New CORE constitution, ratified 9/14/06

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CONSTITUTION

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Concerned Ohio Retired Educators

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We, the members of the Concerned Ohio Retired Educators, hereinafter identified as CORE, in order to develop a well-defined and effective organization do hereby establish this Constitution.

Article I – Name

The name of the organization will be Concerned Ohio Retired Educators, henceforth referred to as CORE.

Article II – Mission Statement

CORE is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to advocate for the preservation of retirement benefits, including health care, to all Ohio educators under the control of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS).

Goals:

To monitor the compliance of the STRS Board and staff with ORC 3307.15.

To support the election of Board members who will “discharge their duties with respect to the funds solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries.”

To advocate for the security of adequate retirement benefits.

To advocate for a dedicated stream of funding for the Health Care Stabilization Fund in order to guarantee health care for all STRS members, spouses, and dependents.

To monitor inappropriate spending of STRS funds by the STRS Board and/or any STRS employee.

To establish a fair and equitable balance of active and retired members to serve on the STRS board.

To research and collect information about STRS, legislation, and other related matters, and to report and distribute this information to Ohio's current and future retired educators.

Article III – Membership

Participation in CORE is open to all Ohio educators, future and current retirees and their dependents. We must all work together to ensure the success of CORE and to preserve retirement rights for Ohio's educators.

Article IV – Governance

1. CORE will be governed by a Board of Trustees with a minimum of seven members. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to receive input from the CORE membership, establish policies that reflect the ideas and attitudes of the membership, direct the actions of all CORE officers, and approve all documents or communiqués that represent official CORE publications.

a. Nominations for selection as a member of the Board of Trustees may be made by anyone listed as a CORE member and meeting all requirements of active membership as set forth in Article III of this document.

b. Should a vacancy on the Board of Trustees occur, selection of a CORE member to complete the remainder of the term shall occur within thirty days of that vacancy

c. In the event of a vacancy on the Board of Trustees, selection of a replacement shall be determined by a two-thirds (67%) vote of the existing Board of Trustees.

d. Removal of a CORE Trustee shall follow the procedure outlined in Article VIII of this document.

2. CORE shall elect a President who shall preside at all meetings.

The President shall carry out the directives of the Board of Trustees and be the official spokesperson for CORE.

a. The President shall maintain the power to appoint all committee chairpersons, shall be an ex officio member of all committees, shall present all motions to the body, and shall be present at CORE meetings.

b. The President shall appoint a parliamentarian who shall use “Robert’s Rules of Order” to resolve questions of parliamentary procedure.

3. CORE shall elect a Vice President.

a. The Vice President’s duties shall be to preside at all meetings and functions that the President cannot attend and remain current on all CORE business.

4. CORE shall elect a Secretary.

a. The Secretary shall keep the official minutes of all CORE meetings, including the attendance of officers, and regularly report them to the membership.

5. CORE shall elect a Treasurer.

a. The Treasurer shall handle all dues, maintain and regularly report on the status of all accounts, and keep an accurate roll of all CORE members

Article V – Operations

1. Voting Eligibility

a. Those members meeting all requirements of active membership as set forth in Article III and in attendance at any meeting where a vote is taken, will be granted voting privileges.

2. Election Process

a. Elections shall be held at the CORE Annual Membership Meeting in September of each year.

b. All officers shall be elected by a majority vote (51%) of the eligible voting members of CORE in attendance at the CORE meeting designated as an election meeting.

c. All persons must give consent for their names to be placed in nomination and attest to their willingness to serve if elected.

d. The President shall take nominations from the floor, the nomination process must be closed and the motion seconded. The nominated parties will be allowed to vote.

e. All voting shall be done by secret ballot to be collected and tabulated by the Secretary and one voting member of CORE to be selected by the Board of Trustees.

f. Election results shall be reported to the CORE membership by the Secretary before the meeting is adjourned, if possible, or no later than forty-eight hours after the election.

3. Term of Office

a. The term of office shall be for a period of no longer than two years.

b. All officers may succeed themselves if so elected by the membership.

4. Meetings

a. All meetings will occur at a time and place to be designated by the Board of Trustees and will follow the general procedure set forth below:

i. Attendance

ii. Report by the President

iii. Committee Reports

iv. Vote on all Committee motions/decisions

v. Any other Business

vi. Dismissal by the President

b. There shall be a minimum of four (4) meetings per year.

c. The CORE Annual Membership Meeting shall be held in September of each year.

d. Committee Chairs may call meetings of their committee as needed. Minutes and a report of the meeting shall be made to the CORE President.

