Constitution & Standard Operating Procedures

The Society’s only governing document is the MAARS Constitution & Standard Operating Procedures, revised 11 December 2021: eight pages, twelve articles, a Standard Operating Procedures section and a Standing Committees section.

It was adopted at the regular meeting of 10 December 2021. The changes corrected errors rather than altering the substance, so it was accepted as a revision rather than an amendment. The cover date is one day after the meeting because that is when the PDF was produced.

The provisions that govern this website

• Article III — official organ. “The Society email reflector is the official organ of the Society.” Newsletters must be posted to the Society web page, but the reflector is what carries notice.
• Article III — ten days’ notice. Five actions must be announced at the previous regular meeting and put to the membership in full at least ten days before the vote: a permanent change of meeting date, a temporary change of meeting date, the election or impeachment of an officer, the election or impeachment of a Trustee, and amendment of the constitution. Other newsletters go out at least four working days before a regular meeting.
• Article IV — meeting types. Regular, Special and Event. The November regular meeting is also the annual meeting. A Special meeting may be called only on the written request of five members, fourteen days ahead, stating its purpose — and only that business may be transacted.
• Article V — membership and dues. Membership begins when the Treasurer receives the dues and ceases automatically when they are unpaid. Dues are levied by majority vote at the annual meeting and become part of the SOP.
• Article VII — quorum. “A quorum consists of the members present at a regular or special meeting.” There is no minimum number.
• Standard Operating Procedures — meeting date. “Regular meetings are held on the second Friday of each calendar month at such place as the President, in regular consultation with the other officers, shall order.”

Why the quorum rule matters

Whoever attends is the quorum. A Society that has met monthly for fifty years never needed a rule to make its meetings valid — it needed one that keeps them valid when only four people can get there. That is an unusually honest piece of drafting, and it is worth knowing before you decide whether to come.