Bylaw Amendments Open for Public Comment

Bylaws are a legal document protecting the Association in times of conflict. The bylaws of our Association distinguish us from other geospatial/land records conferences and organizations.

Our bylaws will be open to review and comment for the next 21 days (through January 10th). Email your comments to Past-President Jeremiah Erickson. After this public comment period the Board will review, contemplate, and possibly incorporate any suggestions received during our monthly board meeting. The final bylaws will then be sent to the membership for a vote to be adopted.

The changes proposed are best summarized as providing clarification on official meetings held during regional conferences, defining that the Wisconsin Land Information Association will be referenced as the Association throughout the document, establishing that the Wisconsin Land Information Board of Directors are referred to as the Board throughout the rest of the document upon its definition. We also made some minor adjustments in order to incorporate consistent language throughout the bylaws. Finally we took care of some punctuation and grammar issues which will not change the intent of the document.

I will further outline the main changes summarized above in the bullets hereafter, but I encourage you to download the following pdfs and review what is up for consideration at this time.

• In article 1.1 we state the Wisconsin Land Information Association, also known as WLIA, shall be herein referred to as the Association. Then use Association throughout the rest of the document in its stead.
• In articles 3.2.1, 6.5.4, 6.8, and 11.1, we spell out a stated number as well as identify it in parentheses.
• Starting with article 5.1 and following articles we use common language, “Notice of the time and place…” to state the time frames when we contact people prior to meetings.
• In article 5.2 we state that “the regional meetings shall be held in conjunction with regional conferences unless otherwise directed by the board of directors.” Clarifying that our meetings are held at regional conferences, known colloquially as regional meetings, was the impetus for reviewing our bylaws this year.
• In article 6.1 we state, “The Association shall be directed by the Wisconsin Land Information Association Board of Directors hereafter referred to as the Board.” From that point on we use Board in the place of board of directors etc.
• There are numerous words such as internet, e-mail, admin manual, bylaws, president, code of conduct and so on that are no longer capitalized throughout the document per review of commonly accepted practices for capitalization.

Here is a copy of the current bylaws: (existing bylaws)

Here is a copy of the current bylaws with proposed changes highlighted: (proposed changes)

Don’t be afraid to make any comments regarding the proposed bylaw changes. None of the changes in this document were intending to be groundbreaking. They are simply an aim for consistency and to establish what have become our normal procedures in the bylaws.

Sincerely,

Jeremiah Erickson – Past President