BYLAWS OF THE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF BEDFORD
The Democratic Committee of the Town of Bedford, New York, pursuant to the provisions of law and statutes in such cases made and provided and to the Rules of the Democratic Party of the County of Westchester, and the State of New York, do hereby adopt the following Rules for the organization and government of the Democratic Party of the Town of Bedford.
ARTICLE I
COMPOSITION OF THE TOWN PARTY AND COMMITTEE
Section 1.1 The Democratic Party of the Town of Bedford shall consist of those registered in the Democratic Party within the confines of the Town of Bedford and its election districts.
Section 1.2 There shall be a representative body known as “The Democratic Committee of the Town of Bedford, New York” (The Committee).
Section 1.3 The Committee shall have general authority over the Democratic organization of the Town of Bedford and shall possess all powers conferred by law and by the Rules and Regulations of the Democratic Committee of the County of Westchester.
ARTICLE II MEMBERSHIP
Section 2.1 Membership in the Committee shall be open to all registered Democrats in the Town of Bedford. However, voting rights shall be limited to those members of the Committee who are Election District Leaders. Voting members of the Committee will serve in that capacity until the next election of Election District Leaders, held every even-numbered year per Section 2.3.
Section 2.2 Each Election District is entitled to two Election District Leaders on the Committee. Every reasonable effort shall be made to have both genders represented equally.
Section 2.3 Every even-numbered year, at least fourteen days prior to the date that marks the start of petitioning that year, the Chairperson will nominate the full slate of Election District Leaders to be approved by the Committee.
Section 2.4 Vacancies on the Committee, occurring from any reason whatsoever, shall be filled by the Chairperson with the approval of the Committee. The Chair shall use conscientious effort to select a resident of the affected Election District (or an adjacent Election District) to fill such vacancies.
ARTICLE III OFFICERS
Section 3.1 The Officers of the Committee shall consist of the following: a Chairperson; a Vice-Chairperson; a Treasurer; and a Secretary. Officers shall be elected by the voting members of the Committee at its biennial Organizational Meeting and serve until the election of their successors at the next Organizational Meeting.
Section 3.1.1 Any references to Chairperson in the Rules shall apply equally to both Co-Chairpersons when such position exists.
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Section 3.1.2 Before the election of the offices of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson at the even-year biennial election as per Section 3.1 or before filling an off-cycle vacancy, a Nominating Committee of at least five (5) voting members shall be constituted by a vote of the eligible voting members of the Committee at a Regular Meeting. The Nominating Committee shall solicit and evaluate candidates for all Officer position(s) during the normal organizational election cycle or for any open Officer position(s) created by a vacancy/vacancies as per Sections in Article 3.
Section 3.1.3 The Nominating Committee shall determine the list of qualified candidate(s) to propose to the entire Committee for election to fill the Officer vacancy/vacancies. At the biennial Organizational Meeting or any meeting for the election of an Officer, the Committee can, by majority vote, accept or reject the suggestions of the Nominating Committee in part or in entirety and elect person(s) as prescribed by these Bylaws to fill said vacancy/vacancies.
Section 3.1.4 The Officers shall collectively be referred to as “The Executive Council” of the Committee.
Section 3.2 Powers and Duties of Officers
Chairperson: The Chairperson (“Chair”) shall preside at all meetings of the Committee and the Executive Council. The Chair shall appoint committees, and their respective chairs, and shall be an ex-officio member of all committees. The Chair shall perform the duties ordinarily performed by the Chief Executive Officer of a political committee and such duties as may be prescribed by law.
Vice-Chairperson: The Vice-Chairperson (“Vice-Chair”) shall be responsible under the Chair for the effectiveness of the following functions of the Committee: District Leader Liaison and other responsibilities assigned by the Chair and or the Executive Council. The Vice-Chair shall, in the absence or inability of the Chair, perform all duties of the Chair.
Treasurer: The Treasurer shall be the Chief Fiscal Officer of the Committee and shall record and report, in writing, concerning all disbursements and shall keep detailed accounts of all monies received and all expenditures made by the Committee. The Treasurer shall perform all other duties imposed upon the Committee by the New York State Campaign Finance Law.
Secretary: The Secretary shall keep accurate minutes of all proceedings and shall prepare and maintain a roll of the members and their respective contact information. The Secretary shall notify the membership by mail/email of the time and place of meetings and shall be responsible for all correspondence authorized by the Committee or the Chair, in addition to such other duties as may be specifically assigned by the Chair.
Section 3.3 Removal of Officers
Section 3.3.1 An Election District Leader or Officer of the Committee may be removed at any time in the manner provided in the Election Law of the State of New York under the section, “Committee; removal of member” (Section 2-116 State of New York 2017 Election Law) whether or not such person be a County Committeeperson.
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Section 3.3.2 The procedure for removal shall be as such: The Regular or Special Meeting of the Committee at which such removal is to be considered, shall be called by the same procedure as set forth under MEETINGS, and the required written notice thereof shall specify the purpose for which the said meeting is being held.
Section 3.3.3 The removal of any Officer or Election District Leader may only be effected by the votes of a majority of all Election District Leaders.
Section 3.3.4 The removal of any Officer, as herein provided, shall in no way affect such person’s present standing as a member of the Committee unless also removed as an Election District Leader.
Section 3.4 Death, declination, disqualification, resignation or total disability of an Officer or Election District Leader shall create a vacancy in that office.
