Burley Community Council

Constitution
(revised June 2003)

  1. NAME
    The name of the Council shall be "Burley Community Council".
  2. AIMS
    The aims of the Burley Community Council shall be:-
    • To sustain and enhance the community life and environment of Burley-in-Wharfedale
    • To help those in Burley in need of special facilities
    • To defend the common interests of the residents of Burley
    • To present to operational organisations local needs and opinions
    • To initiate and support community action in furtherance of the above
    • To support and co-operate with the Burley-in-Wharfedale Community Trust to further the above aims.
  3. BASIS
    The Council shall be non-party in politics and non-sectarian in religion and shall not discriminate on grounds of sex, religion, nationality, race, age, disability or colour.
  4. MEMBERSHIP – INDIVIDUALS
    All residents of Burley shall be eligible for membership and shall be individual members if they so declare themselves until they resign or cease to be residents. Non-residents shall be admitted as individual members on application to and at the discretion of the Committee.
  5. MEMBERSHIP – GROUPS
    Any organisation or branch of an organisation operating in or with an interest in Burley may be admitted to group membership on application to and at the discretion of the Committee.
  6. MEMBERSHIP – DISPUTES
    The Committee shall arbitrate if any person’s status as a member is challenged. The Committee shall not refuse membership without good and stated reason.
  7. MEMBERSHIP – FEES
    There shall be no membership fee.
  8. MEMBERSHIP – VOTING
    Any individual member attending any meeting of the Council shall be entitled to vote a that meeting. Any group member may vote at any meeting of the Council through a nominated representative present at that meeting who if an individual member may not also exercise his or her own vote.
  9. COUNCIL MEETINGS
    The Council shall meet once in every calendar year in Annual General Meeting and when otherwise convened by the Committee for such purposes as determined by the Committee. The Committee shall convene a Special Meeting of Council when so required in writing by twenty members to deal with such business as is specified in the requisition.
  10. COUNCIL – ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
    The business of each Annual General Meeting shall include:
    • The consideration of the Chairman’s and the Treasurer’s Reports for the previous year,
    • The adoption if approved of the Accounts for the previous year,
    • The appointment of an auditor who shall not be a member of the Committee,
    • The election of a Chairman, a Secretary, and a Treasurer,
    • The election of not more than ten Committee members.
  11. OFFICERS
    The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer who shall be ex-officio members of the Committee shall hold office from the close of the Annual General Meeting at which they were elected and shall be eligible for re-election.
  12. TREASURER
    The Treasurer shall keep an account of all income and expenditure and shall submit annual statements of account duly audited as part of his Report at each Annual General Meeting. He shall maintain a separate banking account for the transactions of the Council, and withdrawals shall be made in the name of the Council on the signature of any two of the Chairman, the Secretary or the Treasurer. Assets or investments shall only be acquired, increased, withdrawn or disposed of with the sanction of the Committee.
  13. HONORARY OFFICERS
    At the nomination of the Committee the Council may elect persons who have rendered signal service towards furthering the aims of the Council to be Honorary President, Vice President or Life Member.
  14. PUBLICITY
    Every effort shall be made to ensure that all deliberations of the Council, the Committee and its sub-committees and working groups are open and publicised.
  15. COMMITTEE – POWERS
    The Committee shall meet when convened by the Chairman or Secretary or any three Committee members and shall manage and control the affairs and finances of the Council. It may fill any occasional vacancy in officers or Committee membership by co-option and it may also co-opt up to five additional Committee members. A Committee member may serve until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, but shall be eligible for re-election or re-co-option. The Committee shall determine all procedural matters not explicit in the Constitution. Any determination by the Committee under this paragraph or otherwise shall be binding until the next business meeting of the Council when at the requisition of twenty members it shall be reviewed and voted upon.
  16. COMMITTEE – FUNCTIONS
    The Committee shall appoint from its own members or otherwise such sub-committees, Trustees, working groups or individuals as it thinks fit and it shall delegate such powers and require such reports back as are necessary for the efficient performance of its functions in pursuance of the Council’s aims.
  17. DECISIONS
    All proposals voted upon shall be determined by a simple majority of those present and voting with the Chairman or other person acting as chairman exercising a second casting vote if tied. A quorum of twenty shall be sufficient for a business meeting of the Council; a quorum of five shall be sufficient for a meeting of the Committee.
  18. AMENDMENTS
    This Constitution may only be altered or amended at an Annual General Meeting or Special Meeting of the Council on the agenda of which the gist of the proposed alteration or amendment appeared.
  19. DISSOLUTION

    20.      Any assets or monies remaining on dissolution of the Council after satisfying all debts and liabilities shall not be distributed amongst the members of the Council but applied in a manner consistent with the aims of the Council.