Rules of the
Wairarapa Camera Club Incorporated
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1. The name of the Club will be “The Wairarapa Camera Club Incorporated”.

Objectives

2. The objectives of the Club will be:
(a) The encouragement of the study and practice of photography.
(b) The undertaking of any other activity connected with photography.
(c) Such other activities relating to the main objectives of the Club or for the entertainment and enjoyment of its members and not inconsistent with these rules.

Membership

3. The Club shall consist of ordinary members, Life Members and Honorary members.
4. Admission of Honorary members shall be by the vote of the Committee.
5. Members may be admitted as Life Members of the Club for meritorious service in the interests of photography. A member becomes a Life Member if:
(a) the Committee recommends them for life-membership; and
(b) a majority of members at an Annual General Meeting agree with that recommendation.
6. Any person may apply for ordinary membership of the Club by applying in writing to the Secretary or Treasurer. The application must have the applicant’s name and address. The Committee will consider the application, and the Secretary will tell the applicant of the Committee’s decision. A subscription becomes payable immediately the applicant is accepted as a member. The new member will cease to be a member of the Club if they do not pay their subscription within three months of being told of their acceptance.
7. Any member may resign his or her membership by giving the Secretary notice to that effect in writing, or by not paying their subscription for the year.
8. The Committee may expel a member from the Club or gross misconduct, or otherwise bringing the Club into disrepute, subject to the following procedures:
(a) a special Committee meeting will be called for that purpose of consider the expulsion;
(b) at least seven days before that meeting the Secretary will give the member whose expulsion is being considered, notice of the meeting and a summary of the reasons for his or her possible expulsion;
(c) at the meeting, the member whose expulsion is being considered will be allowed to offer an explanation of their conduct or any other reasons why they should not be expelled, either verbally or in writing;
(d) a decision to expel the member will then require the agreement of at least two thirds of the Committee members present at the special meeting;
(e) following a decision to expel the member, he or she ceases to be a member from that moment;
(f) the Committee may exclude the member, whose expulsion they are about to consider, from any activities of the Club until the special meeting has been held. If the Committee decides to do this, the Secretary will tell the member of that decision.

Subscriptions

9. The annual subscription will be set at an Annual General Meeting. Annual subscriptions (except the first subscription of a new member) fall due on the first day of January in each year. The Committee can decide to allow people who become members throughout the year to pay a proportion of the full subscription.
10. If any member has not paid his or her annual subscription on or before the 1st of March after it is due, the Secretary or Treasurer will send them a reminder notice. If they have not paid by the 1st of April in the same year they will cease to be a member of the Club, but if at any time they give the Committee a satisfactory explanation, the Committee may re-admit them to membership upon full payment of arrears.
11. When people cease to be members of the Club they no longer have any claim upon the Club or its property or its funds and they will not be entitled to a refund of their subscription for any unexpired portion of the financial year.

Committee

12. The day-to-day management of the Club shall be deputed to a Committee consisting of a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, a Competition Secretary and no fewer than 3 members (ordinary, Honorary or Life).
13. The Secretary shall call for nominations for the Committee not less than four weeks before the date of the Annual General Meeting. For the purposes of this rule, communication to financial members by email will suffice.
14. Nominations for all Committee members shall be submitted to the Secretary not less than three weeks before the date of the Annual General Meeting. Such nominations shall be recommended by the proposer and seconder and shall have the consent of the nominee.
15. The Committee can co-opt any member of the Club to fill a vacancy in the Committee of the Club until the next Annual General Meeting.
16. All elected Committee members shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting after their election, when they shall retire automatically, but shall be eligible for re-election.
17. Notwithstanding Rule 16, a member shall not hold office as President for a continuous period of more than three years. This rule shall not prevent the re-election of a member to the position of President if he or she has not held the position for at least one year.

Meetings

18. The Annual General Meeting of the Club shall be held in August each year, at a date and time to be fixed by the Committee, for the following purposes:
(a) to receive from the Committee a report, balance sheet and statement of accounts for the preceding financial year;
(b) to elect the Committee;
(c) to set the subscription for the next year;
(d) to decide on any resolution that may have been duly submitted to the meeting.
19. Any member who wants to move any resolution at the Annual General Meeting may do so by giving notice in writing or by email to the Secretary not less than three weeks before the date of such a meeting.
20. The Secretary will give public notice, which may be by email, of the business of the Annual General Meeting or of a Special General Meeting, at least seven days before the meeting.
(a) The notice of the Annual General Meeting will include any nominations received for members of the Committee and any duly submitted resolutions;
(b) The notice for any Special General Meeting will include any duly submitted resolutions
21. At all General Meetings of the Club the President, and in his or her absence, the Past President, or in his or her absence, a member of the Committee appointed at the meeting, shall take the chair. Every member of the Club shall be entitled to one vote upon every motion. In the case of an equality of votes, the chairman shall have a second or casting vote. The Committee can, if they think fit, to make regulations enabling members unable to be present to vote by proxy, or in writing.
22. The Quorum of all meetings of the Club shall be seven, and of all meetings of the Committee, four.
23. The voting of all meetings including meetings of the Committee shall be by ballot.

Finance and Assets

24. The end of the financial year shall be the 3Oth day of June in each year, at which day the accounts of the Club shall be balanced.
25. The Club may operate such banking accounts and in such a manner as the committee shall from time to time determine.
26. All payments other than those from a Petty Cash Fund, if the Committee Authorizes such a fund, will be made either by cheque or using the approved Internet Banking system.
27. The Treasurer will manage all bank accounts and will sign all cheques or Initiate all Internet Banking Payments. Either the President or the Secretary will countersign all cheques or verify and provide secondary authorization for all Internet Banking payments.
28. c. All items of expenditure will be recorded in the Minute Book of the Club as part of the statement of finances prepared and presented by the Treasurer. Expenditure will then be approved by a vote of the committee.
(a) Money can be spent only after a resolution of the Committee, or of a General Meeting of members. A record of all resolutions to spend money will be kept in the Minute Book of the Club.
29. The Club may purchase, lease, hire, or otherwise acquire property or equipment for the purposes or objectives of the Club.
30. In the event of dissolution of the Club or through any other cause the Club shall cease to exist, then the assets and funds of the Club shall be noted. After payment of any debts and expenses of winding up, any surplus shall be transferred to the PSNZ (Photography Society of New Zealand) for such purposes as it thinks fit.
31. In the event of the voluntary winding up of the Club, a resolution to that effect shall be passed by the members in a general meeting. Such a resolution shall be confirmed at a subsequent Special General Meeting convened for that purpose, called not earlier than thirty days after the meeting when the resolution to wind up the Association was passed.
32. Details of all property belonging to the Club shall be recorded in the Property Book, maintained by the Secretary. Advice on all matters relating to the disposal of Club property shall be sought from the Committee, and approval obtained at a General Meeting of the Club for disposal of any such property.

General

33. The Club shall have a common seal. The Secretary or Treasurer shall retain the custody of the Common Seal.
34. The members may, repeal, add to, or amend these rules as they shall think suitable for the internal management and well-being of the Club, only by a duly notified Resolution in an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting called for the purpose.
35. The Committee shall be the sole authority for the interpretation of these rules, which will be binding on all members.