The Great Bylaws Debate

[Beavah 205]

Yah, OK. Seems like every time this comes up there's some set of folks who has a knee-jerk response of "Never!" to troop bylaws. To be fair, I have a knee jerk response to knee jerk responses, eh? Plus my background is perhaps more amenable to the notion of written conventions than others.

 

But let's bring this debate out.

 

First, the BSA encourages the youth officers to adopt bylaws in Venturing at least. So it's not a program no-no by any means. It's actually a part of the program at some levels.

 

Second, because da difference between CO's is so great, the BSA is deliberately vague about committee operations. Committees in different units are wildly different, rangin' from 3 professional CO staff members to a membership open to every parent. So the absence of a bylaws reference in the Troop Committee Guide to me says nothing at all. There are so many things missing from da Troop Committee Guide that are expected to be filled by the CO and unit.

 

So there is no recommendation at all against havin' bylaws, and some deliberate program elements that encourage it.

 

Why the knee jerk?

 

To my mind, a majority of units are small, and tend to just run as a group of like-minded folks. That's ideal, eh? Yeh just have agreeable friendship and consensus.

 

But that is never guaranteed. Yeh sometimes get The CC Who Wants to Be King. Yeh sometimes get the Complainer Who Wants To Take Over. Yeh sometimes get the Treasurer Who Borrows the Money. Yeh sometimes run into the Parent Whose Boy Does No Wrong But Who Burned Down the Outhouse.

 

And yeh get some of these "Friends of Troop 1234" chartering organizations, eh? Unincorporated Associations. To my mind, these especially should absolutely have bylaws, so as to help protect the parents and committee members from joint and several liability.

 

So I'm loosely an advocate for troop committee bylaws and regulations, eh? They specify the operating procedures for the committee. Who votes. What is a quorum. How are officers selected and for how long. What purchases require advance approval. Who is authorized to borrow money. What are the financial controls. How are direct contact leaders selected and vetted. How are people removed. How are youth discipline matters handled which come to the committee (and what discipline matters should come to the committee). What are the limits of the committee's purview.

 

I think yeh want to have those things in place, eh? Otherwise yeh have no recourse when two committee members meet durin' the snowstorm and vote the entire $10K in the troop treasury to buy Fred's old rusty trailer.

 

I think good rules & bylaws do a few things. First, they make yeh look professional and organized to new folks, instead of being Committee Chairman Mao's People. They give folks confidence. Second, they're a way of communicating with folks that shortens the learning curve. These are our operating procedures, in black and white, rather than "figure it out by osmosis." Third, they're there for you when the cowpie hits da rotary air impeller, to guide yeh through that sticky kid discipline situation or parent complaint without makin' stuff up on the fly. It provides a comforting sense of objectivity that reduces tensions and personality conflicts. Fourth, they keep yeh from getting sloppy. Yah, sure, all the votes are unanimous, but at least everybody is lookin' at the treasurer's report. And finally, they're there when someone with a gripe wants to hijack the process.

 

Can they be abused? Yah, sure, so can anything. Most common is da quote-da-rules pseudo-attorneys who use 'em to manipulate rather than serve. Second most common is da "There ought to be a Rule!" crowd that wants to solve every problem by creating a new rule. I once ran into a major city school board policy that went on for 40 pages on the procedures for selecting new band uniforms. I can only imagine what dispute caused that useless set of rules. But those are known traps, eh? And they don't change da positives.

 

So if yeh work under a real CO and are a small group of like-minded folk, then maybe yeh can get by without, for as long as that holds true. Otherwise, I think bylaws are probably not a bad thing.

 

What do the rest think?

 

Beavah

 

[CalicoPenn 729]

I would say most of the time (ok, all of the time), a Packs and Troops don't need a set of "Bylaws". Yet I sure do agree that Packs and Troops should have a set of "Operating Procedures". I don't consider those to be one and the same thing.

 

Bylaws lay out membership eligibility (the BSA already does that), officers and their responsibilities (the BSA already does that), how officers are elected (the BSA already does that), how officers/members are removed (the BSA already does that), sets the "charter" year (the BSA already does that), sets the annual meeting (for Packs it's the Blue and Gold, for Troops - how many do that?) and what happens when the organization ceases to exist (which is between the BSA and the Chartering Organization).

 

Who writes checks, how often you audit accounts, where you bank, what time you meet, where you meet, who gets keys, etc. etc. are all operational procedures - and they tend to bog down Bylaws. Just put them in a procedures manual - easier to change when needed.

 

Most of the things I've seen in Troop "Bylaws" are either word for word regurgitations of things that the BSA provides in their various handbooks (like rank requirements, POR descriptions, etc.) or directly contradict BSA policy in one way or another. Does a Troop really need to publish G2SS in their "Bylaws"? I don't think so.

 

But - Beavah mentions the ole "Friends of Troop 1234" type CO's. Now THIS is where Bylaws come in handy. Friends of Troop 1234 is a Chartering Organization. It is NOT the same thing as a Troop Committee. Sure, it may very well share the same members, but it doesn't neccessarily have to. It would be wise for these organizations to develop a set of Bylaws that describe who may be members of the Friends group (you're not describing who may be members of the BSA - only of the Friends group). You'll describe the Officers (say a President, Vice President and Secretary at a minimum - Treasurer could be optional since the Friends group might not even have their own bank account). The President becomes the Institutional Head. Your Friends group may be made up only of parents of lads in the Troop or Pack, or it could be made up of parents, folks who have had kids age out, and/or just interested members of the community. But the Friends "bylaws" should not be confused with Pack/Troop operations. It should only govern what the Friends group does, or doesn't, do.

