Bylaws 1/20/19

CONSTITUTION AND BY LAWS

ARIZONA FEDERATION OF RACING PIGEON CLUBS, INC.

(non profit organization January 20th, 2019)

I - NAME  

This organization will be known as the' ARIZONA FEDERATION OF RACING PIGEON CLUBS, INC.

II - OBJECTIVES

The ARIZONA FEDERATION OF RACING PIGEON CLUBS, INC., (hereinafter referred to as the “ARZ.FED”) exists to promote, protect, and enhance the sport of racing homing pigeons, to cooperate with other organizations, which directly or indirectly accomplish those goals, and to provide services and benefits to its members.

III  GOVERNING BODY

1. 1.All matters of the ARZ.FED will be decided by the delegates of the clubs.
   The number of delegates will be 2 per club.
   Delegates must be current flying members in good standing. ARZ.FED officers must attend all delegate meetings: but have no vote unless they are also a delegate. The ARZ.FED President (or vice president in his absence) shall only vote in the case of a tie and may not also be a voting delegate of their own club. 
2. 2.Only items voted on by the clubs can be put on the agenda through the delegates. However, the President can place items on the agenda for pressing matters. 
3. Final agendas for delegate meetings will be furnished to the clubs 14 days in advance of the meetings. Only agenda items will be voted on.
   IV - MEMBERSHIP
4. 1.ARZ.FED recognized clubs are: Valley Invitational Club, Arizona Invitational Club, Lost Dutchman Racing Pigeon Club, Advantage One Club, Sunburst Club, Phoenix Sportsman Club . ARZ.FED members of affiliated clubs must be in good standing at both the club and federation level as per the AU guidelines.
5. 2. When a new club wishes to affiliate with the ARZ.FED, they must apply in writing. An acceptance vote will be held at the next delegate meeting and a majority approval will be required. The new club delegates will be eligible to attend meetings but will not have voting rights until the completion of consecutive young and old bird seasons in any order. 
6. 3.Any club not flying one series of races (YB and OB) with the federation will be dropped from the ARZ.FED, forfeiting all rights and privileges. Any club dropped must reapply for membership if they wish to fly in the ARZ.FED.
7. 4.An ARZ.FED member can be a member of more than one club; but can fly in only one club.
8. 5.Boundaries are restricted to the ARZ.FED guidelines for a given racing season:
   Currently those boundaries are within 60 miles of Central Avenue in all directions, or by exception granted.
9. 6.The direction of the ARZ.FED shall be determined at the annual meeting for the current race series to be flown.  A majority delegate vote required for approval.

V - Officers

The elected Officers of the ARZ.FED are authorized to conduct all business of the ARZ.FED, in accordance with this Constitution and its Bylaws. No individual Officer is authorized to act for the ARZ.FED or bind it to legal obligations unless authorized to do so by this Constitution, the ARZ.FED Bylaws, by vote of the Officers, or in accordance with policies duly adopted by the ARZ.FED. The Officers may establish such committees or appoint such persons designated to perform certain functions on behalf of the ARZ.FED, as it deems necessary in order to carry out the business of the ARZ.FED.

1. The affairs of the ARZ.FED shall be administered by its Officers consisting of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Race Secretary. 

