CONSTITUTION
AND
BY-LAWS
of the
ASSOCIATION COUNTY/CITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS

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ARTICLE I

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Name

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Section 1. The name of this organization shall be Association County/City Information Systems.

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ARTICLE II

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Purpose

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Section 1. The primary purpose of this organization shall be to promote a communication link between the Information Systems functions of counties, cities, and other public agencies in Washington State.

 

Section 2. It shall also be the purpose of this organization to represent county and city Information Systems interests to state officials and to call attention to relevant legislation.

 

Section 3. This organization will seek to provide education for county/city officers on roles, responsibilities, and requirements of Information Systems departments.

 

ARTICLE III

 

Membership

 

Section 1. The membership of the Association shall consist of five (5) grades having the rights and privileges listed below:

 

A. Members
One duly appointed Administrator, Director, or Employee of the department responsible for the agency’s Information Systems or an employee designated to represent the County/City. Members shall have the right to one vote per agency on all matters of the Association. In the event a Member is not present at a meeting, he/she may designate his/her agency’s Associate member or Member of another agency to cast the Members' vote by proxy.

 

B. Associate Members (non-voting)
One or more persons designated by a Member who is an employee of the same agency. Associate Members shall have all the rights and privileges of a Member except the right to vote.

 

C. Affiliate Members (non-voting)
One engaged in Information Systems and/or administration at a political subdivision, state agency, or governmental association (such as MRSC, AWC, WACO, or similar associations) whose interest or policies bring them in contact with Member agency’s Information Systems. Affiliate members shall only have the right to attend meetings and participate in discussions.

 

D. Associate Affiliate Members (non-voting)
One or more persons designated by an Affiliate Member who is engaged in Information Systems and/or administration at the same political subdivision, state agency, or governmental association as the designee whose interest or policies bring them in contact with Member agency’s Information Systems. Associate Affiliate members shall only have the right to attend meetings and participate in discussions.

 

E. Honorary Member (non-voting)
One who is nominated by a voting member and approved by the membership at a regular business meeting to become an Honorary Member. Honorary Members are former Members or Associate Members that are leaving the organization or are no longer eligible to be Members or Associate Members and who have provided a high level of service or significant contribution to ACCIS.

 

ARTICLE IV

 

Board of Directors

 

Section 1: The Board of Directors shall be made up of the Executive Board and up to 10 Members at Large. The Board of Directors shall represent the membership of the Association and shall act in their best interest at all times. The Board is responsible for establishing management of the association, for developing and implementing policy and for making major decisions that have impact to the organization. The board shall be responsible for the strategic direction of the association and shall actively work to support recruitment of At-Large Board members and recruitment of Executive Board members. All policy decisions are the responsibility of the Board of Directors.  Any major impact decisions shall first be discussed by the Board, and an advisory vote shall be conducted by the full board in order to move the decision forward to a full vote of the membership.

 

Section 2: The Executive Board, shall consist of 5 members as follows:

• Secretary

• Treasurer

• Vice President

• President

• Past President

 

The Executive Board is responsible for the day-to-day operations and decisions for the successful running of the association. Authority is granted by the full board to the President and the Vice President, acting in concert, to plan and manage the bi-annual conferences. The day-to-day operations include expenditures of funds to support the bi-annual conferences, planning of future conferences and all activities associated with the mission of the association.

 

Section 3: Board Members at Large:  Members at Large are full Board members and represent the interests of the association. Members at large bring extensive and diverse levels of knowledge, leadership, technology and management experience to the board. This is to provide the association with an excellent team to help guide the association. Members at Large serve as Chairs of any subcommittees the board determines are necessary, be they permanent or ad-hoc. Members at Large also act as support for conferences and may be delegated responsibilities to assist as needed.

 

Section 4: Quorum: A quorum is the established number of decision makers needed to be in attendance to approve those items that lie outside the purview of the Executive Board/Committee. In the case of ACCIS there are three instances where a quorum will need to be defined: Executive Board/Committee decisions, Full Board decisions, and Full Membership decisions. A quorum shall be defined as follows:

 

            Executive Board/Committee: A quorum shall at least 60% of the executive board/committee.

