Bylaws of the
Weavers & Spinners Society of Austin

Article I
Purposes of the Organization

The purposes for which the Corporation is organized are:

to bring together persons to serve, advance, teach, and make available to the individual artisan and to the public generally the arts, crafts, techniques, materials, and processes for spinning, dyeing, weaving and the related arts;

to develop, foster and maintain a high appreciation of the rights, objectives, responsibilities and artistic contributions made by spinners, dyers, and weavers to civilization and to the public generally;

to promote, teach, and maintain high standards of the arts and crafts among textile artists for and to the best interest of the public generally; and to do all things necessary and incidental to carrying out such purposes.

Article II
Offices

The principal office of the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin in the State of Texas shall be located in the City of Austin, County of Travis. The Corporation may have other such offices either within or without the State of Texas as the Board of Directors may determine or as the affairs of the Corporation may require from time to time.

The Corporation shall have the authority to maintain in the State of Texas a registered office and a registered agent whose offices are identical with such registered office, as required by the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act. The registered office may be but need not be identical with the principal office of the Corporation in the State of Texas and the address of the registered office may be changed from time to time by the Board of Directors.

Article III
Board of Directors

The affairs of the Corporation shall be arranged by the Board of Directors.

The number of Directors shall be seven (7). Each officer of the Corporation shall be an ex officio member of the Board of Directors with vote. There shall also be one “at large” member of the Board of Directors elected from the General membership. A quorum for the transaction of business shall consist of a majority of the directors.

The Board of Directors constitutes a policy formulating body. The directors shall meet on a regular basis and a report of the business conducted and recommendations made shall be reported in the newsletter and given by the President to the membership at the next general meeting. The Board of Directors shall recommend policies to the membership; policy making itself is a prerogative of the membership present and voting at each general meeting

Any vacancy occurring in the Board of Directors shall be filled by special election of the remaining Board of Directors. A director so elected to fill a vacancy shall be elected for the unexpired term of her/his predecessor in office.

Neither officers nor directors of the corporation shall receive any stated salaries for their services nor be compensated for attendance at regular or special meetings. Nothing herein contained, however, shall e construed to preclude any director or officer from serving the corporation in any other capacity or in receiving compensation therefore.

Article IV
Meetings

The general meetings of the corporation shall be held in such times and places as may be determined by a vote of general membership and recommendation of the Board of Directors. There shall be a minimum of six (6) general meetings each year of the Corporation.

Meetings of the Board of Directors shall be held at a time preceding the general meetings as established by the membership. Meetings of the Board of Directors and general meetings of the membership shall be conducted according to Robert’s Rules of Order.

Article V
Annual Meeting and Elections

There shall be an annual meeting of all members in May of each year at which time the officers and members-at-large of the Board of Directors shall be elected to serve one year terms. All terms of office shall begin on June 1. A majority of members present and voting at the membership meeting shall elect the officers to serve the Corporation. Should an officer or director refuse or cease to serve her/his office for any reason, the vacancy shall be filled by the Board of Directors at a specially called meeting.

A nominating committee shall be appointed by the President of the Corporation in March. The nominating committee shall consist of at least three members of the Corporation of whom at least two are not themselves members of the present Board of Directors. The nominating committee shall report its slate of officers to the general membership in April. Permission must be secured in advance from any individual nominated prior to the presentation of the name to the membership. The at-large-member of the Board of Directors shall also be nominated and elected by these provisions.

Article VI
Officers

The officers of the Corporation shall be President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Chairman, and Newsletter Editor, all of whom may be elected at the annual meeting of the members in May.

The duties of each officer are herein described;

The President shall preside at all meetings of the Corporation. In her/his absence, the Vice-President shall conduct the meetings. The President shall preside over meetings of the Board of Directors and report the recommendations to the membership at the general meetings.

The Vice-president shall serve as Chairman of the Program Committee.

The Treasurer shall maintain all books pertaining to the finances of the organization, write checks to defray authorized expenses and prepare a budget covering the expected operating expenses for the year to be voted on by the membership at the September meeting. Authorized expenses include such items as books, magazine subscriptions, membership folders and newsletters. The fiscal year of the Corporation shall run from October 1 through September 30.

The Secretary shall handle all correspondence for the organization, keep minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors and the General Meetings and provide the Newsletter Editor with information to include in the newsletter. The Secretary shall also be responsible for the historical files and records of the Corporation.

The Membership Chairman shall keep current records of the membership and provide up-to-date listings of the membership to the Newsletter Editor. She/he will be responsible for collecting dues and providing new members with membership packets.

The Newsletter Editor shall be responsible for publishing the monthly newsletter of the organization, including reports of the Board of Directors meeting, the preceding general meeting and other activities and interests of the membership.

Committees may be set up at the discretion of the President with the approval of the Board of Directors to carry out the authorized purposes of the Corporation.

Article VII
Membership

All persons are eligible for membership in this Corporation who are interested in the advancement of the cause of the arts and crafts of weaving, spinning and dyeing.