1. President. The President shall preside and conduct all meetings when present and shall be an ex-officio member of all committees. Robert’s rules of order shall be used to conduct all official business. The president may name an assistant to help make sure the Robert’s Rules of Order are followed, said assistant will only communicate with the President. The President shall not vote on any motion before the membership unless a tie vote requires him to do so. The term of office shall be one year as provided in these Bylaws for officers of the ARZ.FED. He will appoint all committees not otherwise provided for in these bylaws. He will appoint a committee of not less than 2 members to audit the treasurers books prior to the first annual meeting.He must call a delegate meeting when presented with a petition of 40% of the delegates.
2. Vice-President. The Vice President shall assume and perform all duties of the President in case of his absence or an inability to serve. The term of office shall be one year as provided in these Bylaws for officers of the ARZ.FED.
3. Treasurer. The ARZ.FED shall have a Treasurer, who shall carry out those responsibilities and duties assigned. He shall maintain complete and accurate financial records (i.e. receipts, banks statements, and general ledger) of the ARZ.FED, and provide a written report to the Officers and the ARZ.FED Membership as to the financial affairs of the ARZ.FED at all delegate meetings. The treasurer shall keep a correct list of all members and be the custodian of all ARZ.FED funds. The books shall be open for inspection to any member of the ARZ.FED.For expenses incurred the Treasurer shall have the right to pay a maximum amount of $500. Amounts exceeding this must be approved by officers. He will pay all bills and record all transactions approved by the ARZ.Fed and/or it’s officers.
4. Secretary. Shall conduct the general correspondence for the club; keep the minutes of all meetings (copies to be filed on the website for all members to access within 2 weeks), send out notices and tabulate all ballots in the presence of no less than 2 other officers or delegates. 
5. Race Secretary. Shall have charge of all details of every race and shall conduct each race according to these bylaws and such race rules that the ARZ.FED and Au may adopt. ARZ.FED and Race Secretary shall abide by the current rules of the AU / American Racing Pigeon Union. 

Article VI Nomination and election of officers

1) Election of Officers. The members of the ARZ.FED shall elect new Officers at the Annual Meeting by majority delegate vote and the Officers shall serve for a period of one year. This election will be the first order of business in the new year. The newly elected officers will conduct the remainder of the annual meeting. Any club delegate elected to the office of President must relinquish their delegate title immediately and the club must inform the secretary of their replacement following the election or vote with only one delegate until that post is filled.

Article VII - Meetings

1. Annual Meeting. There shall be conducted each year in January an Annual Meeting, after notice to the membership (minimum 14 days before the meeting), at which members of the ARZ.FED may attend. At such meeting the Officers shall report to the ARZ.FED members present and those members shall be allowed to ask questions concerning the business and the status of the ARZ.FED.

2. Special Meetings. The Officers may hold such other meetings throughout the year as it deems necessary to conduct the business of the ARZ.FED. Officer’s decisions involving major policy or race rule changes, personnel issues or expenditures of $500.00 or more must be made during a ARZ.FED meeting.

3. Agenda. The Officers shall adopt a standard agenda for the conducting of business at its meetings, which agenda shall itemize the types of actions or activities it may consider by category or type, and in the order to be considered. The Officers shall follow that agenda at all times. 

1. Roll Call/ Attendance
2. Minutes of previous meeting
3. Financial Report
4. Communication, member questions/concerns heard (not resolved at this time),etc
5. Unfinished Business, race schedule approval: shipping limits, boundaries, shipping costs for a given season
6. Designate all committees and their members
7. Proposal for membership
8. Open Forum
9. Adjournment

5. Quorum. A majority of delegates eligible to vote shall constitute a quorum at any meeting of the Officers or of any ARZ.FED, unless otherwise provided in the ARZ.FED Constitution or in these Bylaws.

VIII – Amendment to Constitution

1.. An election to amend this Constitution shall result in the adoption of the proposed amendment if approved by a 2/3rd’s delegates vote in favor.

2. Merger or Dissolution. No merger of the ARZ.FED with any other organization or any dissolution of the ARZ.FED shall be valid unless a referendum vote of the members of the ARZ.FED entitled to vote thereon approves such action by a two-thirds vote with not less than fifty percent of the current membership casting a ballot. In the event of a proposed merger of the ARZ.FED the terms of the merger shall be set out with reasonable particularity in the referendum ballot. In the event of dissolution of the ARZ.FED the Officers shall distribute pro rata the assets of the ARZ.FED to all the members in good standing, after either satisfying or making arrangements to satisfy any debts or legal obligations of the ARZ.FED.

