CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
FOR THE
SOUTH DAKOTA ASSOCIATION OF FARM SERVICE AGENCY
(FSA)
STATE AND COUNTY EMPLOYEES (AS AMENDED 04-26-2003)
ARTICLE I -- NAME AND OBJECTIVES
Section 1. A. This association shall be known as the South
Dakota Association of Farm Service Agency
(FSA) State and
Section 2. A. The objectives of this association shall be:
1.
To strive to
maintain and improve the confidence, esteem, and respect, of the public
for F.S.A. County Office Employees.
2. To offer full cooperation with the presently
established, or any revision of, the county
and community committee system or any
administrative association formed by these
groups.
3. To promote the professional improvement of
our membership.
4. To cooperate with the
5. To promote the welfare of
6. To be considered as, and be placed on, an
equal basis with other Federal employees,
and enjoy the same privileges and benefits
enjoyed by other Federal employees.
7. To cooperate with other state F.S.A. county
office employee associations in the
formation and support of a national
association of F.S.A. county office employees.
8. To establish districts within the state from
which district directors will be elected to
form the state Board of Directors of this
association.
ARTICLE II -- MEMBERSHIP
Section 1. A. Any
permanent appointment, may become a member of
this association by paying the annual
membership dues to this association.
B. Any South Dakota FSA County Office Employee
serving under a CO or GS permanent
appointment who is involuntary converted to a South Dakota State Office
Employee, and
holds current membership, may be a member of this association by paying
the annual dues of
this association.
C. Any individual who is not otherwise eligible for
membership may become an “associate”
member of this association by paying the annual
associate membership dues. The associate
member
is not
eligible to vote or hold office.
ARTICLE III -- OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
Section 1. A. The officers of this association shall be a
President, Vice-President, and a Secretary-
Treasurer.
Section 2. A. The Board of
Directors of this association shall consist of ONE duly elected director from
each established district, plus any of
the officers mentioned in Article III, Section 1. A. who
may be elected at large from among the
members of this association.
1. The outgoing President shall also be a member
of the Executive Committee with full
rights and privileges of the other members
for a period of one year after the
presidency is vacated, provided his or her
eligibility as a member of the
association is retained.
B. In the temporary absence of the duly elected
district director, the duly elected alternate
district director shall temporarily serve
as director of their district.
ARTICLE IV -- ELECTION OF OFFICERS
AND DIRECTORS
Section 1. A. All directors shall be elected not later than
June 1. Directors and alternates, shall
be elected
for a two-year term, or until their
successor is elected and qualified.
Directors in odd
numbered districts shall be elected in
odd numbered years. Directors in even
numbered
districts shall be elected in even numbered
years.
B. SDASCOE Director districts or areas shall be
the same as the F.S.A. “D.D.” districts
or
areas.
When change in F.S.A. district or areas occurs; whereas new SDASCOE
districts or
areas
created by this change or realignment, must be approved by a majority of paid
members at their annual membership
meeting. Resulting elections in these
districts or areas
having a change shall take place prior to
June 1st. Newly-elected Directors will
take office
July 1st.
C. The FIRST ELECTION to be held after a change
or realignment will be as follows: If
the
year of change or realignment is even, and
then those directors in even-numbered districts will
be elected to a two-year term and those
directors in odd-numbered districts will be elected
to
one-year terms, and vise-versa should the change occur on an odd-numbered year.
THEREAFTER in March of each year, a slate
of at least two members will be prepared for
each district with regard to the even- or
odd-year provision as described in Section 1.A.
The
member receiving the most votes will be
the director and the member receiving the second-
most votes will be the alternate. Terms of alternates will correspond with
those of the
directors elected. Directors and alternates elected in the March
elections will take office on
April 1st of the year elected.
D. Officers of the association shall be elected
by the members of the association at an annual
meeting of the membership. It is not a requirement that the officers be
elected from among
the district directors; however, any
officer elected must be a member of the association.
Section 2. A. All elections shall be decided by majority
vote.
ARTICLE V -- MEETINGS
Section 1. A. There shall be one annual meeting of this
Board of Directors held at the call of the President
at such time, and place, as designated
by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. A. Other meetings may be called at the
discretion of a majority of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. A. An annual meeting of the membership of the
association shall be called by the
President at the discretion of the Board
of Directors.
ARTICLE VI -- COMMITTEES
Section 1. A. All
committee chairpersons shall be appointed by the current President of the
association.
Each district director shall appoint one
or more members from their district to serve on each
Committee.
Section 2. A. The number of committees, names of the
committees, and the nature and extent of their
duties, shall be such as the Board of
Directors believes will best execute the program work
of this association.
ARTICLE VII -- DUES
Section 1. A. The annual membership dues shall be set by
the Board of Directors at their annual meeting,
and shall be set at a rate which the
board feels is adequate to carry on the operation of this
association. Any increase in annual dues proposed by the
Board of Directors shall not
become effective until approved by the
membership of this association at the annual
meeting of the membership.
