Name of the Organization
The name of this organization shall be the Grand Alliance, henceforth referred
to as "the Alliance" or "GA".
Purpose of the Alliance
The purpose of the Alliance is to serve as an association of chapters who
work together to provide a sense of community, friendship and fun in Star
Trek fandom and other science-fiction groups. The Alliance shall serve as
a support group for these chapters regardless of their other Fan Club
associations. The Alliance is a fictional equivelent of the United Nations
for the Colorado Front Range.
Membership
Membership in the Alliance shall be open to all chapters, which may take
the fictional form of ships, stations, planets, ground forces and other fandom
elements, regardless of their other national or international associations,
based on the following set of rights and responsibilities:
1) Area of Operation
Chapters will be considered for admission into the Alliance if they actively
operate, through recruitment or events, in the Colorado Front Range. Chapters
outside this area may be granted observer status on a majority vote by the
Alliance representatives.
2) Admission
Non-member chapters may petition the Alliance for admission. Likewise, the
Alliance may invite non-member chapters to join. Majority vote of Alliance
representatives is required for admission.
3) Representation
Each member chapter is required to provide two ambassadors to the Alliance
to conduct business and represent their chapter's interests. It is up to
each chapter how their ambassadors are selected, but it is strongly advised
that at least one of them have e-mail access to make communications simpler.
4) Reporting
For the purposes of fostering interchapter and interorganizational
communications, each chapter is requested to publish, via electronic mail,
a schedule of their events open to Alliance members.
5) Communications
A newsletter with chapter updates, schedules and special news will be published
on a quarterly basis.
6) Rights
The Alliance recognizes the independent standing of all member chapters and
will not extend its political clout to influence the staff selection or local
guidelines and regulations of any member chapter. Further, the Alliance
recognizes that all member chapters may sever their affiliation with the
Alliance at any time with or without cause.
Voting Rights
It is expected that all member chapters will participate in the democratic
process practiced in the Alliance. Each chapter is permitted two votes, to
be cast by two separate individuals.
All votes must be announced at least a week before they are taken and the voting period must last a full week to give everyone an opportunity to cast their ballot. A voting record will be published together with the vote results at the end of this period.
Abstained votes and non-voting chapters will not be included in the voting quorum.
- - - - ORGANIZATION - - - -
Support Team
Functions performed by the Alliance will require a support staff to coordinate
and organize the distribution of information. The following support staff
will be required to perform these duties. All staffers will be appointed
through a majority vote of confidence by the member chapter representatives.
These appointments may be modified, suspended or changed at any time as deemed
necessary by the representatives to the Alliance.
Chief of Communications -- responsible for quarterly production of the Alliance newsletter.
Webmaster -- responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the Alliance Web pages.
Meetings
Alliance representatives will meet four times a year. In the spring the meeting
shall be held at Star*Fest and in the fall at Star*Con. An additional summer
and winter meeting will be held in conjunction with member chapter activities.
It is recommended that all chapters share in the rotation of hosting meetings.
Special meetings may be called if critical issues arise and business for these meetings may be conducted in any way deemed fit by the representatives, be it in person, on the phone or electronically.
Dues and Property
The Alliance will not charge its member chapters any dues, fees or special
assesments. Membership in the Alliance is free and voluntary and can be severed
by the member chapters at any time. The Alliance shall not own any "communal"
or "public" property.
Rank and Promotions
As the Alliance is a gathering place of a multitude of chapters, it is important
to recognize that it does not have the authority to instruct individual member
entities who to promote, when and how. The Alliance does reserve the right,
through the majority support of the member representatives, to make
recommendations for promotion of individual members of member chapters based
on their performance in and service to the Alliance. The Alliance realizes
that said recommendations need not be acted upon by the governing body of
the organization the subject of the recommendation belongs to.
The Alliance will recognize and acknowledge all promotions and awards granted by its member chapters.
Grievance Procedures
Although we often want to believe that we live in a perfect world as envisioned
by Gene Roddenberry, we must come to terms that our society is far from the
enlightened utopia we wish to emulate. Disagreements will happen and at times
issues may become particularly hard to handle.
While the Alliance is willing to assist in the mediation of disputes, it will not impose judgement on conflicts internal to other organizations or individual chapters.
Grievence procedures filed by member chapters against the Alliance representatives or staff will be seriously considered and addressed with as little bias as possible. The grievence process can be initiated by any active member and may be filed with any representative to the Alliance. If warranted sufficiently serious, an investigation will be conducted by an independent committee of member chapter representatives and, in the event of wrong doing, a recommendation will be issued by the committee to the Alliance officer asked to handle the complaint. In the event that wrong doing is determined, a poll of the chapter representatives will be taken based on the committee recommendation.
Amendments
All proposed amendments to these bylaws are to be submitted in writing via
a representative to the Alliance. They must pass a two thirds vote in accordance
with the voting rules and regulations. The vote will take place at the next
regular scheduled meeting of the Alliance.
Signatures
The members do hereby agree to bind their respective organizations
to the principles herein contained, and agree to continue the process of
peaceful cooperation, negotiation, mutual respect, and enjoyment of the Star
Trek Universe.
Signed this Stardate 9709.28 at Denver, Colorado