Leonberger Club of America's Constitution and Bylaws: Proposal from the Governance Committee, chair: Glen K. Ferguson.

1. LCA Governance Committee - A Bunch Of Wording To Make This An Official Heading -- February 22, 2015
A Capitalized Subheading Which Will Make Us Irrefutable
We read member comments. Below, for the most part, are the dumb things they said, some reasons
why they are incredibly dumb, and how we recommend the board doesn’t do anything with those dumb
ideas. However, we came up with a couple of spectacular ideas of our own that we recommend you do
adopt and we mixed them in. We’ve also taken the liberty of making this 14 pages long. (This doesn't
actually need to be read as anything this lengthy is bound to be 100% correct!)
CONSTITUTION STUFF:
GC on Purposes of the Club: The AKC is still freakin’ us out, so let’s put more weight on our social function.
We could go from 6 purposes to 8 purposes on this revision and add “h) to promote a broad spectrum of social
activities and opportunities, including non-competition events and activities, for all members.”
Committee Recommendation: It’s our idea. Hell Ya!
Member Suggestion Regarding Audits: Hey, we hardly ever audit the books - shouldn’t we change “will
audit” to “may audit”
Committee Recommendation: We’re not bending any rule for club tradition; we’ll just continue to ignore it. No
Change.
Bylaws Article 12: Ahhh crap - we weren’t in compliance with Washington State law and AKC policy on
electronic notice when we decided to just opt everyone in. Let’s “rework” that.
Committee Recommendation: Can we get an AMEN? people?
BYLAWS STUFF:
General Comment: Why are powers being stripped from the membership and given to the board? We are a
membership society.
Committee Recommendation: Membership Society? No! We are a “representative democracy” - you elect
the board and we do whatever the hell we want. Question this further and we’ll have Putin write the response.
No Change.
Member Suggestion:There’s been some fishy dealings in the past; maybe the club should adopt a Conflict of
Interest Policy.
Committee Recommendation: It’s a good idea to have one of these, but it doesn’t give the board the
necessary wiggle room to behave as we want; we’ll have the board adopt one. We’ll meet you part way-ish.
Member Question:Have you run some of this C&BL craziness by Club Relations?

2. Committee Recommendation: We recently sent the electronic voting stuff off to Club Relations and they
haven’t written back yet, so everything is just GREAT on the ENTIRE DOCUMENT. Next Question? No
Change.
Member Question:Can we consider these amendments separately instead of in one big lump?
Committee Recommendation: Yes, but we’ll sound a lot smarter if we use 1,000 words to say so.
Member Question:What is the timeline for approval?
Committee Recommendation: We’re gonna shove this down the board’s throat in March and you’ll get sloppy
seconds in April. Enjoy!
Member Recommendation: We aren’t a magazine subscription- can we use the word “dues”? By the way,
you can’t prorate dues without having it in the C&BL. Maybe add it?
Committee Recommendation: You’re right, but I don’t want to look silly. Let’s call it dues payment options,
ok? Also, we don’t know how to use the index for Roberts Rules and we can’t email you to ask for the page as
that would take several seconds. Further, if we can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Peek-A-Boo puts us in stitches!!
IGNORE. (No Change)
Member Comments: The comments about problems with members behaving unethically are weird! We
already have a Member Practices and Article VI for discipline. Why not get beefier and promote the AKC Code
of Sportsmanship if this is something we want to add?
Committee Recommendation: My feelings are deeply hurt by some people and I will personally feel better
with this in there. Trying…. to…. type… through… the… tears… No Change!
Member Recommendation About Members Not Profiting From Club: If members aren’t supposed to profit
from membership in the club, shouldn’t we preclude their family members as well? Also, have we thought
about hiring members when it would yield a substantial savings for the club?
Committee Recommendation: I love to argue with the person who recommended this reasonable language
found in many other parent clubs’ C&BL. Point out that he’s dumb and then strike the language.
Member Recommendation About Mini-Essay on Member Endorsements: Couldn’t we make an effort to
have our C&BL less lengthy than that of the US Constitution? Why not have a standing rule for getting
endorsements?
Committee Recommendation: Why have zero words when we can say it in as many as 40 words? I
personally think that “50 Shades of Gray” is a terrible title for an otherwise great book. Why not list all those
beautiful shades “Charcoal, Light Gray, Spanish Gray, Medium Gray, Gunmetal, Ash Gray, Battleship Gray…”
Member Recommendation Article 1, Section 1: This is the first time we have had Lifetime Memberships in
the C&BL. Shouldn’t such an important honor be voted on by the membership and have minimum
requirements instead of just being given by the board?
Committee Recommendation: Let’s think about this…. NO. No Change.

