New Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws At our October Business Meeting, Judy Rowe provided an introduction for the need for a new updated articles of incorporation and bylaws to meet current State requirements. Carol Brittain, an attorney and OWA member, explained the need for changes in the bylaws to comply with the law while leaving our historical horizontal structure remains unchanged. A steering committee (of five) is to act as “board of directors” with each person serving a two years. The three officers - President, secretary and treasurer (required by the state) are subordinate to and serving at the pleasure and discretion of the Steering Committee. Mui Ho discussed the History of OWA founded by Mui Ho and Wendy Bertrand – stressed the concept of horizontal structure in which ideas come from the bottom up rather than top down. The strength and vitality of OWA comes from this non-hierarchical structure. To continue this value that we shared for 36 years, Mui implored the terms “president, secretary and treasurer” which have a definite connotation, be used in the document only as required. Among members, these three titles shall be known as “OWA officers” and they are equal in responsibility and authority. There were 72 ballots cast but two of them were by non-members. The final counting of the ballots per Carol Brittain "at least 97% of the ballots cast approved the new Articles, Bylaws, and Steering Committee." We are grateful to Carol Brittain for her time and energy working with OWA to make our organization legal and updated. The proposed Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation The proposed Amended and Restated Bylaws |
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Newsletter | Nov/Dec 2009