ARTICLE IV COMMITTEES
Section 4.1 There shall be such committees/subcommittees of the Committee which the Chair may appoint from time to time.
ARTICLE V MEETINGS
Section 5.1 An Organizational Meeting of the Committee shall be held within 10 days after the biennial election of the Election District Leaders for the purpose of electing a Chair and other Officers. At the Organizational Meeting the Chair of the outgoing Committee shall preside until the new Chair is elected.
Section 5.2 The Committee shall meet at Regular Meetings a minimum of nine (9) times annually on dates to be set periodically.
Section 5.3 In addition to Regular Meetings, the Committee shall meet specifically:
When a petition is signed by five (5) members stating the purpose for which such meeting is requested. Upon receipt of such petition the Chair must call a Special Meeting within seven (7) days and must include in the agenda for the meeting the purpose as stated in the petition. If the Chair fails to call a meeting as required by this rule, the meeting may be called by a majority of the members of the Executive Council, sent to each member a minimum of seven (7) days in advance of the date of such meeting.
The Chair may call a Special Meeting upon seven (7) days advance notice.
Special Meetings of the Committee shall be restricted to the conduct of business as stated in the notice as the purpose of such meeting.
Special meetings shall be called in writing.
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Section 5.4 The following shall be the order of business at all Regular Meetings of the Committee: a) Calling the Roll; b) Approval of the minutes of the previous Regular Meeting, the minutes having been sent to the Committee with the notification and agenda of the next Regular Meeting; c) Reports of standing committees; d) Unfinished Business; e) New Business.
Section 5.5 The procedures at all meetings shall be governed, in all manners not covered by these Rules, by the Rules of the County of Westchester Democratic Committee, or by the latest edition of “Robert’s Rules of Order.”
Section 5.6 Written notice of the time and place of all Regular and Special Meetings must be disseminated to each Committee member at least seven (7) days before such meeting, except when a different notice is required by law. There shall be included with such notice of meeting an agenda of items to be discussed and/or voted upon at each meeting. A proposed resolution, not related to items on the agenda accompanying the notice of meeting, may not be adopted by a vote of less than two-thirds of the voting members attending in person or by proxy.
Section 5.7 Meetings may be held either via online, virtual videoconference or in- person. Location and mode of meeting will be set in advance in conjunction with meeting notice and agenda.
Section 5.8 Twenty-five percent (25%) of the Election District Leaders, attending in person or by proxy, shall constitute a quorum at all meetings of the Committee.
Section 5.9 Voting
Except as otherwise provided by law and these Bylaws, the Committee shall act by a majority vote of the Election District Leaders present and voting at a meeting at which a quorum is declared.
Unless otherwise provided by law and these Bylaws, each Election District Leader shall be entitled to one vote.
For all votes to designate candidates for public office, voting shall be weighted: Each Election District Leader shall cast a proportionate share of the weighted vote allocated to the election district that person represents. The weighted vote allocated to each election district shall be equal to the vote cast for Governor on the Democratic line in the most recently held general election for Governor. An Election District Leader’s proportionate share of the weighted vote of an election district shall be 100% if that person is the only Election District Leader holding office who represents such election district, or 50% if that person is one of two Election District Leaders holding office who represent such election district.
No person shall be entitled to vote unless that person’s name shall appear on the roll of the Election District Leaders of the Secretary, which shall be conclusive.
Proxies shall be permitted so long as the proxy is filed with the Secretary at least 24 hours before the time fixed for the meeting; no person can vote as the proxy of more than one Election District Leader; and the person to whom a proxy is granted must be an enrolled voter of the Democratic Party in the Town of Bedford. In the Secretary’s absence, proxies may be filed with the Chair, who shall serve as Secretary pro tem.
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ARTICLE VI CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS
Section 6.1 Whenever the Committee shall deem it appropriate to do so, it shall endorse candidates for election to public office. Prior to endorsement, the candidate shall inform the Committee of all political parties from which the candidate will accept endorsement and/or nomination.
ARTICLE VII DISBURSEMENTS
Section 7.1 The funds of the Committee shall be expended as directed by the Committee, except that the Chair alone may authorize expenditures which may not exceed $250 in the aggregate for any calendar month. Any expenditures in excess of such amount shall require Committee approval.
Section 7.3 An accurate statement of receipts and disbursements and of the financial status of the Committee shall be submitted to the Committee by the Treasurer at each such meeting thereof. This statement shall be for the period ending at the close of the preceding month.
Section 7.4 Neither the Chair, any campaign manager, the Treasurer nor any Democratic candidate may incur bills, obligate the Committee in any other way to pay future bills, or expend funds in any amount on behalf of any individual candidate or nominee, whether such bills be in the name of the Committee or otherwise, without the approval of the Committee at a meeting at which a vote is taken.
ARTICLE VIII AMENDMENTS
Section 8.1 These Rules may be amended only by a majority vote of all Election District Leaders, provided that a copy of the proposed amendment was properly sent with the notice of the meeting at least seven (7) days before the date of the meeting.
ARTICLE IX GENERAL PROVISIONS
Upon adoption, these rules shall become effective immediately.
ARTICLE X
E-MAIL NOTIFICATION OF MEETINGS
Section 10.1 Wherever these Rules provide for notice, the Rules are hereby amended to also allow notice by Email for the same time periods.