A special Bylaw Review Task Committee Appointed by Governing Board President Ron Noble will summarize its work at COPRI’s September 17 Board meeting in Memphis, TN. Under the guidance of Gordon Sterling, the committee comprised of President Ron Noble, Vice President Stanley White, Past President Dave Kriebel, and the Institute’s most recent past presidents has spent the past year reviewing the Institute’s bylaws and strategic plan.
“The last time such a review was conducted was in 2006. At that time several adjustments were made,” Sterling said. “With the tenth anniversary this year, it made sense to look at where our bylaws and strategic plan need adjustments. The changes to the bylaws are a combination of modifications and clarifications. The goal behind the changes is to position our Board for another successful decade. We want to ensure that our governing bylaws are clear and easy for the board to implement so they can focus their energy on serving our members.”
Proposed changes include 24 clarifications and 10 modifications. The changes address issues such as eliminating language regarding assistant secretary and assistant treasurer positions from the Governing Board sections. Though mentioned in the bylaws, they are positions that have never been used. Removing language requiring a member to be an engineer to be elected an Institute fellow would be removed. The revisions also would add an Institute-level Distinguished Member category. Other clarifications mainly streamlined meeting requirements, dues processes, conduct, and operations.
Once the bylaws are presented to the board, they will be posted on the COPRI website for review. COPRI members will have the opportunity to view the changes. An overview of the changes will be provided at the November General Membership meeting at the COPRI Congress. Following that meeting, the Governing Board will vote to adopt the changes. After that vote, they will be presented to ASCE’s Executive Committee for approval. If accepted, they will then be finalized.
"We want the members to have the opportunity to review our work and consider the changes that we have proposed,” Sterling said. “From the committee’s perspective, we’ve done what we can to offer changes that would be helpful to the current board and the Institute.”
The second task the Bylaw Review Committee has undertaken is a review of the Strategic Plan and Matrix also developed in 2006. While the committee has begun to consider how it can be updated, Sterling said, the work is ongoing. With the Strategic Plan, he said, the goal is to make the Plan more of an advisory document that can guide the Institute through the years. Sterling emphasized that the review committee is able to offer suggestions but an implementation of such a plan is the responsibility of the current Board.
"There is a lot of good material,” he said. “We will be making sure it is consistent with current operational needs. The goal is to present a revised strategy document to the Board that has the right approach so the Board can effectively use it.”