            Board of Directors: A quorum shall consist of at least 60% of the Board members.

            Business Meetings: A quorum shall be the members in attendance.

 

Section 5: The Board shall have the authority to create committees as needed.

 

ARTICLE V

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Officers

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Section 1. The officers of the Association shall consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Immediate Past President, and Board Members-at-large.

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Section 2. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association. The President shall sign all contracts.  The President shall provide oversight for all active committees.  All established committees shall report on-going activities and status at each board meeting. 

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Section 3. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President shall automatically succeed and serve as President of the Association until the next regular meeting for the Association.

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Section 4. The Vice President shall perform all the duties of the President as they relate to the Association in the absence of the President at any meeting. The Vice President has the responsibility of organizing, based on member input, the fall and spring meetings of the Association. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the Officers shall fill the position by appointment, and the appointee shall serve until the next regular meeting of the Association. The Vice President is President elect subject to affirmation by membership vote.

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Section 5. The Secretary shall keep the records of the regular meetings of the Association. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Secretary, the officers shall fill the position by appointment and the appointee shall serve until the next regular meeting of the Association.

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Section 6. The Treasurer shall be the custodian of the funds of the Association. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the Treasurer, the officers shall fill the position by appointment and the appointee shall serve until the next regular meeting of the Association.

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Section 7. The Immediate Past President will serve as an advisor to currently elected officers and chair the nominating committee.

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Section 8. Board Members-at-large may serve in special, designated roles. Members-at-large shall attend and participate in all regular and special board meetings in order to coordinate the performance of their designated roles.

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Section 9. Board Members act in an advisory and oversight position for the day-to-day operations of the Organization.  

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ARTICLE VI

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Nominations and Appointments

Section 1. At each Spring Meeting there shall be elected a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and not more than ten Board Members-at-large who shall hold office from the time of such election until the next Spring Meeting. A committee composed of at least three Members of the Association shall nominate Members for the office of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Members or Associate Members for Board Members-at-large. The committee shall designate the special roles of any proposed Board Members-at-large. Such nominations and roles shall be certified to the membership at the Spring Meeting. Additional candidates for each position may be nominated from the floor at the opening session of the Spring Meeting.

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Section 2. The Board may temporarily fill vacated Board positions until the following Spring Meeting.

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ARTICLE VII

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Meetings

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Section 1. The Association shall meet semi-annually. In the event the Association deems it necessary, additional meetings shall be called, the time and place to be determined by the officers of the Association. The annual meeting shall be the Spring session.

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Section 2. All meetings shall be conducted under Robert's Rules of order and have the following agenda:

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1. Call to order by the President
2. Reading of the minutes of the last meeting.
3. Report of the Treasurer.
4. Committee reports.
5. Unfinished business.
6. New business.
7. Election of Officers (if Spring Meeting).

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Section 3. The officers shall hold quarterly board meetings of which two will coincide with the semi-annual conferences.

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Section 4. The non-conference quarterly board meetings will be conducted at a site to minimize cost to the Association. They may be held remotely by telephone or other real-time electronic media.

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ARTICLE VIII

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Dues

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Section 1. Membership dues shall be established by the board. Types of memberships include:

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A. Member

B. Associate Member

C. Affiliate Member

D. Associate Affiliate Member

E. Honorary Member

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Section 2. Members who have not paid dues within 30 days of the Spring Meeting will be dropped from membership in the Association.

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Section 3. The dues shall be expended as the officers and the membership determine.

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ARTICLE IX

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Standards

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Section 1. Recognizing the decentralized nature of city and county local governments, the Association may sponsor voluntary standards. Participation by members will enhance logical interfaces among applications, databases and network nodes; serve to help reduce costs of technical support; and reduce the need to develop multiple complex interfaces. The Association seeks to work closely with state agencies to assure compatibility with state efforts.

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Section 2. Standards are voluntary and members are encouraged to support and use them within their organizations.