 

As for Venturing recommending that their youth develop bylaws for their crews - that's a Venturing thing - just as the Pinewood Derby is a Pack thing, and Summer Camp is a Troop thing, there are things, like bylaws, that should be considered just a Venturing thing.

 

As for a Committee voting to spend $10K on a rusty old trailer at a meeting in a snowstorm, there is a remedy for that too - angry parents complaining vociferously to the Charter Organization and putting pressure on the CO to get the committee's heads screwed back on right.

 

That's my 5 cents (inflation, ya know) for what it's worth. Because ultimately, as Acco pointed out: Should they? No. May they? Yeah.(This message has been edited by calicopenn)

[Beavah 205]

Bylaws lay out membership eligibility (the BSA already does that)

 

Nah, not really. In da other thread, BrentAllen laid out his eligibility for being an ASM, and it exceed the BSA's by quite a bit. A committee might want to limit potential membership to parents of boys who have been around for at least a year, or who are not in arrears, or who are members of da CO, or...

 

officers and their responsibilities (the BSA already does that)

 

Nah, not really. The Troop Committee Guide lays out some potential officers and roles, but I've never known a troop anywhere that follows that verbatim. Just like the BSA requirements lay out potential POR's but that doesn't mean every troop has a bugler.

 

how officers are elected (the BSA already does that)

 

Nah, not really. There's a supplementary module that offers a recommended process for selecting committee members and officers, but even that module doesn't specify how the group making the choice actually decides. Does it vote? Does it draw lots like some churches do? Does it lock itself in on bread and water until consensus is reached and white smoke appears?

 

how officers/members are removed (the BSA already does that)

 

Nope, not really. There's a vague bit in G2SS which suggests that the committee has the authority to remove youth members, but offers no procedure. We all recognize that a COR/IH can remove adults on personal authority, but that doesn't describe da normative process, eh? Only the extraordinary process.

 

sets the "charter" year (the BSA already does that)

 

I think yeh mean "sets the fiscal year" or terms for office. And nope, da BSA doesn't do that either. Lots of units, especially packs, operate on a school year basis, even though the BSA charter year in their area runs January to January.

 

 

So it's not all that clear, eh?

 

CalicoPenn is makin' distinctions from the corporate world between bylaws and operating procedures or regulations, and I get where he's comin' from. I just don't think those distinctions are necessary at the unit level. Easy enough just to have the short "book of how we do things", whatever yeh want to call it.

 

And I agree, I sometimes see unit "books of how we do things" get all cluttered up. No different from da way Irving clutters up the G2SS or Tour Plan forms, eh? Maybe it happens because nobody's given units any guidance or models for how to put together their "book of how we do things". Perhaps we'd get less clutter and foolishness if instead of saying "don't do it" and refusing to answer questions, we offered some help with how to do a decent job of it.

 

Just a thought.

 

Beavah

 

 

 

[pchadbo 60]

CalicoPenn said:

"Summer Camp is a Troop thing"

 

Oops I gues I am not really going for a week with my Cubs then? Hmm have to let the Council know that their Cub Scout Camp is not acceptable

 

;-)

 

[John-in-KC 311]

I have to agree with both you guys.

 

There is a need for a few things to be committed to paper. Most of them are operational. They're more like aids than business practices.

 

The Chartered Partner may declare how certain practices will happen. Those are different. They have the force of the franchisee. They should be at the front of any set of operating practices, and they are business practices. One example might be: "Capital expenditures over $5,000 require advance approval of the IH and the COR."

 

Most of the time, though, the object of the exercise is to build an adult team that believes in "cooperate and graduate". This kind of team, program folks and support folks alike, helps keep the drama low and the program delivery high.

[Oak Tree 15]

I'm with Beavah. Call it whatever you want, I don't think it hurts to have some brief statements of how things operate.

 

Maybe we don't want to call them by-laws, since that brings up a notion of corporate legalese. My troop has a troop handbook that introduces new parents to the way the troop runs, and includes those kinds of things.

[evmori 11]

I have always thought of bylaws as those things that aren't part of the Law and Oath. More like operation procedures like meeting times, when dues are due, etc.

[emb021 16]

"I have always thought of bylaws as those things that aren't part of the Law and Oath."

 

Yes. I do get a little sick and tired of seeing people's response to bylaws with something like "we don't need them, we have the scout oath & law". Sorry, not the same.

 

Bylaws, as Beavah points out, defines how a organization IS organized. And its not just corporate entites that have them. Pretty much ALL organizations, big or small, do. Standard sections deal with membership, officers, meetings, committees, etc.

 

"More like operation procedures like meeting times, when dues are due, etc."

 

Maybe, maybe not. Bylaws aren't the only documents an organization has. There will also be standing rules, which might be called policies or procedures. Meeting times is actually something that SHOULDN'T be in your bylaws, but in your standing rules. Dues could go either way.

 

 

Keep in mind that Nationally we have a set of bylaws, and each council has a set. Venturing Crews, Sea Scout Ships and OA Lodges are encouraged to have them (tho lodge's are called "lodge rules"). Other scout units are not encouraged, but certainly not forbidden. Like others, I see where they could be useful, but understand how they can and are abused.

 

 

[Twocubdad 665]

So, then, I suppose we have "operating guidelines" not bylaws. Sorta disjointed bullet points of things which seemed important at the time.

 

How about this: Those of you with bylaws how about posting some of them. Maybe the table of contents or some of the points which seem pertinent or unique.