CRMC Bylaws Revision Approved
| 31 May 2010
If you think back to the February 2010 issue of Pony Express, you’ll recall that there was a proposal to revise the club bylaws. The revision was designed to change membership from a calendar year basis to a rolling 12-month basis. It was a necessary revision because the newly updated website at www.ponytales.org included an option for new members to join online and existing members to renew online. The online option was exactly that, an
option, but for it to function efficiently, rolling 12-month memberships were required. As you probably know, the revision was approved at the March meeting. So what does that mean to your membership?
For members who joined under the old calendar year rules, your membership expires on the December 31 date shown on your membership card. If you renew at the end of your current membership period and your dues are paid by your expiration date, your new expiration date will be December 31 at the end of some future year. So you’ll see no change from what you were familiar with in the past.
For new members, the expiration date will occur at the end of 12-months or 48-months, depending on the plan chosen at the time of joining. For example, a new member who joined in April would have a membership that expires in April, either 12-months or 48-months into the future.
Members who originally joined under the old calendar year system but forgot to renew their memberships on time (i.e., by December 31) would see a change in their expiration date. For example, if you suddenly remembered to renew three months late in March, your renewal would expire either 12 or 48 months later at the end of March in a future year.
It has taken some time to work through the learning curve but the new rules are in place and the membership database has been updated to function within the new guidelines. In the past, the membership committee mailed renewal notices around the first of November to folks who had memberships expiring on December 31. Under the new rules, renewal notices will continue to be mailed two months prior to expiration but mailings will be spread throughout the year.
By the way, if you haven’t spent time on the new website, you need to take a look. And while you’re there, sign up to be a registered user. As a registered user, you can access more features than you can as a visitor. Take time to check out the forums; they’re underutilized but more people could perk them up. CRMC contracted with Joe Bergmann at Tech-EEZ to set up the site and Todd Howe did the legwork to bring it to life. After you look things over, take time to thank Todd for all of his hard work.