Page 15 - July August 2017
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 Changes to the NMRA BR Constitution
The NMRA British Region Constitution was last updated and re-issued in 2006. The Region Board of Directors (BOD) has now decided that it needs further updating. The BOD has outlined the changes and the Constitutional Committee requested to draft the necessary changes in detail. This has now been done and BOD has approved the resulting chang- es.
Procedure for Members’ Approval
Consulting the Region membership now follows. First the changes are published in Roundhouse and BRe-news. Then discussion and voting on them takes place at the 2017 AGM. (It would help if members with comments on these pro- posed changes would pass these onto the BOD before the AGM.)
Finally the revised Constitution is put to a ballot of all NMRA members resident in the Region. It is approved if the num- ber of votes in favour is either more than two-thirds of the number of valid votes received or more than one-half of the total number of Regular members at that time.
The Proposed Changes
In the accompanying proposed revised Constitution, additions are shown underlined, deletions are shown struck through and reasons for the changes are shown below in italics. (The underlining, deletions and explanatory text in italics will not, of course, appear in the final approved issue.) These changes fall into various categories.
Nationally (i.e. NMRA HQ) driven changes
Several changes (denoted # in the italicized text) arise from changes at National level, i.e. in the NMRA Regulations (these Regulations have now been incorporated in the Executive Handbook of the NMRA). These changes are:
· The Republic of Ireland is now included in the British Region.
· The class of Legacy membership has been abolished.
· Overseas Region membership is no longer compatible with the NMRA Regulations. Membership of a particular
Region is now dependant on the payment of NMRA dues alone and where the member is resident. Note that this does not preclude any NMRA member from purchasing Region services (such as the Region magazine) from a different Region.
Other changes Affecting the BOD:
· The maximum period of office when President assumes office mid-term has now been defined.
· The period that the BOD will be without a President in the event of the Vice President not stepping up has been
minimised.
· A retiring President or Vice President is now allowed to temporarily remain in office if no nominations have been
received. Elections & Ballots:
· Calls for nominations currently go into June Roundhouse. In practice this is adequate notice but does not quite give the required five months, hence this period has been reduced.
· Electronic voting is now allowed. Note that it is intended that postal voting will continue to be an option for the foreseeable future.
· The number of members needed to request a ballot on the management of the Region has been brought in line with the increase in membership since the Constitution was originally issued.
Terminology:
· Gender specific references have been eliminated in line with current practice, e.g. “he” being changed to “he/she”.
· Auditing terminology has been updated to current practice, thus “Auditor” is now “Independent Examiner”.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE BRITISH REGION of the NATIONAL MODEL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION,
As approved by ballot on New date to be added
This is draft version 1.3. Note: Reasons for changes are shown below in italics – those denoted by # originate from changes in NMRA Regulations.
Preamble
The National Model Railroad Association (herein referred to as the NMRA) is an organisation founded in the USA in 1935 and now has a world-wide membership. In later years a number of organisations have been formed under the style of “--- Region” to supplement the NMRA in smaller defined geographic areas - the British Region is one of these.
Article 1. Name
The name of the organisation to which this Constitution applies is the “National Model Railroad Association, British Region” and is referred to herein as the Region.
Article 2. Objects
The objects of membership of the Region are those set out in the NMRA Regulations (as included in the Executive Handbook August 2017 - ROUNDHOUSE 15
   
































































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