The annual dues shall be set by the membership at the September meeting. Directors may recommend an increase or decrease in annual dues to the general membership as needed. Checks should be made payable to the Corporation. All dues shall be paid annually on or before the first day of October of each year. If annual dues are not paid by November 1 of each year, the member shall become inactive and will no longer be considered a member in good standing of the Corporation.

Active members joining between the months of May and September shall have their annual dues pro-rated to the amount of one-half the regular membership fee. An active student membership shall be three-fourths of the regular membership fee as long as the individual is enrolled full time in a recognized school.

Non-voting members may have an associate membership if they live outside the Austin area. The annual dues for associate memberships shall be one-half that of the regular membership.

The members shall vote on all policy making decisions which shall guide the Corporation pursuant to the purposes clause of the Articles of Incorporation and of these bylaws.

Article VIII
Disbursement of Funds

The funds of the Corporation shall be used and expanded by the Treasurer subject to the vote of the membership. Disbursements in addition to budgeted operating expenses and exceeding $25.00 total in any one month must be approved by members present and voting at the general meeting. Appropriations for operating expenses all be voted on at the business meeting in September on the recommendation of the proposed budget by the Treasurer.

Article IX
Policies of the Organization

No member of this Corporation shall officially make any pronouncement or declaration on questions of policy until the same has been authorized by the Board of Directors. The President of the Corporation shall be authorized to speak on behalf of the Corporation where necessary.

Article X
Amendments

Proposed amendments to these Bylaws shall be introduced at a regularly scheduled general meeting and reported to the membership in the next newsletter preceding the next general meeting. They shall be passed upon a simple majority vote of all members present and voting at the next general meeting. In the alternative, these Bylaws may be amended through the return of written ballots submitted to all members.

Article XI
Disposition of Assets at Dissolution

Should the Board of Directors recommend that the Corporation disband, such recommendation shall be submitted in writing to the entire membership. Two-thirds of the entire membership must approve of dissolution. Said vote may be obtained through return of written ballots or at a general meeting of the members or a combination of these two methods. The Board of Directors will consult with an attorney in order to comply with state and federal laws regarding disbursement of funds and disposition of equipment upon the dissolution of a non-profit corporation.

Article XII
Interim Organization

The elections for the 1983 through Spring, 1984 officers will take place at the October, 1983 meeting. These elected officers shall serve until June of 1984 at which point they will be replaced by officers elected under these Bylaws.

Addenda
Meetings

General Meetings are held at 7:15 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month at the Austin Recreation Center, 1301 Shoal Creek Blvd. Meetings are held every month except August.

Board Meetings are usually held following the general meetings, as often as necessary.

Spinning Group meets every fourth Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Austin recreation Center.

Demonstrations

Experience the fun of sharing your skill and enthusiasm for your craft with the public at one of these demonstrations.

Newsletter

A newsletter is published and mailed to members monthly except August. Advertising may be purchased at a rate established by the newsletter editor.

Library Rules

1. A person must have a membership in the W.S.S.A. three months before checking out books.
2. Books checked out must remain in possession of the borrower.
3. Damage to or loss of books must be compensated.
4. A limit of four books may be checked out by a person at a time. (Bound magazines count as one book; single current copies of magazines count as one book.)
5. Books may be checked out for one month and be renewed for one month more if no one else has requested them.
6. A fine of one dollar per month per book will be charged for each book overdue, not to exceed replacement cost of each item.
7. members must remain current with their membership dues to retain their privileges to borrow books.
8. The duties of the librarian include checking books in and out, collecting fines, and maintaining a waiting list for requests. The librarian will formulate a system to insure fairness on the waiting lists, especially for current magazines.
9. An inventory will be taken annually in November and all locations must be verified.
10. All library fines will be set aside for library use.
11. All library books will be kept in a locked case at the ARC. Keys will be kept by the librarian and other designated members in good standing.

Note: The library materials are available every Thursday that the general membership or spinners meet.

Equipment Rules

1. The duties of the Equipment Chairperson include keeping written records of all equipment with dates and condition at time of check-out and check-in.
2. The person borrowing and using the equipment must have an Active Membership in the W.S.S.A. in good standing for three months prior to checking out equipment. Borrowers must remain current with their dues to retain their equipment-borrowing privileges.
3. Equipment checked out must remain in the possession of the Borrower until it is returned to the Equipment Chairperson.
4. No limit is set on the number of pieces borrowed by a member, but a limit of one of a kind is imposed, except in the case of dyepots. (Eg., A member may borrow one spinning wheel, one pair of carders and one loom.)
5. Equipment may be kept as long as no one else requests it; however, it must be renewed with the Equipment Chairperson at two month intervals. If a request is received, the member in possession of that equipment will be allowed one month to return it (to allow for completion of works in progress), provided they have been allowed to keep it for two months.
6. Workshop or class use of equipment is limited to W.S.S.A. sponsored workshops and classes.
7. The borrower may not remove any equipment from the City of Austin or the surrounding area in which the membership of the W.S.S.A. is represented.
8. An inventory of all equipment will be taken annually in November, and all locations must be verified.
9. Damage to or loss of equipment must be compensated to W.S.S.A. by the Borrower at current replacement costs.

Current Equipment List