter into any contract or execute and deliver any instrument in the name of
and on behalf of the Cooperative, and such authority may be general or confined
to specific instances.
SECTION 2. LOANS.
No loans shall be contracted on behalf of the Cooperative and no evidence of
indebtedness shall be issued in its name unless authorized by a resolution of
the Directors. Such authority may be general or confined to specific instances.
SECTION 3. CHECKS, DRAFTS, ETC. All checks, drafts or other orders for the payment of
money, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued in the name of the
Cooperative, shall be signed by such officer or officers, agent or agents of
the Cooperative and in such manner as shall from time to time be determined by
resolution of the Directors.
SECTION 4. DEPOSITS. All funds of the Cooperative not otherwise employed shall be deposited
from time to time to the credit of the Cooperative in such banks, trust
companies or other depositories as the Directors may select.
ARTICLE VI VII-
FISCAL YEAR
The fiscal year of the Cooperative shall begin on the
first day of January in each year.
ARTICLE VIII – REVIEW OF BYLAWS AND AMENDMENTS
These
Cooperative Bylaws shall be reviewed no less than twice annually by the
Directors.
Amendments
to these bylaws may be made by a majority of the Directors. Amendments
to these bylaws may be made or by
petition presented to the Secretary and signed and dated by
three-fourthsone-half
(3/41/2) of
the members p. Provided
the signatures are gathered over no more than a 30
day period. notice of the character of the amendment is given
T these
bylaws may be altered or amended at any time.
ARTICLE IX -–
INDEMNIFICATION
The
Cooperative shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless each officer, director,
and agent of the Cooperative to the full extent of the law from and against all
costs, losses, expenses, and claims incurred by such person because the person
is or was a director, officer or agent of the Cooperative provided such person
conducted himself in good faith, the person reasonably believed that his
conduct was in the cooperative's best interests, in the case of conduct in such
person's official capacity, or in all other cases, his conduct was at least not
opposed to the cooperative's best interests, and in the case of any criminal
proceeding, the person had no reasonable cause to believe that his conduct was
unlawful.
The
Cooperative shall have the power to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf
of any present or former director, officer, or agent of the cooperative.
ARTICLE XIII -
DISTRIBUTIONS
The
Directors shall at the end of each fiscal year provide for the distribution of
the cooperative's net savings from operation remaining after expenses have been
met, according to the following method:
The
Directors shall firstly allocate from such net savings to a General Surplus
Reserve an amount it shall determine to be necessary or appropriate to absorb
operating deficits, losses and unanticipated costs or expenses. The amount so
allocated shall be the indivisible property of the Cooperative as a whole.
The
Directors shall secondly allocate from remaining net savings to a Facilities and
Maintenance Reserve an amount it shall determine to be necessary or appropriate
to fund replacement or expansion of network facilities. This amount shall also
be the indivisible property of the
Cooperative as a whole.
Thirdly,
the Directors may, at their discretion, allocate from remaining net savings an
amount for reimbursement of initial capital investments in the Cooperative
The
remainder of the net savings shall be distributed, at the discretion of the boardBoard
of directorsDirectors,
to the members as a credit or in cash.