3. Member Recommendation Article 1, Section 1: Hey, we haven’t had a quorum at an annual meeting in
forever. How about we add a newsletter membership so that we can conduct business at the annual meeting
sometime?
Committee Recommendation: LCA Members are too dumb to understand more than one type of non-voting
membership. We’re not kidding; they are really, really dumb. Have you met them? And, while we could just
change foreign membership to newsletter and easily get a quorum going forward, we would simply prefer not
to. No change!
Member Suggestion: Add the following language: “Upon confirmation of the endorsement of two members
and receipt of membership fee, a welcome email will be sent to the new member and their sponsors. This
communication will explain that they are in a probationary period for 60 days after the next publication of the
Leo Letter.”
Committee Recommendation: Send it the the Secretary (love that guy!) and onto the Membership
Committee. No change.
Member Comment: The membership types and dues payments have gone off the deep end; hundreds of
other clubs have this figured out. Why reinvent the wheel?
Committee Recommendation: A couple of times our membership numbers have been misstated on the
Members List. We are making it much more confusing so it will be less confusing. What don’t you understand?
No change.
Member Comment on Getting Rid of a Clause in Nearly EveryClub’s Bylaws: Hey - omitting “but no
member may resign when in debt to the Club. Dues obligations are considered a debt to the Club and they
become incurred on the first day of each fiscal year.” This is just about every club’s bylaws for a whole bunch
of good reasons.
Committee Recommendation: Hey I found an obscure section of the Robert’s Rules that I can use to justify
our keen thinking on this; if they try to resign, we’ll just say no! And - before you ask - we aren’t going to
consider that memberships of those in debt eventually just lapse without this protection as that would require
too much thought. Would we look ridiculous if held the AKC Sample Bylaws as sacrosanct to bash a dozen
other member suggestions and then said that a suggestion for keeping a provision from the AKC Sample
Bylaws was ridiculous? No? Good. No change.
Member Suggestion Regarding Lifetime Memberships: Now that we have added Lifetime Memberships,
we should perhaps define who can vote and what memberships count toward a quorum?
Committee Recommendation: What? That’s been fixed FOREVER…. No change.
Lots of Members Recommendations Article 3, Section 2: Dude, some of the board members have been off
and on since the club was founded. How about term limits?
Committee Recommendation: We have a proud tradition of having the same folks run the club for 30 years.
Look at all the wonderful things this “continuity” has accomplished. Everybody’s happy. No change.

4. Member Proposal on Qualifications and Travel for Board Members: Here’s a proposal to compensate
board member travel and make it easier to qualify to run (attend 1 of last 3 Nationals).
Committee Recommendation: Sure to the 1 out of last 3 Nationals, but the Board is in charge of meetings.
Since you got a bunch of signatures and we are say no to everyone else... Small Change!!!
Member Question on Treasurer Reports: Shouldn’t the C&BL have a consistent set of expectations for our
treasurer’s reports?
Committee Recommendation: LCA Tradition. No. Also, Jesus personally told us this is his preference. No
Change.
Member Comment On Hiring Bookkeepers: We are going to hire a bookkeeper for the volunteer role of
treasurer? What gives? Why not save club money and use volunteers?
Committee Recommendation: We’ve had Bill Wilson as our bookkeeper ever since our current treasurer was
elected. He’s calling it quits. What if no one on the board can do the math? Get off of our backs. No Change.
Member Suggestion:Section 2. Voting of Officers. We’re changing the C&BL; why not define how officers
should be selected? Most clubs do this.
Committee Recommendation: “The board will know better than the membership.” You can quote us on that.
Literally. I threw that in there just because I know no one will have made it that far. I’ll also throw in a good
page of notes to confuse anybody trying to follow reason here. No Change.
Member Comment Secret Election Process: Hey, the election has “confidentiality of the process”; the
process for elections isn’t a secret. Please fix!!
Committee Recommendation: Unbeknownst to you, it is a secret! We won’t tell you how it’s done. Seriously.
No Change.
Member Comment on Electronic Balloting & Communication: This is very long and difficult to change. The
AKC recommends very simple language at
https://images.akc.org/pdf/clubs/club_policies/Electronic_Balloting.pdf.
Committee Recommendation: While we could have clicked on the link and saw the “Sample Bylaw Excerpt
Showing Placement of Approved Provision”, that would have taken seconds of valuable time that we could use
to argue our omniscient prowess. Besides, who wouldn't love making our C&BL many pages longer just for the
fun of it? You, sir, are a party pooper. Ignore. No Change.
Lots of Member Comments on Committees: We have enough committee issues without ditching our
standing committees and canning everyone at the annual meeting. Why do this?
Committee Recommendation: Look, the board makes all the decisions anyway; the only power the members
really have is choosing the board. If something needs to be done a certain way, we have a go-to guy that will
get it done on any committee. That’s how we roll. No Change.

5. Member Comment on HEA Awards: Excuse me. The requirement that you have to be an Heinrich Essig
Award Recipient to serve on the committee for the Heinrich Essig Award is kinda ridiculous. This should be
revisited.
Committee Recommendation: Having a small group of people choose their friends to not pay dues for the
rest of their lives is the most American thing since apple pie. I love my HEA Award and I love giving them to my
friends. Don’t blow our candle out so yours can glow brighter. No Change.
Member Comment on Board vs. Membership Power to Choose HEA Lifetime Members: Uh… if the HEA
Committee recommends HEA recipients to the board, then the board has the power to grant lifetime
memberships. If the board can, then the membership can. This seems like a bad idea for many reasons.
Committee Recommendation: Us abuse power? Not going to happen. Ever. No Real Change.
Member Comment on Removing Standing Committees: I am totally bummed that the standing committees
are gone. They are supposed to work and report to the membership.
Committee Recommendation: Hey, we’re not getting rid of standing committees. We’re just taking them away
from the membership and giving them to the board. Think of it as Christmas in April. No Change.
Member Comment on Changes to Current Bylaws: You are crossing items out of the current bylaws that
were never there in the first place. What gives?
Committee Recommendation: As of this October, we only had two years to get this done. Give us a break.
Thanks. Play Martyr Card & Chastise.