IX -Discipline of Members

1) Any member violating the AU rules of conduct may be suspended or banned from the ARZ Federation as determined by the ARZ Federation officers. In the event the officers recommending suspension or banning a special meeting will be called and a majority delegate secret ballot vote will be held to determine the outcome.

X - Disputes

1. All complaints against ARZ Federation members must be submitted in writing to the President of the ARZ Federation. The ARZ Federation Officers will open an investigation if required and determine the relevant course of action.
2. All other rules/matters not specifically covered here will be per AU rules/guidelines.

XI - Arizona Federation Race Rules

1. A list of GPS coordinates for all members lofts is to be maintained by the Federation Race Secretary. The federation race secretary and his release committee may inspect all loft locations in the event of an accuracy question.
2. Each clubs crates will be staged checkerboard style on the Fed trailer
3. Only one federation shipping limit is allowed per full member. A full member is a flyer that participates in more than half the shipping for that season.
4. The federation race secretary will set all release times and inform the club race secretaries.
5. The federation race secretary has the authority to hold races, delay liberations, cancel the race or bring birds back to a shorter distance should the conditions warrant.
6. Computation of results - each club is responsible to provide the Fed race secretary with accurate race results within 48 hours of the closure of the race.
7. Measurements for the purpose of long and short average speed will be based on the center of Phoenix.
8. All race series flown by the federation should encompass race distances necessary for all members to be eligible for all awards offered by the AU.

XII - Committees

1. Release Committee - There shall be a release recommendation committee composed of the race secretary from each club and headed by the race secretary for the federation. The release recommendation committee will recommend if a race should be conducted as scheduled or if the release should be delayed, shortened or canceled. Communication from all race secretaries is encouraged 12 hours prior to the release. The final decision will be made by the federation race secretary. recommendations from each club must be recorded and communicated to the entire committee. In the event the race secretary is out of state during a race his duties will be delegated by the Fed President to another race secretary and this information must be communicated to all clubs.
2. Schedule committee - A committee composed of one member per club will work together to make a race schedule for young and old birds that can be proposed to the ARZ.FED at the annual meeting. In the event a single schedule cannot be agreed upon by the committee two or more schedules may be presented and a delegate majority vote will decide.
3. Glen Burnham Arizona Open Classic committee - Exactly one participating member of each club is required.
4. Auction committee - Voluntary Participation
5. Awards Committee - items to consider(annual banquet, award presentations, diplomas, new reports on pigeon mall such as Master loft, any recognition related items)

XIII - Additional Items -

1. The ARZ.FED will hold a special race each young bird series. This race shall be called the Glen Burnham Arizona Open Classic. The President of the ARZ Federation designates an AOC Chair. Any disputes will be handled by the AOC Committee. No member that shall benefit from any disputes shall be part of the dispute resolution process.
2. The ARZ.FED will conduct an annual auction race each young bird series. The President of the ARZ Federation designates an Auction Race Chair. Any disputes will be handled by the Committee. No member that shall benefit from any disputes shall be part of the dispute resolution process.
3. Changes to the accepted race schedule for a given year after the annual meeting must be decided by a 2/3 vote of the delegates at an ARZ.FED meeting.
4. The annual ARZ.FED dues will be as follows:
   • $25 per flyer annually
   • $10 Junior flyers
     • The shipping fee for juniors will be half the regular fee for that season. A junior member must be a flyer that participates in more than half the shipping for that season.

1. Liberation: The release time may be reduced to as little as 15 minutes after sunrise in the event of temperatures above 90 degrees along the course. The release time when temperatures are not above 90 degrees anywhere on the course will be a minimum of 30 minutes after the official sunrise time at the release location.  A written policy for the drivers handling of birds will be produced by the ARZ.FED and published for all members to see.
2. Existence. The ARZ.FED is a not-for-profit corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Arizona.
3. Only bands from an accredited organization such as AU, IF, CU, MX, etc will be allowed in the Arizona Federation. Any member or club using/promoting counterfeit bands will forfeit all rights/privileges in the ARZ Federation. Any bird banded with a counterfeit band will be disqualified.