Tell members to vote in August to approve full membership benefits for auxiliary members!
As auxiliary members of MOAA, you have proven your worth to the association time and again.
Whether you help or lead chapter activities, lobby on behalf of military officers, or pledge your support by signing and mailing MOAA’s letters to your legislators, you make a difference. MOAA’s board of directors is proposing to give you a vote on official association business and authorize you to serve on the board.
BYLAW CHANGES
• Auxiliary Members and Life Auxiliary Members Voting Rights
Under MOAA’s existing bylaws, there are six classes of members: members; Life Members; auxiliary members; Life Auxiliary Members; honorary members; and cadets and midshipmen. The bylaws currently provide that only members and Life Members are entitled to vote (Article III, Section 5). Similarly, only members and Life Members may serve on the board of directors (Article VIII, Section 1). The auxiliary member category was created as a separate membership class when the association bylaws were modified in 1975. Article III, Section 2(c) of the bylaws identifies auxiliary members as widows and widowers of MOAA members (or those who would have been eligible for membership). Life Auxiliary Members are widows and widowers of deceased Life Members or any widow or widower of any deceased individual who would have been eligible for membership who pays the prescribed life auxiliary membership fee. Article III, Section 5 excludes auxiliary members and Life Auxiliary Members from voting, and Article VIII, Section 1(a) excludes them from being elected to the board of directors. The current auxiliary membership population is 60,145, or 17
percent of the current MOAA members. Of that total auxiliary population, 42,645, or 70 percent of them, are Life Auxiliary Members. Auxiliary members have a record of distinguished service and leadership in MOAA. It recently was reported to MOAA’s board of directors that 116 of 410 MOAA chapters had an auxiliary member on the chapter’s board of directors, and 15 of the 35 MOAA councils had auxiliary members on the council’s board of directors. MOAA’s Council and Chapter Policies and Procedures Guide provides regular or auxiliary members can fill chapter officer positions and auxiliary members also can fill leadership positions on their boards and standing committees.
The guide also provides auxiliary members should have the same voting rights in chapter matters as all other members. In 2011, the chair of MOAA’s board of directors appointed an ad
hoc committee to study auxiliary member voting rights and board membership. After conducting extensive research and conducting discussions with national as well as council and chapter leadership, the committee concluded auxiliary members should be granted voting rights and be authorized to compete for membership on MOAA’s board of directors. The committee noted that, in the eight years the Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee (AMAC) had been in existence, the contributions of those auxiliary members merited special recognition for their depth and breadth as repeatedly evidenced by the AMAC’s presentations at board meetings. In addition, and most important, the ad hoc committee recognized the contributions of auxiliary members’ increasing leadership presence in chapters and councils across the country. On Oct. 28, 2011, the board of directors approved the ad hoc committee’s recommendations and directed that the matter be submitted to MOAA’s membership as a proposed change to the MOAA bylaws. Accordingly, the board recommends the following changes to the
MOAA bylaws: Article III, Section 5 be amended to read: “Members, Life Members,
auxiliary members, and Life Auxiliary Members shall be entitled to vote upon any matter properly submitted to the membership for vote.” Article VIII, Section 1 be amended to read: “There shall be 36
directors of the association, composed of individuals who are members, Life Members, auxiliary members, or Life Auxiliary Members of the association. They will be apportioned from the services as follows: Army, eight; Navy, eight; Air Force, eight; Marine Corps, three; Coast Guard, two; Public Health Service, one; NOAA, one; and five at large without regard to service affiliation.”
The vote is in August. Get the word out!
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