Friends,

I am sending you this to update you on recent events and to provide you information on a matter that will be on the agenda for our next quarterly meeting on May 7, as well as on a matter that will be the subject of a later meeting.

So far this year here is what has happened with the Friends:

1. Our Random House in-kind book grant application was not selected.
2. Our ACE Hardware cash register Round Up campaign in March netted $900. I really appreciated this fund raising opportunity and hope you can express your appreciation next time you shop at ACE.
3. Our application for a $500 Community Grant from Walmart for the library’s Summer Reading program was approved and we should receive those funds this month.
4. As of mid-April our membership drive has resulted in 14 memberships with $1,076 in dues and $833 in additional contributions.

Executive Board Openings

We have been operating with just two Executive Board officers for quite some time, which is the minimum number allowed when you consider Maria Richards is legally serving as both the Secretary and the Treasurer.   Although our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws call for us needing four officers (president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer) current law requires a minimum of three officers (president, secretary and treasurer).  I personally will not be able to continue on as the President indefinitely due to slowly declining health and we need a dedicated Secretary. If you or anyone you know would be interested in volunteering as the President or the Secretary please do so.

Amendments to our Founding Documents

Our Articles of Incorporation haven’t been updated since they were founded in 1991 and our Bylaws were last updated in 2004. I have been going over them to identify needed changes and will be bringing these matters to the membership for discussion and approval at future member meetings. The current versions of these documents can be viewed from the Friends website (lassenlibrary.org/friends)

1. The Bylaws have several suggested changes to both correct outdated content and provide amplification to other portions. None of these should be that controversial. However, there needs to be a discussion about what membership means and whether the current three tiered dues structure is valid or necessary. Technically, when you have more than one membership tier there should be distinct levels of “benefits” associated with the tiers and we currently don’t do that, We also have not been adhering to the “lifetime” and “Foundational” member provisions in the current bylaws. I have posted on our website a first draft of the amended Bylaws that I have come up with. The Bylaws will not be submitted for approval at the May 7 meeting but they may be a discussion item. If you have any comments or thoughts about the first draft of amendments to the Bylaws please let me know by e-mail.
2. The suggested amendments to the Articles of Incorporation are below and they will be presented at the May 7 quarterly meeting as an agenda item for approval. Members must be present at the meeting in order to vote on the agenda item. The current list of members eligible to vote at the May 7 meeting can be found on the website.

Suggested Amendments to Articles of Incorporation

New wording is in bolded red type

Deleted wording indicated by strikethrough

2. This corporation is a non-profit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the non-profit public benefit corporation law for charitable purposes. The specific purpose of this corporation is to stimulate public awareness, support and use of the Susanville Branch of the Lassen County Library  Lassen Library District, to assist in maintaining and improving existing library services, and to encourage new programs through the library.

Rational: This change just reflects the change in the name of the library being supported.

6. The corporation shall have four (4) directors. The name and address of the persons who are to act in the capacity of directors until the selection of their successors are:

[the list of the four initial directors will remain listed here}

Rational: The number of directors will be reduced to three (3) and that fact will be added to article 7.a. below. This approach precludes us from having to delete the names and addresses of the initial directors as their service has been superseded by subsequent director changes over the years.

7.a. Directors. The corporation shall have three (3) directors The manner in which directors shall be chosen and removed from office, their qualifications,  powers, duties, compensation, and tenure of office, the manner of filling vacancies on the board, and the manner of calling and holding meetings of directors shall be as stated in the bylaws.

Rational: This change moves the stated number of directors from Article 6 to its more logical position at the beginning of the directors article and sets the new required number of directors to 3 from 4, which will be later reflected in amended byalws.

7.b. Members. The manner in which membership shall be created and the qualifications of such members of the corporation shall be set forth in the Bylaws. There shall be three (3) classes of members of the corporation: Associate, regular and lifetime. Membership in this organization shall be open to all individuals in sympathy with its purpose. Each individual, regardless of class of membership shall be entitled to one vote in person.

Rational: This change removes the specification of membership classes from the Article as the previous sentence contains language that covers how membership will be defined is set forth in the bylaws. The Bylaws section on membership classes will be addressed when upcoming proposed amendments to the Bylaws are discussed at a later meeting.

Helen & Ron Baker
Martin Balding
Cindy Becker
John & Heather Blevins
Margaret Brouillard
Cynthia Cressy
Joanne Darlington
Frank & Georgianne Hall
Lila Holmes
George & Constance Kraemer
Marshall & Helen Leve
Julie McKee
Margie Meserve
Mary Morphis
Gerald & Lorraine O'Brien
Dan & Amy Owens
Mary Piowaty
Geoffrey & BJ Ponting
Mimi Rena
Maria Richards
Bill & Rosie Richards
Kenneth & Patricia Robson
Marilyn Shears
Peter Talia
Laurie Tippin
Clarence & Jacqueline Tripp
Alfred & Pamela Vazquez
Brenda Vicondoa
Darlene Wing
Heidi West
Phillip Nemir

SUSANVILLE LIBRARY DISTRICT

LASSEN COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY, INC.

BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I - Name

Section 1: The name of this organization shall be Susanville District Library Lassen County Friends of the Library, Inc.