Section 2. A. Dues become
payable July 1, each year.
ARTICLE VIII -- QUORUMS
Section 1. A. A quorum of the Executive Committee shall
consist of a majority of the district directors and
officers of this association.
Section 2. A. A quorum of the membership shall consist of a
majority of the paid up members present to
vote at the annual meeting of the
membership.
ARTICLE IX -- CONDUCT OF MEETINGS
Section 1. A. Roberts Rules of Order shall cover the
discussion and parliamentary procedure in all
meetings of this association.
ARTICLE X -- VACANCIES
Section 1. A. The Vice-President shall serve in the absence
or inability of the President.
Section 2. A. In the case of disability or resignation of a
director, the alternate director shall fill the
unexpired term. In the case of disability or resignation of
both the director and alternate
director, the President shall appoint a
member from that district to fill the unexpired
term.
Section 3. A. In the absence, disability, or removal for
cause, of either the Vice-President or Secretary-
Treasurer, that office shall be filled by
Presidential appointment until the next meeting of the
Board of Directors.
ARTICLE XI -- FINANCIAL MATTERS
Section 1. A. The
Secretary-Treasurer shall deposit all funds of this association in an accredited
bank, and
keep adequate records of collections and
withdrawals. The funds shall be
deposited in the
name of the association.
Section 2. A. The Secretary-Treasurer or President, in the
absence of the Secretary-Treasurer, must approve
the withdrawal of any or all funds from
the association account.
Section 3. A. The President and Treasurer shall refuse to
pay any expense incurred by any person or
committee
until all required expense accounts are properly presented to and filed with
the
Secretary-Treasurer.
Section 4. A. The state Secretary-Treasurer shall be
authorized to reimburse officers, district directors, and
committee members for authorized expenses
incurred. Such amount to be determined
by the
Board of Directors at their annual meeting
or at any special meeting called.
Reimbursement
shall be made as soon as practical after
the expenses are approved.
Section 5. A. The association shall reimburse other members
of the association who are invited to attend
a meeting of the Board of Directors, for
mileage and per diem for attending the meeting.
The rate shall be not more than the
prevailing
with the rate used to reimburse other officers and directors and may be
a lesser amount as
established by the Board of Directors.
Section 6. A. All records of this association shall be
subject to an annual audit by the Board of Directors,
or their designee, at the close of the
fiscal year.
ARTICLE XII -- DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND
DIRECTORS
Section 1. A. The duties of the President, Vice-President,
and Secretary-Treasurer shall be those usually
devolved upon such officers, except as
otherwise stipulated in this document.
Section 2. A. The Board of Directors shall have power to
transact all business of this association.
Delegations of authority for this purpose
may be at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. A. The Secretary-Treasurer shall conduct the
official correspondence of the association.
He/
she shall keep an accurate and neat
record of regular and special business meetings of the
association and Board of Directors. He/she shall keep an accurate record of all
transactions
of the association. He/she shall collect and disburse all monies
subject to the approval of the
Board
of Directors. He/she shall give an
accurate financial report of the association
annually.
He/she shall perform such other duties as the Board of Directors may
prescribe.
Section 4. A. The district directors shall assist the state
Secretary-Treasurer in sending out correspondence,
minutes of the state directors meetings,
etc., to the counties in their districts when so
requested.
Section 5. A. The President
shall also serve as Chairperson of the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE XIII -- AMENDMENTS
Section 1. A. Proposed amendments to the association
constitution and by-laws must be announced to all
members at least 60 days prior to the
annual meeting of the membership.
Section 2. A. The constitution and by-laws of this
association may be amended, revised, or repealed, at
any annual meeting of the membership of
this association by an affirmative vote of 2/3 (two-
thirds) of the paid-up members attending
the annual meeting.
Section 3. A. All amendments or revisions so made shall go
into effect immediately following their
adoption.
ATTACHMENTS
EXHIBIT “A” -- Indicates the number of districts currently established,
and the counties included in each district.
ATTACHMENT
EXHIBIT “A”
Counties included in each director’s district/area as so directed in The
Constitution and By-laws.
District/Area 1-- Brown, Campbell, Day, Edmunds, Marshall, McPherson, and
Walworth
District/Area 2-- Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin,
Kingsbury, and Roberts
District/Area 3-- Lake,
District/Area 4—
District/Area 5-- Brule/Buffalo, Gregory, Hughes/Stanley, Lyman, Potter, Sully,
and Tripp
District Area 6—Beadle, Faulk, Hand, Hyde, Jerald, Sanborn, and Spink
District/Area 7-- Butte/Lawrence, Corson, Dewey/Ziebach, Harding and
Perkins
District/Area 8-- Bennett/Shannon, Fall River/Custer, Haakon,
Jackson/Jones, Meade, Mellette/Todd, and
Pennington