GRIMES HERITAGE BY-LAWS
I Name: The name of the organization shall be Grimes Heritage.
II Area. The Corporation shall among other things be interested in Grimes and its environs.
III Meetings: There shall be regular meetings held once a month at the call of the President at the place he/she designates.
IV Board Meetings: Regular board meetings shall be held immediately after the membership meetings in June, October, and immediately after the annual meeting in February, and at the same place as those meetings.
V Chairperson: The Board of Directors may elect a chairperson from the Board or the longest serving board member may become chairperson.
VI Terms of Office: All elected to the following offices, President, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer shall be for a term of two years. The next election of these offices shall be at the corporation’s annual meeting, October, 2010.
VII Committees: There shall be Regular, Standing and Special committees. The Regular committees shall be appointed by the President and approved by the Board of Directors and shall serve for the term of the president, at the president ‘s pleasure. The Standing committees shall be appointed by the Board of Directors to serve at the pleasure of the Board until their successor is appointed and qualified. Special committees shall be appointed by the president for special purposes as determined by the president and shall not serve beyond his/her term. The vice-president shall be chairman of the Program Committee. The committees shall be as follows:
1. The regular Committees shall be membership, projects, ways and means, program, public relations, audit and by-laws.
2. The Standing Committees shall be Finance, Acquisitions, and Archive.
VIII Vacancy: Vacancies occurring in the Board of Directors may be filled by the Board of Directors until the next annual meeting.
IX Qualifications for Membership: Any person interested in the history or the preservation thereof of the environs of Grimes shall be qualified for membership.
X Dues: The annual dues of the Grimes Heritage shall be $10.00 per person or $12.00 per family. Dues shall be payable on the 1st. day of June of each year.
XI President: The president shall conduct all meetings of the membership and may preside over other meetings when requested. He or she shall be an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors without vote.
XII Vice-President: The vice-president shall be the program chairperson for the membership meeting and shall execute the duties of the President in his or her absence.
XIII Secretary/Treasurer: The Secretary/treasurer shall maintain permanent record of the minutes, including a record of the monthly attendance of the membership, minutes of the board, record of membership and general records of the corporation. He or she shall collect moneys and payout any financial obligation of the corporation and report at monthly membership meetings. He or she shall be ex-officio member of the Board of Directors without vote.
XIV Archivist: The chairman of the Archive committee shall be the archivist. The Archivist shall maintain the inventories, record of donors, record of values of items received, labeling of artifacts and documents, preservation of documents and artifacts. Until a curator is appointed and qualified, the archivist shall have constructive possession of all documents and artifacts received by or in behalf of the corporation and shall designate where the documents and artifacts shall be kept. Items loaned to the museum for display shall be documented on forms on file as to owner and term of loan. Any items not collected at end of term of loan shall belong to the museum.
XV Parliamentarian: The parliamentarian shall be elected by the membership at its annual meeting.
XVI By-Laws: Changes in the by-laws shall be by majority vote of the board, unless rejected by a two-thirds vote of the membership at its next meeting. Changes shall be read at the next regular meeting of the membership.
XVII Order of Meetings: The latest revision of Robert’s Rules of Order is adopted as the order of business meetings including the annual meeting. The Agenda at business meetings shall generally be as follows:
Roll Call
Old Business
Reading and approval of minutes of the previous meeting
Treasurer’s report
Vice-President and Program Chairman report
Archivist report
Other committee reports
New business
Program
Designation of the date, time and place of the next meeting
New motions
Motion to Adjourn
XVIII Purpose: The purpose of this corporation is exclusively for education, literary, scientific pursuit under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and shall bring together those people interested in history, and the preservation thereof, especially in the history of the area of Grimes, Ia, and environs from its earliest settlement and development. Understanding of the history of the community is basic to our democratic way of life, give us a better understanding of our city, state, and nation, and promotes a better appreciation of our American heritage.
The corporation’s major function will be to discover the collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area: its exploration, settlement, development and activities in peace and in war; its progress in population, wealth, education, arts, science, agriculture, manufacturers, trade, transportation, church, and religion. It will collect printed material, such as histories, genealogies, biographies, descriptions, gazetteers, directories, newspapers, pamphlets, catalogs, circulars, handbills, programs, and posters: manuscript material such as letters, diaries, journals, memoranda, reminiscences, rosters, service records, account books, charts, surveys and field books; and museum material such as pictures, photographs, paintings, portraits, scenes, aboringinal relics, and material objects illustrative of life, conditions, events, and activities of the past and the present.
The Heritage will provide for the preservation of such material and for its accessibility, as far as may be feasible to all who wish to examine or study it, to cooperate with officials in insuring the preservation and accessibility of the records and archives of the area and its cities, town, villages, settlements, and institutions and to under take the preservation of historic buildings, monuments, and markers.
The Heritage will disseminate historical information and arouse interest in the past by publishing historical material in newspapers or otherwise, by holding meetings with pageants, addresses, lectures papers and discussion,: by marking historical buildings, sites and trails; and by using the media or radio and television to awaken public interest.
IX Organization: The corporation is not organized for profit. No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of any director or officer of the corporation, or any private individual (except that reasonable compensation may be paid for services rendered to or for the corporation affecting one or more of its purposes), and no director or officer of the corporation, or any private individual, shall be entitle to share in the distribution of any of the corporate assets or dissolution of the corporation. No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in or intervene in (including the publishing of distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of these By-laws or the articles of Incorporation, the corporation shall not carry on any activity not permitted to be carried on (a) by a corporation exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal law) or (b) by a corporation, contributions to which are deductible under Section 170 (c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Coe of 1986 as amended (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue law).
XX Powers: The corporation shall have all the powers given to it by the laws of the State of Iowa; provided, however, only such powers shall be exercised as are the furtherance of the tax exempt purposes of the corporation and as may bee exercised by an organization exempt under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal Revenue law).
XXI Dissolution: Upon the dissolution of the corporation, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for payment of all the liabilities of the corporation, distribute the assets of the corporation to Polk county Historical Society for the charitable, religious, scientific, literary or educational purpose if thee Polk County Historical Society remains in existence, and if the Polk County Historical qualifies as a distribute of an exempt organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended (or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal Revenue law). The Polk County Historical Society shall not be deemed in existence if its corporate existence has terminated by merger, dissolution or other corporate action. If the assets referred to above are not so distributed to Polk County Historical Society they shall be distributed by the Board of Directors to such other organization or organizations which are historically oriented for charitable, religious, scientific, literary or educational purposes under Section 501 (e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Coe of 1986 as amended (or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal Revenue law).
XXIII Annual Meeting: The annual meeting of the corporation shall be held on the second Tuesday of October each year at the Grimes Community Center, city of Grimes at 6:00 o’clock p.m. or at any other place within the city of Grimes, Iowa as designated by the Board of Directors and noticed to the members by the Secretary.
Passed by the Board of Directors on February 11, 2009 and read to membership at its next regular meeting thereafter with motion and vote to ratify.
Signed by:
Dennis H. Bacon, Director
Fred Roth, Director
Donald D. Friar, Director
Attest:
President, Marie Hutcheson
Secretary, Jo Tosh