Section 2: The headquarters of this organization is 1618 Main Street, Susanville, CA 96130

ARTICLE II - Purpose

Section 1: The purpose of this organization shall be to stimulate public awareness, support and use of the Susanville District Library Lassen Library District, to assist in maintaining and improving existing Library services and to encourage new Library programs.

Section 2: The extent to which this organization and the Lassen Library District address the areas of support of Section 1 shall be guided by a Memorandum of Understanding. 

ARTICLE III - Membership

Section 1: Membership in this organization shall be open to all individuals in sympathy with its purposes. Memberships can be entered into at any time and are effective for one year from the date the membership dues are paid.

Section 2: Each individual membership shall be entitled to one vote in person. If a membership is in the names of two or more people, any vote made by one person or by a majority of persons counts for everyone as the single vote.

ARTICLE IV - Officers

Section 1: The officers of this organization shall be: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The positions shall be filled as needed. These members shall comprise the Executive Board.

Section 2: The slate of Officers shall be proposed at the September November quarterly meeting and then voted on at the December February quarterly meeting. Officers shall assume the duties of office immediately, and for a term of one year.

Section 3: Officer vacancies shall be appointed by the Executive Board and will be effective until the next regular election.

Section 5: When officer positions are vacant, other officers can temporally serve in two positions with the exception that the President and Vice President cannot also serve as the Secretary or the Treasurer.

Section 6: Officers shall serve as uncompensated volunteers to the organization.

ARTICLE V - Duties of Officers

Section 1: The President shall preside at meetings, be responsible for coordinating committee activity, and be an ex-officio member of all committees. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President shall preside.

Section 2: The Secretary shall record the minutes of each meeting, maintain the record of current memberships, and as directed by the Executive Board, carry on correspondence and assist the President in the filing of required federal and state reports. The Treasurer is responsible for the finances.

Section 3: The Treasurer is responsible for the finances: maintaining the financial ledger, paying expenses, depositing revenues, providing a report of the financials to quarterly member meetings and assist the President and/or the Secretary in the filing of annual tax returns.

 Section 4: A minimum of two and a maximum of three Officers shall be duly authorized by the membership to withdraw funds from the Friends of the Library bank account, pursuant to Article IX, provided that two of the three shall be the President and the Treasurer.

Section 5. All officers, either as a group or individually, and with or without member participation, shall work to promote membership growth, complete applications for grants, execute fund-raising activities and create associated informational materials that promote the activities of the organization.

ARTICLE VI - Executive Board

Section 1: The Executive Board shall consist of the Officers of the organization. A minimum of two officer positions must be occupied for the Executive Board to be viable.

Section 2: The Executive Board shall have the authority to appoint committees and committee chairpersons consistent with the purposes of this organization.

Section 3: The Executive Board shall meet at the regularly scheduled meetings of the organization and/or as needed.

Section 4: The District Librarian may serve as advisor to the Executive Board.

ARTICLE VII - Meetings

This organization shall meet regularly, once each quarter, on the second Wednesday first Thursday of March, June, September and December February, May, August and November. Unless otherwise announced, the meetings shall be held at 5:00 p.m 4:00 p.m. at the Susanville District Library Lassen Library District. Additional meetings, or a change in time or place may be scheduled by the President.

**********   This section needs discussion  ******************************************************************

ARTICLE VII - Dues

Section 1: Dues shall be payable annually. and shall become payable on the first of July of each year, excepting that "Lifetime" members will not be subject to annual dues.

Section 2: There shall be three classes of dues:

Regular - $10 (Available to Students and Senior Citizens) $20

Family - $25

Benefactor - $100

Section 3: Foundation donation

Foundation membership shall be conferred to individuals, businesses and organizations upon a donation of $500 or more. A plaque will be placed in the Library listing Foundation members, and individual plaques of appreciation will be provided to each member.

Section 4 3: The annual rate of dues shall be set by the membership at the regularly scheduled quarterly meeting in March February.

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ARTICLE IX - Expenditures

Section 1: Routine operating/administrative expenditures, not to exceed $60 per quarter, may be allocated at any time by two members of the Executive Board authorized to withdraw funds from the bank account. Such expenditures will be presented at quarterly meetings as a consent agenda item.

Section 2: Non-routine/administrative expenditures exceeding $60 per quarter shall be approved by a majority of those present at a regularly scheduled meeting prior to them being paid.

ARTICLE X - Parliamentary Procedure

Common sense shall govern the proceedings of this organization.

ARTICLE XI - Amendments

Amendments to these Bylaws may be proposed at any meeting and voted on at the next subsequent meeting of the general membership. Approval of proposed amendments shall require a two-thirds vote of the memberships present.

ARTICLE XII - Dissolution

Section 1: A decision to dissolve the organization shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership thus voting to be adopted.

Section 2: In the event of the dissolution of the organization, all assets will be turned over to another nonprofit, charitable or educational organization to be selected by a majority of the Executive Board at the time of such dissolution. The Executive Board shall also take all actions required to terminate the organization’s obligations and to file required reports with appropriate local, state and federal agencies.

Bylaws adopted: March 10, 2004 xxxxx.xx 2026

(These Bylaws contain several changes from the original Bylaws adopted November 12, 1986, as amended on March 10, 2004, all properly voted on and adopted by two-thirds vote. Attested to by: ______________, Secretary.)