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Section 3. Any Member, or Association recognized Special Interest Group, may sponsor a standard. The Association Vice President shall receive proposals and process them, or may forward them to an Association committee (see Article VI, Section 2). Proposed standards will be submitted to the voting membership at least 30 days prior to the next business meeting. Members shall vote on the standard(s) at the next business meeting. A simple majority of those voting are required for adoption. The Secretary/Treasurer shall maintain a list and details of each standard. The list shall be appended to the minutes of each regular meeting.

 

ARTICLE X

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Revisions

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Section 1. These By-laws may be amended, revised, added to, or subtracted from by a favorable vote of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the voting members present at any duly constituted meeting.

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Revisions.

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1) Added Article IV, Special Interest Groups; 2) Changed Article V, Sections 1 and 5 to reflect Special Interest Groups; and, 3) Renumbered old Article III through VIII. Approved by the Association membership on October 27, 1994.

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4) Added a new Article, IX, Standards, and renamed the old Article IX to Article X. Approved by the membership on October 25, 1996.

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5) Changed Article V, Sections 1, 4, 5 & 6 adding Immediate Past President to officers and making Immediate Past President chair of nominating committee. The Vice President was given specific responsibility for organizing fall and spring meetings. Approved by the membership on October 24, 1997. Note: data communications standards will be added in next revision.

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6) Added Appendix I, Inter-Government Networking Principles. Approved by the membership on May 23, 1997.

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7) Changed Article III, Section 1-C to clarify Affiliate Membership to include only individuals from a political subdivision, state agency, or governmental association. Added Section 1-D to create an Associate Affiliate Membership grade. Changed Article VIII, Section 1-C raising membership dues from $40 to $50. Added Section 1-D, setting the Associate Affiliate Membership dues to $0. Approved by the membership on October 19, 2001.

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8) Added Section 1-E in Article III to create an Honorary Membership Grade; 9) Removed Article IV, Special Interest Groups; Changed Article V, Section 1, Article VI, Section 1, and added Article V, Section 7 to include language for Board Members-at-large; Changed Article VII, Section 4-3 and added Sections 5 through 7 for travel expenses to be paid by the Association for Board Meetings; Renumbered old Article V through X. Approved by the Association membership on April 4, 2003.

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9) Added IV.8 to allow the board to purchase goods and contract for goods and services. Changed Article VI Section 2 to change the quorum to reflect the at-large board positions (to be a minimum of 2 elected and half of the appointed board members). Added a sentence to Article VI Section 6 to allow non-conference Board meetings via telephone or other electronic media. Changed article VII to allow the Board to set dues. Misc. format clean-up performed that makes no substantive changes, Approved by the Association membership on October 26th, 2006.

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10) Changed Article IV Section 1 to waive conference registration fees for the President, Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer. Changed Appendix I Governance from State and Local ACCIS/CAB Subcommittee to Washington Intergovernmental Network Governance Committee. Approved by the Association membership on October 30th, 2009.

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11) Modified language throughout Bylaws to describe the broader non-county/city membership. Modified the maximum number of board members to ten from eight. Removed Appendix regarding the IGN and will replace the Appendix with an MOU. Approved by the Association on 4/17/2015.

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Approved by the Association on 4/20/2018:

12) Added: Article IV- Board of Directors definition and establishment of Executive Board with rights and responsibilities.

 

Section 3 - Defined responsibilities of Board members at large with respect to Conferences.

Section 4 - Established Quorum Values and Thresholds.

Section 5 - Added section giving the board the Authority to create policy and to create committees.

 

Adjusted Article V -

Section 1 - delegated financial policy items to the Finance Committee (to be created at the next Board Meeting).

Section 2 - Delegated oversight of committees to the President rather than the Vice President.

Section 4 - removed oversight of committee responsibility from the Vice President.

Section 9 - Clarified and documented that the President signs all contracts.

 

Article VII

Deleted Section 2 - defined "Quorum" in Article IV, Section 4.

Deleted Section 4 - combined Section 3 and Section 4 under new Section 2

Adjusted "Order of Business" deleted specific responsibilities of Treasurer Report. To be added to Financial Policy

Adjusted Section 5 - move meal section to Financial Policy

Section 7 - Move to Financial policy in entirety.

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