Article VI – Finances

CORE will finance the activities it engages in by the following means:

1. Contributions

2. Special projects or events organized by the Board of Trustees .

Article VII – Amending the Constitution

This constitution is binding to all members of CORE but the constitution is not binding unto itself.

1. Amendments to the constitution must be proposed in writing to the Board of Trustees. Any voting member of CORE may propose an amendment.

2. These amendments will be placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting of CORE and notification of the consideration of the amendment will be sent to members via the CORE E-mail Alert system.

3. Voting to ratify the proposed amendment shall take place at the second regular meeting after it has been presented to the Board of Trustees .

4. Proposed amendments will become effective following approval of two-thirds (67%) vote of all eligible voting members in attendance at the ratification meeting.

Article VIII – Removal of Officers

Any officer of CORE in violation of CORE’s purpose or constitution may be removed from office by the following process:

1. A written request to the Board of Trustees by at least five members of CORE.

2. Written notification of the request to the officer, asking the officer to be present at the next meeting and be prepared to speak.

3. A two-thirds (67%) majority vote of the eligible voting members in attendance at the meeting is necessary to remove the officer.

Article IX – Dissolution of the Organization

When CORE's goals are reached the organization may be disbanded.

1. The Board of Trustees, by a two-thirds (67%) majority vote, shall call for a motion to disband the organization.

2. Notification of the motion and the date of the meeting called to vote on the motion shall be posted for CORE members at least 30 days prior to the meeting date.

3. A two-thirds (67%) majority vote of the eligible voting members of CORE in attendance at the CORE meeting designated as a meeting to vote on dissolution shall be required for the motion to pass.

4. All remaining monies held by CORE, after expenses have been met, will be dispersed by the Board of Trustees to retired teachers with health care needs.

Article X - Adoption and Effective Date

This constitution shall become effective immediately upon adoption.

Bylaws

Article I - Membership

Section 1: Registration is required for CORE membership.

Section 2: There are no formal fees for CORE membership. Donations are crucial to the support of CORE’s mission.

Section 3: Honorary memberships can be bestowed by a majority (51%) vote of the Board of Trustees.

Article II - Notification of Meetings

Section 1: It will be the duty of the Secretary to post notices of regular or called meetings to members at least two weeks prior to the date of the meeting.

Article III - E-mail Lists

Section 1: CORE shall maintain a contact list (database) of those who wish to be informed of CORE activities, etc.

a. Access to the CORE database shall be limited to:

i. The author of the database

ii. The CORE President

iii. The CORE Secretary

iv. The CORE Treasurer

v. The person designated by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees to send official CORE Alerts.

Section 2: CORE shall establish an E-mail Alert System for the purposes of quickly disseminating CORE information.

a. The Board of Trustees shall, by a majority vote, designate a CORE member as the person responsible for sending all official CORE E-mail Alerts.

i. Only official releases approved by a majority of the Board of Trustees shall be sent via the E-mail Alert System.

ii. CORE ALERT shall be included in the subject line of all official releases.

Section 3: The database shall be maintained by a CORE member to be designated by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees.

Section 4: The Treasurer shall forward, in a timely manner, lists of all new CORE members so that they may be included on the CORE Contact List.

Article IV - CORE WEBSITE

Section 1: CORE shall maintain an Internet website.

a. The Board of Trustees shall, by a majority vote (51%), designate a CORE member as the person responsible for managing and maintaining the CORE website.

b. Any information posted on the CORE website shall be approved by a majority vote (51%) of the Board of Trustees before it is published.

c. The CORE website may be updated as directed by the Board of Trustees but shall, at a minimum, be updated quarterly.

d. The cost of maintaining the CORE website shall be paid from the CORE general fund.

Article V - Amending the Bylaws

1. Amendments to the bylaws must be proposed in writing to the Board of Trustees. Any voting member of CORE may propose an amendment.

2. These amendments will be placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting of CORE and notification of the consideration of the amendment will be sent to members via the CORE E-mail Alert system.

3. Voting to ratify the amendment shall take place at the second regular meeting after it has been presented to the Board of Trustees.

4. Proposed amendments will become effective following approval of majority (51%) of the vote of all eligible voting members in attendance at the ratification meeting.